Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 4===

A firefighter training ground was an unfamiliar place.

Kinuhata had trouble deciding where any specific rooms would be located. The fake structures on the surface couldn’t be all of it, so there was likely more underground.

Now, where would that evil boss be?

“Can we super determine what floor and room they’re in base on Kitchen Car’s movements?”

Kinuhata knew that was asking a lot.

The grounds were large and there were probably lots of underground pathways connecting different areas. What they could see from the outside wouldn’t be enough to fully track Kitchen Car.

But Frenda sounded cheerful as she used a cable to link her phone to a panel on the thick wall surrounding the grounds.

“In the end, check this out, Kinuhata. The security camera records are just gone.”

“Does that super mean the Information Broker is using this place in secret?”

“Then what about this third floor special observation seat? I’m guessing that’s a VIP room for instructors to watch all the trainees and keep score, but the sprinklers have been turned off there.”

“Kitchen Car was transporting cooking equipment along with their ingredients, right? They can ventilate the smoke with a hose connected to the air conditioning vent, but the heat of the fire will still be a problem. So what if they want to use an industrial high-heat gas burner or oven outside of a proper kitchen?”

“You mean they would have to super switch off the sprinklers and fire alarms? Then they must be in the third floor VIP room!”

They were already in enemy territory, so they couldn’t use the elevator which could act like a dead end. It was only three floors up, so they took the emergency stairs.

“Takitsubo-san, the plan was to pit the Information Broker and Mugino against each other, right?”

“Right.”

“But how do we super call Mugino here?”

“In the end, do we even have to? Mugino will never forgive a traitor. She’ll track us down here on her own. We couldn’t hide from her even if we wanted to.”

However, they couldn’t relax just because they were using the emergency stairs instead of the elevator.

A wire crossed the path at above knee height, the most likely height for someone to hit.

Laying several layers of traps would also narrow the trap-layers freedom of movement, so they would only do it if it benefited them. …Hopefully this meant the enemy didn’t have enough personnel to have regular human patrols.

“Have you noticed, Kinuhata?”

“Yeah, I have. These traps are weird. They’re using the bare minimum of flammables like gasoline while using a super ton of oxygen tanks and air circulators.”

Kinuhata wondered if that was to avoid breaking the laws against weapons and bombs, but setting up any kind of explosive with the intent of causing an explosion violated the law anyway. Reducing the amount used wouldn’t get you off the hook in court.

The Academy City Bomber explained in exasperation.

“They’re using oxygen to guide the flames. Have you never heard of tactical ventilation? When firefighters enter a burning building, they will methodically break windows and doors to let air through and, in the end, guide the flames where they won’t hurt anyone while the firefighters complete their rescue. They will also sometimes intentionally increase the intensity of the fire elsewhere to prevent backdrafts and flashovers. But if you wanted to, you could also create a flamethrower-like blast of fire and bend it in an S-shape.”

They all exchanged a glance.

…Firefighters. Frenda had said it herself, but apparently even she hadn’t expected the phrase to pop up here.

“In the end, this is a training ground for them, isn’t it?”

“Super umm, can rescue squad people go bad too?”

“I’ve never heard of it, but it could be. They’re trained to break down doors and enter buildings above the ground floor, so they do have some abusable skills.”

“They also sound strong. In the end, they’d definitely make big burly troops.”

The three continued up the stairs while on the lookout for traps.

After reaching the third floor hallway and cracking open the steel fire door, they sensed a presence.

They spotted someone big and burly.

Kinuhata could defeat him with Offense Armor, but his identity was a bit of a mystery. Looking like a bad guy didn’t necessarily mean you were one. People sometimes behaved in weird, illogical ways. He might just be an ordinary body builder who had snuck into the former training ground (unaware of the traps) to get a workout there, so Kinuhata and the others waited until he had walked past before slipping out into into the hallway.

Takitsubo’s nose twitched a little.

“I don’t detect an appetizing aroma.”

