A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 8 by Kazuma Kamachi Read Free Book Online Page B

there were only so many entrances to the underground mall, so if chaos broke out, it would be harder to evacuate the civilians. She needed to approach this delicately and from above ground.
    If she was going to arrest them, it would have to be somewhere with not a lot of people
and
above ground. On top of that, it would be best if she could control the situation so she could finish it swiftly and surgically.
    Then her cell phone rang.
    Shirai took it in her hand, not breaking her teleportation chain. A buzzing, staticky sound came out. She was instantly crossing space, so with the radio-wave receiver constantly changing places, things went wrong.
    “Shira—i, the culprits—moving…They came out—from the entran—A03 of—Area Sale mall—They seem to be going—from the end of the underground mall to the next one…”
    She gave a single phrase in response. “I already see them.” She hung up and returned the phone to her pocket.
    Near a building that looked like a subway entrance, she spotted people weaving through a mob of cars laid out like bricks. The cars’ horns were blaring, but all the suit-wearing men kept on going. She saw one of them pulling a wheeled white carry-on luggage behind him. They had evidently been
trying
to keep things covert, and now they seemed somehow ashamed as they crossed the large roadway and entered a narrow alley.
    Shirai made sure she had a good grip on her bag, and
bam!
She took off, noticeably more powerfully this time.
    The next moment, she was already in the alley. Right in the middle of the ten or so men. She exchanged glances with the man with the carry-on luggage and gave him a smile. Before he could be surprised at all, she was running a finger along the surface of the luggage.
    Teleport.
    She disappeared again, then reappeared at the end of the alley to prevent their exit. Beside her was the white luggage, which she’d taken with her when she crossed through space.
    She put one hand on her hip and touched the other to the luggage. “Excuse me, I am with Judgment. I expect I do not have to explain why I came here?”
    Her voice was condescending, depending on how one listened to it.
    And so the men reacted swiftly. Each one reached into his suit’s breast pocket and brought out a black handgun, each with the same design. Just looking at them struck her with a hefty weight.
    Crap, so they weren’t just some regular old purse-snatchers! When did this turn into a spy movie?!
    Shirai crouched down behind the carry-on luggage to use it as a shield, but they seemed confident. Their index fingers didn’t hesitate on the triggers—they would aim precisely for the parts of her sticking just a little bit out from her “shield.” Her throat made a very slight and unnatural sound. Her teleportation wasn’t responsive or precise enough to send away every single bullet.
    Fire flared from the ten muzzles.
    But Shirai was crossing through space just one step faster. She was aiming to get behind the man in the back.
    Kuroko Shirai and the carry-on luggage disappeared. She left only her flimsy bag behind in midair; after a moment it plopped straight to the ground.
    The men seemed bewildered, their target suddenly having vanished. Meanwhile, Shirai took the giant carry-on luggage with both hands and gave a really hard wallop to the guy all the way in the back.
    “Gah…!” he groaned. The other thieves all started to turn around at once. Shirai touched one of them and teleported. The man immediately changed places—but only by a few centimeters, and with his body turned all the way around.
    What ended up happening was that eight men spun to look behind them, and one of them instead turned to glare at
them
.
    The thieves were now all pointing their guns at one another like a Mexican standoff.
    “Uh.” The man who had gotten turned around hurriedly pointed his away, and that was when Shirai delivered a massive kick to his back. The robbers all fell to the ground like dominoes. She