Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter3

Even the bright midsummer sun felt somehow cool inside Tokiwadai. It was a carefree world free of crime where the little birds someone had fed were relaxing on the windowsill.

A quiet scraping sound filled the room.

Silver-haired art club girl Inoue Laspezia sat on the sofa engrossed in her work. She used the kind of work magnifying glass that attached to the forehead and wore an apron over her summer uniform. Some might have thought she looked like a cute squirrel, but no one would be smiling when they learned she was working on creating a bloody ashtray as counterfeit evidence.

(I need as many cards in my deck as possible so I can help Kaede.)

She had always been good at lying.

Her adorable appearance, trouble making jokes, and plain whispery voice had helped make people trust her. Everyone had looked down on her and assumed “that boring girl” couldn’t lie and would be easy to manipulate. None of this had been intentional on her part; it had all been a miraculous combination of factors.

What would have happened to the boy who cried wolf if he fooled everyone to the very end? Inoue Laspezia was the answer.

Her parents.

Her teachers.

All of the adults.

It had been like a magic spell from a picture book that let her bend them all to her will. When the young girl had learned to use it, no one had ever scolded her for it, so her malice had only grown. It had been all the worse for how pure and innocent she was. When she shouted “a wolf is coming”, it was enough to send a silly adult to their doom.

She hadn’t wanted money.

She hadn’t resented anyone.

Inoue Laspezia had simply enjoyed the looks on their faces when a single silly false accusation against an adult so much stronger and older than her would cause everything they had built up over their lifetime to come crashing down.

It was such a common desire that it was found in a fable from more than 2000 years ago.

But it was also a villainous act that no one should have been allowed to actually commit.

(Phew.)

Maybe that was why she loved figurines. She also liked the works they were based on. In other words, she was an otaku. The residents of the 2D world never changed no matter how much she lied. They never got mad and they were never deceived. She could never be so open with anyone else. If it weren’t so easy to buy life-size body pillow covers of her favorite characters from the internet, she figured she would probably have kept a corpse in cold storage instead. …The only problem was how bulky those covers were even when rolled up like a scroll. Especially when she inevitably found a new favorite character each new season.

As anyone who had folded a 1000-yen note to play with the famous person’s face can likely imagine, one’s love can be shaken if their body pillow cover gets a crease in it. But if you carelessly iron it, things can get even worse. They fade, twist, and wrinkle so easily. They required a lot more delicate care than a resilient pet.

The pillows had a life of their own.

(Hmm. I know Kaede doesn’t like how much space they take up, so maybe I should finally switch over to VR. Then you just need the one blank body pillow you can touch and hug and the VR adds in whatever image you want. The data won’t deteriorate or take up extra space. On the other hand, you need the equipment, the hookups, enough space to move around in, and the initial setup sounds like a pain.)

“Hey.”

Waniguchi was back.

Inoue chose that as a good time to remove the magnifying glass from her forehead.

The 12-year-old executioner felt a need to resupply at the convenience store once every three hours. Inoue felt that was only the result of Ibotanokikouji spoiling the girl. What she wanted changed based on her mood, so she couldn’t just buy it all at once.

Waniguchi was supposedly an MMA fighter who wasn’t satisfied with the official matches and joined the deadly underground fights…so it was strange how dependent she was on the chips and sodas sold at the convenience store. Meatheads usually only ate protein, chicken tenders, egg whites, and raw vegetables.

“Don’t keep the refrigerator open too long. My jellied broth is setting in there.”

“Oh, you mean the stuff that’s way too bland?”

“Keep saying that and Kyoto will eventually fight back.”

"Does Kyoto transform or something?”

Waniguchi pulled a giant cup of blue condensed milk flavor shaved ice from the bag. You apparently heated it for ten seconds in the microwave to melt it just enough. Then she pointed at Inoue’s forehead.

“You’ve got paint on your face.”

Despite the warning, Inoue did not reach up to touch her face. She couldn’t let her guard down just because she was wearing thin gloves. If she got some ''red AB-type iron paint'' on her fingers, it could get all over her. She stopped working and made a mental note to use her small bottle of turpentine later on.

Waniguchi cackled.

“You’re a mess. This is the problem with you indoorsy art club types. How is it you have such a great eye for aesthetics and are so obsessive over making your artwork perfect, but you don’t give a single thought to your clothing or even your posture. Keep stooping over and whispering all the time and the Chief will lose interest in you.”

“Is that so, Aiyose Hiyoko-chan?”

“S-stop! I’ve thrown out that name! I have a much cooler ring name now!! Even the Chief said she loves it!!”

Waniguchi Nokoba quickly held her arms up in an X-shaped defensive stance.

That name apparently qualified as a counterattack.

The mood of the room changed drastically when Ibotanokikouji wasn’t around. These two were all over her, but wanted nothing to do with each other.

The nature of relationships differed depending on who they were with.

“Anyway, where’s the can opener?” asked Waniguchi. “Hello? The can opener? The thing you use to open cans?”

“How stupid do you think I am? I know what a can opener is.”

Inoue set down the small metal file in her right hand, grabbed another tool from the table, and tossed it over.

