Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 8===

Evening had arrived. Alongside a main street was a space halfway between being a park and being woods. The space was outlined by so many skyscrapers and Takitsubo sat on the edge of a fountain there. She was toying with the small plastic bottle of tea she held in her hands.

And she quietly began speaking.

“A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko…”

“Super what is that supposed to mean?”

“They did have names, but they were more or less meaningless. Because the Advanced Lab at my school was something like a ghost story. The story said people no one had ever seen might select you based on undisclosed standards and you would suddenly vanish from your class with everyone being told you had transferred away. Your original name and identity would be erased and no one would be able to track down your new life.”

But it had really existed.

The organization had erased all traces of living people, including their names, and used them for experiments. The truth had been far more than the ghost story told for fun at the surface-level school.

Still standing, Kinuhata put a hand on her hip.

“And if you hadn’t done anything, that super would’ve happened to you?”

“All I did was take a peek inside.”

Takitsubo, who hadn’t become D-ko, smiled a little.

It was a somehow self-deprecating smile that carried many small wounds.

“The Advanced Lab’s goal was to boost esper powers. But not using methods that would be permanent in case of failure, such as messing with the esper’s brain or DNA. They used ''external methods'' like machines or drugs that could be swapped out if the situation demanded it.

“Originally even the school was experimenting with Body Crystal without knowing how dangerous it is,” said Takitsubo.

In that case, how had the Advanced Lab planned to use the already dangerous Body Crystal? The risk to the user’s life would have gone even further with them.

“I heard something caused the Superior Lab to fail before I was officially transferred there. I don’t know the details, but I think they lost some dark side power struggle. All four of the test subjects, including me even though I was still only there on a trial basis, scattered and fled, but only I screwed up and was captured alive.”

Screwed up. Captured alive.

The two phrases made an odd pairing from a dark side perspective, but apparently there was no deeper meaning there.

“They cared more about eliminating the organization and didn’t care all that much about me as an individual. I remember being fairly confused after I was dumped out into the honest world.”

Of course she was confused.

Nothing left people more at a loss than being told they didn’t have to do anything.

But if there was nothing more to it, then Takitsubo Rikou would have to face the honest world.

“I used to want to make quizzes,” said Takitsubo. “No, I don’t think it was that clear in my head. Maybe I would have been happy as a TV host or a museum worker. I wanted to be someone who explained things to people.”

Used to.

That meant it was no longer the case.

Something had forced her to give up on it.

“I lived as a normal person for a while, but it didn’t last long.”

“Did your old friends pay you a visit?” asked Mugino, seated on a nearby metal bollard.

Takitsubo nodded.

“It happened shortly before I met you.”

Takitsubo had always said Mugino rescued her when she had been arrested on false charges.

“A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko all seemed to believe it would fix their lives if they could revive the Advanced Lab. They seemed to view their painful past there as a special experience not available to ordinary people.”

Perhaps their psyches couldn’t endure believing anything else. Perhaps the Advanced Lab’s education and management had just been that effective.

“They wanted us to be a group of four. They seemed to truly believe that would make them whole.”

“…”

“The Advanced Lab wanted to restart its work, so they worked with those three. The adults were willing to do anything if it would allow their research to continue smoothly. When I returned from shopping one day, my room was gone. A dump truck had crashed into the first floor room. With my student dorm destroyed, I lost my standing at school. And those three even tricked Anti-Skill into arresting me for stealing the truck and destroying my own home. I don’t know why, but they said they found a dead body in my destroyed room.”

Those were the false charges forced upon her.

According to Takitsubo, talented students who rejected the Advanced Lab’s recruitment would be isolated and detained in that fashion. It was their usual method. They had a complete ''false charges manual''.

“And after falling that far, in the end Mugino saved you?”

“I had to sneak into the holding area to erase some data,” awkwardly explained Mugino.

The track suit girl kindly narrowed her eyes.

Item had begun as just those two.

There would have been time shared only by the two of them.

Still seated on the bollard, Mugino crossed her legs and sighed in exasperation.

“So does that mean they see Item as an enemy? For stealing you from them and completing the four person team they wanted to be?”

“I think so. Those three aren’t thinking about their individual skill or effort. They believe they failed because they don’t meet the necessary requirements and they blame the person who stole that from them.”

It was funny really.

It made Takitsubo Rikou sound like the flag that determined the winner in a game of beach flags.

Including the fact that what she wanted was ignored entirely.

