Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08/Chapter 2

Title - Chapter 2: 向き合う乙女達　Space_and_Point.

Volume 08

Previous Chapter → 1

Next Chapter → 3

Part 1
Shirai Kuroko bursts into the Judgment 177th Branch Office, startling her partner, Uiharu Kazari. After a scuffle over Uiharu's having called Shirai while Shirai was out shopping with Misaka Mikoto, Uiharu begins to explain the case on hand.

A large silver-colored luggage bag was taken from a man in a suit by ten thieves, who got stuck in a traffic jam, but escaped into the subway system, but several suspicious facts stood out to the pair of Judgment members. For one, the victim chased after the thieves but did not go to either Judgment or Anti-Skill to report the theft. Furthermore, the luggage was purported to contain a cooling device for a supercomputer, something that wouldn't be carried around so carelessly in luggage. It also had a slip on it stating that its destination was the Subsidiary Calculus Facility ofTokiwadai Middle School. Finally, the victim had a concealed weapon under his suit.

In response to this, Shirai decided that the best course of action was to pursue the thieves, because locating the victim would waste time and retrieving the stolen item would entice the victim out of wherever he was hiding.

Part 2
Shirai travels rapidly to the thieves' location using her teleportation ability, which lets her transport herself and up to 130.7 kilograms to a point up to 81.5 meters away. Repeating this rapidly lets her travel at incredible speeds without disturbing passersby. She catches up with the robbers in an alley, teleports into their midst, and teleports herself and the stolen luggage out of the group. Despite their armed state and quick reflexes, she rapidly knocks all ten of them unconscious.

After contacting Anti-Skill, Shirai examines the men. They have guns sourced from outside Academy City, judging from their heavy, metallic construction. Additionally, one of the men has a gold tooth. Because of the state of materials science in Academy City, metal replacement teeth have become obsolete, indicating that the men themselves were not native to the city. Judging from their quick reactions with guns, they were trained in fighting, but it seemed that they had never encountered an esper before.

Wondering what exactly was in the luggage to get these outsiders' attentions, she examines the parcel. She finds it locked as expected, and prepares to teleport the container out from around the contents, but decides for safety's sake not to open it until a telepath examines it. However, she realizes that it is not a normal luggage, because it is sealed and appears light-tight.

Shirai then calls Uiharu, who has completed research on the luggage. The case was designed to reflect cosmic rays, which should only be necessary if used in space. Uiharu has Shirai scan the label on the luggage, and they find that not only is the destination 'Subsidiary Calculus Facility of Tokiwadai Middle School' nonexistant, but that the luggage came off of the Academy City space shuttle's latest flight. Sitting on the luggage, Shirai hangs up and decides to wait for Anti-Skill to arrive. While waiting, Mikoto calls her. She asks Shirai to tidy up their dorm room for inspection, implying that she isn't in their dorm either.

However, immediately after their conversation, the luggage suddenly disappears from underneath Shirai, as if it were teleported away. As she struggles to get her bearings, a wine corkscrew is teleported into her shoulder. A high school girl appears at the entrance of the alley, standing next to the stolen bag. The girl proceeds to explain that she is also a teleporter, with the ability 'Move Point' letting her move objects that she's not in contact with. She also reveals that she was working with the ten thieves.

Shirai then starts to fight against this teleporter, preparing to teleport needles directly into her opponent like the way the corkscrew was teleported into her. However, the girl quickly teleports the unconscious men in front of her as a shield to block Shirai's vision. Then, the girl starts to use the needles that Shirai threw, wounding Shirai.

The girl then proceeds to mention that she didn't expect Misaka Mikoto to involve her kouhai in her fights, then retracts that when she remembers that Misaka had help in ending 'that experiment.' Shirai is stunned to hear Mikoto's name, and asks why she was mentioned, but the girl instead criticizes Misaka, deploring her for using her kouhais without even giving them information. Shirai, the whole while, has no idea what she's talking about, because Mikoto has kept her in the dark about the Level 6 Shift experiment and its resolution. The girl then implies that Misaka has been involved in the day's events, because the traffic jam was caused by a power outage, caused by Misaka's powers. Finally, she reveals that the contents of the luggage is the largest fragment of Tree Diagram, someone plans to use it to rebuild the supercomputer, and restart the experiment.

Since Shirai is still confused, the girl gives her a hint, asking her if anything special happened on the 21st of August, before leaving the scene.

Between The Lines 2
In the hospital, Yomikawa Aiho is sitting outside a bathroom, where Last Order and Accelerator are bathing. Last Order is deliberately angering Accelerator, teasing his inability to reflect the soap suds she's splashing at his face. He splashes her back, but she complains that when he was saving her from the virus, he was much nicer, accidentally revealing that she has gotten her memories back from the Misaka network. Yomikawa then leaves for Anti-Skill business.