“In the end, the room with the most suspicious electricity usage is the third door on the right.”

Then they would start there.

Kinuhata had assumed there was only one third floor VIP room, but it turned out there were several. After pressing her ear to the door and listening for any activity inside, she slowly opened the door.

“What is this super place?”

She found a dark room.

It was about the size of a larger convenience store.

The opposite wall was made of glass to provide a view of the outdoor training ground, but Kinuhata was more interested in something else.

LCD monitors lined one section with pricey-looking office chairs in front of them. More than half the space under the desks was taken up by what looked like industrial computers.

“Did the firefighter training ground also super teach them how to respond to emergency alerts and operate their radios?”

“This might have all been brought here after the fact,” replied the track suit girl.

The right and left walls were covered by steel racks packed with paper files thicker than brick blocks.

Takitsubo scanned the entire room with emotionless eyes.

“Frenda, let’s check the paper.”

“In the end, why not the computers? Paper documents don’t even have the bare minimum of a search option.”

“I don’t want to touch the computers when we don’t even know if they use a password, fingerprints, a security key, or facial recognition. We might get it locked down or even trigger an alert to their boss. The paper is better. I’ll handle the shelves, so you two check the ones around the desks.”

“Ughh. In the end, a note with their password written on it would be too much to hope for, wouldn’t it?”

“If they’re unlocking it every single time, there must be some kind of mark or hint,” said Takitsubo even as she walked over to the shelves.

All that information felt overwhelming to Kinuhata, but apparently it looked like a treasure trove to their search expert.

“This data is related to a vulnerability,” said Takitsubo as she flipped through something like a thick manual.

Kinuhata tilted her head. What kind of vulnerability?

“The wide variety of videos and articles strewn across the internet are automatically fact checked for accuracy…but there is no system in place to fact check the fact checking.”

“???”

“It’s complicated, but in short there’s a loophole in the network monitoring system. By converting a file to the fact checking file extension, it can slip right past Academy City’s automatic checking system. The legitimate files are 512 kilobytes, so anything larger than that would be detected as illegitimate, but you can fit a ton of text in a file that size.”

“Super so what? What happens if you can slip something past it?”

“You can send unchecked electronic data in and out of the city. Using the official fiber optic lines while ignoring the dedicated systems entirely.”

They all fell silent.

Hold on.

“Wh-what are you saying? That, in the end, all the city’s classified data on next-gen weapons and esper development could be leaked outside the city!?”

“…”

Instead of responding right away, Takitsubo took a look around the room.

She blinked a few times.

“If they are selling technology like that, why isn’t any of that data here?”

“Now that you mention it… They super have a loophole they could use, but I haven’t seen any data they could sell, like the plans for a stealth fighter or a Level 5’s DNA map.”

“So in the end, what is Norsitro hoping to do with that super convenient joker in her hand?”

That was when Takitsubo’s head shot up.

The search expert was looking off in an odd direction.

That was a warning sign.

“Kinuhata. Frenda.”

“Yes?”

“Watch out. The enemy is coming.”

The door burst open from outside.

Frenda immediately leapt behind a big decorative plant and Kinuhata moved in front of Takitsubo.

A girl entered flanked by two large men. They of course recognized that silver hair and dark skin.

That was Information Broker Norsitro Chatellenie.

Her phone’s wallpaper had shown her in a towel, but now her body was tightly bound by a leather belt, miniskirt, and big boots that were a glittering neon green with silver thread woven in. It was probably meant to be a bondage outfit.

“Oh, hey. You were right, Matsuzawa-san.”

“I was lucky.”

“All we had to do was leave the ‘call center’ unlocked and unoccupied and they waltzed on in here like a bunch of roaches. Incredible.”

“Milady. Shouldn’t you compare them to something more appealing, like rhinoceros beetles?”

“Is that more appealing? You must like the outdoors, Haranaka-san. They’re both just shiny black bugs to me☆”