Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 3===

Night had fallen.

Apparently long-range attacks these days did not require occupying a building rooftop.

Mugino made a final check over her radio while climbing the emergency stairs with baggage in hand.

“Frenda, I haven’t heard anything from you in a bit. Did you fall asleep?”

“In the end, I wish… What is this thing? The memory foam yoga mat you bought is just so comfy. I can feel myself drifting off as soon as I lie down on it…”

“Frenda, I know you want caffeine, but you shouldn’t drink so much black soda,” said Takitsubo, also on the other end of the radio. “You’ll regret it once you need to pee and can’t take time to go.”

They didn’t have to worry about the ordinary security. Kinuhata Saiai had secured a line of fire by cutting out a square of the tempered glass window in an unlit rental conference room located on the bottom ten floors of a towering skyscraper.

Mugino set a device down on the table and got to work constructing and making adjustments. Altogether, it weighed 30 kilograms, so the plastic and aluminum table creaked below it.

Kinuhata was already fed up with it all.

She was wearing a frilly party dress and carrying a fancy handbag too small to even fit a bento. It didn’t suit her at all and she felt like she was dressed up for the Shichi-Go-San.

“It’s not like we’re going to be sneaking in, so is this dress really super necessary?”

“Illegal security like that will set up maybe three lines of security using plainclothes guards and parked cars around the building. Getting close without being noticed requires a disguise.”

Kinuhata twirled something on her index finger.

“Including these pervert butterfly masks?”

“It’s that kind of party – a masquerade. Think of it like the 16th century version of an anonymous hook-up app.”

Apparently Mugino wouldn’t be using Meltdowner this time. Probably because it was too powerful. Her ability wasn’t great for targeting an individual within a group.

Kinuhata’s role was support.

By aiming a directional gun mic at the distant party venue, the festivities within reached her earphone loud and clear.



“Those agrobuildings are going to make a fortune.”

“But buying an entire building is a steep initial investment…”

“Global climate change will be along soon. Then the price of fruits, vegetables, and grains will all rise without end. But anything produced indoors won’t be affected. By cheaply growing crops that can be harvested more than 20 times a year and then selling at those higher prices, you will make back that investment in no time.”

“If it doesn’t use natural sunlight, how will this building be powered? If fuel and heating costs also rise, then the profits will evaporate.”

“What does the price of petroleum have to do with Academy City’s wind power?”



Damn those masqueraded tuxes and shoulder-baring dresses. They were all discussing sketchy investment opportunities.

Academy City was supposedly a happy and blessed city, but that assessment was badly skewed by the average income and savings data of a tiny minority that made up less than 0.1% of the population.

The city showed off its perfect image by silencing the people who were drowning in debt and being threatened by blackmailers.

“The place is called the Ceremony Hall, right?”

“One of Japan’s unique church-like buildings that are not in fact churches. It’s used for weddings and such.”

Mugino didn’t even need to look through the binoculars equipped with targeting support functionality.

The white building was impossible to miss thanks to the powerful lights illuminating it from below. It stood out clearly from the surrounding darkness. It looked to be around the size of a school building maybe? It was supposedly meant to look like a church, but it looked sort of like a Greek temple to Kinuhata. Maybe a side effect of being made by science-focused Academy City.

“But it’s secretly also used for mysterious parties that can’t even be held at the extraterritorial embassies or consulates.”

“It’s not some super sex thing, is it?”

“This time it’s an auction. And not even one where they buy and sell humans. I believe it’s about the right to use trigger capsules.”

“Trigger what?”

“A drug that causes a painless death as peaceful as drifting off to sleep.”

Kinuhata’s focus shifted away from the gun mic.

She looked to Mugino and saw the #4 chuckling.

“Super really? These rich assholes have made enough money for multiple lifetimes and the final luxury they look to…is how to kill themselves?”

“I doubt many of them actually want to die right away. When people feel like they’re already dead – or like they can escape into death if things get bad enough – they can run their business much more boldly. It’s a hollow and suicidal thing, but the psychological effect does have some beneficial results. Haven’t you heard of rich people in other countries who have a handgun and a small bottle of whisky hidden in a desk drawer?”

“That super wasn’t just something the movies invented?”

Were they wearing those pervert butterfly masks for the masquerade in order to hide their sickly pale faces, or because those corporate executives couldn’t let anyone else see their weakness?

Either way, it felt like a concern from another world to Kinuhata.

It was an unthinkable luxury on the dark side where you would be ruthlessly killed if you got careless.

“Mugino.”

Takitsubo spoke over the radio from her position in a skyscraper located in a different direction entirely.

It probably wasn’t even visible from here.

“The target has emerged onto the roof. As per our intel, he is empty handed and appears to be receiving something from a drone to get it past the baggage inspection at the front entrance. Probably a weapon.”

