Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08/Chapter 4

Title - Chapter 4: 決着をつける者　Break_or_Crash?

Volume 08

Previous Chapter → 3

Next Chapter → Epilogue

Part 1
Musujime Awaki, who has just teleported away from her fight against Misaka Mikoto, carefully watches Mikoto look around in confusion, then run into an alley. Since when fighting a long-ranged opponent, she needs to be out of view but yet able to observe her opponent's reactions, she retreated to a high-class pizza shop above the battleground. She relaxes from seeing Mikoto leave, but the stress from teleporting herself, hits her. She thinks about how she has orders from 'that man' to not only teleport guests in and out of the windowless building, but to move herself with them. Worse, she has to move low class people like a blonde high school student with sunglasses and a red-haired priest in and out of the building. However, she copes with that task because her job brings other benefits.

However, just when she was planning her escape, the corkscrew she used to attack Shirai Kuroko appears in her shoulder. Shirai speaks behind her, and then teleports needles into the same spots that Musujime attacked Shirai at. Shirai offers her a tube of blood clotting cream, and tells her to shame herself by applying the cream in public. The customers in the pizza shop who were unperturbed by simple teleportation now flee from the signs of a fight, though.

Once Shirai points out that the commotion will attract Misaka's attention, someone who Musujime definitely cannot beat, Musujime decides to flee, but Shirai pins her down by saying that their identical injuries, location, and abilities, will allow her to predict Musujime's moves and prevent an escape.

However, she realizes that Shirai in reality didn't focus on winning, but instead, tried to protect Mikoto's naïve wish to get them to simply stop fighting. Snubbing this effort, she prepares to fight.

Part 2
The pair fight, attempting to teleport objects into each other, but after a while Shirai's injuries catch up with her and Musujime manages to trap her under several tables. With her prey trapped, Musujime talks to Shirai, trying to convince her that letting Tree Diagram be rebuilt would be fine, because she wants to know whether or not other organisms are capable of using powers. Musujime confesses that she is afraid of her own powers, and wants to know whether she was supposed to get them or not. She doesn't want to have to hurt others, but at the same time wants to be able to use her power freely.

Instead of giving in, though, Shirai rejects her desire to learn whether others can achieve powers, saying that everyone is capable of using their powers for good. Misaka never takes the easy way out and kills people, and she is so much stronger than Musujime. Then, Shirai gathers her strength, and attempts to attack her physically. Musujime is frightened by the willpower displayed, but manages to shoot Shirai in the side with a pistol. Shirai collapses, but before Musujime can finish her off, Musujime's powers go out of control, causing the objects near her including the pistol in her hands to teleport randomly and break. Regaining control, she vows to kill the disabled Shirai for dispelling her longstanding beliefs. Shirai knows that if she doesn't move, Musujime will teleport her maximum of 4250 kg onto her, and quietly pleads to Misaka for help.

Part 3
Shirai waits on the floor, awaiting her fate. She has no idea of when the attack will come, until she starts seeing a distortion in space above her, indicating an impending teleport. At this point, she silently begs Misaka not to come, because she knows that Misaka will blindly rush over and be crushed along with her. However, her worst fears are realized, because she hears electricity crackling along with footsteps. She yells for Misaka not to come, but suddenly a railgun punches a hole in the floor, and she hears Misaka tell someone that she's relying on his fist. Misaka creates a ramp from the metallic debris, and Kamijou Touma runs up the ramp and punches the spatial distortion back to where it came from. Shirai is boggled by this capability, but instead asks him why he risked his life for someone he had no relation to.

Touma responds that confronting the problem head-on was the easiest way for him to deal with it. Were it possible to run away and have the problem resolve itself, he would have. She then asks him whether he was afraid, but he says that he did this because of a promise. He once promised for a certain nameless person who fell in love with Misaka to protect her and the world around her. He then asks whether he fulfilled the promise, but Shirai replies 'halfway,' pointing out that he still hasn't recovered the Tree Diagram fragment, so he runs off.

Between the Lines 4
Musujime arrives at the boundary of Academy City, and calms down, but the trauma from her testing accident relives itself in her mind: she teleported herself into a wall, but instead of teleporting out of it, pulled her leg out and ripped her skin off. After vomiting, she struggles to control herself, and radios her contacts. However, she gets no response but the sound of gunfire. A woman's low voice is heard over the phone telling her that though she doesn't use her weapon on children, she won't hesitate if it's for them.

Now, she has nobody to contact, and since recovering Tree Diagram would hurt the General Director of Academy City's plan to use the Sisters, she has to leave the city alone. However, she is terrified when she sees Accelerator blocking her way.

Accelerator mentions learning of the problem from Last Order, and complains about having to use a crutch and a one-of-a-kind electrical collar to get around. Musujime, once she remembers hearing that Accelerator lost his powers, relaxes, but he assures her that though he is still far stronger than her. He stamps on the ground, breaking all of the surrounding windows. Musujime teleports above the broken glass, but Accelerator jumps up, punching and destroying the Tree Diagram fragment before knocking her out. Falling down, he muses that he might not be the strongest anymore, but he will always be the strongest in front of Last Order.