Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth1 (section)

===Part 6===

After grabbing a simple breakfast of toast and a warm vegetable salad in the restaurant they were using as a dining hall, Mikoto descended to the Izanami’s maintenance hangar.

When the United States fighters joined them, they had dropped all their missiles into the ocean to show they had no intention of fighting, but luck was on their side.

Tokiwadai had taken in a few United States Mi-26 (girl) transport helicopters who happened to be lost in the night sky. Needless to say, they had been stuck with nowhere to return to after their units had been destroyed by the Ruler.

But they were big.

Just one of those bus guide girls could carry 85 soldiers at once. (By Tokiwadai standards, that was more than an entire year of students.)

Their large 8-blade main rotor was on the center of their back and the smaller tail rotor was on their ankle. The round cargo space was split in two, attached to their side joints, and held under the arms.

“Whew, thank goodness you were here. If you will look to the right, everyone, you will see we have finally found a heliport!”

“Go to Landing Ship Izanagi’s heliport! You would dent the carrier’s landing runway! You’ll damage it!!”

Kongou understandably yelled at them, eyes wide.

These were the world’s largest helicopters with a maximum weight of well over 50 tons. And their more than 20 tons of cargo was mostly United States ammunition. Now the MiGs and Sukhois could join the fight.

In fact, a few new Girlish Weapons were gathered in a corner of the maintenance hangar and whispering to each other.

“Ehh!? Your body’s all shiny. How did that happen?”

“Heh heh. They gave me a water repellent coat.”

“The food is good too!”

“It turns out we get the princess treatment if we get exported.”

Mikoto recognized them as the (race queen) Su-47s and (miniskirt figure skater) MiG-35s who had been brought down by the Ruler. After she had moved northeast into the United States, someone from Tokiwadai must have retrieved them. A helicopter wouldn’t be able to lift them, so they must have used one of the giant hovercrafts in the landing ship.

(There were also a lot of land Girlish Weapons, but I guess there’s no way for a carrier to get at them. A shame they had to be left there.)

“…”

“…”

Also, YF-22A and the Su-57 were silently glaring at each other in the maintenance hangar. At extreme close range. Those stealth fighters of two world powers apparently saw each other as rivals.

However, Mikoto wasn’t all that interested in the Girlish Weapons (whose continued carefree attitude showed just how tough they were mentally).

(I know it was necessary, but I put the Shinshin through a lot escaping the Ruler. Is it alright? The mounted railgun even exploded from within.)

So Mikoto had intended to bow her head to Kongou Mitsuko to get the girl to fix the Shinshin. But…

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have nothing to worry about. Just leave it to me!!”

The black-haired girl held her head high with considerable confidence.

Mikoto kept to herself that she was afraid the girl would get carried away.

“Now that we have identified a problem, fixing it will be easy. The problem is the thick shockwave formed when used in ordinary atmosphere, so we only have to modify the projectile.”

“Modify how?”

“Like a rocket or missile. I’m saying we make it sharp and aerodynamic!!”

That seemed like the first thing you would want to do. Was it not that way already? These basic oversights were what made homemade solutions so terrifying. On the other hand, a dumdum or hollow point bullet with a railgun that size would be horrific in its own way.

“The mounted railgun doesn’t use rifling to rotate the projectile as it is launched, so let’s add some stabilizer fins. While we’re at it, let’s use some heat resistant paint to deal with the friction heat. This will increase the precision and the effective range, making it all the more perfect!!”

“Umm. So you only have to mess with the projectiles and you can leave the mounted railgun itself alone?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t just launch anything you want as long as the caliber is the same. Of course the barrel needs to change when the projectile changes. We have to readjust everything from the ground up. What could be more obvious?”

“…”

Resist.

Misaka Mikoto, you aren’t a child anymore, are you?

Completely oblivious, Kongou proudly pushed out her (rather large) chest.

“We are about to see a next generation Kongou Airlines air defense weapon. I call it the Mounted Railgun S!!☆”

“Now hold on. How many versions are you planning to make?”