Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter3
Status: Incomplete
2/19 parts completed
Chapter 3: Academy City’s Greatest Taboo — Safety_Zero, Control_Free.
Part 1
She would get her shot.
She would snap the photo of the century by any means necessary.
But a hibernating bear did not make for an interesting subject. An undisturbed hornet’s nest was just boring. If you wanted an exciting shot, you had to wake the bear, throw the hornet’s nest to the ground, and send them both into a rage.
That was all this was, but she knew too much.
She knew all the signs and courtesies that Anti-Skill and Judgment would overlook.
She had wrapped herself in the same scent until no one would question her presence there.
Benizome Jellyfish was an extremely skilled camerawoman, but this was why no publisher would hire her on full time no matter how consistently she provided photographic scoops.
This was a talent she could not go public with. And while she had learned how to live in that world, she too had become known as the dark side.
(It’s too bad this is the only way I could find to live.)
While she hid behind some bushes covered in hard snow and peered through her collapsible sniper rifle’s scope, her mind was focused on the hidden camera pen she also held. It hurt that her single-lens reflex camera had been destroyed, but since the technology in this was the same as in a phone, it would be high enough quality for a magazine. After all, this was the age of terrestrial television running two-hour specials created entirely by stringing together animal videos found online.
She did not think this was the most efficient way to make money.
She had preyed on entertainers, athletes, politicians, entrepreneurs, and every other kind of celebrity who stood in the public eye. If she just wanted to make money, there were plenty of ways to do so without a camera.
(Maybe I’m like a rich kid who shoplifts. I just love the thrill of tearing down someone else’s life. They won’t want that to happen and they’ll resist in every way they can if they notice, but that risk only makes it more exciting.)
She would intercept radio transmissions, tail people, estimate their area of activity on the map, and stake out a location. The techniques of a freelance camerawoman were a lot like those of an urban sniper, so she could easily switch jobs just by trading out her camera for a gun.
She had a clear reason for choosing not to work as a sniper.
Her experience told her that a single photograph could be far more earthshattering than a single bullet.
A photo that terrified the people at the top could open a path for her. Targeting the center of the city was a better plan than blindly trying to climb the wall or acquiring a fake passport. The one and only safe exit was found there.
“So don’t worry, you silly student couple.”
Everything was in place. The two groups inside the tent were strangers. And they both wanted a fake passport for illicit purposes. Their temporary equilibrium would end now that the counterfeiter they needed was dead. That greatly increased the odds of something spontaneously going wrong.
She licked her lips from safety while tilting the pen camera and the phone synced to it on their side.
“I will capture your tragedy in the frame. I will negotiate extra hard with the editor-in-chief this time to make sure I get the highest price I can for this one☆”
This camerawoman remained freelance because every publisher wanted to keep her at arm’s length, but she also had the skill that kept them purchasing her photos. This was the moment she had been waiting for.
“Oh? Did you actually think you were hidden when you smell so strongly of gunpowder smoke?”
When she heard a voice behind her, she silently frowned below the cowboy hat with jellyfish decoration.
Her techniques were tried and true. Even if she had been focused on the pen camera in her hand, she doubted anyone could have snuck up on her like this. If they had approached using any normal method, she would have heard them treading on the grass or snow.
Since she had not, they must have used a non-normal method to approach.
She whispered behind her with her eyes still on the phone linked to the camera.
“A teleporter? Don’t give me that.”
“This is Judgment.”
A clear voice cut through the winter chill to rule this place. And it made an announcement no criminal wanted to hear.
“Gunpowder weapons lack the elegance of the Railgun. Care to explain the smell of gunpowder smoke lingering in this area? Specifically, how that might be related to the highly-specialized gun abandoned right over there?”
Part 2
Loud gunshots rang from outside.
From surprisingly close by.
“Wahh!!”
“Hamazura, let’s get out of here.”
Track suit girl Takitsubo tugged on his arm, but Hamazura’s hips had given out and he had pathetically fallen on his butt. She was actually pulled back toward him and collapsed when she tried to tug on him.
She was so light.
Even through her track suit, he could tell she was unnaturally warm.
“Damn.”
He thought he might have tears in the corners of his eyes.
He frantically searched through the sling bag. The voice on the phone had gathered several runaway tools, like money, a counterfeit passport, and a first aid kit.
