Toaru Majutsu no Index SS

Volume 2, Chapter 13: The Accuracy of Their Collective Fortunes. The Fourth Friday of August.

Around 10 girls with the exact same face were hospitalized in a hospital in Academy City’s seventh district. They were the military clones known as the Sisters created from the cells of a certain Level 5. Because their growth rates had been forcibly increased with drugs, their life-span had been decreased and a questionable-looking doctor was performing “adjustments” in order to fix that decreased life-span.

Their basic appearance was white skin, brown eyes, short brown hair, and the gray pleated skirt, white blouse, and beige summer sweater that made up the Tokiwadai Middle School summer uniform. There was no reason that they had to dress the same just because they were clones, but they still all matched. It may have been due to the effect of the brain wave network connecting their minds and it may have been due to all their personalities being set the same when they were created.

Currently, they were in a part of the hospital called the clinical research area. The area wasn’t strictly off limits, but it was removed from the routes connecting to the wards and the main facility. This made it a mysterious place that not many people approached.

Misakas #10032, #10039, #13577, and #19090 were standing blankly in a small waiting room at one end of a hallway in the clinical research area. The waiting room had a commonplace sofa and table and a magazine rack full of magazines to kill time with. The four clone girls had taken one of those magazines out, opened it up to a certain page, and were staring very intently at it.

It was the fortune corner.

There was nothing genuinely occult written there; it was the kind of fortune corner that could be found in any magazine tucked away in a corner like sushi ginger. The page was divided up into 12 sections and each zodiac sign had its luck, health, economic fortune, love, and other simple parameters listed. They also had their lucky colors and lucky items listed.

“If Misaka looks up her creation date in the 12 Greek signs...”

#10032, the girl that a certain spiky-haired boy called “Misaka Imouto”, looked down at the zodiac signs.

“This month is your chance for a change of occupation! Now is the time to say adios to that boss you’re indebted to but you don’t like too much!!”

“...”

A military clone like her didn’t even have an occupation. #10032 tilted her head to the side slightly.

The other Sisters felt the same way for the most part as they found the sign that matched their creation dates and read the column of text tracing it with their fingers.

“Will this uncertain information really benefit the Misakas? asks Misaka #10039.”

“How is this lucky item supposed to bring luck to Misaka? asks Misaka #13577 as she decides to look for a cat key chain.”

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“M-Misaka simply cannot accept that her love fortune for this month is minus 5, says Misaka #19090 as she demands a redo.”

#19090 continued mumbling, but those girls were not the type to pay it any heed. That was when #10032 looked up as she realized something.

“...Actually, what time should the Misakas consider to be their birth? asks Misaka #10032 as she rechecks a basic definition.”

“?”

“The Misakas’ creation dates match the time they were taken from the culture equipment, but the Misakas were not taken from the container at exactly 0 years of age. They were taken out after being aged to a physical age of 14 with drugs, says Misaka #10032 as she gives a lengthy supplementary explanation.”

“So it is like the Misakas were growing in what for humans would be their mother’s belly for 14 years before finally coming out, says Misaka #10039 as she joins in with the Misaka next to her.”

“...No, it doesn’t matter how long the Misakas grew. Isn’t the time someone comes from their mother’s belly a good enough definition for their birthday? says Misaka #13577 as she takes the opposing view.”

“No, the Misakas were taken between various machines while growing. How does one classify it in that case? says Misaka #19090 as her head is filled with?’s.”

The Sisters continued to mumble and complain between themselves.

“Perhaps the date that should be commemorated as the Misakas’ birth is the day the plan to create them from the DNA map was approved, says Misaka #10032 as she proposes a different idea.”

“But that would be analogous to the day a human’s mother and father had sex, says Misaka #10039 as she gives a rebuttal.”

“Or maybe it’s more like when the sperm was created inside the father’s body before they have sex, says Misaka as she goes back even further.”

