Toaru Majutsu no Index

Volume 3, 3: Railgun. Level5.

Volume 3, Chapter 3: Railgun. Level5.

Part 1

The sky had turned to the black of the sea at night.

The moon was in a crescent shape. The narrow moon looked like a sneering mouth and its light was much too weak. The street lights did not reach an iron bridge a ways from the centre of the city. With the black of the river running below as well, the area seemed to have sunken into darkness.

Misaka Mikoto had her hands on the handrail as she vacantly stared at the distant lights of the city.

Bluish-white sparks crackled around her.

The term “electrical attack” had a frightening ring to it, but it was a kind light to her. She could not forget the night on which she first became able to use her power. She had crawled under her blanket and sent out small sparks all night long. She had seen them as sparkling stars. She had seriously thought that she might be able to create a starry sky one day when she was older and stronger.

That was how she had been before she grew up.

Now, she did not feel she had the right to have dreams.

“...”

She clenched her fists and then opened them again.

With just that motion, Mikoto’s eyes narrowed slightly in a smile.

That simple action was one that everyone took for granted.

However, there were people in the world who could not take that simple action.

“...Muscular dystrophy, hm?” were the words that came from her small lips.

Muscular dystrophy was an incurable disease of unknown cause where one’s muscles slowly become unusable. As the muscles became unusable, the strength of the muscles fell. Eventually, that loss of muscular strength spread throughout the entire body and even the freedom of the heart and lungs was lost.

Of course, Mikoto did not have muscular dystrophy.

Nor did she have someone close to her who suffered from it.

But she had thought that life would be a tough one.

They had done nothing wrong, but they were born with a body that would not move as they wanted it to, they had to watch helplessly as their body grew weaker and weaker, and they finally became unable to get up off of a bed. No matter much they tried to reach out their hand asking for help, no one would come to grab that hand. She had felt that life was just too much.

A researcher had asked her if she wanted to try to help those people

The researcher had said that those with muscular dystrophy might be able to be saved using her power. The man in the lab coat had then tried to shake her hand.

Muscular dystrophy was a disease that made one’s muscles not move as you wanted them to.

And the brain’s instructions were sent to the muscles with electrical signals.

If someone had the power to manipulate their own bodily electricity, they might be able to send signals to the muscles via a different way than the usual nerve route.

She might be able to bring a saving light to those people who were being swallowed up bit by bit by unease and fear as they helplessly saw their bodies getting weaker and weaker.

“...”

A certain young child had believed those words without a shred of doubt.

She had thought that, if her Electromaster power could be studied, it could be “transplanted” into others and save all those suffering from muscular dystrophy.

That was how Misaka Mikoto’s DNA map had been officially recorded into Academy City’s Bank.

However, recently there had been a rumor spreading throughout Academy City that her DNA map had been used to create military Sisters. It wasn’t that rare an occurrence. Mikoto was one of the seven Level 5’s and a scholarship student at the prestigious powers development school of Tokiwadai Middle School. There had been countless baseless rumors like that about her. That was why she had not believed the rumor.

Or perhaps she had simply not wanted to believe it.

However, that girl’s wish had been shattered in a way she had never expected.

“...”

A mass production line had already been created for the Radio Noise Sisters that had been created for military use. An inexhaustible supply could be created at the press of a button.

And the Sisters that had been created did not even get to live the life of a weapon. Instead, their sole purpose in life was to be killed as experimental animals. They were like frogs to be dissected.

“Why...did it end up like this?” Mikoto muttered with trembling lips.

The reason was obvious. It was because she had carelessly shared her DNA map when she was little. She did not know if that man in the lab coat had been lying from the start or if the proper research had been changed partway through.

There had once been a little girl who had wished to save some troubled people.

But that girl’s wish had resulted in 20,000 people being killed.

“...”

That was why that girl wished to stop it.

Even if it cost her her life, she had to stop that insane experiment.

She did not think she was being cool by betting her life. She did not especially want to die. In fact, her body was trembling, her fingertips had gone pale and cold, and she could not gather her thoughts properly as if there was static scattered throughout the back of her head.

If she could, she wanted to yell out for help.

But she could not allow herself to do that.

The face of a certain boy floated up in the back of her mind. That older boy had an unknown power that had allowed him to easily deal with one of Academy City’s Level 5’s yet he was branded a Level 0. That boy was strong enough that, without bluffing, he could honestly write off that unfair treatment as “not mattering”. That strong boy held great power yet was not proud and he treated both strong and weak equally and without discrimination.

She suddenly recalled that she had fought with that boy on that same iron bridge just a few weeks before.

That boy had acted foolishly in an attempt to get some delinquents to chase after him. He had not even known those delinquents, but he had been trying to distance them from Mikoto who was quick to start a fight.

If Mikoto had known everything about the experiment hidden in the underside of the city at that time, and had she called to that boy for help, would he have stood up for her?

She was sure he would have.

She had a feeling that boy could do what she could not.

