Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item7 Chapter3
Chapter 3: The Night Sky Does not Discriminate Against Criminal Girls[edit]
Part 1[edit]
Mugino Shizuri glared at an LCD TV.
While lying on a yoga mat.
“Ton-toko-ton ton-toko-ton-ton♪ Raise your hands, stretch your back, push your chest out, and hold that position. Keep holding it as you slowly breathe out for 20 seconds.”
District 15.
The giant broadcast tower had two observation decks, but it wasn’t well known that the upper observation deck was a luxury hotel.
A few of Item’s hideouts had been blown up by rockets one after another, so they had ended up living there for the time being.
However, Morning Call, the bomber targeting Frenda, had been killed and the biker gang operating outside of Academy City had been eliminated. Peace had returned to the world and the dark side criminal girls had no job and way too much time on their hands.
Kinuhata cut across the large living room and gave the online show a skeptical look.
“Isn’t yoga a form of meditation using motions with a mythological basis? Is there super any point to removing the foundational philosophy and just mimicking the poses?”
“Shut up. I don’t care what it is if it works.”
“But…this bust-increasing yoga is supposed to make your boobs bigger, so if it does work, won’t it mean more fat on your body, increasing your weight?”
Mugino just about physically fired Meltdowner, so Takitsubo had to hold her back. She remained expressionless as that monster swung her around. Kinuhata departed with a flip of her thick jacket. She hadn’t said where she was going, but a movie theater would be a good guess.
“Mugino.”
“What the hell is this yoga crap? It’s a pain in the ass and putting up with it only means your weight goes up!? I’ve had it! Why must everything be so complicated!? I hope humanity dies off!!”
(I think Kinuhata was only pretending not to be interested. She glanced over at the screen, so she must have been checking the title.)
“Lash out if you want, but not even using Meltdowner as a retrorocket will save you if this tower falls over. Do you want to be a stain on the ground?”
“…”
Kinuhata had already left.
Without a specific individual to lock onto, Mugino’s anger cooled quickly. And the daughter of the wicked Mugino Family wasn’t the type to fight human civilization to stop the environmental damage visible around her.
Mugino seemed to finally come back to her senses.
“Takitsubo, what are you investigating?”
“Remember that Morning Call bomber? She’s dead, but she may have left behind some gifts. Like bomb storehouses or a bomb manufacturing lab. Even without a criminal plot behind it, we don’t want an accidental explosion killing a bunch of innocent people, do we?”
“You can just let Frenda handle that.”
“Mugino, are you serious? The battle is over and today is our day off. I can’t ask her to come back when she’s meeting with her family.”
Part 2[edit]
“In the first place, have you heard of Microscopium, Onee-chan?”
“??? Why are you bringing up a southern constellation?”
“The night sky is so generous to let there be constellations for things like a clock or a ruler. I want to be a constellation too.”
…Was this trivia she had learned from the astronomy event? That was all you saw these days, even in the LCD ads on the trains and the tablets used to order at restaurants. But, anyway, apparently not all of the southern constellations were based on BCE-era mythology. Plenty of them had been named by the astronomers of an earlier age.
They were at the busy station area in District 7.
The city remained abuzz with the astronomy event.
Apparently businesses would leap at any business opportunity because it was in full swing even now at midday.
Frenda didn’t often see this, but school sometimes let out before lunch for a seven-year-old.
Some companies must have decided to double up with the moon viewing season because the convenience store sweets section had a lot of wagashi dango, the stand-up soba shop and the burger shop both had a moon viewing special using eggs, and some strange bunny girls were handing out fliers on the street corner. However, they may not all have been fully satisfied with their job because some of those high school girls lured in by the pay had stiff smiles on their faces.
The seven-year-old, who wasn’t aware of those painful financial issues, seemed brimming with energy – far more than necessary – while holding a flier for a pet cafe that was doing a rabbit event for the moon viewing season.
