Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item7 Chapter4

==Chapter 4: Breakdown==

===Part 1===

District 11, evening. They were at a distribution base for Academy City’s land routes. More specifically, at a cargo terminal where countless cargo containers were stacked up like ancient pyramids.



They were facing each other.

“Voice on the Phone” Hanano Choubi and “Dark Side’s Bane” #6.



But this confrontation should have been terribly unbalanced.

Hanano alone was no threat to the #6.

As a Voice on the Phone, she held a special position, but Hanano herself wasn’t proficient in martial arts or firearms. She used a disguise to make herself look younger, but she was in fact an adult, so she wasn’t even an Academy City esper.

However, the current situation had boosted Hanano’s position.

This was the past.

Ultimately, there was no way to perfectly kill Hanano Choubi here in this ''past'' timeline.

Because…

“I am in fact a master of disguise and infiltration.”

“…”

“Yes, it’s just as you feared. You were right on the money☆ Rejoice. It doesn’t matter even if there was an official announcement of Hanano Choubi’s death at some point in the past. What does that really prove? I am a master of disguise and infiltration, so there’s always ''a chance'' I took on another identity and survived. Kami*** Touma? Misaka **koto? It doesn’t really matter who. As long as they’re one of the ''confirmed survivors'' known to be alive in the ''present'' timeline. From my position in the ''past'', there is always ''a chance'' I can kill someone else and take their place.”

“So even if you are killed in ''the past'', you would ''make it so'' you survived by hijacking someone else’s life? …That atrocity is a betrayal of humanity as a whole. Do you really think I will let you get away with it?”

“A normal person probably couldn’t manage it. But I’m such a master of disguise and infiltration that that’s all I really have going for me. ''Anyone else would surely get caught eventually, but you could actually see Hanano Choubi play the role of Kamijou Tou** or Mi**** Mikoto without ever breaking character.'' There is an opening there.”

Hanano punctuated this by sticking a new cigarette in her mouth.

She lit it and theatrically blew out the smoke. In addition to the nicotine and tar, the smell of the burning flavor clung to the smoke.

It was only a moment, but she did occupy both her hands and look down while facing the enemy.

Apparently she really was trying to make a mockery of Academy City’s #6.

“And you’re really not one to get after me about that, #6.”

“I have a name: Aihana Etsu.”

“My point is I’m intentionally trying to avoid using that name. It’s always like this.”

Hanano pointed at her opponent’s face with the cigarette held between her fingers and quietly clicked her tongue.

“You exist as no more than that name, so any official announcement of ‘Aihana Etsu’s death’ has to be taken with a grain of salt. I can’t fully deny ''the possibility'' you were actually lending your name out to someone else and the real you is still alive, so I have no way of fully and surely killing you here in the past. Killing you in the present or the future is easy enough, but it can’t be done in the past.”

“Which implies something.”

“That it does. I’m saying I intend to take on the #6. Which means I need to set up a situation that places me on equal or better footing to Academy City’s #6 Level 5.”

She admitted it so readily.

This adult.

This con artist who hadn’t even undergone the esper development Curriculum.

“Neither of us can die in the past…because of the “''it’s possible''” loophole. Just like Schrodinger’s Cat, we exist in a strange mixture of life and death for as long as we are trapped in this box of a world that places great restrictions on the past. You get what I mean, don’t you? Whoever breaks down these absolute conditions first will have the right to do whatever they want with the other’s life. For once, your usual brute force methods won’t work. This is ''a puzzle'', not ''a battle''.”

“…”

The #6 said nothing.

Aihana Etsu, who always seemed to be looking down on people in an aloof way, was brought to silence.

It was a rare feat, but the logic behind it was accurate. Assuming, of course, you could accept all the talk about the past and the future.

However, one thing stood out here.

Hanano Choubi knew that some people were “confirmed survivors”. As long as the timeline known as the present existed, there were people who could not die in the past. That line of thinking was accurate. …However, the Hanano here shouldn’t have had a way of knowing that. She lived in the past, so this should have been ''the present'' for her, so she shouldn’t have any way of defining the current timeline as ''the past''.

Ordinarily, anyway.

This was the part that felt to be the greatest risk to Academy City #6 Level 5, Aihana Etsu.

Just once, Hanano Choubi had broken the rules in a major way.



“How can you see the future, Hanano Choubi?”

“Why should I answer a monster who traveled back to the past to meddle with the people there, #6?”

===Part 2===

“District 11?”