It was an enormous knife in a synthetic leather sheath. The end of the guard had a claw-like protrusion that could be used as a can opener. Of course, it could also be used to split open an enemy’s forehead in close combat.

Waniguchi caught it one-handed, but then she noticed something.

“Wait. Isn’t this the Chief’s knife?”

“…”

“You swiped one of her things and took it to your room ''again'', didn’t you!? You always do this. Whenever she gives you the opening, you sneak off with her underwear or handkerchief or something.”

2D was the best, but it had no scent or warmth.

And if the pillow smelled like Ibotanokikouji, then whatever Inoue did with the 2D character didn’t count as cheating.

“Say what you like, but I always clean up the evidence, leave it as good as new, and return it before Kaede notices, so you have no proof of anything.”

“What the hell!? And all I ever do is sneak into her bed when she’s away!!”

“…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Are you going to fess up, or do I have to call Anti-Skill on you?”

The arguing continued.

Maybe she wanted to get in the way of Inoue’s work, but Waniguchi stuck around while she drew the large single-edge knife from the synthetic leather sheath and pressed the guard against the edge of the can. She easily got the lid open. She wasn’t just accustomed to doing this. She worked as fast as a sewing machine.

“Didn’t you go to the convenience store?” Inoue sounded a bit exasperated. “And do they even still sell cans you need an opener for?”

“The discount mackerel cans tend to need an opener. And the entire stock has a tendency to just vanish, so they’re weirdly in demand. Also, these old-fashioned canned fruits are the best toppings for shaved ice. The Chief told me about these mandarin oranges soaking in this toxically thick syrup!”

Young Waniguchi brutally licked her lips.

After opening the can, she flipped it upside down and shook it to add her own extra topping to the convenience store shaved ice. Then she added some highly carbonated cider. It was a brute force strategy where she used her youth to protect her against all the sugar. And what had happened to melting it a bit in the microwave?

Waniguchi began mixing the giant shaved ice using the thick plastic straw and spoon the store had provided.

“So how is that girl doing?”

“She’s stopped making any noise, but I think she’s still alive. I removed anything she could use to kill herself.”

“Are you sure? Did you remove her teeth? She could bite her tongue or tear out a thick artery with those.”

“Didn’t we have this discussion already? Just like sticking her head in the sink to drown herself, the odds of her trying it are too low to worry about.”

But she still did go check on Ibotanokikouji’s new friend.

Inoue set her incomplete artwork down on the newspaper laid out on the table, removed her gloves, and rubbed moisturizer on her fingers. The way she scowled at the sound of crunching shaved ice, she may have been concerned some water droplets would end up on her art.

But Inoue’s silent glare only motivated Waniguchi to pour even more cider on and gulp down the half-liquefied shaved ice. She must have forgotten all about the canned mandarin oranges because she started choking, earning her an even harsher glare from the art club girl.

The two of them walked down the long hallway.

The mood changed the instant they opened the door.

Inoue frowned a bit at the hot, humid air that wafted out. It was like arriving in a stranger’s room. And that wasn’t entirely inaccurate. A certain girl had been trapped in there for a week now, so her scent would naturally have started to take over.

A weak groan came from the room.

In a girl’s voice.

“Uh…”

That was Hanano Choubi.

The room was structured like a prefabricated bath, but it had no window, the shower hose had been removed along with any other equipment that could be used for suicide, and the faucet had been wrapped tight with wire to keep it from turning. The tile floor was damp from the humidity and the long-unused electrical outlet was covered in dust. Her hand was handcuffed to the pipe on the wall.

Waniguchi put a hand on her hip.

“Why are we going easy on her? If we really want to lay on the pressure, we should shut off water to the toilet too.”

“Do you want to clean up after that? When we’re having so much trouble with corpse disposal already?”

Violence was not the only card capable of tearing down someone’s psyche and making them obey you like a robot. Pain was just one of the cards that made people’s circumstances impossible to bear. If you dumped them in an environment their sensibilities refused to accept and removed all avenues of escape, their internal logic would easily collapse.

For example…

A week had passed since July 7. For that entire time, she hadn’t been able to take a bath, change her clothes, or even change her underwear. For a teenage girl, that alone would feel impossible to bear.

They didn’t need to torture her or even lay a finger on her.

In these circumstances, keeping her clothes on actually increased the discomfort.

Those two had caused more than their fair share of suffering on the dark side, so they understood this well.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice that perfume you sprayed yourself with back there,” said Inoue.

Hanano groaned and her shoulders shook.

“But it was really obvious because it didn’t fit your plain look at all. That stuff was too grownup and expensive for you. Just so you know, I broke it all down with a special biological solvent I have, so not even a trained dog could have followed your trail.”

“And that goes for those toys the Hound Dogs use too,” added Waniguchi with a “kee hee hee” of laughter.

Her expression said she loved shattering people’s hopes.

“That was the only trick she tried,” whispered Inoue. “Kaede said she might make for a teammate with some interesting skills, but what do you think?”

“Who can say. I bet she wasn’t looking past the girl’s appearance. She can’t get enough of the terrified mouse type. But it’s not my decision. And I never said I would always obey every one of the Chief’s orders.”

There was no panic or irritation in Inoue and Waniguchi’s voices.

They didn’t think Hanano would really be their teammate.

