Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Mental Out SS (section)

===Part 2===

Their gazes clashed in that moment.

“…”

“…”

This time, it was Shokuhou Misaki and Misaka Mikoto.

They glared at each other from extreme close range.

This happened three days before.

But instead of being in the shady area behind their school, they were on the stage in prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School’s gym. The auditorium would have been a better place for a stage play, but since this would require a lot of moving around and raising of voices, it must have been classified as a joint gym class instead of the performing arts. And in fact, the girls were all wearing the sleeveless shirts and shorts of their gym clothes instead of their winter blazer uniforms.

Yes.

This was a stage play and a joint class.

The teacher elegantly clapped her hands to gather the students’ attention.

“Listen up, all you second years. I assume you have all found your groups and received your assignments? For this joint class, you will be crossing the usual class boundaries to work with your schoolmates from other classes. I hope you will build a greater sense of unity from this. And these new stimuli will help grow your mind – that is, your Personal Reality – which will in turn help develop your esper power. Do you understand?”

The students all answered in the affirmative.

The joint class meant more people than usual. For Shokuhou, this meant a lot of girls she didn’t recognize.

And, of all things, those two had ended up in the same group. Maybe it was wrong to think of things this way in a city of science, but Shokuhou had to wonder if a probability-manipulating demon was lurking somewhere in their school.

Mikoto blatantly scratched at her head in front of Shokuhou.

“Let’s see. Our group was assigned Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The Queen elegantly held a hand to her mouth and didn’t bother stifling a yawn.

“Yawwwn… All these classes that focus on physical activity are such a pain. Seeing how nice the weather ability is, I would much rather take a nap. But if I try to sneak out…”

“Hey.”

“…then this girl who is mysteriously immune to my power gets after me. It’s not like my attendance ability affects you in any way, so can you please just leave me be, you hotblooded idiot?”

That was why Shokuhou Misaki could not lie down on a nice sunny patch of grass and take a nap. Even the joint drama class was better than being chased down by that billion-volt electric girl.

(Is there any way I could use this situation to my advantage?)

“Ugh, I’m so sleepy.”

“Why are you so tired?”

“Unlike a child like you who crawls into bed as soon as it gets dark out, I am an adult who knows how to make use of the night hours☆”

Those two were arguing yet again.

And despite her perfect smile, Shokuhou’s encirclement was not perfect this time.

“Are you serious about that, Shokuhou Misaki? You really think staying up late makes you an adult? Peh heh heh. You know, little girl, any grown woman with any concern for her looks and health tries to avoid late nights first and foremost. Did you not know that, you damn brat?”

“Wait, kh, did I really just get outplayed by a meathead like Misaka-san!?”

“And I barely had to try, Little Queen.”

Misaka Mikoto smiled wickedly and gently placed her hand atop Shokuhou’s head.

While she had the upper hand when it came to group mind games and scheming, when it came to physical one-on-one conflicts, (blushing and tearful) Shokuhou couldn’t even brush that hand off of her head. Misaka Mikoto was immune to her Mental Out, so Shokuhou had no defense when that girl used brute strength against her. If she wanted to, the #3 could pin Shokuhou to the floor and sit on her.

But the Queen wouldn’t let it end here.

She had been pushed so far her anger circled back around to calm.

And then the trembling girl made a decision.

(I-it’s on now. ''Yes, I know exactly what to do.'' If this is how it’s going to be, I will enjoy this joint drama class in a classy adult way you could never even dream of, Misaka-saaan!!)

The other girls didn’t dare approach the #5 and #3 (despite all being powerful espers themselves), so they watched from afar and whispered amongst themselves. There was no rule of etiquette requiring it, but even the spreading of rumors was done quietly at a classy school.



“U-ugh. Misaka-sama and Shokuhou-sama are in the same group? That basically tells us which group is getting the top spot before it even begins.”

“I feel bad for the girls in their group. They have to play a part like the human king or Puck the Fairy with those two monstrous stars stealing all the attention.”

“(Eep…)”

“You shouldn’t have said that, Matsuzai-san! Kinoshita-san just collapsed from the pressure! Hey, Otonari-san, you’re on the health committee, right!?”



While a mixture of comedy and tragedy played out around those two, Shokuhou childishly pouted her lips and spoke up (while working through some complicated calculations in her head).

“Of all the Shakespeare plays, why did it have to be A Midsummer Night’s Dream? You have the worst luck ability with these things, Misaka-san.”

“What play would you have considered good luck?”

“Hamlet or Macbeth. Then I could have dramatically killed you on stage☆ But A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy, so no one dies.”

Shokuhou sounded quite serious as she held the tip of her white-gloved index finger in her mouth.

