Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item7 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 3===

The School Garden, District 7.

Afterschool arrived just the same even for the most prestigious of schools.

It was evening.

The girls leaving the school building all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Their horoscopes and planetariums were common topics of conversation, likely because of the astronomy event.

A gentle atmosphere surrounded it all.

One girl carrying a flat school bag and an instrument case was part of the same crowd, yet seemed somehow different.

Unlike the other girls who were gathered in small groups like water droplets on a window, she alone remained isolated.

She was Yumiya Rakko, a dark side sniper.

(Sighhhhhh… October is almost over. The year is coming to a close. When am I going to finally make some friends? I’m nothing but rotting garbage…)

Friendships formed naturally. A group of friends would gather around you without any conscious effort on your part.

The people who saw it that way already possessed a form of talent.

It was hard to tell because there weren’t any exams or report cards like there were for the subjects taught in school, but social skills were in fact a skill. You were never taught how to work at them or practice them, but they still influenced the quality of your school life more than anything else.

Her life was gray.

Even in this sweet-smelling school for high-class girls.

(No, no, this is an opportunity. Winter is about to start, which means winter sports! Our school has a skating rink, so if I do some figure skating and stand out beautifully twirling on the ice, I can make friends and become the center of our class, our year, and our schoo-)

“Yumiya Rakko.”

“!!”

It came out of nowhere.

She turned around in surprise to find someone already within five meters of her.

An expressionless track suit girl was leaning against the sort of brick wall found everywhere within the School Garden, staring over at Rakko. There was no anger, hatred, or any other emotion in her eyes.

(An outsider? But the School Garden is more strictly guarded than your average research lab.)

“How did you get this far inside? Did you have a mapper map it out for you? Including everything from the flow of people to the locations of the security cameras?”

“How do you think I did it?”

She remained emotionless.

Rakko decided this girl was trouble.

They were conversing, yet she couldn’t get any useful information out of her.

“Not even the dark side can get in easily. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”

“…”

“The only reason I didn’t do this when Hanano was caught was because I decided the hostage would be at risk if I got too close and caused a stir. But things are different now. You have no shield, which gives me more options.”

Someone who could suppress their emotions during a deadly battle was truly dangerous.

It was highly unusual for Rakko to find she ''didn’t want to be friends with'' someone.

(Who in the world is Hanano? We are enemies. She gains nothing by letting me know the name of one of her people, so why mention that in front of me? Wait, am I caught in the middle of someone’s pursuit of revenge?)

She was already in the palm of someone’s hand.

That unpleasant sensation reached her from the track suit girl. Intensely.

“You are a dark side sniper and, because you’ve been playing around a little too much, you were fifth on this week’s list of assassination targets. Oh, I did refuse the job, so no hard feelings. I’m not here to demand anything in return for that either. I simply want the cooperation of someone from a category we lack.”

The noise of the crowd rapidly faded from around Rakko.

This was the School Garden, a special area jointly funded and constructed by five prestigious girls schools. Making an appearance here was not a good idea for a dark side member.

At least, ''not in a way that anyone would notice''.

“I don’t know who you are, but as another dark side pro you must know that our public lives are meant to act as cover but that doesn’t make them meaningless. It takes a fair amount of money and effort to maintain a safe and comfortable environment. Barging in and ruining all that…sounds like you’re asking to be killed.”

“If I couldn’t see you, I would probably be helpless.”

Tracker Takitsubo Rikou did not have any direct deadly power like Mugino. Nor did she have an unbreakable shield like Kinuhata. Ordinarily, she shouldn’t have been standing in front of a dark side sniper.

But she kept talking regardless.

“But I can see you and that changes things. As a pro you must know that a sniper’s luck has run out once her location is known. Do you really want to do this here and now?”

“I can remove myself from your sight quickly enough. Hell, I could even gouge out those silly eyes of yours to make sure you never see anything ever again.”

Takitsubo’s shoulders remained relaxed.

A quick motion of her fingers revealed she now held a glass container about the size of a tube of lipstick.

It only contained a small quantity of a clear, jelly-like substance.

The track suit girl whispered.

“Night rabbit fever.”

“…”

Rakko’s gaze sharpened further.

…That girl really was dark side through and through.

The track suit girl emotionlessly waved the glass container.

“I’ll take that to mean you’re aware that is ''a world-famous biological weapon'' that’s manufacture, storage, and use has been banned by international treaty. But this is Academy City, so it isn’t hard to get your hands on anything that can be scientifically created.”