If they could win her over before the support organization was back, then she would be. If that didn’t work, they would kill her. They were assuming they would end up killing her and they could just stop working if a miracle did occur.

They had no real pressing reason to keep Hanano alive.

Nor would they gain anything by cruelling torturing her.

They didn’t even need to attack Mugino to eliminate that threat – going into hiding would work just as well. Then they could add onto the frozen bank account to gradually tighten their grip around Mugino’s throat. If the others on the dark side realized they had a chance to attack, those others would do the dirty work for them. They didn’t even need to get Hanano to reveal any of Mugino’s personal information or the location of her hideouts.

In fact, they were hoping to kill her and throw her out as soon as possible, so any excess injuries to the future corpse could turn into unwanted evidence.

But all of that was based on a logical analysis of the situation.

None of that meant much when to someone with a short temper who wouldn’t want to leave an enemy prisoner alone after one of their own was killed. Plus, what if they spared Hanano now and she betrayed Kaede?

“If she won’t listen, why not just strangle her?”

Chained Hanano’s shoulders jumped.

The 12-year-old girl may have been enjoying the effect her words were having on the older girl. She smiled belligerently and kept going.

“Constrict her carotid artery and she’ll be out in less than 10 seconds, but get the windpipe and she’ll suffer a lot longer. You can make her experience the fear of drowning. Do it just right and her stomach will go nuts too.”

“No. You’d enjoy it too much and end up crushing her neckbone.”

“I mean, yeah, but you’re pissed too, aren’t you?”

“Kaede does not want revenge.”

“Again with the Chief.”

“You say that, but you will obey her here, won’t you?”

Hanano’s gaze bounced back and forth like a tennis umpire. Probably because her life was on the line here. She looked truly pitiful.

Then again, this conversation was primarily being used to lay the pressure on her.

This Item had its own support organization, but those convenient workers had been called away for an emergency task. That meant they could not be relied on to dispose of a body, so killing was best avoided.

Kaede had gone out of her way to supply this secret hideout. Think of it like an article of clothing their sweetheart bought them. These girls wanted to avoid stinking up the place with a corpse.

“When do you think those underlings will be back?” asked Waniguchi.

“Who knows.”

“God, a hostage that doesn’t make us a single yen is such a waste of space. How long are we going to keep feeding her? I guess this demonstrates how necessary the support organization is.”

“Are they all that necessary, though?” Inoue rejected that conclusion while whispering down toward the floor. “You say we can’t kill her because you don’t want the stench and rotten corpse juices all over our hideout, right? I can’t stop the actual progression of decomposition, but none of the particles that cause the smell can escape if I strip her corpse naked and coat her in a thick layer of varnish or paint. It’s like packing food in rubber or plastic. We can leave the solidified paint doll in a corner of the room and wait until either the support organization returns or we have the money to pay an expert in cleaning up decomposing corpses.”

A few concerned noises escaped Hanano’s mouth. She had thought the humiliation would at least end when she died, but apparently not.

But she could not bring herself to speak in full words.

Whatever she said, she feared expressing any kind of clear will would send her in an even more devastating direction.

“Can you do that, art club?” asked Waniguchi.

“With Kaede’s permission.”

“If this girl poses any threat at all to the Chief, we should do it right away.”

“It might sadden Kaede, so we should wait for now.”

That was the line between them.

Inoue and Waniguchi glanced toward the door at the same moment.

Ibotanokikouji was not there. She was meditating like she always did. Which in her case meant holding a selfie photoshoot in front of the large mirror while using herself as a dress up doll. It sounded silly, but she had slipped out of Tokiwadai’s strict student dorm for this. She was very serious about it. If she was ever interrupted, she would get after them quite severely, so they had to be careful.

Finally, Waniguchi cracked her neck.

“Chief doesn’t seem too interested in what we’re up to.”

“I do not want to do anything without her express permission. I do not want her mad at me.”

“Yeah, your crocodile tears never work on her for some reason. Even though they’re so shocking even I’ll stop my fist when I see them.”

“Hee hee. That’s what makes her so interesting. She is the only person in the 3D world I can’t fool.”

Of course, violence was Waniguchi’s job. She would clench her fist and destroy someone’s joints in the same way some people would grab the vacuum after spotting some dust or a stain on the floor.

That said…

(The quality of an artist’s work depends on their motivation and mood. It’s so much easier with us athletic types because we’ll do what you say as long as you punch us and give us an order.)

“Hm,” groaned Waniguchi.

She stared at Hanano.

Smiling to try and smooth over an awkward silence was said to be a reflex for the Japanese. Hanano was no exception. It had nothing to do with whether or not she was happy and, in this case, it may have been more of a defense mechanism to avoid angering her captors.

The Colosseum executioner nodded.

Inoue didn’t even have time to stop her.

The little executioner needlessly slammed her fist into the center of the hostage’s face.

Hanano’s choking and sobbing sounded somehow wet. Her breathing may have been clogged by her own blood.

“Are you trying to anger me?” asked Inoue.

“My bad. That ‘you don’t dare touch me’ look of hers pissed me off☆ Does she think she’s some VIP just cause the Chief likes her?”

“Did it have to be her nose? The blood splattered on the wall and the floor. This is going to be a pain to clean up.”