“You super said these were your old friends, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then do you know what their powers are?”

To Mugino, Kinuhata, and Frenda, those three were a mysterious group, but not so for Takitsubo. She had a general idea of A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko’s powers. That was a major advantage for Item.

Seated on the edge of the fountain with her hands around the bottle of tea, Takitsubo Rikou gave the following explanation.



“A-ko’s power is All or Nothing. Whenever she succeeds in a cross counter, her enemy’s attack power is added to her own, damaging that enemy. The explanation is really vague on the physical front, so I think it’s actually a psychological power. Just as fear of a gun or bomb can cause bleeding from the heart, excessively powerful mental activity can cause actual physical harm. …She externally boosts her power by inducing self-hypnosis with flashing lights and aromas. She cannot lose as long as she can continue deceiving herself.”



“B-ko’s power is Territory Pheromone. The power is based on the scent of her hair. When her own scent particles mix with someone else’s, the microscopic structure breaks down and she can precisely detect their location. You can think of like a radar power centered on her own location. …She externally boosts her power with lifestyle optimizations, including her diet and sleep. The research is apparently trying to draw out her top performance by having her follow the optimal routine.”



“C-ko’s power is Composite. The power lets her adhere any two objects together regardless of their material traits. By sticking an enemy’s hands together, she can restrain anyone. And I believe she had several nastier ways of connecting the body. …She externally boosts her power through brain surgery. Machines smaller than grains of corn have been attached to the interior of her skull and their slight expansion and contraction can stimulate different values in her brain.”



Takitsubo paused there.

But she finally added another point that couldn’t be ignored.

“Also, A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko are all Level 4.”

“Is that super before their powers were boosted?”

“That’s right, Kinuhata.”

The track suit girl looked up from the edge of the fountain.

And breathed a heavy sigh.

“They didn’t cheat their way into being geniuses. They are geniuses who then cheated.”

What could they accomplish when shortening their own lives to forcibly boost their powers? Just like with Takitsubo’s Body Crystal, these Advanced Lab girls sounded different somehow. They weren’t just your ''average Level 4''.

“Also, this is all based on when I knew them…so be careful. I can’t predict how much they might have grown since then. Remember, the Advanced Lab is a research institute meant to push esper powers past their limit with machines and drugs. And technology advances fast. Especially in this city.”

“…”

“Although they also did research into ''intentionally lowering an esper power'' so that it could be fully controlled. You don’t hear about that often in Academy City, so I think that was what someone didn’t like and attacked them over.”

That explained the girls’ powers.

But what exactly did they do with those powers?

“I more or less remember their methods. They could have changed since I knew them, though.”

Takitsubo lowered her gaze to the ground, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

Or maybe she was looking to a past era.

“When they would leave the Advanced Lab to complete a dirty job, they would start by attacking the most crowded event in the area on that day.”

“In the end, is that supposed to be a large-scale diversion?”

“It could be Halloween or a graduation ceremony. They just wanted to cause enough casualties in a large crowd to trigger a large panic. Then Anti-Skill and Judgment would be too busy dealing with that to focus on anything else. Then they would, for a short time, have a lawless area where they were free to act. They used this to attack rival labs, assassinate VIPs who were preparing to reduce the lab’s budget, and so on.”

“But that method gets a ton of ordinary people involved, right? In the end, would the higher ups really allow that?”

“They didn’t allow it, which is why the lab was destroyed the first time.”

Takitsubo stated this as a plain fact.

It was all too convincing.

“And they still haven’t learned their lesson.”

Far too convincing.

Mugino crossed her arms while seated on the metal bollard.

“So their goal is retrieving Takitsubo and we’re just incidental, huh? So would the biggest event in this case be the Daihaseisai? But that’s so big you can’t really call it a single event.”

“It won’t be anything that covers Academy City as a whole. They will probably only want to affect a single district. Assuming they know where I am, this is the most crowded event nearby. The night parade. Particularly the riverside fireworks show.”

“Hm? Not one of the sporting events?”

“The stadiums and domes require seats and tickets, so they can only hold tens of thousands, but a free outdoor fireworks show will draw hundreds of thousands. Especially with so many parents and other ordinary people here from outside the city. This will likely have the larger crowd.”

“H-hold on,” interrupted Frenda.

She stepped toward Takitsubo, probably without realizing it.

“A fireworks show? You have to be kidding! In the end, you don’t mean the one on the riverside in District 7, do you? My sister will be waiting there!!”