“I have a visual too. Okay, let’s get started. Kinuhata, put the gun mic away. This is about to get noisy, so you’ll burst your eardrum if you keep listening in like that.”

“Super yeah, yeah.”

“It’s time, everyone. Frenda, say hello.”

“Takitsubo, stop rubbing my butt. In the end, I’m awake, okay?”

Orange sparks flew in the distance.

.50 caliber heavy machinegun bullets tore away earthquake resistant metal fittings. An air conditioning unit larger than a vending machine fell to the side, blocking the metal door leading back inside from the rooftop. At this range, Mugino couldn’t hear the sound of the metal being destroyed.

“Isn’t it super backwards that a big, full-auto machinegun can hit better than a specialized sniper rifle?”

“The gun alone weighs more than 35kg. Which doesn’t count the spare barrels and the bulky ammo belts. In the end, you’re about the only person who can run around the jungle or desert carrying this heavy-ass gun.”

Either way, this prevented him from reentering the building. Unless he could lift an industrial air conditioner unit weighing over 300kg, that is.

Mugino Shizuri switched her radio to a different frequency.

He didn’t have the equipment to do anything to them even if they gave away their position.

“Can you hear me, Private Casino?”

“Eek!? …No way. Is that…Mugino Shizuri?”

“And you would be the bookmaker who rakes it in through the gambles you run. Tonight you were taking bets on how many people would survive if a skyscraper went up in flames. Isn’t that why you’re there? …To set up the bomb you stole from where Frenda had set it up elsewhere?”

She was smiling.

Mugino Shizuri was grinning.

“I’m thankful really. I never did like the way you move money around using the deaths of ordinary people while insisting you never directly harmed them, but it would cause far too many problems if I killed a colleague who hadn’t made himself our enemy. …So I really have to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving us a reason to kill you without taking any blame.”

“Wait. No, wait! Yes, I took that bomb, but this will benefit Item in the long term!”

Mugino Shizuri ignored his plea and tapped her phone.

The 30kg mass on the table gave a roar.

Next, a muffled “bwoof”.

In the distance.

Something like a thick smokescreen spread out on the building rooftop. But that building was being used for an illicit night party, so the blast-resistant structure prevented any of it from reaching the interior. Meltdowner had ''too much'' penetrative power to supply so light a touch.

Unlike the Frenda-Takitsubo team, the Mugino-Kinuhata team did not have a sniper weapon set up.

Theirs was an automatic grenade launcher that fired 40mm objects.

And the grenades it used were not normal.

(Really, it’s probably partly because this wouldn’t be as fun if he died right away. The white phosphorus in there is highly toxic and burns the skin on contact. …I suppose he’ll be slowly smoked to death by the high-temp poison gas. This means this is super what would’ve happened to me if she found out about the bank robbery. Offense Armor isn’t all-powerful. Ugh.)

There was something severely wrong with the world since those were officially designated as smoke grenades rather than lethal rounds.

If she wanted to, Mugino could have continued firing and covered the entire roof, but she didn’t.

As large as the building was, its roof was still a limited space. No matter where he ran, he would still be caught in the white phosphorus smoke, but the longer he could struggle, the longer his terror and agony would last. The duct filters could apparently block the white phosphorus, so everyone inside the building would be safe.

“In Item, we do not forgive traitors,” murmured Mugino. Looking unamused.

She waited until the target had collapsed and ceased moving.

“If we head back now, it’ll be past three. How about a late night meal?”

“Meatloaf! In the end, I could really go for some meatloaf.”

“Eh? That super sounds like a specialty dish. Are any restaurants open this late?”

“Kinuhata, they’re having a special event at a gyudon place that stays open late. They can probably manage something with the hamburger meat they use for the cabbage roll and loco moco bowl.”

“You want to talk about ground meat right now?”

They weren’t cleaning up the body this time. Because this job was meant as a message to the dark side to keep anyone else from trying what he pulled.

“Okay, let’s contact his number 2 or 3 and have them pay us for our trouble. We gave them the top spot without them needing to bloody their hands, so while they might act furious, we all know they’re smiling on the inside.”

“Mugino, and if they refuse to pay?”

“Frenda can handle it. She blasts them with a drone and we contact the next person down the line. It’s all the same to us if it’s their number 4 or 5 who ends up paying us☆”

Mugino sprayed the barrel with a silver ion deodorant to get rid of the gunpowder smell.

Were they done now?

Kinuhata intercepted the radio signals of the security team that was only now starting to freak out.

“Won’t the others continue Private Casino’s super abuse of ordinary people’s deaths?”

“Only their leader did that. The other high-ranking members have their own nasty gambles, but that only takes dirty money from other dirty villains, so I’m quite fond of those. We can ignore the rest.”

Item had once again completed their job flawlessly.