But she also felt it would be cowardly to ask him to help her.

It was Mikoto’s fault that around 10,000 Sisters had been killed and the remaining 10,000 were still standing on the verge of death. Could someone who had committed such a great crime – could a monster whose hands were soaked in blood, flesh, bone, fat, and guts – really ask for help? She did not think so.

“...Help me.”

That was why Mikoto let out that voice in that place where it would reach no one.

Her frightened, wounded, and tattered voice merely disappeared into the darkness.

“Help me...”

That cry that would reach no one spilled uncontrollably from her mouth.

And then she heard the mewing of a kitten.

Mikoto looked down. Instead of darkness, she saw a kitten sitting at her feet that had black fur that held gentle warmth. The black cat looked up at her and mewed with that young face that looked like the face of a pure unblemished child.

She wondered where the cat had come from.

And then she heard a footstep.

“...”

Mikoto looked up.

With no street lights, the only light was the pale moonlight from the wire-thin crescent moon. This left that iron bridge covered in darkness as if it represented the environment surrounding her.

“...What are you doing?”

That boy appeared as if he were tearing through that darkness.

He appeared like a hero rushing over in response to the cries of a girl being swallowed up by the darkness.

Part 2

Mikoto stood alone on the iron bridge staring vacantly into the night.

When Kamijou saw her at a distance, he honestly thought it would crush his heart. She looked so exhausted that she seemed weak, fragile, and about to disappear. It was even more painful because of how lively she usually was.

For that reason, Kamijou hesitated to call out to her.

But he had to call out to her.

“...What are you doing?”

After he spoke, Mikoto looked at him.

The Mikoto before him was the usual lively, smart-assed, and selfish Misaka Mikoto.

“Hmn. I’m free to do whatever I want wherever I want. After all, I’m the Level 5 Railgun. The kinds of delinquents who I might run into at night don’t even come close to being a danger to me. And you have no right to say anything to me about this.”

However, Kamijou felt like he could see past that mask because it was simply too perfect.

He couldn’t look at that mask anymore.

“...Stop this,” he said.

Mikoto’s expression disappeared for just an instant, but it was back in the very next instant.

“Stop what? Don’t tell me you’re stupid enough to try to keep me, the Mikoto-chan who kicks vending machines for drinks, from going out at night.”

Misaka Mikoto responded with her suspiciously normal behavior.

“Just stop this. I know about Misaka Imouto, I know about the Sisters, I know about the experiment, and I know about Accelerator. So let’s cut the crap.”

Kamijou pulled out a pile of papers.

It was that insane report printed on over 20 pieces of copy paper.

“.....................................”

In that instant, the “normal” Misaka Mikoto was smashed to pieces.

She probably had no idea how the muscles in her face were moving as her cheek’s seemed to convulse.

Kamijou felt a stab of pain in his chest.

He had likely destroyed something that she had been trying to protect at all costs.

Even so, he tried to continue on.

“Ahh, why did you do something like this?” she said as if trying to get in his way. “If you have that report, you must have gone into my room without permission. To even search through the stuffed bear, you must be even more persistent than someone’s sister-in-law. Y’know, you may think I should be thankful that you’ve gone so far into this that you can’t see anything else around you, but normally you’d be executed for something like that.”

Mikoto was speaking casually with a smile like usual.

That smile that looked like she was freed of something pained Kamijou even further.

“So can I ask you one thing?

Mikoto’s bright voice sounded mostly forced.

“What is it?” Kamijou responded almost reflexively.

“After seeing that, were you worried about me? Or could you not forgive me?” she said in her oddly bright voice.

Kamijou was oddly irritated by the way she seemed to be assuming he had come to blame her and assuming that there was no one in the world who would worry for her.

“...Of course I was worried about you.”

Mikoto looked slightly surprised at his almost crushingly low voice.

“Well, I suppose at least having someone who will say that even if it’s a lie is better than nothing.”

Mikoto smiled.

Her eyes looked like she had given up on something and was now looking at some distant dream.

“...I wasn’t lying.”

The words came mostly reflexively from Kamijou’s mouth.

“What?”

Mikoto frowned.

“I said I wasn’t lying!”

Kamijou’s yell made Mikoto jump even more than it did the cowardly black cat.

For some reason, Kamijou simply could not allow Mikoto to have that look on her face.

That was why he continued forward.

“I apologize for going to your room without permission. I did get permission from your roommate, but I suppose that isn’t good enough. Anyway, you can just biri biri me to your heart’s content later. So what are you doing? I doubt you got this report through any proper means. And there’s this map in there with it. They’re all laboratories researching a certain disease, but what’s with the red X’s written over them? They almost look like...”

Kamijou fell silent.

“They almost look like kill marks?” Mikoto responded quietly while looking at Kamijou.

Her voice was shockingly lacking in emotion.

Her transparent voice was enough to give a chill to anyone who knew her well enough.

The cat at Mikoto’s feet looked up at her in dissatisfaction.