“Isn’t there anything of use in here!? I’d take a fever reduction sheet or painkillers at this point!!”
“I’m fine. We still have a long way to go, so keep all the medicine for you.”
Meanwhile, the young man in a safari jacket and rash guard did not run away or search for anything. He simply stared at those two. Hamazura could not even guess what that dark side man was thinking and he did not have time to worry about it either.
“Drencher.”
A face emerged from the bloody synthetic material forming the back wall. It was the ghost woman with long blonde twintails, a skintight dress, and a loose long skirt. Physical restrictions must have meant nothing to her because the waterproof tent was no obstacle to her.
“We need to leave here. It is dangerous.”
“And whose fault is that, Frillsand-kun?”
“I was not the one who began a firefight.”
The young man, however, did require a physical exit. Hamazura was seated over by the only zipper, so he crouched down and pulled out one of the metal spikes holding the tent down. After forcing up the bloody material, he turned back toward Hamazura.
“Search for Academy City’s Greatest Taboo.”
“What?”
“That is your only option now that you can’t use District 23’s airport. Even if it is a vague rumor about something that may not even exist. Of course, all the surviving dark side will be rushing there, but if you want to safely escape Academy City, you have to make the attempt.”
Hamazura was only confused, so he must not have been of enough interest to keep the young man here.
He left the tent and the ghost woman passed through the bloody synthetic material once more.
“Hamazura.”
“…”
Someone from the dark side would not give him a gift out of a spirit of volunteerism or simple benevolence. Since that man had given this information, he must have wanted to control Hamazura’s actions.
But to what end? He could not be cautious of something he did not understand.
It was time to make a decision.
“Dammit.”
“What is it, Hamazura!?”
The delinquent boy turned his back on the safe path. Instead of running away, he turned back toward the tent. Now that he thought about it, he could not figure out why Perfect Film had stayed here. His presence had been like a blessing from heaven for Hamazura and Takitsubo, but the counterfeiter could have used one of his own passports to board a plane and leave.
Why hadn’t he?
Did he have some insurance that meant he did not have to rush?
Like Academy City’s Greatest Taboo maybe?
Hamazura had no idea if that was a person, an object, or a concept, but he could not ignore it. His ignorance was not due to the poor quality of the information – he had simply not looked into it.
There was apparently some special rule in play during this clash between Anti-Skill and the dark side. Not knowing about that was like being wealthy but unaware of the revolution that was underway. Whether he could use this or would be used by it, he had to at least know what it was.
He wanted to know the complete set of rules even if that meant taking on some more risk.
He needed information.
A corpse with a shattered head lay inside a bloodstained tent. The many tools strewn about suggested this had been the old man’s workshop, but Hamazura searched all over and could not find a small memory device the size of a leather notepad or tube of lipstick. He grimaced and tried to face the corpse, but he ended up gagging.
The track suit girl stepped out in front of him.
She crouched down and quickly searched through the man’s pockets.
As harmless as she was, she had still been influenced by the dark side.
“He only has a wallet in his pocket. What should we do, Hamazura?”
“G-good question.”
Unsurprisingly, there was no medicine for Body Crystal here.
If it was that common, he would not have been relying on Pet Breeder.
Dark unease roiled in his chest once more. He was curious – extremely curious – but was this really worth investigating while his girlfriend was inching closer to death? Wasn’t there something better he could be doing with this time?
(No. I told myself I wouldn’t let her courage go to waste. Running away is fine, but I can’t lose sight of why we’re running away! I’m doing this so we can be happy. That has to be my focus throughout, so I can’t move from one thing to another and lose sight of that!!)
He shook his head to shake off the strange dizziness he felt and somehow managed to speak.
“This isn’t the only tent. Let’s search the others.”
He walked to the tent’s exit. That was a logical decision, but he also could not stand to be trapped in there with the rusty smell any longer.
And…
“Bh!?”
Just as he lowered his head to duck through the exit, he bumped into something soft.
It was a girl’s chest.
The delinquent boy fell on his butt and looked up to see a hakama girl with long silver hair standing with her hands on her hips.