“That’s your main issue? I get the feeling you’re even more pissed off than I am. Cause she’s stealing time you could’ve spent with the Chief.”

Waniguchi casually apologized while leaving the room being used as a cell.

Inoue put her hands on her hips.

“You just returned from the convenience store, right? Did you do a check around the entrance?”

“Just because there are only so many ways in doesn’t mean they’re going to go for the front door. Not even I want to be anywhere near all those traps.”

“Kaede put together those traps, but I worked hard to hide them. Hee hee. Which means it was a joint effort, doesn’t it? In an old war, they apparently painted explosives to look just like coal or rubble and placed them around enemy territory to incite a panic.”

“Damn perfectionist.”

“I guarantee you that no one will notice the high-low mix Kaede and I made.”

“So will they go for the rear entrance? Or they might look for another path we didn’t even consider. Or dig their own hole, I suppose.”

“So we’ll be going straight for the front door.”

Frenda grinned in the darkness while holding a multitool knife shaped like a pair of pliers.

The darkness was not due to nightfall.

The abandoned railway tunnel was in District 11. Instead of passing through a mountain, this tunnel sloped down below the surface of the city. The hemispherical entrance was covered by a chain-link fence to keep people from wandering in, but that was easily bypassed.

Mugino Shizuri, Takitsubo Rikou, Kinuhata Saiai.

Frenda Seivelun stayed a step ahead of the other three to lead the way.

Takitsubo tilted her expressionless head.

“You can tell where the traps are?”

“In the end, I’m impressed by your courage if you followed me this far without trusting I could.” Frenda used her tool to cut a colored cord. “Broadly speaking, there are two types of trap: the high-tech electronic ones and the low-tech primitive ones.”

“Primitive like a pitfall?”

“Right. Those go back into BCE times, but the technique was really refined in Vietnam. You only need a shovel to make them and they don’t use any explosives or metal to be detected, so they’re still even more frightening than landmines.”

Takitsubo may have meant her example as a joke, but Frenda took it entirely seriously as she worked.

“Both types have their pros and their cons. High-tech traps using invisible lasers and ultrasound seem convenient at first glance, but they’re easily exposed using special cameras and sensors. For that matter, using electricity at all means they’ll produce a faint magnetic field. You know how sending out sonar all the time would be suicide for a submarine? It’s the same idea. …On the other hand, low-tech mines made from wood and glass are primitive, but they’ll slip right past a metal detector, which means you can’t let your guard down. Of course, they have the flaw of being vulnerable to moisture and impacts, so they easily malfunction.”

“Hm. So super which type is better?”

“There’s no definitive answer. So the optimal trap usage is to have a mixture of both types.”

Frenda moved aside a plastic bottle that had been given a metal cap. A smaller sealed bottle was submerged in the liquid within, so it was likely a detergent bomb made from two substances that were dangerous when mixed. But if Frenda hadn’t moved it, it would have looked like any other trash forgotten and buried in here.

“It’s called using a ‘high-low mix’, although I believe that term was originally used in reference to aircraft. But in the end, if you know from the beginning they’ll be using that strategy, you have nothing to fear.”

“You say that, but if you miss just one of them, we go boom,” said Mugino. “Not that it’s guaranteed to be an explosion.”

“In the end, I can sniff them out,” replied Frenda, using duct tape to seal the lid of a bug cage stuffed full of ants that likely were not native to Japan. “I wonder if this was a rush job for them. I can smell the paint and turpentine they used for the camouflage. Now, I’m not about to place my full trust in a hint left by the enemy, but I doubt this is some kind of strategy. In the end, they were overconfident and made a careless mistake. I bet they didn’t notice the smell because they’ve been surrounded by it for so long – that’s a mistake pros make all the time.”

Minefields were simple but highly effective.

Unlike a two-way fight, they let you defeat the enemy without taking any damage yourself.

But all the effort put into setting up the traps would lead to an assumption that the enemy would never make it past them all and make a direct attack.

If you had the skills necessary to get past the traps, then a frontal assault would function as a surprise attack.

“Takitsubo. In the end, I could use some water,” said Frenda because both her hands were full.

“Yes, yes. You mean this bottle with a straw in it?”

“Grab me a mackerel can too.”

“Are you sure you need that?”

While Frenda ate her fish, she began working less and less until she finally had no more work to do. They had crossed the dense field of traps. Frenda herself actually grew more cautious in case this was a trick to get her to lower her guard, but she never did find anything more.

“We’re almost to the Nightjar,” said Mugino, staring up ahead. “They were probably afraid of getting caught in their own traps, so they only set them up near the distant tunnel entrance.”

While the tunnel was abandoned, it still had power and the fluorescent lights for workers remained lit. Of course, this was the enemy’s home base, so it was possible those lights could be shut off at any moment. They kept their phones at the ready in case they needed them for light, but a large and extremely pointy silhouette was visible even without any extra light.

That was the Nightjar luxury train.

It was also the smart shelter the Enemy Item used when they were being pursued and needed a place to hide.

They heard a sound of straining metal.

Kinuhata immediately rushed out in front of Frenda and was blasted backwards by an explosive sound. Frenda quickly got down on the ground, her eyes wide.