Agreeing to meet up there early to beat the crowd had been a mistake.

Kinuhata tilted her head while performing some light stretches.

“Super how will they attack the fireworks show?”

Frenda was too worried about her 7-year-old sister to be any help.

Could she contact her sister by phone? No. An ordinary person would never believe that such great danger was lurking so nearby in the peaceful world they knew.

Mugino clicked her tongue.

“Fireworks shows these days are all program controlled, right? They won’t have time to check over every single one of the tens of thousands of fireworks tubes on the day of the show, so spending several days delivering and setting them up remains standard. …So even if someone swaps the fireworks out for a more destructive explosive, the people on site will have no way of noticing. Those girls won’t need a complex circuit board with a mess of colorful cords. An innocent person will press the switch of doom for them.”

“…”

“Frenda, our job is to stop this. If you still intend to do your job, then don’t underestimate the damage in your initial simulation. This is your sister’s life. Are you going to let her die for real because you didn’t want to see her die in a simulation?”

“B-but this is a big fireworks show. Won’t they super already have safety measures in place for accidental explosions? Like placing the launch site well away from the audience.”

“Frenda. Are you going to let us continue based on that mistaken assumption? I doubt we’ll save anyone if we do.”

“Ugh, fine. In the end, I get it already!!”

Everything Mugino said was so accurate Frenda wanted to blow up her mouth.

Irritated, Frenda kicked a metal streetlight pole and immediately hopped up and down holding her toes.

The tearful blonde girl sighed once as she brought a hand to her brow and brushed up her bangs.

Hanging her head, she spoke quickly and quietly.

“A directional mine that scatters small metal balls in a fan shape will turn everything within 50m into a sea of blood. A mine that hops up on its own and detonates like a parasol could send dangerous specks as far as 200m.”

“W-with super only one mine?”

“In the end, yes. And it only has to be as big as a small paint can.”

The fireworks that brought such delight could be seen as no more than explosives.

They were dangerous enough as it is…but bombs were commonly filled with metal balls, nails, and such to more efficiently kill people. Because that would create a solid wall of death by launching dozens or even hundreds of solid metal pieces at speeds greater than a handgun bullet.

“The fireworks show will only have safety measures in place for the flames and shockwaves produced by the explosives, so they won’t help against a bomb packed full of impurities. In the end, the launch site would need to be much farther away.”

This would easily destroy what should have been a happy time.

Defending was much more difficult than attacking. Especially when it came to explosives.

Plus, this show would apparently be launching tens of thousands of fireworks. They didn’t know the scope of the trap being prepared, but if every single firework were a trap, the number of victims would be truly nightmarish.

Frenda breathed a heavy sigh. She may have had some more specific estimates on that front.

“It looks like the fireworks will be launched from a sandbank in the river, but in the end, that isn’t nearly far enough away. …In the end, if a swap really has been made, then at least the front rows on either bank of the river will be turned to mincemeat.”

This would create an uneven distribution for the blast, which would be a problem if the goal were to slaughter hundreds of thousands of people gathered in a large space. But the Advanced Lab’s A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko’s goal was to cause a panic as a diversion to paralyze law and order, so they wouldn’t particularly care how many were killed. What they would want was to create some trouble that was as flashy and noticeable as possible.

Seated on the edge of the fountain, Takitsubo added to Frenda’s assessment with a face that was not expressionless.

“We can’t ''optimistically'' assume only the front row will be harmed. We can’t predict how many explosives they will bring in. And even if most escape the blast itself, how many will be knocked over and trampled to death when hundreds of thousands make a disorderly escape all at once?”

This was a diversion – preparation to provide ease of movement.

…The tactic was already showing an effect and it hadn’t even been executed yet. It was looking like Frenda wouldn’t be able to focus on the fight. As long as Item’s position made them defenders of the city, they couldn’t ignore the sabotage to the fireworks show. If they did, they could easily lose the trust of their higher ups and end up the ones on the run.

This was connected to major event in the honest world.

When Mugino explained the situation to the voice on the phone, she received a carefree response.

“Then you can go with that. Item will defuse the sabotage to the fireworks show and also punish those A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko girls from…the Advanced Lab, did you call it? Someone needs to show them the world isn’t that easy.”

“What, you aren’t sending any reinforcements? This goes beyond our filthy dark side. The bright and shining honest world is at risk.”

