Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Ending
“Hi. Hanano Choubi here. Eh? Do my job? I did. I got Item all worked up and chucked them outside the city. It’s always like this with you. You seem on edge. Did something happen with the higher ups?”
“I have a warning as the Brain of one of the Board members. Item’s position still isn’t stable. I’d say the negatives outweigh the positives here.”
“Even though they dealt with the Mugino Family problem?”
“Even though.”
“The confusion caused by the Mugino family head will be resolved in about a week. A week is a very long time for Academy City, though. Malt and agar, huh? Top rate culture media? That’s going to cause some volatility in the stocks related to pharmaceuticals, so I’d pull out now if I were you.”
“Ahh!! Why would you tell me that!? Now that I know that, it counts as insider trading! …I was already planning to sell that stock soon, but am I stuck with it until all of this settles down? Do you have any idea how much I could lose from this!?”
“I did it knowing full well how much. It’s called lashing out. I am the Board’s Brain. Do you really think I would accidentally let information slip?”
“You really are upset about something. But it doesn’t seem like it’s related to your work. Oh, is it about that pointy-haired boy?”
“…”
“God, you’re a pain in the ass! Stop taking it out on me when it’s hot out and some younger boy won’t give you the time of day. …Wait, what was that click? It wasn’t the phone, so- how did you locate my hideout, Kumokawa-sa- gyahhhh!?”
“In the end, it’s tooooooo hoooooot!!!”
“Then why did you invite me to a sauna? It’s super hard to refuse when you’re new to the team like I am!!”
It was September.
The weather was cooler than during summer break, but when the sun was in the right mood, the midsummer heat could still return. And yet the blonde-haired blue-eyed girl had grabbed Kinuhata (who looked bored without any friends outside of the dark side) by the hand and dragged her to the sauna. However, this sauna was not a hangout for old men. It was a sweet smelling place built as part of a women’s sports gym.
This was apparently normal for Scandinavian girls.
It was really hard to decide if she was serious or joking. And Kinuhata didn’t know the blonde girl’s actual nationality.
It was just the two of them today.
Frenda sat on the wooden bench in the strange sauna that was advertised as being authentically Scandinavian yet used Japanese cypress wood.
“What I want to know is why you’re in such a bad mood. Here. In the end, I’ll fan you with this☆”
“That’s so damn hot it’s gonna burn me!! Do you really not know that only makes it worse!? I’m starting to think your claim of being Scandinavian is a super lie.”
“It’s not a ‘claim’. Fan, fan.”
“Gyahhhhh!?”
Frenda set down the fan and opened the front of her towel to use it to fan.
Was this what happened when the north wind and the sun joined forces?
The (oddly sweet) heat wave threatened to burn all of Kinuhata’s skin.
Tightly covering herself with her towel to protect herself, Kinuhata sweatily continued speaking.
“Anyway, let’s make that the last time we play tag. This wasn’t just a little dangerous – it was super dangerous.”
“Again, I was forced into that position.”
(Naked and sweaty) Frenda retied her towel with practiced ease.
She stared blankly at the joint thermometer and hygrometer on the wet wooden wall.
“Also, it didn’t feel like I was going to die there. Almost like it isn’t my time to die yet.”
“?”
Not her time?
She had been all alone and hunted by Academy City and the Mugino Family and it had ended in a battle against Academy City’s #4 Level 5. Kinuhata hadn’t been in Item for long, but she couldn’t imagine much greater danger than that.
Frenda herself, however, remained carefree.
At least on the surface, anyway.
“I mean, you know how my greatest weapon is my ability to make friends with anyone? In the end, Mugino Shizuri is no exception there.”
Something froze solid.
Even though they were inside a sweltering sauna.
“I’m going to continue making friends with as many people as possible in my daily life. Just in case I do get caught in some real trouble someday, I’ll go around saving people to leave a good impression. And then, at the last moment, they won’t be able to do it. I’m pretty good at that, right? You know what I mean, don’t you, Kinuhata?”
“Super I guess…”
“That villa area was wide open with no cover. Ordinarily, there’s no way I could have directly faced Mugino there and lived to tell the tale.”
“…”
Mugino had briefly hesitated.
Even if it had been a subconscious thing.
The #4 Level 5 power was a masterpiece of science, but it was ultimately wielded by a human. So that possibility did exist.
But.
The nature of that fact changed greatly depending on if it was a naturally-occurring miracle or if it was an intentional calculation.
Item was from the dark side.
Did that fact change when they left Academy City?
“You super shouldn’t tell Mugino that.”
“She knows. She has for a long time. I’ve been with Item for a while now and Mugino’s been saved by my extensive friends list more than once.”
Surely you haven’t forgotten how Butler Mujinayama trusted in his righteousness and remained loyal.
But that allowed Mugino Sakuya to drag him into her coup and, because he also worried for Shizuri, he was shot in the back by Sakuya herself.
Trying to get along with anyone and everyone could shorten one’s lifespan.
Especially on the dark side where the division between enemy and ally was stark and you were often forced to take one side or the other.
“I can be anyone’s friend.”
Frenda Seivelun said this in her towel.
Cutely.
But also with a self-deprecating smile that resembled succumbing to a peaceful death.
“In the end, I end up being everyone’s friend.”