“Attention tent occupant!!” The curly haired girl actually spoke Japanese. “Are you the famous counterfeiter? I tracked down the location of your lab a while back. Because I lost a ton of money purchasing a book that turned out to be a forgery made by you. You could say I’ve already paid in advance, so I have the right to one of your passports!!”
“What the hell!? Can you not hear all that gunfire out there!? Besides, that old man is already dead!!”
“Eh? Oh…kyahhhhhhh!? Brains…a crushed head. What am I doing at the center a gory horror movie all of a sudden!?”
Hamazura nearly snapped back that she had walked into it herself, but he restrained himself. And not just because his face had been treated to those surprisingly jiggly boobs.
She was here tonight for a high-quality counterfeit passport.
She might be wearing clothing with a mascot pattern, but she was definitely with the dark side. She might be a few eggs short of a dozen, but it would be best not to carelessly antagonize her.
“Hamazura.”
“Y-yeah. You’re right. This doesn’t change what we need to do. We need to figure out whatever we can about Academy City’s Greatest Taboo.”
The hakama girl made a weird “mhh?” sound while toying with the horns made by hardening her bangs. She was staring right at Takitsubo.
“Um, are you okay? Your face is red and you’re sweating a lot. You over there, doesn’t something look wrong with her?”
“Well, um…”
“Excuse me a moment. Yeah, I can’t help but look into something once I’m curious.”
She acted without asking permission and too quickly to stop her. At first, Hamazura mistook it for a wrestling move. She knocked Takitsubo over, grabbed at her leg, removed the shoe, and then began rubbing her thumb against the bottom of Takitsubo’s foot.
“Agyagagagagagaga!?”
“Hmm, it isn’t your liver or kidneys. Is it in your chest? I think it might be more circulatory than respiratory???”
The curly silver-haired girl pulled something from her pocket.
It was a stethoscope.
“You can tell with that?” asked Hamazura.
“Tell what? Anyway, I’m going to take off your top and your boobs will be visible, but are you okay with him being here for that?”
“She’s 100% okay with- ow!?”
A kick from trembling Takitsubo expelled him from the tent.
Then the exit was zipped shut.
“Okay, let’s get that top off of you so I can get a look at your chest. Ohh, you’re the sexy type.”
“Th-that doesn’t matter here, does it?”
“I’m an expert, so don’t let it bother you. Okay, take in a deep breath…and let it out.”
“Hah, hoo.”
“Okay, I’m going to press the stethoscope against you. Sorry of it’s chilly.”
“Eek!?”
Those voices really stirred up his imagination. What was going on inside that tent!? That place was bloody and there was an old man’s headless corpse inside, but he could only imagine it as pink right now! It was all transforming so much in his mind that he was afraid he would develop some weird new fetish!!
If that hakama girl was with the dark side, was she a beneficial?
Wait, wait, he thought while shaking his head. He could not let her kindness influence him. That was a bad habit of delinquents. Had he already forgotten what happened with Benizome and the ghost woma-
“Ahn. So…hot!!”
“How in the world do you get that reaction with a stethoscope, you perverted doct- bweh!?”
The instant he rushed wide-eyed into the tent, he was hit by a toolbox thrown by Takitsubo.
(Mo-)
While his vision flipped around, he saw something placed on his girlfriend’s bare back. A flame similar to a cigarette was smoldering there.
(Moxibustion???)
And after a while…
“Uhh.”
Takitsubo’s expression was blank as she left the tent, but her soft cheeks appeared to be burning up. She moved her mouth some, but no actual words ever got out. Nor could she bring herself to look him in the eye.
But this meant she was feeling well enough to focus on these other emotions.
“D-did you save her?”
The hakama girl sighed while putting her tools back in a black cloth wrapper.
“All I did was use the heat to induce blood flow and cut off the excessive stimulation of her nerves, so I didn’t heal the fundamental cause. She might be feeling better, but only because I shut off the danger signals. She shouldn’t push herself because mistaking her limits could do real damage to her body.”
“Who are you?”
“A torture specialist. Oh, but only in Japanese torture. That’s why I know how to do moxibustion, acupuncture, and traditional Chinese medicine.”
She just casually dropped that bombshell. Hamazura was left speechless by the revelation that she was not a doctor. Especially because it came after everything was done. But that was just how the dark side worked.