“I’d love to send some ordinary forces in, but that would probably only cause more of a panic in that densely-packed crowd. It’s always like this.”

It was irritating how right she was.

“Don’t ask to have the fireworks show canceled at this point either. A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko will hear any official announcements, so that would only provoke them.”

“They only care about causing chaos,” said Takitsubo. “It doesn’t matter to them if their bombs don’t go off. I think they would only change plans and show up equipped with masks and guns to fire indiscriminately into the crowd.”

So ordinary people would end up killed regardless.

In fact, the bombs might actually be easier to deal with.

Mugino could only speculate, but it was possible those girls had planned it that way.

This would split up Item, allowing them to possibly be picked off one at a time. Adding more personnel would only work against Item. So despite knowing about the enemy’s trap, Item would have no choice but to split up just like the enemy wanted.

The enemy was in control.

It was like a curse. If they couldn’t break free somewhere, only death and destruction awaited them.

Suddenly, a quiet question left the track suit girl.

With the tea bottle squeezed in her hands.

“But why the law-evading murder infrastructure?”

At first, Frenda froze in her standing position.

She was unsure what Takitsubo meant.

They had found so much new information at this point that DIY Garage felt like old news.

Frenda operated her phone and checked her notes and album even though she hadn’t recorded anything new.

“You mean that thing A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko bought? Well, in the end, it’s an attractive item for anyone up to no good, don’t you think? If devices that let you kill anyone you want without being found out were being sold off at clearance, I’d definitely grab one. Maybe a second one too just to have a backup.”

“That’s not what I meant… The Advanced Lab already has their false charges manual. They can frame a stranger and get away safely, so they shouldn’t need a mechanical law-evading murder infrastructure.”

“Hm? Now that you mention it…”

Mugino frowned atop the metal bollard.

They had to know that buying a product like that in secret was risky. That was why they had hired those three sisters to blow up the lab along with DIY Garage and his records once the purchase was close to being discovered.

But they didn’t seem to gain anything from the product that warranted the risk.

They already had a way to dispose of corpses, so why would A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko go to the trouble of buying it?

“The law-evading murder infrastructure is valuable, but the purchasers themselves don’t benefit from it,” said the voice on the phone. “But in that case…wait. Could it be that-”



''Bang ba-bang!!



Mugino stood up from the bollard.

A few dry gunshots rang out. Through the small device she held. The phone produced uneven static for a while before finally falling silent.

“Wait…super what was that?”

“…”

“That was the voice on the phone, right? Even we super can’t reach her! Why was the higher up shot in her safe zone before we were attacked on the front line!?”

“Is this why they wanted the law-evading murder infrastructure? Instead of needing it themselves, they sold it to someone else. ''They made sure they had the bargaining chip they would need.'' And in exchange for solving the ‘worries’ of a guilty VIP with the same privileges as the voice on the phone, they received some location information they couldn’t normally get their hands on!”

Item was a group of criminals who lived on the shadowy dark side, but they were unofficially supported by Academy City. However, things changed if they couldn’t contact the voice on the phone who was meant to hold their reins.

A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko of the Advanced Lab had removed Item’s support and now it was time to enjoy the hunt.

Item was isolated.

“What do we do, Mugino?” asked Takitsubo.

“I don’t know if the voice on the phone is actually dead or not. But even if she is, we should be assigned another intermediary. We can go into hiding until then and-”

Just then.

Right next to Kinuhata, the metal bollard Mugino had been sitting on was crushed like an aluminum can.



By a 20-ton semi-trailer truck.



The enormous bumper caught Kinuhata’s small body and more dragged her straight down than knocked her forward. That was as much as the others could follow.

Only a terrible rumble of destruction followed. The truck cut right on across the park without slowing down. The impact must have opened its container because it left a few round shapes on the ground.

It had begun.

In a way, did this count as a greeting?

Still standing, Frenda couldn’t even manage speechlessness as some words spilled from the corner of her mouth.

“I-it’s…in the end, it hasn’t even been three minutes since the voice on the phone was taken out!!”

“Kinuhata.”

“If her power is real, that won’t be enough to kill her! Now scatter!!”

Several pairs of footsteps echoed out.

They didn’t have time to check where the others were running to.

At the moment, survival was their top priority.

They had no idea where an assassin might be hiding. It didn’t even have to be a person. What if the coffee they ordered at a cafe had poison or bacteria in it? Could a lantern or bug zapper fall from someone’s balcony? A buried gas pipe might rupture and trigger a massive explosion. How could they predict, be aware of, and avoid every single threat!?