“Bfee! Says Misaka #19090 as she expresses her shock at the current direction of the conversation.”

The Sisters could play their own straight man.

Misaka #10032 began scratching her temple.

“...Actually, the project that created the Misakas was split between two stages: the Radio Noise Project and the Level 6 Shift Project, says Misaka #10032 as she lets things get even more complicated within her head. Which project’s acceptance should be under consideration?”

“Well, shouldn’t that just be whichever one was first? says Misaka #10039 as she vaguely expresses her estimation.”

“Technically, the former wanted a full Level 5 and the latter wanted mass produced experimental subjects, so getting a proper definition may be difficult, says Misaka #13577 as she stealthily adds to the confusion.”

“Come to think of it, whatever happened to Full Tuning, #00000, who was created by Amai Ao and cut off from the network? says Misaka #19090 as she lays out a new piece of foreshadowing.”

The four girls decided that they didn’t understand the whole zodiac signs thing and gained the positive view that they would open up their futures on their own.

However...

“...Misaka has found this, says Misaka #10032 as she adds more fuel to the fire.”

“?”

“?”

“?”

The three girls turned her way and saw a different magazine in #10032’s hand. A page in the back of the magazine had a corner even smaller than the horoscope from before.

It was a blood type horoscope.

“...What are they doing?” asked a young nurse who was watching the 4 girls from a distance.

The frog-faced doctor next to her took a sip of coffee from a paper cup and responded.

“It looks like they’re arguing.”

“Well, yes. But still...what are they doing?”

While those two had that mysterious conversation, the 4 girls with the exact same face were arguing.

“Mh! The love fortune for Type AB isn’t bad! reports Misaka #10032!!”

“Yes, but Misaka is Type AB too, so hers isn’t bad either! reports Misaka #10039!!”

“No! Of all of the Misakas, this Misaka is Type Super AB, so Misaka’s fortune is super not bad! says Super Misaka #13577 as she snatches it all up for herself!!”

“No, no. This Misaka gets the last laugh, says Misaka #19090 as she declares herself to be the supreme ruler of the AB World!!”

As they argued, they grabbed at each other’s hair, pulled on each other’s clothes, and grabbed the magazine away from each other. There were panties visible everywhere.

The young nurse spoke with a blank expression on her face.

“Those girls have a giant network that they use by converting brain waves to electric signals, right?”

“Yes, that’s the Misaka Network. Why?”

“I had taken that to mean that each individual one had an ego, but the giant network functioned as a single brain that held a single will that intervened with the individuals.”

“Yes, that’s how it works.”

“...And they still argue?”

It seemed the young nurse didn’t understand how that could be possible.

The frog-faced doctor took a sip of coffee and stuck out his tongue because it was slightly too bitter.

“Normal people choose a single option from several and act on it. For instance, if you see a cake in front of you while dieting, you have two thoughts: ‘I want to eat it even if it will make me fat’ and ‘I won’t eat it because it will make me fat’.”

“Y-yes...”

“A normal person whittles down the multiple options one by one until only one remains and then acts on that option. We only have one body, so we can only act on one view even if we hold several.”

“...So you’re saying that’s what that is?”

“Yes. Those girls have a single large will that intervenes with the many physical bodies, so they don’t need to narrow their thoughts down to only one opinion. This doesn’t work with everything of course, but with options like the cake example they don’t have to choose because they can choose both. After all, they actually have multiple bodies.”

“...”

The young nurse looked back at the girls whose panties were on full display.

Was it possible she was viewing a very precious sight?

“As a result, they have a single large will unilaterally intervening in their minds and the different individuals have started to choose different paths of action. That’s why they can have conversations and they can fight while still all being Misakas. I think it’s a good thing. It’s very human.”

It seemed the frog-faced doctor didn’t really mind.

He lightly rocked the paper cup full of bitter coffee back and forth and continued speaking in a casual-sounding voice.

“I pray that this will lead to them growing individual personalities.”