Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume16 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 6===

School was out for the day.

During an ''uneventful'' walk home, Kamijou Touma’s shoulders slumped.

The online news appearing on his phone was as crazy as ever.



“Today’s traffic news: A 2km traffic jam has formed on District 7’s south main road. It is the result of nearby criminal activity, so it shows no sign of clearing up soon. If you are in a hurry, we recommend taking the train.”



“We have several reports of mysterious figures sighted off the road in the mountain forest of District 21. During entrance exam season, there tend to be more people climbing to the summit to pray for their friends’ exam success, but do not grow complacent just because it is a relatively short mountain. Make sure to submit a climb plan beforehand.”



“Real time tragedy! Excitement near the District 7 train station! Watch out for a rampaging exam student!!”



“Ugh. It’s even on the online news. Some student going nuts in front of the station single-handedly knocked over the statue everyone uses as a meetup spot. The damage has gone beyond a slasher film and reached the level of a disaster film. Can I even get back to the girls dorm with that educated kaiju on the loose?”

The same news was scrolling by on the large screen of the airship floating in the evening sky. The reporters were clearly getting lazy if they were relaying the online news instead of heading out to report on it themselves.

But since Kamijou wasn’t in a club, if he stayed at school for too long, he might gather the attention of Anti-Skill or Judgment. He doubted the exams were still being taken, but they might suspect he was a “technician” trying to sneak into a classroom being used for the exams tomorrow so he could hide illicit notes or a small device. And Mr. Misfortune’s nerves about those false accusations would only make him act weirdly, which would get him caught for sure! It was time to head home!!

Academy City had schools all over.

This area felt so quiet he felt a little lonely. There was no one around even after school had let out.

Was that because of the entrance exam season?

He heard some voices shouting in the distance. Was that a sports team jogging around the school grounds? That was his guess, but then an indoorsy group carrying a ton of camera equipment ran past him with Anti-Skill in hot pursuit. They were running full tilt. He guessed they were a manga club who had braved the unfamiliar outdoors in search of reference photographs and then set off their camera’s flash toward the engineer’s cabin of a moving train.

All of the afterschool clubs had a shortened schedule during the entrance exam period, but apparently some of them were continuing their activities outside the schools. And that wasn’t just the athletic clubs.

Kamijou Touma realized he had just accepted his lack of a club as normal.

He apparently hadn’t been in one even before losing his memories, so he guessed he was just the type who couldn’t stick with anything for long…

“Can I just return to the girls dorm now? No, I can’t.”

His room in the girls dorm had no kitchen. A single microwave oven would probably change his life in that room considerably. But a quick search on his phone told him prices on those had skyrocketed with the addition of new features like grilling and toasting, so buying one on a whim wasn’t feasible.

Once out on the main street, the city was flooded with people. Maybe a lot of them were wandering around without a clear destination in mind like he was.

“Oh.”

He spotted someone familiar from behind in the crowd.

Someone he knew so well he didn’t need to see her face.

One was a small student council president with a bunny-like ribbon on her head. The person walking next to her was harder to recognize from behind, but that was probably the glasses boy.

They were from another high school where his school had borrowed some unused classrooms when their own school was destroyed.

(That school feels like home too. When I picture it in my mind, it feels so familiar.)

He didn’t find a chance to call out to them and just watched them go.

But if he needed to talk with them, he could call them up on his phone. He didn’t have pressing enough business to search them out after they vanished into the crowd.

Just as he thought that, his eyes met those of another familiar face.

This wasn’t Misaka Mikoto.

The weird goggles on her head, the absence of any emotional light in her eyes, and her harmless and obedient behavior told him this was probably the Misaka Sister.

She was a mass-produced military model of Academy City’s #3 Level 5, Railgun. But those clone girls had failed to reach the original’s level of power output and were forced to live a challenging life. This one in particular was Sisters Serial Number 10032.

After meeting her eyes, he couldn’t just watch her go like he had with the others.

He was drawn to her.

Come to think of it, hadn’t he seen her on the streets around this time yesterday?

“What are you doing?”

“It is the black cat’s walk time, explains Misaka.”

“…Again, what are you doing? Cats return home on their own after patrolling their territory. You don’t put them on a leash and go on walks with them.”

“Nevertheless, the cat does not return to the hospital where we live, rebuts Misaka. Because the cat is stupid.”

“Is that a sign of affection or an insult, Misaka Sister?”

Kamijou stared into the distance.

…Was she following the cat as it walked through narrow alleys and along fences? What a waste of her athletic abilities. Maybe she just had nothing better to do.

But at the moment…

“Now stand by Misaka’s side so we can walk arm in arm, says Misaka as she requests permission and approval.”

“Why!?”

“Misaka has always wanted to walk home from school with a friend, says Misaka as she explains her objective.”

“Well, if that’s all…”

The Misaka Sister wore a school uniform, but she didn’t actually attend school.

Kamijou might think nothing of it, but not everyone had the opportunity. So he couldn’t rob her of the opportunity when it did come.

Not everyone valued treasures the same.

Not everyone would feel the same happiness when given a giant diamond.

She wanted to walk home from school with a friend.

Some treasures took that form. That was true.

Kamijou Touma needed to understand how precious these normal, natural, and ordinary things were. Because he had already died to protect them. And that death hadn’t been to protect only the perfect and flawless answers.

“That makes this a date between lovers,” said the Misaka Sister with a firm expression. “Without a doubt.”

“Bff!! Why do you have to think about everything in such extremes!?”

The pointy-haired boy was shaken to his core, but the Misaka Sister was being her usual self.

She wrapped her arm around his and wouldn’t let go.