“Pant, pant!!”

After reaching a gap between two buildings, Frenda Seivelun finally stopped and caught her breath.

She discovered she was alone.

No, it wasn’t that she had gotten separated from Mugino and Takitsubo along the way. They had intentionally run off in different directions to begin with. They still didn’t know what had become of Kinuhata. Frenda doubted a truck hitting her would kill that girl, but if the enemy was focusing on eliminating Item’s high-level espers, then they might have made a further attack on Kinuhata.

Item was scattered.

Without the support of the higher ups, even their connection to the support group was gone.

And the unseen enemy was hunting them as a group and team. Kinuhata had Offense Armor to help her, but Frenda was a Level 0 and would be easily killed if caught by surprise. She didn’t usually focus on it, but Frenda was ''Item’s only ordinary human and thus had the greatest chance of dying when things went south''.

That was why she couldn’t just obey Mugino Shizuri’s instructions.

A Level 5 might be able to survive (using the thorough brute force methods that battle freak preferred), but thoughtlessly following along would only get Frenda killed. Easily killed.

So.

She had to calmly, calmly, calmly…''think this through like a villain.

(To be blunt, can we even defeat this opponent in a fight?)

If not, that was fine. Knowing they couldn’t possibly win would help her when coming up with a plan. In other words, she would run away. But she had to remain calm. Was running away even physically possible? Where was her 7-year-old sister right now? Was she already at the site of the fireworks show? Was there any way to locate a single person in a crowd of hundreds of thousands packed in like a train at rush hour and then take them safely out of the city? If not, she would just have to prepare one. She had plenty of her own Level 0 options left. Like her phone’s GPS and her plastic bottle drones. So should she go with that?

Once she thought through it that far, a chill ran along her spine.

A baseless thought suddenly entered her mind.



Be careful.

Choose wrong here and you really will die.



“…”

This wasn’t a simple choice of going left or right.

This crossroads and decision was about what kind of villain Frenda Seivelun would be.

Just as she started to take the easy way out, she took a single step back.

Settle down.

Stay calm.

Truly calm.

(The enemy outplayed us and split up Item as a team. Including the voice on the phone. That much is true, but they wouldn’t go to the effort if they were confident they could beat us without doing that.)

That meant the outcome wasn’t so obvious.

In fact, it meant Item had the upper hand. Whatever the enemy tried, if Item could remain firm as a united team, that alone would scare the enemy group. Feeling like they were facing an extra large piece of unexploded ordnance, the enemy would hesitate. So Frenda couldn’t make a rash decision. When Item had the upper hand, it would be foolish indeed to steer toward destruction for no reason.

The situation was certainly bad, but she still had options. Even if those options felt like narrow and unreliable paths. So as close as it was, this wasn’t the worst case scenario yet.

If she couldn’t see that fear, she just had to define it. Mugino Shizuri, Takitsubo Rikou, and Kinuhata Saiai. Only when she was forced to truly abandon those three would she call it the worst case scenario. And even if that did happen, nothing Frenda could choose could avoid the path to slaughter and she wouldn’t be able to protect her precious sister.

And with that worst case defined, she could prioritize the vague dread surrounding her and the many other formless options spinning around her.

In conclusion, her situation here was…

Scary.

Yes, it was scary. But…

“''In the end, that woke me up.''”

She raised her head.

She had recovered. It had been a close thing, though.

She was aware of that.

Being at a precipice didn’t mean she had to betray her teammates. And she didn’t have to worry over who to rely on to watch her back. When she was in trouble, she could lean on them. She was certain of it. How blessed a life was this?

Also, how could she run away on her own? Say she did grab that 7-year-old’s arm, forcibly escape Academy City, and ignore both the fireworks show and the other victims. How far would she have to run? Across the wall and into the outside world? Could she actually manage that? And even if she could, what proof did she have she wouldn’t be pursued out there as well? Constantly choosing the safer seeming option would only increase the possibility of her sister being hit by a stray bullet.

She had to throw out the negative thinking that told her evasion was the best option.

She had to win and secure her safety.

If the other Item girls were still safe, then wherever they had run after scattering, they would all be heading to the fireworks show in the end.

So Frenda again raised her head.

And began running on her own two feet. She knew where she had to go.

She couldn’t give into the fear. Doing that was what would take her to the worst case scenario.