“That’s pretty much it. Of course, I didn’t just go in and blow them up with my Railgun.” Mikoto almost seemed to be singing. “There are pieces of equipment in those labs that cost hundreds of millions of yen, right? I just used my power over the network to thoroughly destroy them. Without working equipment, the labs can’t function, so they close and the project becomes permanently frozen.”

She had been almost happily singing, but then she stopped for an instant.

“...Or that was how it was supposed to go.”

“How it was supposed to go?”

“Yes. It was easy enough to destroy one or two labs, but the experiment was then picked up by another lab. No matter how many times I destroyed the lab or got in the way, the experiment continued on and continued on. The idea of the never before-seen Level 6 must truly sound wonderful to those researchers.”

The girl’s voice sounded truly exhausted.

She seemed to have the despair of one who had lived for a thousand years and seen all the darkness of mankind.

“...Those girls have no problem referring to themselves as experimental animals,” Mikoto said. “Experimental animals. Do you know how rats or guinea pigs are treated?” She seemed to be gritting her teeth. “I was curious, so I looked into it, but it’s horrible. While still alive and without being given any anesthetic, they have holes opened up in their skulls with saws and then have data taken on what happens when drugs are directly applied to their brains. Each and every day, records are kept on how many milliliters of the drug it takes before they cough of blood and die in agony. If they might run low on supplies, they just put the males and females together to breed and if they have leftovers after the experiment is over, they just toss them as is into a furnace.”

Mikoto’s throat moved as if she were suppressing the urge to vomit.

“Those girls fully understand what an experimental animal is. They know, but they are still calmly able to say that’s what they are.”

Mikoto bit her lip because she simply couldn’t stand that.

She bit down so hard that red blood flowed out because she couldn’t stand it but she couldn’t find a way to stop it.

“But you have this report, right? If you hand this over to Anti-Skill, won’t the board of directors or someone do something to stop it? Isn’t the cloning of humans against international law?”

With the Curriculum that involved injecting drugs into kids and the development of rockets using original technology, Academy City did some crazy things, but they still managed to follow the law even if just barely.

Given that, an experiment that clearly violated law like that one involving 20,000 clones used as experimental subjects to be killed would be unthinkable. If that information leaked out, the forces opposed to Academy City would use it to crush the city.

Yet Mikoto held an expression that seemed to say “What are you talking about?”

“That experiment may be wrong on a human level, but it is right on a scientific level. Even if it breaks the law and leads to the loss of their humanity, it is still an experiment that should be carried out.”

“The hell it is! How can you say something that stupid!?”

“Yes, it is stupid. But don’t you find it odd? This city is constantly under surveillance from a satellite. No matter how hard you try to hide, you can’t escape that eye in the sky.”

Kamijou was left speechless.

In other words, the board of directors that led Academy City was...

“They’re in on it. And of course, that includes the police of this city, Anti-Skill and Judgement. They hold the law of this city in their hands, so reporting it will only get you captured,” said Mikoto as she looked down to the cat at her feet.

She gritted her teeth as if bearing with something.

“...This is wrong,” Kamijou said as if coughing up blood.

Rules were meant to bind people in order to protect people. If they were turning a blind eye to people being killed and binding those who stood up to save those people, the rules were completely backwards.

Mikoto smiled slightly as she looked at Kamijou.

She looked like an exhausted adult smiling at a child who understood nothing.

“Yes, it is wrong. It’s wrong to try to rely on anyone else. I caused this problem, so I need to take responsibility and save those girls myself.”

“...”

Kamijou fell silent.

Mikoto slightly bent her small lips.

“If you think about it, it’s quite simple. This experiment is meant to make Accelerator stronger. In that case, it’s so simple. If they lose Accelerator, the experiment will fall apart.”

Mikoto was saying that she would kill Accelerator herself.

Even if she stained her own hands with the crime of murder, she would save the remaining 10,000 Sisters.

“You’re lying,” was Kamijou’s simple reply.

Mikoto looked surprised and Kamijou continued.

“I already told you to cut the crap. You can’t defeat Accelerator. After all, you would have done that first if you could. You start biri biri-ing me just because you get a little mad, so I doubt you would keep quiet after all this.”

“...”

“Destroying labs or informing the board of directors just seemed too roundabout for you. You’re the type who goes and gets into a fight with someone you don’t like. You aren’t the type to search for evidence and then go tell the teacher.” Kamijou took a breath. “Since you didn’t do things that way, it means you wanted to but you couldn’t. Maybe there’s just too much of a difference in strength between you and Accelerator so you don’t stand a chance against him.”

Even without that reasoning, Kamijou doubted Mikoto could kill Accelerator.

Misaka Mikoto was standing up because she couldn’t allow the Sisters to die.

Someone like that would not consider it okay to kill someone else in order to stop someone from dying.

“That’s how I know. If you aren’t trying to solve this in a straight fight then it means the other guy is better than you. So why didn’t you ask for help? If you knew you couldn’t solve this on your own, you could have just asked someone else to help you, right?”