“Moxibustion is a field that stimulates the blood vessels and muscles with heat to externally control the movement of the organs. It doesn’t actually extract the toxins from the blood, so if you do want to save her…yes, I would recommend starting with dialysis.”
Dialysis was a medical technique that cleaned the blood with a filter outside the body and then returned it to the body. Quality aside, that was an ordinary technique they could have done outside the city.
Academy City could do it too, but security was too strict at the hospitals here. On the other hand, he was hesitant to leave his girlfriend’s wellbeing in the hands of a black market doctor. So this was perfect. Technology outside the city was 2 or 3 decades behind, but they could trick their way into medical care at a hospital out there.
He had found it.
It was a very thin thread, but he had found a path toward saving his girlfriend.
“Hamazura, weren’t you looking for something? Until we were interrupted by, um, what happened.”
“R-right.”
“Why are you so embarrassed about another girl seeing your boobs?” asked the hakama girl. “Yours are bigger than mine anyway.”
“Bring that up again and I really will hit you.”
Yes, the counterfeiter had a few other tents. They were probably divided up between living space and storage, but Hamazura had no way of telling which was which from the outside. While opening them each in turn, he found a sleeping bag rolled up next to a locked cabinet. It looked something like a somewhat fancy fishing case, but the plastic drawers were surprisingly sturdy. He doubted they would break even if he hit them with the metal kettle found in the same tent.
He did not have time to search around for the key since he could still hear gunfire from outside. He was not sure who was fighting who out there, but a stray bullet whizzing through the thin tent would be deadly no matter who it came from.
He tried sticking two metal clips inside the keyhole, but then he frowned. He could not feel them catching on the pins. Despite how cheap it looked, this appeared to be a fairly special analog lock.
(Damn, if only I still had my Coin of Nicholas.)
He regretted wasting it on that paparazzo. He should not have used it without thinking.
But then he had another idea.
“Hey, you with the tits.”
“Yes?”
“Yes?”
For some reason, both girls turned toward him, but Takitsubo was going to have to restrain her weird rivalry here. He had been speaking to the hakama girl.
“Do you have one of those coins?”
“I do. Why?”
Meanwhile, the track suit girl began pushing herself up against him from the side and silently puffing out her cheeks. It’s not a competition and I wasn’t choosing her over you! He just about lost his focus. She was larger than the hakama girl and that gave her unbelievable destructive power.
He had to empty his mind as he focused on this risky deal with the mystery hakama girl.
“Is it usable right now?”
“Heh heh heh. I’m a methodical Type A who likes to economize, so as you can see- hyahhhh!? Wait, don’t just steal my Coin of Nicholas!!”
“Open this lock, Coin of Nicholas!!”
He raised his voice after he finally managed to shove aside the hakama girl (whose hakama had slipped out of place in some crucial places during the struggle).
When he heard the click, he yanked the drawer open.
He found a card-sized hard drive inside. That alone was not enough to see what was on it. For all he knew, it was a collection of porn videos and links, but he chose to trust the embossed word on the label maker tape attached to its plastic surface: Lifeline.
“Is this it!?”
This was better than nothing, so he snatched it up. At the same time, he heard a gunshot from even closer than before.
Their time was up.
“Hamazura, let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah!!”
But he heard some sobbing from the silver-haired girl who had two horns yet did not seem threatening in the slightest and who inexplicably appeared to have some red plastic tape below her hakama.
“I resisted using it all this time and then it’s all taken from me in an instant. Why does this always happen to me???”
He froze up. This was extremely awkward. He owed her for relieving Takitsubo’s suffering. The dark side way would be to abandon her and make a run for it, but could he really do that? Could he really stoop to the unspeakable level of Benizome and that ghost woman?
Could he really look his girlfriend in the eye if he did?
“Hamazura.”
“Argh!! Okay, fine! We owe you twice if we include the hard drive, so hurry this way!! Unless you want to die!!”
“Wait, what!? Now you’re dragging me into the bushes to have your way with me!?”
Trapped between the girl’s misguided complaints and Takitsubo’s silent gaze, Hamazura awkwardly and nervously left the group of tents.
They could no longer hope to use a counterfeit passport at the District 23 airport.
They were left with just one final hope: Academy City’s Greatest Taboo.
Whatever that was.