And she was extremely soft and warm!!

“What roundabout route will we be taking today? Surely you aren’t going to suggest we will not be grabbing something to eat, says Misaka as she checks on every last thing. Yes, yes.”

“Is your idea of ‘walking home’ to wander the streets forever? …But if we are going to stop somewhere, let’s make it a home appliance shop. Or maybe a discount store where they would sell the super cheap models that have been stripped down to the bare minimum functions.”

“Thinking of purchasing a 180 thousand yen clone girl?”

“I’m talking about a microwave!!”

Besides, a high school first year wouldn’t have an extra 180 thousand yen in his budget.

To continue his life in the girls dorm, he badly wanted a microwave oven in his room for cooking retort pouches and frozen foods. And as cheap of one as he could find. Which store would be best to check?

When he was about to change course, the black cat mewed while obediently following after them.

And something exploded.

Or so it seemed to Kamijou.

“Hold on…”

A cloud of smoke rose in the distance.

No, that was probably a person.

A boy.

(Come to think of it, didn’t Komoe-sensei explain that exam students often start running amok in town after checking the answers published in the newspapers and online?)

Someone flailing his arms around had flipped over a mid-sized truck illegally parked in the station plaza. It was a thoroughly decorated truck, so the destruction sparked a lot more than necessary. If this was his answer to a single illegally parked truck, that guy must have been hell bent on showing off his righteous spirit no matter what. When a man who appeared to be the driver stepped out of a convenience store, he stared in shock. He held nothing in his hands. No matter how pressing it had been, Kamijou thought he shouldn’t have used the store’s bathroom without buying anything.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!! What the hell, you rampaging exam student. Attacking trucks isn’t going to improve your score, you know!?”

Then the Misaka Sister spoke, as expressionless as ever.

“If he comes this way, Misaka will blow him away with a 12.7mm anti-materiel rifle, says Misaka as she prepares for self-defense. Keeping the cat safe is Misaka’s top priority.”

“That’s taking it too far. Pets might be family, but I don’t think the law lets you kill someone to save a cat. Besides, assembling an illegal weapon doesn’t count as self defense!! You don’t actually have one, do you? Please tell me you’re not carrying around an illegal gun. Look me in the eye and tell me, Misaka Sister!”

Also, hadn’t the bunny president and the glasses boy walked in that direction? Just a bit before? They hadn’t been caught in this and sent to heaven, had they!?

Something flew over Kamijou’s head and toward the center of the issue. Probably an amateur news streamer’s camera drone. Sending them out in a densely populated area was against the rules, so professional reporters actually wouldn’t do it. Someone so focused on views they had nothing else to lose was a scary thing.

And the rude camera lens must have displeased the rampaging exam student because the sounds of destruction only grew.

The bigger the story the better for the news streamer, so that might have even been intentional. Kamijou just wished they wouldn’t get everyone in the area involved too.

Kamijou had hoped to check out the closest discount shop for a super cheap microwave, but now he had to turn around. He had no desire to approach that hopeless disaster zone full of death and destruction. The drum-shaped security robots were really nothing more than moving security cameras, so they weren’t much use when the good citizens of the city were caught in some kind of physical trouble.

(Well, it’s happening near the train station, so there should be an Anti-Skill station nearby.)

“This is Anti-Skill!! Put your hands up and get down on your knees! You can’t escape with so many cameras on you!”

Kamijou breathed a sigh of relief when one of the justice bringers came running and raised her voice.

But the rampaging esper suddenly changed direction.

Kamijou’s eyes met with the Japanese Boy’s.

And if the fleeing criminal was looking right at him…wait? Was he coming in this way!?

“I get it’s too dangerous to fire with so many people near the station…but please Anti-Skill! There are plenty of small side roads you could be guiding him onto!”

Was this the result of Kamijou’s misfortune?

The running boy shouted with spittle flying.

“Ohh, outta way, damn, move, asshole!!”

It saddened Kamijou that he managed to understand what should have been a meaningless string of words. Did this mean he was the same as that guy?

The rampaging esper powerfully raised his right arm. The motion was more like swinging down a big blunt object than throwing a punch.

The pointy-haired boy’s bangs fluttered up.

Because the air had moved in front of him. …Was that really something you could do with a single arm?

“Khh.”

Kamijou’s eyes widened.

His life was fairly seriously at risk.

(What kind of power is that exactly? He flipped a truck by hand, but is this really just a simple case of boosted strength? If it’s actually telekinesis, he might be able to use it as a projectile.)

“Noo!?”

Kamijou shoved the Misaka Sister out of the way.

He heard a voice from overhead.

He rolled along the ground with the clone girl. To the side. It was important to carry a spirit of compromise.

Then the pursuing Anti-Skill officer reached for her holster and drew a handgun loaded with rubber bullets.

“Oh, no. I can’t let him harm any civilians. Eh heh heh. So I have no choice but to fire!!”

“Wha- are you stupid!? Why would you actually fire on the ground!? And why do you look so excited about it!? This is supposed to be a peaceful country!!”

Scared by the sound of gunfire, the rampaging exam student took a hopping slide to the side.

Which brought him straight toward Kamijou and the Misaka Sister.

Thanks to Anti-Skill’s unnecessary action (while thoroughly enjoying this official duty), the rampaging esper was headed straight toward them even though they had actually rolled out of the way.

Don’t hop! You don’t have a bunny theme going on, do you, you violent exam taker!?

Kamijou couldn’t let the clone girl or the black kitty get caught up in this!!

It was time for the usual: putting himself in harm’s way to make sure things worked out.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, such misfortuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuune!!!”