Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

The location Kamijou and the others used as a makeshift inn was a 24 hour ramen restaurant. The restaurant was busiest during midday and late night, so it was fairly empty during the morning. Most people likely decided it was too greasy for their stomachs right after waking up.

The restaurant was almost completely empty, but it must have had a cycle of profit established because the workers did not seem particularly worried or resigned. In fact, they seemed to feel lucky to have such little business. 

“A half serving of fried rice.”

“Edamame.”

“One chashu in an ultra-deluxe super-size that is reminiscent of the bubble era!!”

“Which one of you is the glutton who has completely forgotten we’re supposed to be showing restraint here!?” shouted Kamijou, but the white nun feigned ignorance.

They were planning to stay for a long period of time, so they of course could not eat all of their food as soon as they arrived. After intentionally leaving half of their food, Kamijou and Sozty quickly lay their heads down on the table. Index alone was left combating a bowl the size of a large plate of yakiniku.

With her cheek pressed against the table, Sozty whispered, “This was a failure.”

“What was?”

“This table is really sticky. That is the fate of any table that holds Chinese food, but it is a poor choice for a pillow.”

“Don’t underestimate runaway children. Were you expecting to have a nice blanket and a pillow made of a low-resilience material?”

Whether it was due to the country being safe or a desire to make efficient use of all time available, the Japanese were a people who could sleep in a crowded train or in the ridiculously small desks of a classroom.

“I can put up with it, but this stickiness reminds me of something.”

“?”

“I haven’t had a bath in a while. You can’t detect your own scent, so am I starting to smell?”

Kamijou’s eyes suddenly opened wide.

“You fool!! If you think you can force the situation into a public bath scene, you are mistaken!!”

“…What?”

“I won’t fall for that trick again! Do you think I like having my head bitten by that glutton every single time!?”

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say, but be quiet. We’re trying to remain hidden.”

With a question mark floating over her head, Sozty tried to get Kamijou to restrain himself.

She then brought her upper arm toward her nose.

“But it might be hard to stay hidden if I smell too bad. Hey, I can’t tell how I smell, so you tell me.”

“Ehh?”

Sozty brought her upper body towards Kamijou’s face.

…She smelled like a normal girl.

“…I’m not sure what to say.”

“What is it? Is it that bad?”

“That isn’t what I meant…”

“If you have something to say, then say it. I can’t decide what to do next otherwise.”

“…Touma?”

Index must have caught a dangerous scent on the air because her canine teeth were glittering.

Kamijou laid his head back on the table in a desperate attempt to fool her.

He needed to change the course of the conversation.

(Hard to starboard!!)

“By the way, what do you think Ureapaddy is doing?”

“I don’t know. She might be lounging on the top floor of a resort hotel or she might be struggling by in a cardboard box on the streets. My sister has diverged from the cabal’s usual patterns to make all my information worthless. I have no way of knowing what she might be doing.”

“It doesn’t have to be anything specific. There have to be other conditions that make Brahma Astra easier to use. Where do you think she might plan to use it?”

“Like I said: I don’t know. For one thing, we have no way of calculating its range or power. But it does need to use the shooting stars, so I guess she would choose a spot where the stars are clearly visible.”

“That would make District 21 suspicious since it specializes in astronomical observation facilities.”

“We wouldn’t be having so much trouble if she was in any of the obvious places.”

Kamijou agreed with her there.

They could not guess what Ureapaddy was thinking. She had sabotaged multiple rockets inside and outside Academy City and they would simultaneously detonate to create a large number of artificial shooting stars. The overall idea was simple enough to understand, but another thought had occurred to Kamijou.

If she had been able to prepare multiple levels of insurance without even entering Academy City, why had she felt the need to go after the rockets inside the city?

Wouldn’t it have been safer for Ureapaddy to sneak into District 21 from the beginning and simply wait for the proper timing to use Brahma Astra?

“She might have strayed from the simplest and quickest route in order to make my information even more useless,” said Sozty as she laid her head on the table. “But that means she was increasing the level of visible risk to eliminate an invisible risk. If we can effectively increase those suspicions of hers, she might give us some kind of hint.”