“Eh? Eh?”

“Cough, there’s super something there! Be careful!!”

Something with eight-legs lurked in the shadows.

Several of them, in fact.

The drum-like bodies were likely based on the security robots that patrolled Academy City. The eight legs were abnormally long for those bodies and a .50-caliber machinegun had been forcibly attached to the side. Kinuhata had been knocked back despite her nitrogen shield.

Mugino clicked her tongue and launched her Meltdowner.

She also moved to protect Takitsubo.

“Tch. I thought the thick tunnel blocked any signals from getting in!”

“Signals can still travel inside the tunnel, so these could be remotely controlled from the train.”

That said, they were right next to the high-voltage railway power line, which would interfere with any control signals. It was best to assume these were specialized for autonomous combat.

However…

“They have cameras, so the enemy will know we’re here. This is a race against time now! Frenda, don’t let the enclosed tunnel scare you – it’s time for your bombs! And Takitsubo!!”

“I know,” whispered Takitsubo, pulling something from her track suit pocket.

It looked like a mechanical pencil lead case, but it contained an unsettling white powder.

“''I will use it today.'' If I had just used Body Crystal and recorded Hanano’s AIM Diffusion Field the first time, none of this would have happened. I put her life at risk because I didn’t want to shorten my own lifespan. So I won’t let the Enemy Item escape this tunnel no matter what they try.”

She was essentially saying she would chemically shorten her life.

It was a matter of chemistry, so one plus one would always equal two. There was no room for a miraculous result of three or four. She was implicitly saying she was fine with that. She was saying Hanano Choubi held that much value for her.

Kinuhata got up, clenched her teeth, used her arms to guard, and forcibly held back the machinegun fire while she marched forward and silenced one 8-legged drum with her fist.

“Is Takitsubo-san’s power that super great?”

“In the end, it’s not so much great as it is cheating! I wouldn’t want her as my enemy for a different reason than Mugino!!”

“Don’t call me a cheater. I’m always faithful.”

Takitsubo gave a somewhat off-kilter comment among the explosive gunfire while she licked up the powder she had sprinkled on the back of her hand.

Their enemy had no real reason to keep Hanano alive.

This was a race against time, so they would have a hard time searching through each of the more than 10 train cars while remaining alert for surprise attacks and counterattacks. Ordinarily, it would be downright impossible. But that was where Takitsubo’s AIM Stalker came in handy. One look at the area and she could accurately locate any esper – from Level 0 to Level 5 – by the faint power they emitted. And once she had “recorded” an esper’s power, she could track them even if they fled the solar system.

The fact that the enemy was reliant on traps and unmanned weapons meant their support organization had been recalled. The only people in that long train would be the Enemy Item’s three survivors and their hostage, Hanano.

So Takitsubo only had to identify which cars she sensed people inside.

“It’s not too late.”

Takitsubo forced out the words while covered in a disconcerting amount of perspiration.

If they looked inside an occupied car and found Hanano, they could protect her. If they didn’t find her, everyone inside was an enemy. If all three enemies were together, then blowing up that car would eliminate the threat and rescue the hostage all at once.

“If I can locate the people here, Mugino or Frenda can blow down the train’s wall, and we can rescue Hanano!!”

Takitsubo’s power would set it all in motion, so she didn’t hesitate to use the Body Crystal despite the risk to her.

''However…

“…?”

“Takitsubo?”

The faintest furrowing of the brow on Takitsubo’s otherwise expressionless face caught Frenda’s attention while she used an explosive resembling correction tape to burn right through one of the 8-legged drums.

The track suit girl had frozen in place.

“''She’s not here,''” she said.

“What? Who’s not?”

“''I’m not sensing anyone. This train is deserted''!!”

“Did you hit the switch?”

“I did.”

Still handcuffed to the pipe, Hanano Choubi blankly watched Waniguchi Nokoba and Inoue Laspezia converse in the bathroom where the bathtub and sink’s faucets were locked down with wires.

The confusion must have been plain on her face. Or maybe Waniguchi was simply feeling the relief of finishing a job. Either way, she answered the question Hanano hadn’t asked out loud.

“Your friends have failed.”

“…”

“This isn’t any of our five hideouts. Those dumbasses ''attacked the wrong place'', so we got to watch them through an ultrasound-transmitted camera while remotely activating a trap to fill the entire tunnel with poison gas.”

“When we know they’re looking for us, why wouldn’t we go even deeper into hiding?”

“Who knows if this will actually kill them, but there’s no way they’ll arrive in time to rescue you.”

Hanano’s pupils shrank.

Amused by that reaction, Inoue and Waniguchi continued their conversation.

“Besides, did they really expect a bunch of girls to live somewhere like that? We certainly couldn’t bring Kaede there. Abandoned tunnels are a treasure trove of bugs and rats.”

“Ugh, my thigh is itchy all over again just thinking about it!! I’m only ever living at the top of a skyscraper where there aren’t any mosquitos or flies. And with all the cargo stored in District 11, you can’t find convenience stores anywhere. That’s a dealbreaker for me since I need to resupply once every three hours or I go crazy.”

Inoue noticed something and pulled her phone from her skirt pocket.