Mikoto fell silent for a bit at Kamijou’s words.

Not even the sound of the wind could be heard on that iron bridge at night.

The only sound in the silence was the cat mewing longingly.

“...If he kills 128 Railguns, Accelerator can shift to Level 6,” Mikoto muttered in the darkness.

Kamijou frowned.

“However, we cannot prepare 128 Railguns.”

Mikoto sounded like she was reciting those words in isolation.

“So we prepared 20,000 Sisters, the deteriorated copies of Railgun.”

Mikoto’s tongue glided along as she seemed to be speaking of some enjoyable dream.

“What if I did not have that much value?”

Kamijou’s breath caught in his throat.

“What if I could make the researchers think that he would not reach Level 6 even if he killed 128 of me?” She smiled as she spoke. “According to Tree Diagram, if Accelerator and I were to fight, I would be killed after 185 moves even if I focused on fleeing. But what if the battle ended sooner than that? What if I lost on the very first move and could do nothing but pathetically turn tail and attempt to flee?”

As she said that, she smiled as if she were truly enjoying herself.

“When the researchers saw that, I’m sure they would think that Tree Diagram’s calculations were wonderful, but that it was still wrong.”

A battered smile appeared on her face.

“...”

Kamijou gritted his teeth.

Even if the laboratory in which the experiment was being carried out was destroyed, it would not matter as the experiment would just be picked up by another laboratory. To stop them, they would have to be convinced that the experiment itself was meaningless and not worth continuing.

That was why Mikoto intended to take on Accelerator and purposefully lose.

Even if it was a bluff or an act, she intended to make the researchers think the simulation on which the experiment was based was false.

She planned to do so even if it cost her her life.

But...

“What meaning does that have? Even if you fool the researchers once, they’ll just recalculate everything with Tree Diagram and start the experiment back up when they get the same result!”

The cat trembled in fright at Kamijou’s shout.

But Mikoto’s voice was soft enough to pacify the cat.

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen. Tree Diagram was shot down by some unknown attack from the ground about 2 weeks ago. The higher ups seem to be hiding that fact to protect their reputation, but they can’t recalculate it.”

Kamijou had no memories and Mikoto had not been there, but a white nun had used a dragon attack to slice the satellite in two.

“Ha. It’s actually kind of funny. Everyone talking about the forecasted calculations is acting based on data Tree Diagram calculated out months ago.”

Kamijou recalled what Mikoto had said in the evening.

–I hate those blimps.

–...Because people follow the policies decided on by a machine.

“But that also means this is my only chance. Right now while Tree Diagram cannot be used to recalculate anything, all those third rate people just have to accept what it said because they can’t analyze what parts of all that data are correct and what parts are wrong. That is why they will have no choice but to stop the entire experiment if a mistake appears in a portion of the data. It’s just like a program being forcibly terminated when a strange bug occurs.”

That was all that girl could do.

She was throwing her life aside to save someone. She could not be a proper hero and defeat the enemy or stand in front of someone to protect them.

She was doing the one thing she could do.

She could only cast aside her own life in order to make the researchers think their correct answer was incorrect.

“...”

Kamijou gritted his teeth.

Even with that bluff, there was no guarantee that it would work. If the researchers realized that Mikoto was “acting”, it was all over. It was even possible that they would continue with the experiment despite determining that the calculations were wrong.

Even so, that was all she could do.

The only other option for her was to pray to god that the experiment would be stopped.

“I see,” Kamijou said.

He wasn’t quite sure what emotion he was feeling.

“So you’re planning to die.”

“Yes,” Mikoto nodded.

“You truly believe that your death will save the remaining 10,000 Sisters.”

“Yes, “Mikoto nodded.

Mikoto took one step to face Kamijou.

“Now that you know that, get out of the way. I am about to go face Accelerator. I’ve already stolen the data on the locations of the 20,000 battlefields, so I can head to the battlefield before the Sister begins fighting and end all the fighting. So get out of the way.”

“...”

Kamijou gritted his teeth.

That may truly have been the only way left of stopping the experiment and saving the Sisters. There were problems in the world that could not be solved through fighting. Imagine Breaker and Railgun were nothing more than extensions of childish fights. They were simply powerless before the power of the type of organization that made up the society of adults.

If she wanted to stop that experiment, to stand up to the society of adults, her death may have been the only way.

Kamijou continued to grit his teeth.

He recalled Misaka Imouto in the back of his mind. She had freely gathered the scattered drinks and gotten the fleas off of the cat, but she was so defenseless and had been bothered by the fact that she made cats hate her. She had done nothing wrong, but she would still be killed. That fact made him grit his teeth even harder.

“I won’t get out of the way.”

Mikoto looked at Kamijou in what looked like utter shock.

“You...won’t get out of the way?”

“That’s right,” he said as he stood there.

After hearing what Mikoto had said, he could not move out of her way.

However, Mikoto could not accept that.

