Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item7 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

“District 11?”

In the District 15 broadcast tower’s observation deck hotel, Mugino Shizuri asked a displeased question.

That was the distribution base for the city’s land routes.

In other words, there was little there aside from cargo containers stacked up like pyramids. Mugino was the wealthy sort of criminal, so she didn’t get all excited thinking about harbors and warehouse districts at night.

“That’s right, Mugino. It looks like Morning Call’s lab is disguised as one of the containers there. That district is popular among elementary school students as a giant hide-and-seek field. Do you want to see one of them find something they shouldn’t and trigger a big explosion?”

Takitsubo’s plainly stated explanation made Mugino grimace.

The look on her face said it wasn’t fair to attack her like that.

“…How did you locate it?”

“Morning Call seems to have hid ammo dumps and labs here and there across the city, but all facilities will fall into disrepair if they aren’t used for long. An infrastructure maintenance manager appears to go around to each of them. She must have gone to a few different contractors and ''talked it out''.”

“Hm, Frenda prefers to do everything herself so that is a very different tactic.”

Of course, that was because having someone else do it created an opening for betrayal. In a bomb making lab, a small bit of sabotage could cause a gas leak which triggers a major explosion. Even without specialized knowledge, someone could kill their employer by randomly swapping out the labels on two chemical test tubes both containing a clear liquid.

“How did you track down the manager Morning Call was using?”

“In every industry, you find a limited number of reliable people. It didn’t take long to find them by starting at the top of the list and working my way down.”

There were underground businesses that gathered all the data around without having a specific target in mind.

Like the Keysmith who photographed people’s analog key from a distance and then made 3D printer data based on them. Or the Biocollector who gathered up fingerprints from railings and elevator buttons around the city, hoping to create a master key that could open any fingerprint scan lock. Basically, some people would secure a vast amount of data without choosing a target and then search through the massive database when some of that data was necessary.

Had the manager been storing up their clients’ data in the same way?

…That they didn’t realize their gathered data could bring a crisis just as easily as profit proved these were second-rate criminals.

“Also, the odds are good the reward Morning Call received from Quarterback was left inside a container there.”

“Oh, you mean the vintage leather jackets, boots, and that kinda thing?? As a way of getting money through the city’s gate without it looking like it?”

Kinuhata started to say something but stopped.

Something must have bothered her.

She looked over at Frenda Seivelun.

“…”

“That’s weird. Frenda-san usually super leaps at a chance to talk about money.”

“Eh? O-oh, in the end, it’s nothing…”

And so they set out for District 11.

Once this task was complete, the entire job would be done with.