Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2 (section)

===Between the Lines 1===

Tokyo was their backyard. With the exception of Academy City surrounded by its wall.

They were on the sixth floor of a perfectly ordinary multi-tenant building. They had chosen the old and filthy building to give any possible visitors a chance to get scared and turn back.

“Ugh. The smell of blood is making me woozy…”

The groaning came from an elderly man in a pricey Italian suit.

Or more accurately, the head of the Mugino Family.

This was happening at the office that provided consumer credit at ''unthinkable interest rates''. Bloodline members would never directly involve themselves in illegal activities, including contacting, visiting, or even engaging in inter-office cooperation with one. …but things were different in the elderly man’s case.

A rusty smell filled the room.

Girls in classic maid uniforms were using a powerful bleach to mop the floor, but the smell hung in the air even with the source gone.

The family head sank into a leather sofa and called out to the elderly butler standing stiffly next to him.

“Mujinayama. How’s that old woman doing?”

“The bleeding has been stanched, so her life should not be at risk. Our medic Yamaarashi has confirmed it. It should be safe to transport her to an ordinary hospital via ambulance.”

“Then do so.”

The Mugino Family hadn’t done anything to the woman in question.

The old woman had visited the shady consumer financing office and slit her wrist. With the kind of large razor not often seen in the modern day.

She had said something about that being her “backup plan” if she couldn’t borrow any money here.

Her voice had been shaking with fear the entire time.

“A reverse mortgage, huh?” muttered the Mugino Family head.

That service allowed the elderly to use their own house as collateral so they could borrow a large sum of cash from a real estate agent or money lender on the condition their house would be sold upon their death. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but…

(There are some real estate agents who leave a lot of “loopholes” in the related contracts, leaving the client in a dangerous position.)

In At Home & Finance’s case, signing the contract to sell your house to them after your death would give you a large sum of money, but it was paid out in small monthly payments.

But if the elderly client died before the full sum was paid, the unpaid amount could be seen as a violation of contract and be treated as a scam, so the remainder would be paid all at once to a convenient family member.

That created a perverse incentive.

“No matter how it happens, ''if they die, their family is given a large sum of money.'' In other words, suicide pays big. And this is after the life insurance industry did so much to avoid this situation.”

And even after going that far, the payment would only be in the tens of millions of yen. That was certainly a sizable amount of cash, but it was a measly amount for buying a house in the city center. Ultimately, At Home & Finance knew very well that their elderly clients had only come to them after failing to get a long-term loan from an ordinary bank.

Mujinayama calmly continued his professional explanation. Which didn’t mean he didn’t have any personal feelings about the issue.

“That loophole in the contract was likely left their intentionally. Because it allows them to buy prime real estate at a convenient price and sell it for a profit. They end up paying less than a tenth of what it would normally cost.”

“I get that.” The elderly man pouted his lips like a child. “But why did that old woman want so much money that badly? She would have to die for it, so it obviously isn’t for herself.”

“She had a digital recorder with her. Although she used the old-fashioned method of recording the message by holding it to her landline phone’s receiver. It appears she was being threatened. Something about evidence that her grandchild was accomplice to a crime.”

“A blackmailer then? …That’s Academy City criminal lingo. Don’t they abuse people’s ID with the city’s…Bank, do they call it?”

“Because the method ''has yet to'' spread beyond that city.”

Did that mean this detrimental technology eventually would spread across the world?

(Oh, god. In a way, I feel like that city is the root of all evil. On a global scale.)

“What was the bastard’s name?”

“It was mentioned in the recording. They called themselves the Information Broker. Not much to go on.”

This was a further application of the method used by the former blackmailer.

Was the villain not satisfied with threatening ordinary people into committing crimes, so now they were threatening the victim’s family too?

“Is it spreading?”

“Probably.”

“I had a feeling it would. It’s not too surprising. It’s just that no one’s taking accurate statistics. We only see it as an unusual spike in the number of people showing up for loans this month.”

“A new crime must have been invented within Academy City.”

The old butler was not making a dark joke.

This was an important point.

“The family members outside of the city want to directly help their families, but that enormous wall is not so easily crossed.”

“And Academy City wants to preserve their clean image, so if anyone submits a complaint, they’ll just cover it up entirely. The very existence of the reports will disappear.”

The thick wall meant to protect the children of Academy City was instead putting them at risk.

Things like that happened a lot.

Being part of the legitimate world did not mean someone was safe. As seen in At Home & Finance and in Academy City, there were forms of righteousness that were even more bad for your health than the bleach splattered on the floor here.

“If they would only use organized crime to collect on those debts, then we could fight back in our own way.”

“Being entirely legal is their greatest selling point. They all know where the line is and make sure to avoid crossing it. I imagine they don’t want to get in a turf war with our shady consumer finance business that lends money at ''unthinkable interest rates''.”

Their business often discussed loan terms that would make the police raise an eyebrow if they overheard it. Hopeless people like handsome men who acted like they worked in a host club or self-proclaimed musicians would regularly be charged 10% interest every ten days. Despite what movies and TV would have you believe, kidneys didn’t sell for very much, so having it removed by a proper(?) black market doctor who didn’t accept insurance would leave you in the red. The Mugino Family was ''wellllll'' aware of this.

But…

“She was willing to sell her house and throw her life away for her family. And whatever their reasons were, her family member did get involved in crime. Nevertheless, she was willing to throw away her entire life to save her family. …Heh heh☆”

“Master? Your bad habit isn’t rearing its ugly head again, is it?”

“''How can I compare to that''!? As a human!! I can’t go that far. If anyone is foolish enough to break our inviolable rules, I will punish them, family or not. So I’ve lost to her as a person. And what else am I to do now? …That old woman who slit her wrist for her grandchild is an amazing enough person to single-handedly outdo the head of the Mugino Family. Someone that respectable deserves to be treated right.”

The elderly butler sighed.

He had been right. That bad habit was back.

But that was why all the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and executives followed that man.

“What do you intend to do?”

“Oh, a lot. But for now, let’s do something about her debt. After all, we provide consumer financing with unthinkable interest rates. I’d say 0% is pretty ‘unthinkable’, wouldn’t you?”

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