Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 5===

Back in the tourist hotel suite in the grown-up District 5.

What Mugino Shizuri most wanted at the moment was the live words of an expert.

Needless to say, the Mugino Family was an international gang with hundreds of thousands of soldiers around the world.

Thus, they wouldn’t go crying to the normal police if some money disappeared or someone died within the Family. That would mean tearing down their entire violent system to solve one measly case. Still, there were on occasion fools who would periodically sell information to the police (because they were being threatened or something). To reiterate, the Family would not ask the police for help when something happened.

So they had a different solution.

They had an internal investigation department that specialized in identifying and punishing traitors in their midst.

“If it’s too weak, there’s nothing to stop the traitors, but if it’s too strong, it turns into a dictatorship that wields false accusations and purges. …Mujinayama, you know how to handle these things just right, don’t you?”

“Sigh… I would have preferred you came to me for advice on how to prevent the betrayal from occurring in the first place, but I get the feeling it is too late for that.”

“Hurry up.”

When Mugino lightly rushed him, the mood changed.

His world – the vibe of the Mugino Family he had served for so many long years – pushed in through the cold mechanical phone.

“The standard countermeasure against betrayal in a system of violence is to prepare for it before it actually happens. You do not want to be running around in a panic after you have been betrayed and real harm has been done.”

“Right.”

Mugino glanced aside with the phone against her ear.

At the empty boxes for luxury brand clothing piled up in a corner of the room.

“''You don’t have to worry about that.''”

“Is that so? I would expect no less from the one who carries the weight of the Family’s future on her shoulders. I am relieved.”

That old butler did not flatter people for no reason. If she couldn’t think of any reason for the compliment, there had to be more coming.

His ever gentle voice quietly gained the sharp edge of a knife.

“However, you must not forget that suspecting your companions is itself a small betrayal. It is necessary for the maintenance of a system of violence that cannot rely on the official power structures, but it is by no means a praiseworthy thing.”

“…”

“And what if your suspicions of betrayal prove to be false? Shizuri-sama, betrayal and the response thereof are a sort of gamble. You are not a righteous detective investigating each suspicious individual until you find the criminal like a game of concentration. If you choose wrong just once, responsibility for that mistake falls on you. Investigating a traitor carries the risk of becoming a traitor yourself. You must never forget this when seeking the truth in our shadowy world.”

That was why the internal investigation department paid exceptionally well while being exceptionally risky.

It was known as the hardest department to keep balanced.

And this summed up why Mugino Shizuri had gone out of her way to seek advice from the old butler who had served the Family for so long.

Yes. If she could be sloppy and get it wrong as many times as she liked, she would have done it all herself.

But that wasn’t an option, so she wanted to know the etiquette and secrets the gangs used.

“It also depends on the severity of the betrayal in question.”

The old butler used that as a starting point.

He did not mince words.

So whether or not he included that phrase would likely greatly change the impression left with the listener. Even if Mugino Shizuri didn’t yet know why it mattered.

“Complete traitors are actually fairly rare. Most traitors move back and forth between the two sides, so they always carry some small feeling of guilt with them. It is always gnawing at them, even as they eat and sleep.”

“Are you saying the losers who can’t stand the pressure will blow up first?”

“No. It affects everyone of all sorts. Someone who truly cannot bear the impure feelings won’t bother with all those tricks and will make a full-on attack despite the risks. The family head is the type to do that.”

…Mugino Shizuri bluntly concluded that man’s way of life was unfortunately not very useful for her. After all, that freak had once armed himself, single-handedly stormed an embassy, and dragged the corrupt minister off the embassy’s grounds just because a small child had cried and asked him to rescue his grandfather (true story). If she asked that ridiculous man how to find a traitor, she could easily imagine him telling her to build up enough charisma that no one felt the need to betray her in the first place.

She wanted to discuss a more realistic way of finding a traitor.

“It is not always a lack of skill that leads traitors to leave small clues and make mistakes. There is a part of them that wants to be caught. That is why their pursuer notices their presence. Lady Shizuri, I assume you came to me for advice because you already have some kind of clue. What felt off to you?”

“…”

For one, why had the other three members of Item gone missing at the same time?

If those three wanted to do something behind her back, wouldn’t they leave someone behind to distract her and keep her from getting suspicious? Why hadn’t they done that?

How could she explain it from a standpoint of pure function and efficiency?

(Hm.)

“Now let’s circle back to an earlier point,” said Mujinayama. In a voice that would make anyone’s back straighten. “How far must a betrayal go before you can truly call it a betrayal?”