She checked an email and looked up.

“This says the support organization has finished their other job. They should be back soon.”

“So what was that other job anyway?”

“The battery’s low,” murmured Inoue while staring at her phone. There was a dusty old power outlet at the bottom of the wall, but she hadn’t brought a power cable in here with her. “Apparently they don’t care if we know now that it’s over. It turns out some moron tried to attack the Board Chairman’s Windowless Building.”

“Damn, I wish that’d worked. Without that shithead at the top, the Chief and I could create our own private love paradise.”

“Sounds like a hell I would do anything in my power to stop.”

The return of the support organizations meant the return of the corpse disposal infrastructure. Which truly eliminated all reason to keep Hanano alive.

“So. With that restriction gone, how should we kill her?”

“You have the worst taste.” Inoue sighed. “What if Kaede hears you beforehand?”

“Nice joke. If she really cared, she’d have stopped meditating and joined us. Besides, she’ll be happy as long as she can surround herself in death. And once she’s bored with that, we can use this girl to ''frame'' our enemy. You knew from the get-go we needed to kill her, didn’t you? It’s like the rest of you keep ordering more food but refuse to eat the bell peppers, so I get to eat them all myself. Think of me as the saint of volunteer work who completes all the tasks no one else wants to do.”

The small girl chuckled.

She bent over and leaned toward Hanano.

“I still can’t figure out what such a weak person is doing on the dark side. It takes a pretty dumb person to not follow the most beautiful of rules: survival of the fittest. But not even that rule applies to the dark side. This is a much simpler and purer world.”

“(Survival of the strongest, you mean? That sounds arrogant, but you’re really just trying to make yourself look powerful because you’re afraid of being bullied if people see you as weak, aren’t you? Oh, Hiyoko-chan. Don’t think I didn’t notice that your workout regimen with those rubber balls ''has nothing at all to do with your power''.)”

“I heard every word of that, you Kyoto girl who somehow can’t pass a history test. And use my ring name.”

The way the 12-year-old blushed and cleared her throat was quite cute, but she was also an expert in crushing and destroying people. She wasn’t about to go easy on anyone.

(Kaede isn’t coming to save her. And after she went to the trouble of taking her in.)

Inoue noted that, but she made no attempt to stop Waniguchi.

That was because ''this happened all the time.

“I have no interest in violence, so can I wait outside until you’re done?” asked Inoue.

“Ehh!? I’m a performer, you know!? I need an audience to really get into it!! Even when I’m punching the sandbag at the gym, there are at least people around! If you’re going to leave, at least call the Chief in here.”

“You must be joking. I can’t let Kaede see this.”

Just before she left, Inoue’s eyebrows twitched. There was something about Hanano. No, it was the lack of any kind of reaction that Inoue found unusual. She should have struggled in any way she could. Sure, she was handcuffed to the pipe, but she would be killed if she did nothing at all. Would she really give up and accept that fate?

Inoue sensed something from the girl’s apparent lack of concern.

The first to take a step forward was plain and whispering Inoue, not short-tempered Waniguchi. The silver-haired art club girl grabbed the chest of Hanano’s clothing and jerked her hand forward. Hanano’s short-sleeved sailor uniform audibly tore, revealing her chest.

Her modest chest was covered by a plain bra.

Something hung at her chest: a cylinder about the size of a AAA battery.

''That was a fuse.

The device was used to ensure a destructive explosive would detonate at the desired time. However, the fuse alone was no more powerful than a firecracker.

But it seemed unlikely she would have that hidden away for no reason. If it was her secret prize, it had to be worth entrusting her life in.

“Eh?”

Inoue was speechless. But she did not doubt the reality before her eyes. Her small nose detected a scent other than sweat staining Hanano’s bra.

“''Liquid explosive''!!??”

Meanwhile…

“You gave me an entire week to work with.”

Hanano managed a weak but unmistakable smile.

When she had asked Frenda to tell her where Mugino’s mines were located, Frenda had told her to find them herself. She had found that heartless at the time, but now she knew better.

You didn’t reveal your teammates’ secrets, even as a joke. If you couldn’t manage that, you could never earn the trust of your team.

Which led to only one possible conclusion: ''this was the best option available to her.

The triumphant girl spoke with no attempt made to cover the chest exposed by her torn sailor uniform.

“If you want to be villains, you really should have stripped off all my clothing.”

[[Image:Item_BW4.jpg|thumb]]

''Kaboooooom!!!

Enemy Item’s hideout exploded so violently it was visible from the outside.

Frenda Seivelun had emerged from the abandoned railway tunnel.

Poison gas was a bad match for Item. Mugino could simply use her firepower to burn the gas – that is, forcibly oxidize it to rewrite the chemical formula – and neutralize it. Frenda could use her explosives in the enclosed tunnel to push all the contaminated air outside. Finally, Kinuhata could protect herself with the thick gas barrier created by her Offense Armor.

But they didn’t feel like they had outsmarted their enemy.

“Get the van moving!! Hurry!”

Mugino shouted and the van’s tires screeched.

She was shouting this command to a driver from the support organization. His presence meant the situation had advanced to the next phase.

The delinquent driver first merged onto a large highway.

“Wh-where exactly do you want to go!?”