“You’re bluffing…” quietly said Rakko.

And she focused on her uniform’s sleeve.

Her weapon used compressed gas, so it could kill that girl without making a noise.

“Compressed gas.”

“Kh.”

She saw right through it.

No…

“It can be chlorine or hydrogen peroxide, but by filling the glass container with gas to increase the pressure, even a single tiny crack will make it burst and scatter this particulate slime over a wide area. In an open outdoor space, a radius of 100m will be at risk in just a few seconds.”

Her empty hand – or the hand that had been empty – now held something.

It looked like a small perfume bottle, but its nozzle was even thinner than dried pasta. If the rubber stopper had a small safety valve, then compressed gas stored at high pressure and low temperature could be injected.

Rakko knew where all of Takitsubo’s vital points were – between the eyes, the thick arteries running from the heart to her limbs, etc. – but as easy as it would be to kill her, she couldn’t stop that glass container from shattering after it fell.

If Takitsubo was only now going to inject the compressed gas, would it be better to shatter it now?

No.

(I don’t know what’s already inside the glass container. She might have already injected the gas!)

“Like I said, you’re bluffing. The dark side might be lawless, but indiscriminately killing innocent people will still get you ''purged''.”

“I see. Are those the rules you operate under? Sounds simple enough.”

“Kh. You would be making an enemy of everyone in Academy City, dark side or not. Living as a villain takes some brains, so you wouldn’t be so reckless now!”

“Night rabbit fever’s genetic structure prevents it from spreading from person to person. Unlike the plague or the variant bird flu, the scope of the infection is easy enough to control.”

“Spreading a deadly microbe in a public location is over the line regardless! Because ''this city doesn’t actually care about people’s lives.'' You live in the darkness, so you must know it isn’t the deaths that will get you assassinated – it’s the harm you would do to Academy City’s clean brand name. So that’s only a clear gelatin or agar inside that container!!”

“''But your outside view as a sniper doesn’t give you any way of proving that convenient and optimistic speculation.''”

The corners of Rakko’s eyes twitched.

Bull’s eye.

She was a sniper, not an analyst or biologist.

And if that really was night rabbit fever, allowing the glass container to fall to the ground and shatter would cause devastating harm within the School Garden. Within ten days of infection, the victims would come down with headaches, high fevers, and ulcers across the body. Rakko had even heard of ulcers forming on the eyeballs. And this would all be happening to the peaceful princesses who were always laughing happily with a hand held elegantly over the mouth.

The risk was too great to make a gamble.

Of course, everyone would make a different choice when faced with a crisis and there was no single correct answer. They might not respond logically. Some people would make the gamble while fully aware of the risks. But that was not the type of person Rakko was.

And the other girl knew that.

(This is her first try, but she isn’t showing any hesitation at all. She’s dealing with vague ideas of psychology, yet she isn’t at all afraid of me acting on a whim. Which means it isn’t vague for her. Has she already built up a solid picture of my psychology?)

That girl really had thoroughly researched Rakko’s traits and weaknesses.

Physically speaking, Rakko could kill her three times over in a single second…but she couldn’t actually do it.

She had been checkmated before the fight even began.

Takitsubo’s eyes must have possessed a talent on par with Rakko’s as a skilled sniper.

Rakko sighed softly.

“What do you want from me? If you want me to kill some pain-in-the-ass, then you could have gone through the Voice on the Phone.”

“Oh, you have a Voice on the Phone too? Probably a different one from us, though.”

“?”

(Mine has done such a poor job of guarding my information I’ve decided to move to another team, though.)

“What I want is what’s in your head. You don’t need to do any physical work.”

What reason did Rakko have to believe that?

And then…



“Oh, hello, Yumiya-sama. How do you do? Are you on your way to the dorm?”



It came as a complete surprise.

From right next to her.

(Hawahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!?)

“We were thinking of going to get some sweets together. Would you like to join us?”

A girl in the same uniform as Rakko’s had noticed her and greeted her for once.

And with the sharp senses of an information expert, the dark side tracker instantly shifted her focus in that direction.

(Ugh…but this is my chance!!)

Rakko consciously held her breath and ''smoothly'' moved all her joints. She placed the fluttering of her hair, the muscles below her skin, and the creaking of her bones under her control.

If Takitsubo looked away even for a second…

If Rakko could reach a blind spot…

Rakko could blend into the background so thoroughly not even a wild animal could detect her and never be spotted again.

Even if she was within three meters of her target.

