Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending
“Okie-dokie! The District 14 lab has been shut down like you asked. Top priority access to the Hula Hoop particle accelerator reverts back to the official control center. Really, no one needed the thing anymore once they carelessly kicked Ainame Caroline out, so this was just eliminating a lingering money sink.”
“What about Meltdowner Mugino Shizuri?”
“She’s doing fine. Mugino Shizuri’s Angelica would let her slice up DNA from an industrial approach and Takitsubo Rikou could reach the point of rewriting Personal Realities via their AIM Diffusion Field. They start at different places, but they have the same ultimate goal. That’s no coincidence, is it? It’s almost cruel, really. The whole thing is a comparison test between similar espers to determine which one to prune, similar to what happened between Shokuhou Misaki and Mitsuari Ayu, right?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Eh? Ah ha ha. Don’t even try to deny it at this point. I already know everything. Once one or the other is perfected as a Level 5 capable of creating more Level 5s, we don’t need the other one anymore. Isn’t Item a stress cage where they’ll push each other to greater heights until one wins out? You even faked that whole false charges case so the one could save the other and build solid bonds between the two enemies☆”
“Do not make me repeat myself.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, should I continue to monitor Item like normal?”
“Yes. I am certain I can get a majority of the 12 on my side. And this city’s king agrees with me as well. Even if there are a few opposing votes, there will be no major move against us.”
“When it’s all fated to fall apart sooner or later, I almost feel sorry for Mugino with how hard she’s working at holding it together.”
“(Clink clink)”
“Heyyy, is that silverware tapping against a plate? Th-that’s rude, you know? And I will remind you that I did produce results here, so please don’t eat me. Heh, eh heh heh. Okay, Nya-Nakimoto-shan?”
It was August 9 in District 13.
The typhoon was gone and today was a festival day. Festivals dedicated to one’s ancestors and the gods were a rarity in Academy City where a belief in science was so common, but some of the traditions were still enjoyed without any belief in the religious concepts behind them. The wooden scaffold for the bon dance, the rows of paper lanterns, and the giant Japanese drum had been carried in from District 12 which was dedicated to religion (which in this city, meant studying it scientifically).
“Onee-chan!”
Frenda saw her 7-year-old sister running toward her. She couldn’t have gotten the yukata on herself, so her cosplayer dorm manager must have helped her get dressed. The yukata hung straight down around her like a single tube and it was slipping off of her in worrying ways as she ran.
But the princess of the family was oblivious to this. She held cotton candy in her right hand and her goldfish scooping prize in her left hand and she leaped into her big sister’s arms with a beaming smile.
“Yay! In the first place, I caught you, Onee-chan!! Now you have to join us☆”
“Wait, you’re getting cotton candy on my clothes!”
“In the first place, Japanese festivals are great! You can buy anything just by showing them your Nyaon money phone! Nyaoooon☆”
“In the end, when did this high tech stuff work its way so deep into Japanese traditions? Curse those festival stands for using e-money to trick elementary schoolers into spending money without realizing it.”
“Heh heh heh. They say this is supposed to mimic what a temple festival is like. Now I’m going to bon dance the night away! In the first place, hold this, Onee-chan! I need both hands free!”
“Yes, yes. Wait, can you really keep this goldfish? In the end, looking after a living creature is a lot of responsibility.”
“Heh heh. I’m doing just fine with Michelangelo and Geraldine, so I’ll be fine.”
Oh, right. She already had those rhino beetles. They wouldn’t fight with the goldfish and neither animal needed to be fed several times a day, so they could be left alone at the dorm all day. They didn’t need to be taken for a walk, so maybe Frenda could trust her sister on this one.
The younger sister’s classmate hesitantly spoke up. She had her yukata done up properly to show off her nape and she hid her mouth behind a fan, giving quite the graceful appearance. Frenda found it quite rude for a 7-year-old to show her up like that. How elegant did she think she was?
“E-excuse me. The teachers are calling for us.”
“Okay!! Then let’s go, Azumi. I watched tons of example videos, so I know I can do it. In the first place, how can they do the Japanese bon dance without me!?”
This program had each class at their school dancing together, so Frenda didn’t have to worry about her sister taking part. And she didn’t have to act like a dad at an athletic festival because one of the teachers was bound to take a video to record the event.
Then she noticed a familiar face standing next to her.
The sexy girl in a yukata was…
“Huh? Now this is a rare treat, Mugino. In the end, it’s unusual to see you at a seasonal event like this.”
“Speaking of unusual…what are you wearing?”
“A yukata, what else? In the end, it’s the latest from Demeter & Aphrodite.”
Frenda spread her arms and showed off her outfit. Despite being a yukata, it had a miniskirt, it bared the shoulders in the oiran style, and it was decorated here and there with frills and lace. It had the same vibe as extremely nice avocado sushi made by a traditional sushi chef as a collab with something else. It left the history and tradition in tatters, but the design itself wasn’t bad, leaving no real room for complaint.
“My sister is trying out the bon dance over there, so in the end, we can talk now if you want.”
“About what?
They walked around behind the boxy park management center because it felt like the right thing to do.
There, the two dark side girls continued their conversation.