In the District 15 broadcast tower’s observation deck hotel, Mugino Shizuri asked a displeased question.

That was the distribution base for the city’s land routes.

In other words, there was little there aside from cargo containers stacked up like pyramids. Mugino was the wealthy sort of criminal, so she didn’t get all excited thinking about harbors and warehouse districts at night.

“That’s right, Mugino. It looks like Morning Call’s lab is disguised as one of the containers there. That district is popular among elementary school students as a giant hide-and-seek field. Do you want to see one of them find something they shouldn’t and trigger a big explosion?”

Takitsubo’s plainly stated explanation made Mugino grimace.

The look on her face said it wasn’t fair to attack her like that.

“…How did you locate it?”

“Morning Call seems to have hid ammo dumps and labs here and there across the city, but all facilities will fall into disrepair if they aren’t used for long. An infrastructure maintenance manager appears to go around to each of them. She must have gone to a few different contractors and ''talked it out''.”

“Hm, Frenda prefers to do everything herself so that is a very different tactic.”

Of course, that was because having someone else do it created an opening for betrayal. In a bomb making lab, a small bit of sabotage could cause a gas leak which triggers a major explosion. Even without specialized knowledge, someone could kill their employer by randomly swapping out the labels on two chemical test tubes both containing a clear liquid.

“How did you track down the manager Morning Call was using?”

“In every industry, you find a limited number of reliable people. It didn’t take long to find them by starting at the top of the list and working my way down.”

There were underground businesses that gathered all the data around without having a specific target in mind.

Like the Keysmith who photographed people’s analog key from a distance and then made 3D printer data based on them. Or the Biocollector who gathered up fingerprints from railings and elevator buttons around the city, hoping to create a master key that could open any fingerprint scan lock. Basically, some people would secure a vast amount of data without choosing a target and then search through the massive database when some of that data was necessary.

Had the manager been storing up their clients’ data in the same way?

…That they didn’t realize their gathered data could bring a crisis just as easily as profit proved these were second-rate criminals.

“Also, the odds are good the reward Morning Call received from Quarterback was left inside a container there.”

“Oh, you mean the vintage leather jackets, boots, and that kinda thing?? As a way of getting money through the city’s gate without it looking like it?”

Kinuhata started to say something but stopped.

Something must have bothered her.

She looked over at Frenda Seivelun.

“…”

“That’s weird. Frenda-san usually super leaps at a chance to talk about money.”

“Eh? O-oh, in the end, it’s nothing…”

And so they set out for District 11.

Once this task was complete, the entire job would be done with.

===Part 3===

Outside Academy City.

Police sirens blared. The police were finally beginning to respond, so the pressure from that embassy must have evaporated. It was October 29 and the day had worn on until the sun set. Not that pursuing the case at this point would find even a single member of Quarterback still alive.

An elderly man in an Italian suit walked calmly along without paying any heed to the police cars and motorcycles roaring past him. His suit was of course a luxury product without a speck of blood on it.

The Mugino Family head raised his arms and stretched.

(The people who make a quick getaway after a crime will get caught by the checkpoints and patrols as intended…but this is probably the last day I can relax here in Tokyo.)

“Hmm, that should end the Quarterback case. I’m a little sad to see it go. Like the end of a festival.”

The maids and butlers of Management and the troops had already withdrawn. With the police functioning normally, he couldn’t afford to stand out ''too much''.

Only Mujinayama accompanied him.

“Couldn’t you have at least left Manager Kagyu with you? The ire of one of the mansion’s young maids does not make for a comfortable work environment.”

“If I bring up model trains with her, she only tilts her head in confusion.”

“Hm? That sounds cute to me.”

“That isn’t the reaction I want. Why is it you always look at those young maids the same way you would your own grandchild? I bet you’d smile happily if one of them served you a fried egg they had burned black.”

“The real question is why you, who has an actual granddaughter, don’t feel that way looking at the young maids.”

“The point is I won’t force Kagyu to discuss it with me if she doesn’t understand it. I’ve come all the way to Tokyo, so I need to check out all the model shops I can before returning to Yokohama!”

“I must warn you I will report any and all Family expenditures to your wife.”

Things weren’t as bad as the day before, but a thick bulletproof car wouldn’t be much use with security on such high alert. If he wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble at a checkpoint, it was best to travel by foot.

(If I let that benevolent checkpoint bring me to a stop, there are those who would blow me away along with the police using a 5000-yen anti-tank rocket. I can’t bring that kind of trouble to this bright world.)