In fact…
“In the first place, did you know, Onee-chan? If you wish upon a shooting star, your wish will come true! I want to be a constellation.”
“Wanting to be a star is a bad omen, so stop saying it.”
“I want to make an Onee-chan constellation too!”
“That’s also a bad omen, so stop!!”
The small snort of triumph told Frenda her seven-year-old sister really did intend to accomplish it. In just a few months, a blonde miniskirt Santa Claus (special skills: lock picking and home security breaking) would be placing the toy she most wanted by her pillow and her New Year’s money would come along a week later, but children could be so greedy.
That said, how many seconds did it take between a shooting star appearing and disappearing? The dark side assassin who knew a lot about bombs and martial arts considered that question. You had to repeat your wish thrice in that time, which sounded difficult even with a pro boxer’s excellent kinetic vision.
“In the end, what do you want for dinner tonight?”
“Hm, moon viewing curry!”
“Ehh? It’s not just soba and burgers? They’re doing that for curry too?”
“In the first place, a partially fried egg is the only way to go!!”
While they were chatting like that…
It was Frenda’s dark side nose that picked up on it before her conscious mind.
But why now?
Sensing a quiet tingling, it took her a moment to realize what had caused it.
A face she couldn’t make out was mixed in among the passersby.
It was late October.
And yet this person was wearing a short-sleeve summer uniform.
So they briefly looked like a ghost to Frenda.
Or…
Maybe that was wishful thinking on Frenda’s part.
But that was no ghost.
They looked right at Frenda and grinned.
With the face of someone who should not have been alive.
Hanano Choubi.
A girl who was supposed to be dead.
“What is it, Onee-chan?”
The seven-year-old looked curiously up at her frozen sister.
She hadn’t noticed.
Because the crowd making up this peaceful scene only contained one dark side scum who knew that Hanano Choubi had already died.
Without that crucial piece of information, she only looked like a timid puppy of a girl.
But Academy City Bomber Frenda Seivelun couldn’t overlook this.
Because she knew.
This was the traitor who had once perfectly deceived Item and escaped beyond their reach.
That was certainly part of it.
But more than that…
“?”
Her seven-year-old sister was by her side.
She had trusted this to be a perfectly safe sanctuary, but this dark side idiot had to barge on in.
That was one thing she could not allow.
She had to update her definitions.
This demon had put her sister’s life at risk.
Frenda put on a smile and crouched down to her sister’s eye level.
“Hey, my sister.”
“In the first place, what is it, Onee-chan?”
“See what my phone says? The moon viewing burgers and tsukune are selling so well there’s a shortage of chicken eggs. In the end, we might not be able to have moon viewing curry tonight if we don’t get some eggs soon.”
“My goodness!!”
“If we run to the supermarket now, we might not make it. But I also seem to recall there still being some raw eggs left in the big fridge at your dorm.”
“In the first place, you can count on me, Onee-chan! I will protect our moon viewing curry future!!”
The seven-year-old sister waved both her little hands and boarded the next bus that arrived.
The bus’s engine roared as it drove off.
…A joke app that let you rapidly create fake articles could come in handy. Her sister vigorously waved through the window and didn’t seem to notice the water bottle drones flying over the bus to keep an eye on her. Sunset hadn’t arrived yet, so those UFOs wouldn’t get in the way of the astronomy event.
And…
“…”
That left only Frenda Seivelun and Hanano Choubi.
The time for kindness was over.
Hanano giggled.
She gave the same impression as when Frenda had last seen here. Which was what felt so off. The assumptions had greatly changed since then. This traitor had duped Item and run off, yet she was still playing the pure and timid creature.
“Looks like this isn’t going to be a tearful reunion. W-was it a bad time? I did like you a lot, Frenda-san, so I was waiting for a time when the rest of Item wasn’t around. And I chose to use this face and body.”
“…What do you want?”
“Heh…heh heh. I want to help you.”
“Then in the end, you shouldn’t have done anything that my sister is likely to remember. Even for a moment.”