Her lips trembled in anger and she had an expression of disbelief on her face.

“What are you saying? Do you know what you’re saying? If I don’t die, 10,000 Sisters will die. Or are you saying you have another way? Don’t tell me you don’t care about their deaths just because they’re deteriorated copies...”

The cat could not understand human language, but it trembled upon hearing Mikoto’s words.

Of course Kamijou understood.

He did not think it was okay for 10,000 Sisters to die. Nor did he have any other plan. He also understood that 10,000 Sisters truly would be killed like lab rats if Mikoto did not die.

Just as Mikoto had said, he had no idea what he was saying.

“...Even so, I won’t let you.”

Kamijou did not know the details of Mikoto’s situation, but she was willing to cast aside her own life to save the Sisters. He did not want to see a peace created by having a girl who cared more about others than herself being killed all alone like that.

“...”

For an instant, just an instant, a surprised look appeared on Mikoto’s face.

That look was quickly replaced with anger.

“I see. So you’re going to stop me. So you don’t care about the lives of 10,000 Sisters.”

Tension ran through the air.

The cat at Mikoto’s feet placed its ears against its head in fear.

“I don’t want to see those girls hurt, so I want to protect them myself. ...If you are going to stop me from doing so, then I will take you out here. This is your final warning. Get out of the way.”

Kamijou merely shook his head.

The edges of Mikoto’s lips bent upward.

“Ha. So you’re going to stop me by force? Fine, then I won’t hold back either. I still don’t know what power you have, but I can’t allow myself to lose here, so you had better clench your fist as if your life depended on it.”

Bluish-white sparks flew from Mikoto’s shoulder.

“Because it does. You truly will die otherwise.”

The sparks poured out and connected to the railing of the bridge where they vanished. The cat moved away from Mikoto because of the noise of the sparks.

There were only 7 metres between Kamijou and Mikoto.

That distance was too great for Kamijou to reach her in one step, but it was well within the range of Mikoto’s electrical attacks that moved at the speed of light.

It was obvious at a glance who had the advantage and who had the disadvantage given the distance.

Words would likely no longer reach the girl before his eyes.

As such, there was only one way to stop her.

“...”

Kamijou stuck his right hand out horizontally.

He opened up his clenched fist. It was as if he were removing a seal on his right hand. Mikoto’s eyes narrowed slightly. Kamijou gritted his teeth so hard he thought his jaw would shatter and...

He did not remake a fist with his right hand.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Mikoto said as Kamijou continued to remain motionless.

He did not respond.

Mikoto grew enraged as if she could not allow him to act that way.

“...I told you to fight, didn’t I!? I told you that you have to use force if you’re going to stop me! Are you an idiot!? Even if you stand there without resisting, I’ll still take you out!”

Mikoto’s hate-filled words were fired from her mouth like bullets.

Kamijou said only one thing in response.

“...I won’t.”

“...? What are you saying...?”

Mikoto frowned slightly.

“I won’t fight.”

She froze in astonishment at his words.

She stared at him like she was looking at something she simply could not believe.

“Are you an idiot!? Hah! You really are an idiot! This is the only path for me left, so I will take you out even if I do trust you! What kind of lukewarm world do you think we live in? This is not the normal life you know. This is an abnormal hell colored in blood, flesh, bone, fat, and guts where 10,000 people have already been killed. That kind of peaceful view isn’t going to cut it.”

“Even so, I will not fight!!”

Mikoto disparaged him as if hell had opened its mouth, but Kamijou’s shout silenced her.

Kamijou held up his left hand horizontally to match his right hand. He expressed his lack of any intention of fighting as if he were a cross blocking the way.

“Dammit. I’m telling you to fight...”

Mikoto’s shoulders trembled.

The sparks electrifying her entire body were no longer contained within and more and more bluish-white snakes of electricity started arcing from her and into the railing or the ground.

Even so, Kamijou did not clench his fist.

He didn’t want to.

Kamijou stood before her because he was worried for her safety. He wanted to stop her because she was trying to head somewhere dangerous all alone. He stood there because that battered girl was not asking for help even in the very end and he did not want to see her wishing for a lonely death and because he did not want to see her hurt any more.

Even so, he could not turn his fist toward her.

Kamijou could not punch Mikoto.

Bluish-white electricity scattered from her entire body.

“...I’m telling you to fight!!”

In that instant, an electric spear appeared from Mikoto’s bangs.

The largest voltage of the lightning created in nature was 1 billion volts.

Mikoto could rival that.

That sublime spear of purple electricity that contained 1 billion volts glowed a bluish-white. The electrical spear decomposed the oxygen turning it to ozone as it flew the 7 metres to Kamijou in an instant.

With a great noise, the electrical spear soared just past Kamijou’s face.

“I really will hit you next time.” Mikoto gritted her teeth. “If you intend to fight, then clench your fist! If you don’t intend to fight, then get out of the way! Don’t stomp on my wish if you don’t intend to follow through!”

