Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

The grown-up District 5 was full of college students.

Item arrived in the luxury hotel’s first floor lobby.

The place had a distinctive air to it.

“Whoa. In the end, there’s even more now. They’ve got bite-sized mackerel pizzas!”

“Mugino. That says they have salmon mince. Is that actually any good?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Large hotels like this usually had restaurants and souvenir shops on the lower levels. All the English words like “lounge” and “gift shop” made it seem fancy at first glance.

Among all the restaurants, curry rice was weirdly prevalent. And the many souvenir ships meant even the little snacks available for sale tended to be on the fancier side of things.

“Super what were you hoping to shop for?”

“I said clothes, didn’t I?”

…The clothing stores and beauty salons in fancy hotels like this tended to be for people preparing for a wedding or other formal event, so they likely didn’t carry the kind of clothes Mugino was interested in.

So they left the hotel and walked along the main street of that grown-up district.

They were met by a lazy afternoon mood.

Apparently it was still too early for the college students to be out enjoying themselves.

There were quite a few luxury brand shops who were likely known all around the globe. Item was here for clothes, but it seemed likely they would end up bringing home shoes, bags, and jewelry too.

When Mugino walked past the large mirror placed next to a fitting room, something activated and some unfamiliar clothes were superimposed over the Mugino in the mirror.

“The hell?”

“Mugino, this says it’s a virtual fitting service.”

Mugino tried twirling slowly on the spot…and the clothes followed her movement. So this wasn’t just a product image being displayed over her body. It could handle all 360 degrees. So did it use a 3D model instead of a photo?

That did seem more convenient than having to change into each individual outfit…but why did she feel so disappointed?

Like it had ruined her fun.

It reminded her of how she felt seeing the ad for a rare natural hot spring in Academy City where the cutting-edge high-tech bath could cleanse your body in just three seconds. On a day off, she preferred taking things easy.

“Feels more like they’re trying to get people talking than providing a practical service. Do they only care if people make a big deal about it?”

“This says it instantly scans your figure with microwaves and then chooses the best products for you. Incredible.”

“!?”

Mugino frantically covered her body with her arms.

Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“Look, Mugino. It shows an assessment and some brief advice on the side: ‘we recommend clothing that obscures your hips and legs.’ ”

“That’s none of their business!!”

Mugino Shizuri wasn’t the type to lash out at a machine, so she could only blush and yell. An accurate program could provide a false 2D moe smile but couldn’t provide any flattery at all, so it could be cruel at times like this.

Also, a top-of-the-line brand would already have its regular customers’ data on file, so was this kind of toy even necessary? Formal clothing above a certain level of quality tended to be tailor made, after all.

…In that sense, this may have been a unique oddity of the college-filled District 5 where pricey brand-name products sold like hotcakes, but the customers were easily influenced by the current trends and thus regular customers were hard to come by.

Mugino raised her voice as if to reclaim control of the situation.

“Anyway, we need to choose some clothes. Let’s make it into a game. It can double as a periodic test for working on the dark side. Let’s find out if you can take everything from the present situation to the current trends into account to choose clothing that will let you blend in. Oh, and if you choose an outfit that stands out for no good reason, you get punished, okay? Anyone who makes a joke to avoid giving a serious answer will soon regret it.”

Frenda froze in place halfway toward grabbing a mini-China dress.

Apparently going the silly route wasn’t an option here.

“Are there any super rules?”

“Good question. For now, try to keep it under a million per outfi-”

“Someone oughta strip this filthy criminal super naked and chuck her outside.”

For some reason, this pissed off Kinuhata Saiai. Even on the same team, they viewed money very differently.

And so the Item girls began to argue what would best suit each other.

They ended up visiting many different luxury brand stores.

“It’s my time to make the rules? Hmm…I don’t really care as long as the next person brings me whatever they think I would look best in.”

“That will super leave you with no way to refuse wearing a naked apron.”

Kinuhata made sure Takitsubo understood that.

You could never assume basic human decency on the dark side where people tended to take a cynical view of everything from donation boxes to the Board Chairman at the top of the city. Especially when Frenda was super grinning in the corner of Kinuhata’s vision!

The game rules they thought up on the spot were full of holes, so they took a lax attitude where they could simply fill in the holes whenever they ran across one. It helped that the idea was to make the shopping more fun, so there was no real need to strictly follow the rules.

“You’re next, Frenda. What rules do you want?”

“Ooh, ooh, ooh!”

Frenda Seivelun raised her hand and leaned forward.

An idea had apparently formed within her while she watched the other games.

“Three of us will split up and choose the clothes they think look best on the guest. Then the guest gets to choose which one she likes best.”

“Eh? You mean we’ll be super taking them out of the store?”

“Kinuhata. Let’s use that thing. The mirror that acts as a 3D fitting monitor. If you enter the number, it can apparently display products from other stores.”

“Huh, and what happens afterwards?”

“Whoever’s outfit gets last place has to buy the best outfit. In the end, how does that sound?”

Yes.

That did sound more like a real game.

The four of them excitedly prepared their outfits on the tall, mirror-like screen, but what they were really doing was spending obscene amounts of cash. The dark side girls behaved inappropriately in a different way while enjoying a day off.

And their outfits ended up as follows:



Mugino wore a thin dress with a thick, ankle-length coat worn over it.

“Well, it’s not great but it’s not bad either. I feel like you could have been a little more creative.”



Takitsubo wore her usual track suit, but with the cold-resistance boosted by a knit hat, earmuffs, and a jacket wrapped around her hips. The short lines of LEDs hidden in the lining were built-in heating elements.

“It’s fluffy and warm.”



Frenda wore a white jacket and light blue miniskirt combo. The gold decorations here and there made it look more like something from a military band or parade than a school uniform.

“Ehh? In the end, is this for a marching band? I don’t really play any instruments, though. And doesn’t the gold make it sparkle a lot?”



Kinuhata wore sportswear composed of a short-sleeved shirt and bike shorts. But she wore an old-fashioned leather pilot’s jacket over it, giving it a mixture of old and new.

“This jacket won’t restrict my movements in a pinch, will it? I super hope it won’t rip suddenly.”



They had their complaints, but “it’s just a game” proved to be a powerful argument. They might have taken ages to choose something on their own, but this let them decide in no time.

Mugino Shizuri reached for a random garment in one store and rubbed it with her fingers as if checking for something. It was available to try on, but the price tag was over 300 thousand yen.

Takitsubo tilted her head.

“What is it, Mugino? Do you want to buy that?”

“Not really…”

Meanwhile, Frenda and Kinuhata were running around. The youngest member was being chased by the big sister who was howling about how they still had to choose underwear.

Then Mugino spoke up without warning.

“Okay, let’s also buy a few dresses.”

“Hm? Super why?”