“Would Tokyo’s model train shops be in Akihabara?”

“You fool, anywhere in such an obvious location will have been picked clean of the good stuff. We would either find nothing worthwhile or inflated prices. But there are these strange areas where you can find otaku shops in locations hobbyists are too afraid to go. Like right here in Shinjuku☆ The fourth floor of this mess of a multi-tenant building has a really nice shop.”

The head gestured for Mujinayama to accompany him, looking as excited as a small child.

The sharp blast of an explosive rang out.

It was a gunshot.

And from point-blank range.

“Kah…?”

A shot to the back.

It came as a complete surprise. Which was why his first breath afterwards contained a questioning note.

At the same time, a portion of his brain half-reflexively analyzed the damage to his body.

That was just how much combat experience he had.

(.45 caliber. And that was no normal bullet. This scraping sensation left inside me means the bullet was made by heating the hell out of some boron carbide powder, the next hardest material after diamond. And it was made flat to ensure the full force of the impact hit me. Which means this was a Crocodile Killer.)

That was just about the worst bullet that could be fired from a handgun.

Instead of an unnecessarily large revolver that was more for show, this was designed to ensure the target suffered and died.

Oddly, international treaty banning its use by soldiers had led to its use spreading among civilian police forces instead.

But where had it come from?

Not even the King of Mugino had eyes on the back of his head, but that elderly man had a man he trusted more than his own eyes watching his back.

There was only one possible culprit for shooting him from point-blank range like this.

The Mugino Family head managed a scratchy voice.



“Mujina…yama?”

“''Wrong. It’s always like this with people.''”



The words were followed by a heavy, sticky sound.

It sounded less like makeup being removed from a face and more like a solvent being used to strip away a thick layer of dried paint.

The old butler’s face disappeared, revealing a young female one.

Even her height had been faked.

“I have nothing against Mugino Shizuri, but roping that #4 into this is the only way to show my target I mean business.”

This meant nothing to him.

She likely didn’t expect him to understand what she was talking about.

She had the tone of someone talking to themselves.

And even if he had been caught by surprise and shot in the back, he was still the extraordinary Mugino Family head.

He was stronger alone than when he had his many subordinates and an assortment of powerful weapons.

That was how it was supposed to work, yet…

“!!”

His quickly-thrown punch was easily blocked. Followed by a dull sound. A single blow was all it took to send him slumping to the ground.

“Khah!!”

“It’s no use. In this timeline here in ''the past'', I exist in an unstable state as the cat in the box, so no one can truly kill me. And you aren’t even one of the ''confirmed survivors''.”

None of it worked against Hanano Choubi.

It wasn’t a matter of strength. It was like trying to attack an illusion seen in the fog. The Mugino Family head didn’t let it show on his face, but he didn’t think he could win this one.

Collapsed on the ground, the elderly man coughed up blood and glared at the young woman.

There was one question that mattered more than his own life.

“What happened…to Mujinayama?”

“''What do you think happened to him''?”

That was all Hanano asked, her eyes open wide and unblinking.

The head head’s arm shot up like a separate creature.

Even more strongly than before.

But the result had already been determined. A few more dull impacts rang out.

Hanano clapped her hands together as if dusting them off.

“Now, then. I have what I need, so I just need to contact her… Yes, this should do: Quarterback’s phone! If Item has been taking good care of it, they should still have Morning Call’s phone with them. And with that, it’s about time I made my move.”

“…?”

“Really, I do feel bad. ''All'' I need to do is tear down a timeline, so I thought pitting Frenda Seivelun and Yumiya Rakko against each other ''in the past'' would be enough…but it turns out weak interference like that gets ''worked out'' by some kind of unseen force. She couldn’t go on a mission because of a bad hair day? What even is that? Since that wasn’t enough to change the predetermined current, I needed to do something a little more irreversible.”

“What are you talking about?”

“''I’m talking about my reasons for killing you,'' Mugino Family head.”

===Part 4===

It was a chilly night in Academy City District 11.

“This here is the last of Morning Call’s bomb making labs,” said Takitsubo, viewing a large cargo container.

It looked like an ordinary box at first, but there were signs of metalworking around the vents. According to Academy City Bomber Frenda, that was the result of additional ventilation equipment being installed on the interior of a container lab.

Kinuhata looked to the side.

“What do we do about the used clothes container over there? I super get it’s valuable, but we’ll have to research a way of selling off a ton of clothing at a decent price in a short period of time.”

