Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter5
Chapter 5
It was seven in the morning.
As they had a rare break from school (the trip was technically a type of extracurricular activity, but it was a bit like a half-golden week for the students because of all the free time), some people decided to just sleep in, but some people ended up waking up early because they were on vacation. To put it simply, they wanted to go have fun as soon as possible and for as long as possible. Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko were in a rest area on the third floor of the hotel.
The third floor was still connected to the atrium of the lobby. At the four corners of the passageways surrounding that atrium were small rest areas with sofas, tables, and magazine racks.
Mikoto was sitting on a sofa and flipping through Liberal Arts City pamphlets while still wearing her killer whale-like racing swimsuit.
“…Y’know, after three days, I’m really starting to miss tofu and grilled fish. Where should we get breakfast? I wonder if they have a Japanese restaurant…”
As she muttered about food, she looked at a page that introduced the restaurants inside or near the hotel.
Meanwhile, Shirai Kuroko was lying down and rolling around on the same sofa. (She had been begging to rest her head on her beloved onee-sama’s lap, but she had been beaten back.)
“…Y’know, after three days of wearing this sexy swimsuit, it’s kind of lost its freshness. It’s like how curry tastes even better on the second day, but it gives you a face like you’re about to vomit on the third or fourth day.”
The pigtailed girl was looking for something new and she looked through some pamphlets while lying down in order to kill some time.
Suddenly, beams of light shot from Shirai Kuroko’s eyes.
“Th-that’s it!!”
“Nn!?”
Mikoto’s shoulders jumped.
Shirai jumped up from the sofa and stuck a spread out pamphlet before Mikoto’s face.
“This is it! This is it! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for, onee-sama!!”
“Wai-…wha-…you id-…a nudist beach!? Why does something like that exist on the edge of Liberal Arts City!?”
Mikoto pulled her head back in order to get as far away from that obscene pamphlet as she could.
A nudist beach was the kind of beach where people swam around without swimsuits on. Simply put, it was the kingdom of nudity.
For some reason, Shirai’s eyes were sparkling and she had her hands clasped in front of her face in full maiden mode.
The flowers of Shirai’s heart that were made of pink and white were in full bloom and she was getting rather troublesome.
“Really, there is nothing wrong with my swimsuit, but humans occasionally want stimulation from a different vector!! So instead of changing things with cheap tricks like making one’s swimsuit showier or plainer, we can go there and be completely nude! That bold idea will open up the future, onee-sama!!”
“Don’t look to me to agree with you!! Oh, th-that’s right! Don’t nudist beaches have age restrictions?”
“Nudists who wish to be nude hold no lust in their hearts!! They cast off their clothing with more serious hearts.”
“That idea may be respectable, but I find it hard to believe coming from you, so just stop this, you pervert.”
After saying that, Mikoto suddenly realized something.
Shirai Kuroko had gotten tired of her sexy swimsuit. Mikoto wanted to tell her to put on some normal clothes instead, but it seemed Shirai’s tastes would only bring more skin into the picture.
That was where the nudist beach came into play, but if she let Shirai go with it, the girl would eventually get used to the nudist beach, too. Since there was no more skin you could show than when you were nude, even Shirai and her love of showing off skin would have no other option but to head in the direction of adding more cloth.
In other words…
(This is the start of a U-turn!! If I can withstand this idiot’s madness, she’ll start putting on clothes like a reversal of the North Wind and the Sun!!)
That problem did not just apply to the beaches of Liberal Arts City.
If she could influence Shirai Kuroko’s progression, it was her big chance to turn the girl into a proper human.
After coming to that conclusion, Misaka Mikoto grinned.
She gave some incredibly forced applause in praise of Shirai Kuroko.
“W-well, if you say that, I guess I have no choice. W-we need to just cast off our shame on a trip. If you’re that determined to go to a nudist beach, then I won’t stop you.”
“…Wh-what? Onee-sama, I should have gotten on offensive reaction out of you, but you’ve just had that smile fixed on your face. It looks like you are plotting something.”
“Wh-what are you talking about? You just said something wonderful for a change and the scales have fallen from my eyes…”
“Hah!? Is this a plan to attack me from behind while my defenses are lowered on the nudist beach!? I-I will go prepare more sun oil than is necessary and wait for you!!”
“Hell no, you pervert!”
As soon as Mikoto unintentionally gave her honest response, Uiharu Kazari entered from the elevator hall. She must have been in a bit of a hurry because she was running a bit.
Mikoto turned her gaze from the exhibitionist and looked toward Uiharu.
“Hey, where should we get breakfast? I’m in the mood for some Japanese food.”
“G-good morning. U-um…Uh, do you know where Saten-san has gone?”
“?”
Mikoto and Shirai looked puzzled and Uiharu continued.