“Really, it’s just weird to see you of all people participate in the summer festival. In the end, you dodged the question before, but this isn’t your usual routine. And if you aren’t acting like your usual self, it tells me your usual flowchart has broken down. I get the feeling you’ve taken more unseen damage than you’re even aware of yourself.”
“…”
“In the end…”
If Mugino had wanted a change of pace, she had to be carrying some kind of weight inside.
Frenda Seivelun came out and said it.
She gathered her resolve.
“You’re just forcing yourself to go on, aren’t you?”
She felt a soft impact.
Mugino Shizuri had pressed her forehead against shorter Frenda’s flat chest.
She stayed that way for a while.
Until…
“I hate it.”
The Mugino who spoke here was one Frenda normally never got to see.
“That’s a small price to pay for killing you.”
She had thought that was the right thing to do.
To get payback for Tachiuo Mary who had fought fair and square and been trampled on by the very person she had wanted to be with.
And to save her teammates Frenda and Kinuhata who had graffiti burned into their brains when they were already out of the fight.
Mugino had needed to settle things with Ainame Caroline no matter what.
Half measures wouldn’t have been enough.
Even if she ended up at the very bottom of the dark side, she had chosen the best possible option.
And yet.
Even so.
“Say what you want, it’s all a million times better than letting someone as dangerous as you go free.”
She understood all that.
But it didn’t matter.
That Level 5 could not deny that she envied an imaginary version of herself who hadn’t done the right thing.
In the end, that monster had only been a girl.
Mugino refused to accept that anyone out there could perfectly control her emotions.
“I hate it so much. What do you mean my power won’t grow anymore?”
Perhaps that was a cruel thing for a Level 5 to say to a Level 0.
But Mugino couldn’t stop herself.
Her muddy feelings gushed out. She couldn’t help it.
“That lab in District 14 – that giant building – contained my future. I went there today and it was gone without a trace. It wasn’t just temporarily closed!! Hula Hoop is nothing more than a particle accelerator now… I have no idea where Meltdowner research is being done anymore. And it’s supposed to be my power! No, I bet the adults didn’t move anyone anywhere else!! There won’t be another lab!!!”
She had known this would happen.
So she would have avoided reporting it to the higher ups and worked out a plan to avoid this.
But even so…
“I have the digital cassette. I have all the data needed to complete Angelica. But that’s meaningless. I have the data, but there isn’t a single adult out there who can make use of it!! What the hell? It’s not that I didn’t have the talent or that I failed to do the work. What did I do to deserve having my future stolen from meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!???”
Her beautiful face crumpled up.
Large tears spilled out.
That never should have happened.
But this blow was so powerful it made it happen anyway.
The large fireworks bursting overhead could not fully drown out her voice as she wept like a small child. The Level 5 who ruled everything through fear and charisma was nowhere to be found.
Even though she had defeated a powerful foe, survived that nightmare of a night, rescued her teammates, and brought peace to the world.
This wasn’t the face of a winner.
Winners didn’t cry like an abandoned child.
She had solved everything and defeated the enemy, but the ultimate loser was Mugino herself.
Or was the unfair halting of her research a financial issue or related to Academy City politics?
That little researcher had been confident her curse would come to fruition.
And so she had sneered at the survivor from the verge of death.
“Then laugh. Because you’ve just nipped all your future possibility in the bud by siding with the good guys☆”
Could the Angelica research data have been so complicated that only a genius researcher like Ainame Caroline could make use of it? Was that why none of the adults had tried to take her position after she was gone?
Mugino had killed the genius with the one and only path left for her.
Who was it that had actually fulfilled the curse?
“…”
Frenda had asked her to open up, so the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl simply listened.
She placed her arms around Mugino and rubbed her back just like when she comforted her little sister.
“I defeated that villain and protected the city and this is the thanks I get!? Are you saying I brought this on myself!? Is it supposed to be my just deserts!? But someone had to stop her. She really was a step away from completing Angelica. We were the only ones who could have stopped that villain!! So why does it have to lock away my future? You work and you work, but this world doesn’t reward you for iiiiiiiiit!!”
The girl burying her face in Frenda’s chest was shaking intermittently.
She was sobbing.
And sniffling.
This was no more than a girl who had hit a significant roadblock in her life.
“…”
Frenda understood the pain of having your path as an esper blocked off. As a Level 0, she had been faced with that one right at the starting line, so she knew just how merciless and unforgiving that precipice was. If anything, she may have been lucky she had faced it and gotten over it when she was still little.
What did it matter if it was ugly?
If they couldn’t open up to each other like this, they weren’t true teammates. Item trusted their lives with each other, so Frenda had to view this display of vulnerability as growth.
Ainame Caroline had said Mugino would never grow past this point, but Frenda refused to accept that.
Go to hell.
Go to hell, cruel world. Then what do you call this miracle happening before my eyes?
This wasn’t an issue for Mugino alone.
If all of Item worked together as a whole, they had endless potential for growth. So it was up to Frenda to help support Mugino here.
She had to repay Mugino for the trust shown by letting her see these tears.
So…
“It’ll be alright, Mugino. We can all get stronger together.”
Frenda Seivelun gently hugged the lonely girl who was working so hard to silence her sobs but continually failing.
She leaned toward Mugino’s ear.
And she said something she never should have.
She spoke the fateful words that could become “one of many factors” down the line.
“In the end, I swear I will never betray you.”