Their discussion was interrupted by an electronic beeping.

It came from Morning Call’s phone that hey had decided to hold onto until the incident was fully dealt with.

The screen said the call was from Quarterback.

Mugino assumed the head was calling her through this unusual route again, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

A young female voice spoke from the phone.



“Hello, hello, Mugino-san. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”



Everything froze.

Kinuhata and Takitsubo’s eyes widened a lot at the familiar face on the screen.

Frenda didn’t speak a word.

“Forgive me the terrible frame rate and resolution. Outside the city, video calls and streaming sites are only just starting to become common. Huh? That’s not much of a reaction. I even chose to use ''this face and this uniform'' to make sure you would know who it was. C’mon, c’mon. Give me that ‘just saw a ghost’ look.”

The uniformed girl was familiar.

The short-sleeve summer uniform didn’t match the season.

That was definitely the one worn by that nervous small animal of a girl. Which was why none of it made any sense.

Mugino slowly asked a question, her voice pitched low.

“How the hell did you escape death?”

This was wrong.

She was making an undeniable mistake.

A traitor boldly announcing her survival to ''the'' Mugino Shizuri was about as suicidal as it got. If she had faked her death, she could have remained hidden for the rest of her life.

Yet Hanano Choubi laughed.

It seemed unlikely she was simply relying on the fact that this conversation was happening through a screen.

Mugino Shizuri did not forgive traitors.

Everyone knew that absolute rule. Not that she would accept ignorance as an excuse.

Hanano knew all that and yet flouted that rule with a smile.

“I see you’re still quite the dominatrix, Mugino-san. Don’t move on before I’m ready. I still have a guest I want to show you. Whoa, oof.”

A large dark shape filled the small phone screen.

She must have had a hard time propping up whatever was falling over in front of her. The blurry screen wobbled and then pulled back.

Finally, it came into view.



“May I introduce you to today’s special guest! Tah dah!! It’s the Mugino Family head☆”



They saw an elderly man in an Italian suit.

He didn’t look very good.

His slumped-over body looked unnaturally weak, his face was dripping with sweat, and there were dark red stains here and there on his fancy suit.

Out of nowhere, Hanano now held a handgun in her empty hand. The small plastic gun looked like a toy, but it definitely had the power to kill. Specifically, it was a .45 caliber.

“What are your demands? Out with it already, you suicidal freak.”

“Hm? I think you’re confused. Why do you think I have any demands for you? Try hearing me out first.”

Hanano looked puzzled.

The purity, harmlessness, and cuteness of her expression were terribly out of place.

But then it came.

“''I will now be publicly livestreaming the head’s execution, so just shut up and watch. Hanyah? That’s all I wanted to say, so where did I get it wrong?''”

Mugino’s body swelled out unnaturally from within.

Or it seemed to for Kinuhata watching on next to her.

Takitsubo had previously said having a family could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the circumstances. This was one of the bad times. ''Someone without a family to begin with had no one to be taken hostage''. Mugino was experiencing a pain Takitsubo never had to feel.

But this was even worse than that.

It could hardly be worse.

“Is this because you’re so self-conscious as the #4 you always assume people want something from you? Assuming you know what other people are thinking is a bad habit, you know? I’d even call it harassment☆”

But.

''Mugino could do nothing.

She was inside Academy City and those two were outside.

The physical distance was too great for her to rush to her grandfather’s aid. Plus, she was Academy City’s #4 Level 5. If she crossed the city wall without going through the intricate official procedure, she could easily be viewed as an industrial spy leaking a Level 5’s DNA map, making an enemy of Academy City as a whole.

This was District 11, but it didn’t matter that the city wall was right there.

“Huh? You actually know your own limits? Without even trying it first?”

Hanano laughed mockingly on the screen.

Yes, mockingly.

“I was ready for you to come charging my way even though you know it wouldn’t work. But you’re more coldhearted than I gave you credit for, ''you traitor''☆”

Hanano had already stated her goal.

She didn’t beat around the bush.

So she got right to it. On the small phone screen.

In that moment, the object held to the Mugino Family head’s head was a perfectly ordinary one.

A handgun.

The elderly man in an Italian suit directed his eyes calmly toward the camera and opened his mouth.

“I-”



''Bang!!

The life-stealing blast sounded terribly light.



The screen was dyed red.

Something heavy thudded to the ground. The camera lens was wiped off by something, but there was no life on the newly cleaned screen.