With an incredible roar, sparks flew from Mikoto’s bangs.

An electrical spear flew straight for Kamijou Touma’s heart.

Mikoto’s attack seemed to be urging him to clench his fist.

Even so, Kamijou did not clench his right hand.

He did not want to swing his fist at the girl before his eyes.

And that electrical spear struck Kamijou directly in the heart.

Part 3

Kamijou’s body was knocked to the ground like he had been hit by a shell. His momentum kept him rolling for a few metres. As he lay face down on the ground with his arms and legs roughly sticking at, he looked somewhat like a broken doll.

“Eh?”

The one most shocked by the scene was Mikoto, not Kamijou.

Mikoto did not know what Kamijou’s power was, but in their fights up to that point, not one of her attacks had hit him. As his unknown power had negated her attacks again and again, her attacks had escalated and escalated to the point that she had seen him as an invincible existence that could easily handle any attack.

That was why she had fired that lightning spear.

She had thought that boy would easily negate an attack like that.

In a twisted way, she had trusted him.

“But...”

(This has to be a mistake...)

Mikoto looked at the boy who lay atop the bridge. Mikoto knew very well what would happen to a human who received an electrical current of one billion volts. That boy would not stand back up. She knew that. She had done it. She knew that.

And yet...

An instant later, she saw a movement coming from that boy who should never have stood up again.

Gritting his teeth, the boy mustered all his strength and stood back up.

“Why...?” Mikoto said.

Her lightning attack had not been negated by Kamijou’s power. It had clearly struck him. Yet that boy stood back up without relying on any power and using only his own body.

And even after receiving that one billion volt attack, the boy did not clench his fist.

That was why Mikoto had muttered “why” in shock.

“...I don’t know.” Kamijou gritted his teeth. “I don’t know why I don’t want to fight. I don’t have some other idea! But I still don’t want to see you get hurt! Not even I know what I’m saying! But I can’t help it! I don’t want to turn my fist on you!”

“Wha-...?” Mikoto was at a loss for words.

The boy yelled as if he were about to cough up blood as he desperately kept his feet planted on the ground because his body seemed about to collapse.

“Even if there is no other way!! Even if I don’t know what else to do! I still can’t let that happen! Why do you have to die!? Why does anyone have to be killed!? I just can’t understand!”

That boy surely realized that his words would not reach Mikoto.

Even so, he yelled.

He likely had no real reason.

He understood her reasons, but he still had something he refused to give up on.

“...”

For an instant, just an instant, Mikoto bit her lip.

A certain girl had once muttered “help” so that no one would hear her.

That boy had appeared as if in response to her cry.

She was sure that boy would be able to carry out any miracle if she cried for help.

“But I can’t let that happen,” Misaka Mikoto muttered under her breath.

It was her own fault that over 10,000 Sisters had been killed.

She absolutely could not allow herself to rely on others to save them.

“Shut up,” Mikoto said moving her trembling lips. “I no longer have the right to have people say that to me. Even if there was some happy world that everyone wanted and in which everyone could smile, there would be no place for me there! So get out of the way!”

Sparks flew from Mikoto’s bangs.

She was sure that the boy would either give up and clench his fist, or move out of her way that time.

But he would not clench his fist no matter what.

At that point, she could no longer control the lightning spear as it pierced the boy’s chest.

There was a tremendous roar.

But the boy did not die. He did not even collapse to the ground. He gathered all his strength in his legs and continued to stand in her way despite being so battered.

“...I’m sure...you’ve realized it, too. You can’t save anyone this way. Even if you die...and save the 10,000 Sisters...do you really think they will thank you for saving them that way? Are the Sisters you want to save really that small minded?”

“Shut up! Just shut up and fight! I’m not the good person you think I am! Why can’t you realize that even as I fire these one billion volt lightning spears into you!?”

As if to threaten him, Mikoto fired another electrical spear.

But Kamijou did not clench his right hand. The spear struck him directly in the chest.

Even so, Kamijou did not fall.

Even after receiving an attack like that, he would not fall.

“I have killed over 10,000 people! There is no reason for a villain like that to live in this world! Why are you standing up for a villain like that!?”

“You aren’t a villain,” Kamijou said.

Mikoto frowned doubtfully.

“Why am I still alive?”

“Eh?”

“You said these attacks had one billion volts. A normal human cannot survive voltages that high. Don’t you find it odd? Or are you subconsciously holding back?”

“Holding back?” Mikoto had a bewildered look on her face. “Of course not. I was trying to kill you. I knew you weren’t resisting...I knew you wouldn’t resist...and yet...!”

“And yet you couldn’t kill me.”

“...”

Mikoto fell silent.

He was right. Normally, a human would not survive voltages as high as one billion volts.

But there was an exception.

For instance, commercial stun guns had voltages of two or three hundred thousand volts, but a human would not die from being hit by one. On the other hand, 100 volt household outlets could electrocute someone.