“''You can see that smoke in the distance, can’t you?'' Get there as fast as possible!!”

Frenda was desperate because she already knew what this had to be. As an explosives expert, the deep noise was enough for her to identify the type of explosive used.

The young driver’s eyes widened.

“The light’s red.”

“So what!? Don’t let your foot off the gas!! Run the light!!!”

They plowed right through the large intersection at full speed, just barely avoiding a yellow sportscar. A flurry of horns honked at them, but they ignored it.

But this couldn’t last forever.

They crossed a few district borders, but they hit some congestion upon entering District 15.

A few sirens blended together in the distance.

“I can’t get you any further!! It looks like Anti-Skill is directing traffic up ahead…”

“Tch!!”

The girls didn’t bother listening any further and hopped out of the van.

Even now, a blimp floated leisurely by overhead. Its screen read, “A fire in a building along a major road in this area is causing traffic delays. If you are nearby, please watch out for falling objects. For a detailed map of the affected area, please check the traffic management center or the railroad company’s website.”

In the distance, they saw orange light and black smoke rising into the night sky. Firetrucks and ambulances were gathered at the base of the building.

All four of them had to be thinking the same thing: why did it have to be ''here'' of all places?

Outside the “keep out” tape, the press and personal phones were filming the scene.

That made it difficult for anyone on the dark side to approach. But quite a few things were flying through the area, even outside the taped-off area.

There was sharp shards of glass, scorched wreckage of what had once been furniture, and a book that looked like it had been chewed up by a fierce dog.

The book contained Umisuna Seiru’s makeup techniques.

Who was it that had so happily embraced that prize up after discovering it at the parasol market?

Silence fell over all four of them.

Their rescue of Hanano Choubi had failed. But this explosion had revealed Enemy Item’s location. More than that, it had probably killed some of them.

But that meant nothing.

Why hadn’t Hanano considered that part?

Frenda recalled an earlier conversation with the girl.

''“Oh, right. I forgot to congratulate you for your performance earlier today, Hanano.”

''“Thanks.”

Yes.

It had been meant as a reward.

''“Without your help, we couldn’t have gotten that data from the insurance company. I doubt Mugino would have given up, but she would’ve relied on brute force to get the job done.”

''“Ha…ah ha ha…”

She had disguised herself as the insurance company’s general manager and skillfully retrieved the data.

So Frenda had wanted to give her a reward to welcome her into Item. She had thought the nervous newcomer might relax some if she felt like she had done something for the group as a whole.

''“So we owe you one. Is there anything you want us to do for you? Or anything you want from us?”

''“U-um, there is actually…”

The response Hanano had given had been a dangerous one: a liquid explosive.

But Frenda had decided that was something you might need to get along in the dark side.

Had that been a mistake?

At the time, Hanano had looked so relieved.

And yet…

''“Really? That’s pretty dangerous.”

''“Hmm. Think of it as a last resort I can use. I am in the dark side now. And I thought you would be the best person to ask.”

Frenda stared silently at the embers and smoke for a while.

She stared at that overwhelming reality.

She had failed to do anything.

She had plenty more friends, but what did that matter? She had a lengthy list of addresses in her phone, giving her connections to various industries from the light and the dark, but could any of that fill the emptiness she felt now?

The death of just a single person brought so much sorrow.

Needless to say, nothing else could replace her. It wasn’t a simple matter of arithmetic.

Hanano Choubi wasn’t meant to die.

That might sound odd for Item, who killed other members of the dark side all the time, but Frenda refused to accept that argument.

''Keep fighting,'' she thought.

''It doesn’t matter how pathetic or unsightly it is.

''The villains of Item aren’t meant to have a noble death, you idiot.

Finally, the blonde girl said something no one else there would understand.

“In the end, how was this your last resort? There had to be other options to try, like injuring yourself badly enough the enemy would panic and feel the need to take you to a normal hospital.”

That timid girl must have been pushed to her absolute limits.

She hadn’t wanted to die without accomplishing anything, so she had at least wanted to take them down with her.

Frenda thought that was a foolish decision.

But she couldn’t let Hanano’s courage go to waste. That friend had paid with her life for this hint. That smoke and fire couldn’t be hidden by any dark side tricks.

That was their new starting point. If they used that, they could resume the hunt no matter where the enemy tried to run.

(Damn that girl.)

Frenda’s mind was boiling.

She repeated much the same words, but directed at someone else.

(Damn those girls!!)

She didn’t care about the money.

There was no hostage anymore.

The girls’ objective had changed yet again.

In other words…

Frenda Seivelun bit her lip for a moment. And then…

“You’re dead, counterfeit Iteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem!!!”

[[Image:Item_BW5.jpg|thumb]]

Villains were selfish.

They didn’t reflect on their actions, they spoke of payback and debts when they usually rejected the obligations of the righteous world, and they thoroughly criticized and punished other people for their actions. When something went wrong, they found someone else to blame before considering their own mistakes.

But none of that mattered at the moment.

Who cares about Academy City’s #6? What did the Dark Side’s Bane matter?

They would throw out their own goodness if letting their morals restrict their actions would allow their target to escape. If they couldn’t reach the enemy as things were, they would throw it all out. The wolf would break free of all its bonds, race through the night, and tear out the fat pig’s throat with its fangs.