“Ah…”

It had happened so fast.

It didn’t matter how important or powerful someone was.

Anyone who wasn’t a ''confirmed survivor'' could easily die from one moment to the next.

What had her grandfather tried to say in his final moment?

Not only had she been powerless to save his life, she hadn’t even been able to receive his final message as his granddaughter.

“Ahhhh.”

Takitsubo had accompanied Mugino for years, but not even she know how Mugino defined human life.

What about family ties? What about a grandfather and granddaughter? What about respect and admiration for the head of an organization?

Ultimately, only the #4 could know the answers to those questions. Or maybe not even Mugino herself knew the answers.

At any rate, she had crossed some kind of threshold.

Something unidentified was crying out as it was born.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”

“With this I’ve given you a ''reason'', Mugino Shizuri.”

The phone had cracked from being thrown to the ground, but it still produced a voice as if to supply the finishing blow.

She sounded really, truly amused.

This was the true enemy even Item had failed to kill.

“So come and kill me for my treachery.”

===Part 5===

The shot from point-blank had splattered her hair and face with red and black.

Hanano Choubi pulled a clean handkerchief from her skirt pocket and wiped her face off. The handkerchief was quickly stained red.

“So am I ‘dead meat’ now? …Peh heh heh! The #4 terrifies everyone, but if you already know how she’s going to react, you can make use of it. Oh, Mugino-san, you are just so predictable. Peh heh!!”

She scoffed.

The situation was rapidly changing. She could sense it.

“What now, #6?”

She spread her arms, looked up to heaven, and spoke to someone who wasn’t here and now.

Yes.

This was a death sentence to the world.

It was beyond even a declaration of war.

“Ha ha ha. Mugino and I are both ''confirmed survivors''. That means neither of us is allowed to die here in the past!! But there is no stopping Mugino now. I mean, I murdered her grandfather before her eyes. Hwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Thanks to the inviolable rules of her organization and her familial love as an individual, ''Mugino Shizuri can never forgive a traitor''!! Hee hee, gya hya hya hya hya hya!!!!”

This had set up a fight to the death between Hanano Choubi and Mugino Shizuri.

No matter where Hanano tried to run now, even if someone else got between them…and no matter what might happen to the world as a whole, Mugino would come to kill the traitor.

This primary rule had been established from the start.

Traitors were the one thing Mugino could never forgive no matter what.

Not even Academy City’s #6 could stop it now.

In fact, the #6’s involvement wouldn’t change things much. Because Mugino, Hanano, and the #6 were all ''confirmed survivors''.

Meaning…

“Will Hanano Choubi win by killing Mugino Shizuri, or will Mugino Shizuri win by killing Hanano Choubi? As things are, those are the only ways for this to end. If you don’t like it, you’ll have to get in between us, #6.”

Hanano grinned as she roared.

She had decided she would make that self-important #6 regret this to death.

Truly ''to death''.

And she had pulled it off.

“If anyone in this three-way showdown dies, it will mean losing a ''confirmed survivor''. Heh heh. And that means losing the ''present'' you so badly want to protect, #6!! Ah ha ha, gyaha gyaha! Too mad to talk, huh!? Cackle cackle cackle cackle!!”



The collapse of a distant future was no skin off Hanano Choubi’s nose since she lived in the past.

She simply had to go on living life as she saw fit in the changed timeline.

But it was a different story entirely for the #6 who had shown up from the distant future to meddle.

===Between the Lines 5===

How could this happen?

It’s all falling apart.

Thanks to someone who isn’t the strongest and isn’t untouchable.

Thanks to a rotten adult who isn’t even an Academy City esper.



The past is the past, so it can never be shaken.

That’s supposed to be how it works.

That was why I had to intervene to keep Hanano Choubi from killing that embassy worker for no real reason.

I should have noticed at that point.

The killed man wasn’t a ''confirmed survivor'', but I should have wondered why Hanano could ignore the correct timeline and commit an unnecessary murder. Why could she selfishly take a life in the delicate timeline known as the past?

I should have noticed!

I should have noticed that Hanano Choubi was an exceptionally dangerous person.



I underestimated her.



We are simply too poorly matched.

The past and disguises.

She can transform herself into anyone.

Once she’s aware of that fact, then she really is free to do what she wants.

But how did she gain that awareness?

It shouldn’t be possible for someone living in the past to become aware they are living in the past.



This is one thing I certainly didn’t anticipate.

It would seem I, Aihana Etsu, must take this seriously for once.

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