Hanano pulled something from her pocket.
It was a pack of menthol flavored cigarettes. She shook it, pulled one out, and placed it in her mouth. With practiced ease.
Finally something clashed with the timid creature Frenda remembered.
Hanano was a master of disguise and infiltration.
Was she really a student? She may have been a lot older than Frenda had thought.
Hanano lit the end of the cigarette with a faded oil lighter, blew out some smoke…and began to speak.
“You will die, Frenda Seivelun.”
Part 3[edit]
The sounds of the crowd rapidly faded from Frenda’s ears.
Those few words seemed to pierce into her.
This wasn’t an empty threat like those habitually given by your average delinquent.
But nor was it a deadly threat spoken by a dark side pro.
This was something else.
It carried much more certainty.
Hanano saw Frenda gasp, but she didn’t react with triumph.
She showed pity.
As if she were watching an old woman lashing out at her surroundings without knowing how little time she had left.
“Yes. The date of your death has already been written. If you only continue down the path laid out for you, you will die before this date next year. I guarantee it.”
“…”
“But will you still only continue down that path? Really? I mean, why should a murderous villain bother following the rules!? There is no goal down that path. You must break free of it if you are to survive. You can do that with my help. But remember, this is because I like you. It’s nothing more than that. There is no rule requiring me to save you and it isn’t part of my win condition. So I will give you a single chance. This is your only opportunity to take my hand. Let it pass you by and you lose any chance of breaking free and the timeline will continue on its course until that final moment☆”
But they hadn’t arrived at that final moment yet.
They were still here in the past.
“Think of your seven-year-old sister. I don’t care about her myself, but you do very much, Frenda-san.”
Hanano giggled and moved.
She reached a hand out toward Frenda.
“Don’t you want to see her eighth birthday? What about her ninth and her tenth? Don’t you want a future where the two of you can smile side by side in peace?”
“…”
“That is possible with my help. However, it will mean breaking the rules like the villains we are. Maybe people will talk about you behind your back, but you will survive. The method itself is simple, but it isn’t something someone from the past can think up and act on. Frenda Seivelun, I will not force you to accept. The choice is yours. Will you take my hand, or not?”
Hanano gave no evidence to back up her words.
And yet.
Frenda found herself being drawn in.
No, there was something different about the atmosphere surrounding Hanano. She wasn’t playing poker here. She wasn’t standing on the line between deception and discovery – trust and mistrust.
Every card she held was the truth and she could defeat her opponent no matter when she revealed her hand.
She could crush her opponent.
She showed that sort of confidence.
But…
“In the end, taking your hand carries a different meaning too.”
“Yeah.”
Hanano sighed.
With a “that’s what I thought” look on her face.
And she had already told Frenda this was her only chance to break free and change the timeline.
Frenda looked up again.
“In the end, I’d rather die than betray Item to survive!!”
A sharp popping sound rang out then.
Frenda’s eyes raced over to see heated kernels of corn popping at a popcorn stand. One after another. Some small children were curiously gathered around. They may not have known how popcorn was actually made.
And by the time the blonde girl looked ahead again, no one was there.
Hanano Choubi, master of disguise and infiltration, had blended into the crowd and left.
Or had she?
She had definitely disappeared, but Frenda found it hard to believe even after seeing it for herself.
“…”
You will die, Frenda Seivelun.
To repeat, that cursed prophecy had nothing to back it up. This was far from unusual on the dark side. It should have been no more meaningful than a muscular guy shouting angrily that he was going to kill her.
Yet it eerily rang in her ears.
Maybe because Hanano’s voice hadn’t contained any of the hostility and ill will normally heard in a threat.
Only pity.
Frenda stood there all alone for a while.
Yes, like she had been left behind.
She hadn’t made the wrong choice…she thought.
She was confident that had been the right decision.
But.
The timing had been poor.
She wasn’t sure if that had been the right time to give the right answer.
Between the Lines 4[edit]
Now, it’s time to get started☆