Mikoto (who was entirely immune to the Queen’s spoiled child act) sighed in annoyance and began flipping through the booklet with a school library sticker on it.

It was common to feel like you had a decent knowledge of world-famous works but to actually be missing important parts of the setting or plot. Like that Frankenstein was the name of the scientist, not the monster. So she was reviewing the basics.

“Let’s see… A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy and one of Shakespeare’s early masterpieces.”

“By the way, the ‘midsummer’ in the title refers to the summer solstice, so it takes place in late June, rather than what we would think of as midsummer☆”

Shokuhou poked her head in from the side and Mikoto gave her an irritated look.

“So a more accurate title would be An Early Summer Night’s Dream? Anyway, it gives a story summary here. It’s a comedy set near Athens where a number of human men and women arrive in the forest ruled by Fairy King Oberon and Fairy Queen Titania, but a fairy called Puck gives a love potion to the wrong person, causing all sorts of trouble.”

After reading through that, Mikoto looked up.

The #3 clearly had several questions already.

“Me playing Fairy Queen Titania I can understand, but why are you playing Fairy King Oberon? That makes us a couple…”

“Don’t blame me. You said you were sick and tired of always playing the prince roles, so you threw a fit and demanded to play a cute girl this time.”

“Gh.”

“You claim to be a lonely ace, but you are quite popular with the girls during these joint classes, you know? Peh heh heh☆”

Shokuhou hit Mikoto where it hurt, so she could only groan. And then Shokuhou delivered the finishing blow.

Like she had been waiting for the opportunity.

“Misaka-san, the one thing you really need in your life is anger management lessons. Now, take a deep breath. Hold it for six seconds. Trying to force down anger never works, so try to forget all about your stubborn ideas about what everyone is supposed to do☆”

“You have some nerve saying that after intentionally provoking me!!”

The standard choice for prince roles shouted while red in the face. The other girls watching from a distance cheered, so they must have assumed those two were already practicing their acting.

In these joint drama classes, there were mainly two roles the girls fought over. One was the princess or the queen. The other was the handsome prince or knight. The male roles had a certain charm to them, as demonstrated by a certain theatre troupe.

And in that sense, that pair’s roles had sent a stir through the other students.

Their expectations had been overturned.

Who could have predicted ''the'' Shokuhou Misaki would play the king and ''the'' Misaka Mikoto would play the queen!?

Some of them looked horrified.

“(Why do they look so surprised? What’s wrong with me going for the cute princess or queen role?)”

“Shedding tears of blood?” Shokuhou waved a hand and then brushed her long honey-blonde hair off her shoulder. “This isn’t easy for me either, you know? You might not know what it’s like since you’re so used to playing the male roles all the time, but now I have to study the male mind to help get into the role. And take a look around you. Do you see any male voices I can seek out here in Tokiwadai to get a firsthand opinion?”

“…”

Mikoto looked somehow skeptical even though Shokuhou had given her what she wanted.

Of course, Shokuhou believed in manipulating the overly trusting and taking them for all they were worth, so she actually preferred someone who wasn’t misled by surface-level charisma.

Mikoto was still staring at her.

“Enough. You can get away with skipping class using those remotes of yours, so you must have another reason to be here. What is it?”

“Well☆ If I’m going to be here, I might as well make the most of it, don’t you think?”

“?”

“The play includes a wide variety of characters, but Oberon and the other fairies generally can’t be seen by the humans even if they are standing next to them and speaking loudly. The one exception is when a fairy allows themselves to be seen or when they aren’t their usual self due to the love potion ability.”

“I see.”

“The key to the story is the love potion made from a flower called love-in-idleness – which is apparently a pansy that meets certain conditions. It is made by Fairy King Oberon and he gives it to his servant Puck. By applying the magical potion to a sleeping person’s eyelids, they will fall in love with the first person they see after waking. Oberon made it to get back at Titania after a fight.”

“I see, I see.”

“Puck ends up using the love potion on the wrong person, which leads to trouble that affects Titania and almost every other character. …Do you see now that Oberon is the perfect part for me? I’m not the type to be mentally manipulated by an outside force. I need to be the one who manipulates others and amuses myself watching the aftermath. Yes, my heart is pounding just imagining you rolling around the stage☆”

“Yet again, I feel like punching her would be doing the world a favor.”

The Queen hopped down from the stage to dodge a lightning spear. (She would never admit it, but the unathletic Queen’s action was better described as tripping and falling off the stage.)



And so, Shokuhou Misaki had an urgent task.

The success of the joint drama class was reliant on her studying the male mind firsthand.

(Not really, though☆)

Academy City’s #5 Queen stuck out her tongue.

One name came to mind. She already knew exactly who her target would be!!