That was not caused by the voltage. It was due to the difference in amperage. The amount of electrical power was equal to the voltage multiplied by the amperage, so one would not be electrocuted even with extremely high voltages as long as the amperage was low.

In other words, Mikoto’s lightning spears had extremely high voltage but extremely low amperage.

It was as if her attacks were just for show and did not possess any real substance like a fake sword for a play.

However, Mikoto had not intended to hold back. She had meant to fire her spears at full blast. That was why she merely stared at Kamijou without knowing why it had happened.

As she trembled like the frightened kitten, Kamijou looked her in the eye.

“For you, saving the Sisters with your life may have been your final hope,” the battered boy said. “But in the end, you are still the kind of good person who cannot kill the guy who is trying to steal that final remaining hope from you.”

As he spoke, he seemed completely exhausted but he also smiled happily.

“Ah...uuh...” Mikoto muttered in confusion as she looked at Kamijou.

Her eyes wavered like a small child who was lost.

Misaka Mikoto did not want Kamijou Touma to get any more involved in the experiment.

That was why she had so easily spoken of its repulsive contents when he had brought it up. She had wanted Kamijou to despair upon hearing about it. She had fired her electrical attacks on him despite his lack of resistance because she had wanted him to give up because he believed his words could not get through to her.

If Kamijou were to lose hope in her, he would not follow her and end up getting involved in that experiment that was nothing more than a spiral of death.

“Stop this.”

Mikoto grabbed her head with both hands.

Even so, Kamijou had told her to stop. No matter what terrible things she said to him or how cruelly she attacked him, he did not care.

At that rate, the boy would get involved.

He would cross the point of no return and get involved with that abnormal world of spiraling blood and dirt.

“My death is the only way left to save those girls! So just accept it! If I die, I can save everyone! Isn’t that wonderful!? If you agree, then get out of the way!”

Mikoto covered her ears with her hands and clenched her eyes shut as she yelled.

Even so, she felt like she could hear the boy saying he would not get out of the way.

“...You’ll die,” Mikoto said with her eyes still shut. “There’s no saving you from here on! If you get hit by this next attack, there’s no way you’ll survive! So get out of the way if you don’t want to die!”

The sound of the purple sparks flowing from Mikoto’s body grew heavier and sharper.

As if some kind of weapon had been activated, the pitch rose and rose.

“...”

Even so, the boy did not move a single step.

It was as if he were saying that an attack like that was not a reason to fall back.

Mikoto bit her lip.

A bluff would not work on that boy.

If she did not actually fire a deadly attack, she could not get him to give up.

If he knew she was not bluffing, that boy would have to fight.

Even so, she heard him yelling that he would not get out of the way.

Mikoto finally could not stand it any longer and she yelled out.

A great flash seemed to pierce through her tightly closed eyelids. A great roar burst through her hands covering her ears. That was not a decorative high voltage attack that had low amperage. She fired a true lightning spear that was just like the real thing.

Amid that lightless and soundless flash, the sound of a direct hit resounded out like a fireworks factory exploding.

Even so, the boy did not clench his right hand even in the very end.

In the end, that was all there was to it.

Part 4

Mikoto timidly opened her eyes and saw the boy lying on the ground a few metres away.

He was motionlessly lying face down and thin smoke was floating up from his clothes in places like incense. Just like how video game consoles grew hot after using them for long periods of time, objects gained heat referred to as Joule heat when electricity was passed through them.

The great amount of Joule heat created by the high voltage current had given the boy light burns in various places.

However, the boy did not writhe around in pain due to the burns.

“Ah...”

Mikoto suddenly realized that it was over.

That time, the boy would not get up again. That had not been a fake attack. The true high voltage current had likely stopped the boy’s heart.

She heard the black cat mewing.

Mikoto unsteadily turned around and saw the utterly frightened kitten sitting a little bit away.

Its fur was not standing on end and its fangs and claws were not bared.

Its young eyes seemed to be asking her why she had done that.

“Ahh...”

Mikoto suddenly realized something upon seeing that black cat.

In the end, what Mikoto had done to that boy was no different from suddenly attacking that cute cat that immediately trusted people and rubbed its nose up against them.

That boy had actually had a few different options.

After reading the report, he could have hidden it and returned to a lie of a normal life.

Even if he chose to stop Mikoto, he could have hidden the fact that he had read the report so she would not be suspicious of him and then waited for her to turn her back on him so he could strike her on the back of the head to knock her out.

But that boy had not done either of those things.

He had revealed that he had gone into her room without permission and read the report and he had told her he did not want her to fight. He had revealed everything and still tried to stop Mikoto head on.

What he had done was like playing poker with his entire hand exposed to the other players.

It was like announcing beforehand that he was going to play scissors first in a game of rock-paper-scissors.

Why had he done something so dangerous?

If he had betrayed Mikoto’s trust and suddenly attacked her from behind, it could have all ended safely.

“...”

The answer to that was obvious.

Mikoto had trusted that boy. At the very least, she had seen the area around him as a type of safe zone because he knew nothing of the experiment.

