paint bullets

“When... will I die?”
“You haven’t noticed your own approaching demise?”
“I need specifics.”
“What good would that do? There is no avoiding it now.”
“Just tell me already!!”
The old woman tilted her head a little at Shokuhou’s shout.
Then she replied in her rough low voice that sounded like old paper rubbing together.
“Right this very instant.”
Shokuhou gasped but was not given time to turn around.
After a few dry gunshots, she felt several scorching jabs of pain in her back. Her entire
body went limp, she fell to her knees, and then she collapsed to the floor. She tried to
breathe in but could not. As her vision grew dark and refused to recover, her conscious
cut out.

***

The girl herself did not know what exactly had happened, but her throat convulsed and
the bubble burst.
She may have been imagining it, but that was when life returned to Shokuhou Misaki.
“Cough! Cough, cough!! Ugh...!?”
“Ahh, ahh. So you’re fiiiiinally awake!”
“Damn. I’d put paint bullets in the guards’ guns, but a few shots at close range must have
been enough to rob me of my consciousness ability.”

- Toaru Majutsu no Index: Shokuhou Misaki Figurine SS, Parts 3 & 5