Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

The lower levels of the fancy District 5 hotel were filled with restaurants and shops. You could find most anything walking around there.

But it wasn’t an ordinary shopping area, so there were some weird gaps in what was available.

That evening, Frenda Seivelun was screaming in a hotel shop.

“Nwohhhhhh! Th-they don’t sell ear picks here… In the end, you can find those in any 100-yen shop! Ahhh, the inside of my head itches so baaaaad!!”

“Places like this want to sell the products that let you enjoy a luxury lifestyle. Won’t they have a super hard time selling 100-yen products?”

“Surely we’ve got an ear pick somewhere in our room.”

They had all sorts of items in their hotel room, including brushes and hair ties. They had a brand-name hair drier, a large humidifier, as well as knives, pots, and a cocktail shaker at the suite kitchen counter. But was there an ear pick? Thinking back, the four of them didn’t remember seeing one.

“Why not super order one online?”

“I need it now. There’s no way I’m waiting until tomorrow! I can’t stand another second of this!”

And so they were forced to head out on short notice.

…They could have just sent Frenda off on her own, but Mugino and Kinuhata tagged along because they also had things they wanted to buy.

There was a taxi loading zone in front of the hotel, but they walked a bit further to reach a bus stop.

Kinuhata asked a question while boarding a large bus that made a big loop around District 5.

“Super where would they sell ear picks?”

“Literally anywhere else. In the end, even a normal discount shop will work!”

Did Frenda sound so impatient because of the super sketchy ad for a bunny girl ear cleaning salon playing on the LCD screen near the ceiling? Was that weird ad campaign a variation on the autumn moon viewing series of ads? Whatever the case, it was driving Frenda’s need for ear cleaning wild.

To provide for the many college students, District 5 had a fairly large discount shop. The chain was one found anywhere in Academy City, but this one was especially large and seemed halfway on its way to becoming a theme park. It had seven different entrances on the first floor, which seemed a little excessive.

“Ear picks, ear picks, in the end where are the ear picks…”

Frenda was muttering to herself like a starving animal as she made her way to the health products section. She was wobbling side to side as she went. Hopefully she wouldn’t start cleaning her ear before paying at the register.

The guide map said the place was three floors in all and the escalators were at the back of each floor.

“I’m gonna super take a look at the bath goods section. Will you be buying anything, Mugino?”

“Some cheap food. The salmon stuff at the hotel’s souvenir shops is meant to seem fancy, which means it’s all really fatty. That’s not bad, but after eating so much of it, I’m craving some dry flakes.”

Takitsubo Rikou whispered quietly in her ear.

“Mugino.”

Mugino wasn’t careless enough to turn in her direction.

She looked over at a nearby mobile accessory shelf to view the figure reflected in the clear plastic wrapping.

The girl was about 20 meters away and looked to be high school age. Her short black hair and glasses were her most notable traits.

She wasn’t wearing an armband.

But Mugino Shizuri saw right through that from the way she was standing near the exit and staying a short distance from the crowd so she could keep an eye on it all.



“That busty glasses girl… Is she Judgment?”