He had been like a cat curled up asleep in a sunbeam.

That boy had not been able to stab Mikoto in the back. Even if that was the safest and most reliable course of action, he had not wanted to.

She had pointed a gun at that boy, but he had still not wanted any harm to befall her.

He believed that it could be resolved by talking it out rather than resorting to violence.

But she had pulled the trigger before his words could reach her.

“...”

Mikoto gritted her teeth.

There was nothing left to stop her. A thin string within Mikoto that was something like resignation snapped, she felt as if she had been freed of something. She felt like she had been given a freedom that held definitive destruction within it like a balloon flying off into the sky after its string broke.

Kamijou’s finger moved.

“!?”

Mikoto froze up upon seeing that.

As he lay face down, Kamijou’s right hand twitched. His finger moved slowly as if softly caressing the ground.

That was not the action of one wanting revenge upon the person who had done that to him.

Nor was it the action of one filled with fear and wanting to flee the area as soon as possible.

From the very start, the boy had said that he would not fight and that he did not want to fight.

That persistence was nothing more than a desire to reach out a saving hand to a girl who had cried out for help.

“...Why?” Mikoto muttered.

Just reading the report did not tell him everything about her situation. He did not know that she had handed over her DNA map to help with a muscular dystrophy treatment, that the map had ended up being used for a military purpose at some point, or that her desire to save people had led to 20,000 people being faced with death.

That boy had no way of knowing about those things.

But he stood up for Mikoto despite not knowing those things.

He stood up for her.

But...

“Stop,” Mikoto said like a child about to cry as she shook her head.

If he stood up again, she would have to take him out in order to save the Sisters. Of course, she could hold back, but it was already strange that the boy was still moving. Even a slight almost playful strike could stop his heart.

“Stop.”

That was why she said that.

She did not want the boy to stand back up. If he was alive, then he should just pass out there. If he did, Mikoto could head to where Accelerator was without having to kill the boy.

If that boy would give up on her, she would not have to hurt anyone again.

If that boy would lose hope in her, he would be freed from that pain.

Yet the boy’s finger moved.

He could no longer move his body properly, but he mustered up every last ounce of strength in his body to move that one finger.

“Ahh.”

Mikoto slowly held her hand out toward the boy.

She was sure she could no longer stop him. Even if she ripped off his arms and legs and even if she crushed his eyes and ears, he would never give up as long as his heart was still beating. That meant she had no choice but to do it. If that boy would prevent her from saving the Sisters, she had to eliminate him before she could continue.

Mikoto slowly steadied the aim of her hand.

However, she could not shoot a lighting spear.

Her body was frozen, but heat burst from her tear glands.

She couldn’t do it. She could not shoot that boy. She did not know why. She did not know what the right answer was. But she just did not want to. She did not want the boy before her eyes to die. Just thinking of that possibility sent a shock through her chest that made her want to go on a rampage.

“Help me.”

Those words that she could not allow anyone to hear no matter what came from her mouth.

It was like she was praying to the god that she was not sure existed.

Her tear glands were supposed to have rusted over long ago, but now transparent rust fell from them.

Part 5

Kamijou’s vision flickered in and out.

He was still lying atop the iron bridge and he could see Mikoto standing blankly on the other end of his vision.

Her electrical attacks had stopped.

Mikoto stood still as tears overflowed from her eyes like a child.

(Think...)

He thought as if he were desperately trying to hold her heart in his arms as it was about to break.

The girl before his eyes had not said that she wanted to die or that she might as well die. She had said that she had no choice but to die.

That was all.

She did not wish for death. She merely had no other option available to her.

If you were given three options and forced to choose one but they all merely said “suicide”, you would have no choice but to choose “suicide”. It was horribly wrong to force that choice on that girl and then force all the responsibility for her choice on her as well.

(So think...)

If all three options said “suicide”, then you just had to prepare a fourth option. If there were an option that said “I’d rather live”, the girl who had no choice but to die would surely choose that new option.

(I need to think up a fourth option...)

He needed to come up with a dreamlike option where Misaka Mikoto did not have to die and the experiment would still be stopped. An option where no one had to lose anything and the Sisters would be saved. That girl had said something. She had not said it with words, but she had definitely said it.

She had said that she truly wanted to live, but she had no path left but to die.

(If I can’t find one, then I’ll just have to make on...)

If Accelerator killed Railgun 128 times, he would shift to Level 6.

They could not prepare 128 Railguns.

As such, they had prepared the Sisters, deteriorated copies of Railgun.

Killing 20,000 Sisters would produce the same result.

The experiment was based on predictive calculations by Tree Diagram.

Destroying the laboratories just led to another research institution picking up the experiment.

To stop the experiment, the researchers had to be convinced that the experiment would not produce any results.

(Huh...?)

Kamijou felt an odd out-of-place feeling.

But in the next instant, his consciousness that had been battered by the high voltage shock quickly sank into darkness.