“I thought she might have overslept again, so I tried calling her room, but she didn’t answer. If she isn’t in her room, I thought she might have come here already.”
“I haven’t seen her.”
“…Are you sure she didn’t just go off somewhere on her own?”
“But if she went to get some food on her own, wouldn’t she have contacted us? She was acting odd yesterday too… What if she’s been sick for a while now and she collapsed in her room…?”
Uiharu was oddly overcome by unease because she had noticed the change in her friend the day before.
She wanted to go check on Saten’s room, but she did not feel right about asking the hotel for a spare key if she had no proof.
That was why Uiharu timidly looked over at Shirai Kuroko.
Shirai was a Level 4 that could teleport.
With her power, it did not matter if the door was locked.
Mikoto’s power could unlock the electronic lock, but it was clear which was more discreet between Mikoto forcibly opening the door and Shirai bypassing it altogether.
Shirai turned aside.
“What a pain.”
“Kuroko.”
“I know, I know,” Shirai said in response to Mikoto’s short comment. “I’ll do it if you go to the nudist beach with me, onee-sama.”
“I’ll take you to your own personal paradise with my fist. ☆”
Shirai Kuroko arrived in front of Saten’s room with tears in her eyes and while rubbing the top of her head. Just to be sure, she knocked on the door a few times. It seemed even she did not want to intrude on another’s privacy for no reason.
But no response came.
Shirai sighed and then her body silently disappeared. She had teleported to the other side of the door.
After 2 or 3 minutes, the door to Saten’s room opened from the inside. Shirai had unlocked it and she shook her head toward Mikoto and Uiharu.
“She is not in her room. It seems she has gone somewhere.”
“…? So did she go get some breakfast on her own?”
“About that…” Shirai paused for a second as if she were conflicted about whether she should say something. “The air conditioner has been off for a long period of time making the room quite humid. And there is no sign that the shower room has been used. I doubt a girl would leave after waking up without at least washing her face first.”
“So…?”
Uiharu looked puzzled. She must not have been able to conceive what the situation was.
Mikoto took a step toward Shirai and asked her some questions.
“What the furniture and the interior? Are there signs of a struggle?”
“Onee-sama?”
“Just answer me.”
Mikoto was reminded of the official she had met two nights before. Saten had seen something she shouldn’t have along with Mikoto.
However, Shirai shook her head.
“From my experience in Judgment, I would say no. And even if the rooms are divided by walls, the guests in the next room would have noticed if there had been a commotion.”
“I guess it’s too much to suspect they may have covered up all the traces… And if they had, they would have kept the air conditioner and the shower room in a more natural state.”
“???”
Shirai and Uiharu did not know what to make of what Mikoto was muttering.
Mikoto looked over at Shirai.
“There are around 20 students here on this large-scale field trip, right? Find a Psycho-type esper and bring them here. Use your authority from Judgment or whatever, just hurry.”
“Eh? Wait a second, Misaka-san,” said Uiharu finally speaking up. “What do you mean? Is this really a situation where Judgment has any authority?”
She sounded worried, but that wasn’t too surprising. Judgment helped keep the peace in Academy City. They were something like the police. Anyone would be worried if someone like that was called out to search for a friend you had lost track of.
“It’s just to be on the safe side.”
As such, Mikoto had no choice but to be rather vague in her wording.
She had no proof, but in that situation, no proof was a good thing.
Mikoto and Uiharu waited in Saten’s room and after about 10 minutes, Shirai teleported back. She was holding an unfamiliar girl’s hand. The girl was likely older than Mikoto and the others. She seemed to be a high school student and she wore a bikini held together by ring-like parts in places.
“I heard a friend of yours has gotten lost in this ridiculously huge facility,” said the Psychometry girl.
Shirai must have explained it that way and it wasn’t exactly wrong.
“Let me warn you now: if I read any unnecessary personal information, that isn’t my responsibility. Don’t forget that you will be the ones that have to bow down in apology to her.”
“…It take it your power has its issues.”
“Some, yes.”
The girl laughed and pulled a few hairclips from somewhere. She must have had some reason for it, but she had hairclips clipped onto her swimsuit in various places.
“Hmm. So that’s how you keep your mental focus.”
“I usually keep them on my underwear, but I’m glad I have the swimsuit at times like this. I have to carefully aim so that I only read the necessary information. After all, there’s no point in reading information on a hotel worker that entered the same room.”
As she spoke, she slowly walked around the room.
Suddenly, she stopped moving. As if she had grasped the general location of a landmine, she slowly approached the bed.
“What…?” she finally muttered.
She looked over toward Mikoto.
“What are you all doing here? That’s going too far for a field trip.”
“What do you mean?” Mikoto responded.
The girl pointed toward the bed.
“The girl from this room was thinking about discovering the secrets hidden in Liberal Arts City and then left the room.”