A true sniper would have no trouble tricking a puny creature that had abandoned her instincts in the smart life of the big city.

If she could grab the wrist of the girl holding the glass container, she could fire a million bullets into her with her other hand.

(You barged into the School Garden – my territory – and even threatened the lives of my future friends, buddies, BFFs. You will pay for that crime by having bullets tear away all your excess flesh!!)

Rakko silently smiled and slid to the side.

And then she abandoned her principles.

Her voice escaped her lips.

Unintentionally.

“Ah.”

Their eyes met.

Takitsubo really had turned her head to the side. Her right eye was directed at the girl who had spoken to Rakko.

But ''at he same time''…

The track suit girl’s left eye rolled independently in its socket to pierce right into the center of Rakko’s face as she tried to vanish into the background. Like she was being pursued by a swiveling smart machinegun.

She couldn’t escape that lock.

(What…kind of world does this monster live in!?)

Item’s tracker didn’t do anything special.

She simply repeated herself.

“''Do you want to try this where I can see you''?”

“…You’ve made your point.”

Rakko then turned toward the girl who had spoken to her.

She smiled bright and bowed.

And provided a lie constructed in her head at Mach speed.

“I do apologize, Sazanami-sama. This girl was my upperclassman at my previous school and I have promised to show her around.”

“My, my. I had no idea. Some other time then. We must hang out next time, Yumiya-sama!”

Despite the disappointment in the girl’s voice, she left quickly enough. She found some other friends and joined up with them. And walked toward a sweet street lined with luxury cafes and bakeries.

Rakko breathed a deathly heavy sigh as she watched her go.

Her tiny back seemed to say not being able to join that schoolmate weighed far heavier on her than the fate of the world or her own life.

(Hawahh…)

Rakko held back the tears and turned toward Takitsubo.

Her words were dripping with hatred.

“Let’s get down to business. What do you want my help to do? You said this isn’t about blowing some pain-in-the-ass’s brains out.”

“Like I said, I want your opinion as a pro.”

“About what exactly?”

“An optimal sniping position.”

Takitsubo laid out the conditions.

“A distance of 3000-4000. Using homemade explosives, but you can think of them as roughly equivalent to a 120mm mortar. The launcher is fixed to the ground with stakes and the launch itself is controlled remotely. Thus, identifying the launch site based on the sound will not lead us to the bomber.”

“I’m going to assume tracing the source of the signal won’t work here. What else?”

“To eliminate this bomber, we need to predict where they will set up the launcher in advance. So I want your eyes and brains as a pro sniper. If we know where they will place the launcher in order to fire a rocket on our hideout, we can launch an attack of our own. Right?”

“Oh? What makes you think that?” interrupted Rakko.

Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

Eliminating Morning Call required predicting rather than reacting. That logic had to be correct. Or did Rakko think there was a way to find the bomber by reacting?

“You aren’t stupider than I could have imagined, are you?”

“Right back at you.” Rakko grinned. “Preparing a fixed rocket launcher and firing an explosive from long distance? It’s the same as mahjong tiles. ''You act like you’re looking for tiles that won’t help the enemy and discarding them to avoid playing into their hand, but you’re actually revealing everything one tile at a time.'' It’s a series of bluffs.”

“Oh, you play mahjong? You can find three other people to play with you?”

“~ ~ ~. I may be setting a new record for friendlessness each day, but I can still play all the mahjong I want alone against the computer!”

“That would explain why your idea didn’t seem much like mahjong. Did you start playing because it was one of the preinstalled games no one wants when you buy a new computer?”

“Well, I wanted it. I know it’s not the same as real mahjong played against other people, but it still gets me through the lonely nights when I want to die! When you don’t have friends, you take what you can get!!”

Why did that girl feel the need to pursue this so far?

If she understood Rakko’s psychology that well, she had to know how badly this hurt her!

Did that level of understanding not change the fact that an enemy was an enemy?

She needed to be more considerate.

“P-people find comfort in information they gather themselves. You can easily imagine the system behind it, you assume you know what will happen next, and you believe you have a complete understanding of the enemy’s mind. So it can be hard to notice that understanding was designed by the enemy and you’re following the path laid out for you. Everyone puts on an act during a serious match. (E-even if you are only playing against the program…) If you’re being misled by a mistaken reading of your opponent’s discards, you will get ron’d when you least expect it. …In fact, I hope that happens to you! Your ‘unlike you, I actually have friends’ aura pisses me off so much, you stupid friend-haver!! Sniff, wahhhhhhhh!!”

“But what would mean…”