They would choose to become wild animals.

The enraged girl’s howl rang through the night.

The foolish sacrifice had lost their final shield. They no longer had any bargaining chip capable of stopping Item.

The hunt had begun.

It happened all of sudden while she was changing clothes.

“Pant, pant.”

It interrupted the selfie photoshoot she called medication.

Ibotanokikouji Kaede, the curvy girl with a braid in her fluffy blonde hair, held a hand to her head and leaned against the wall like she had bumped into it from the side. That was enough for the wall to collapse like wet cardboard, so she had to quickly catch herself.

The power was out.

A ceiling board had fallen and several wires dangle down with intermittent sparks spilling out. That gave her some light to go on in the darkness.

“Inoue-chan, Waniguchi-chan?”

She had hit her head, so it ached now. The voice that spilled from her mouth was so horribly hoarse she barely recognized it.

What had happened?

An explosion?

She wobbled on her feet as she searched her pocket, but she couldn’t find her phone. She was disinclined to get down and crawl through the dark searching for it. First, she needed to find out what happened.

It didn’t appear to have been a gas explosion from the bathroom or kitchen.

She called her teammates’ names while searching for them.

Her first guess was the room holding the hostage.

She smelled something like fireworks before she even got close. That plus a smoky smell. It looked like the door had been blasted outwards from within. But instead of the bent door lying on the floor, its splinters were stabbing into the opposite wall.

“Please answer me. Inoue-…”

She trailed off.

She could barely see the floor in the dark, so she ended up kicking something. It was about the size of a soccer ball, but heavier.

It was a human head.

Inoue Laspezia’s.

It was burnt beyond recognition and Ibotanokikouji held a hand over her mouth upon seeing it. When she looked away, she saw something hanging on the wall. It reminded her of a coat on a hangar, but that was no coat. It was skewered by a rainstorm of sharp metal scraps and partially embedded in the wall. It took her a second to recognize the motionless object as…a burnt human body.

“Wanagu-”

The name was cut off by the need to swallow the vomit threatening to climb her throat.

The hostage had done something to trigger an explosion.

Emotions could come later. She had to think about what needed to be done now. This explosion would have been visible from the outside. Anti-Skill, the press, and even online news reporters who were little more than gawkers would be rushing here before long. And Mugino’s team would follow this very obvious signal.

Ibotanokikouji’s Item had now lost three members.

She was the only one left.

In that sense, this last-ditch suicide attack had been very successful.

Now wasn’t the time to argue about individual power.

She could never have run the Colosseum and its 80 billion in profits if she let her emotions take control at times like this. Her opponent here wasn’t just a Level 5, but that Level 5’s entire team. That meant they could cover for each other’s vulnerabilities and blind spots. She had to assume she gained nothing from a direct confrontation.

Ibotanokikouji reigned supreme only as a criminal.

As seen in how she ran the Colosseum and how she abducted Hanano, her general policy was to hide herself in the crowds so she could remain invisible.

So in this case…

“I need to run away.”

She made the decision instantly.

This had nothing to do with how strong or weak her power was. Waiting here for an entire group of enemies was out of the question.

She needed to slip away for now.

She could consider how to kill them later.

“I need to escape to safety and gather my strength. And gather people as well.”

''Once she made a decision, she was quick to take action.

She grabbed a bent oil lighter originally meant to light aroma candles. At the very least, she needed to gather up and burn or otherwise dispose of the documents, the evidence, the phone she had lost and given up on finding, and anything else incriminating. She left the corpses and burnt wreckage alone while grabbing her Tokiwadai summer uniform and the suitcase containing 80 billion yen. Then she left the destroyed hideout.

It was a room in a District 15 luxury apartment.

Specifically, ''it was the room on the floor directly below Mugino’s hideout.

(We already had a room soundproofed to use as a cell, so keeping a hostage here was no problem. And we could spy on their conversations using a device that reads the minute vibrations in the pillar running between the two floors.)

“Since the blast broke though the ceiling, did this destroy their hideout too?”

She went straight to the elevator, saw it was already rising from the ground floor, and changed direction. She stepped out onto the emergency stairs, descended just one floor, and pressed the elevator button from there.

The rising elevator would not react to the down button, so she could slip past Anti-Skill, the firefighters, or whoever else was coming up from below.

She boarded the elevator that did arrive and rode it down to the ground floor.

That brought her to the bottom of Fifteen Bells, but the outside was awash with flashing red lights. She had no intention of being seen by the cameras of the press and onlookers gathered just outside the “keep out” tape. She instead left through the back staff entrance.

“You’re dead, counterfeit Iteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem!!!”

She heard a shout from the crowd, but she kept her face impassive.

She poured all of her strength into her facial muscles.

They hadn’t noticed her yet, so the Tokiwadai girl slipped away from the explosion site with her suitcase in tow.

She didn’t risk using her power.

She could have ''manipulated the crowd on a subconscious level'' if she wanted, but she preferred to avoid giving herself away with any unnecessary actions.

Ordinary behavior was the ultimate camouflage.

This wasn’t over yet.

The rules hadn’t changed: the name Item went to whoever won in the very end.