0nTtFQ64

1
2Prologue
3
4
5	The Tale of the Boy Who Could Kill Illusions.
6
7	The_Imagine-Breaker.
8
9
10
11
12
13“Ahh! Shit! Shit! God damn it! This is just too much misfortune!!”
14
15	Even as he realized his cries sounded rather strange, Kamijou Touma showed no sign of stopping his tremendous flight.
16
17	As he ran through back alleys late at night, he glanced over his shoulder.
18
19	There were eight of them.
20
21	He ran frantically all over for almost two kilometers, but there were still eight of them. Of course, Kamijou Touma had no way to win in a fight against that many unless he happened to be a former foreign unit’s cook or a cyber-ninja that had survived to the present day. In a fight between high school students, anything beyond 1-on-3 was out of the question. That could be called “impossible” even before taking any skill he might have had into account.
22
23	Kamijou kicked over a filthy plastic bucket and frightened off a black cat as he continued running.
24
25	It was July 19.
26
27	The fault lay in that date. Because summer vacation would start the next day, he was in such high spirits that he grabbed a manga at the bookstore despite a glance at the cover telling him it was no good, entered a family restaurant to treat himself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack, found a middle school-aged girl surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order.
28
29	But, he had not expected more of their comrades to come swarming out of the bathroom.
30
31	He had always thought that going to the bathroom in groups was something only girls did.
32
33	“I had to run out before the hellish Goya and escargot lasagna I ordered even arrived. I didn’t even get to eat anything, but I’m being treated like a dine-and-dasher. What kind of misfortune is this!? Gyahh!!”
34
35	Kamijou scratched his head as he ran out from the back alley and into the moonlit street.
36
37	Even if Academy City were as large as a third of Tokyo, he could see nothing but couples no matter where he looked. That was also surely because it was July 19. It’s all July 19’s fault!, Kamijou, who was single, shouted in his heart. The three blades of the wind turbines located here and there throughout the area glittered in the pale moonlight and the lights of the city nightscape, making them look like the tears of rich bachelors.
38
39	Kamijou sliced through the night, tearing couples apart.
40
41	He glanced down at his right hand as he ran. The power that resided there would be of no help in the current situation. It would not let him defeat even a single delinquent, it would not raise his scores on tests, and it would not make him popular with girls.
42
43	“Uuh…Such misfortune!”
44
45	If he escaped the group of delinquents, they would have possibly used their phones to call in reinforcements and bikes. In order to simply run down their stamina, Kamijou Touma had been letting them catch occasional glimpses of him as bait so that they would continue to run and wear themselves out.
46
47	It was basically a boxer’s rope-a-dope strategy, letting an opponent punch himself out until his stamina was drained.
48
49	Kamijou’s goal was only to save any possible victims.
50
51	If he could lose them and have them give up without getting into a fistfight, he would win.
52
53	Incidentally, Kamijou had confidence in his long-distance running. His pursuers, on the other hand, had already ruined their bodies with alcohol and cigarettes, and the boots they were wearing weren’t made for sprinting. On top of that, running full speed for long distances without pacing one’s self was impossible by its very nature.
54
55	As Kamijou alternated and weaved in and out through roads and back alleys while seemingly simply clumsily running about in a panic, he saw one and then another of the delinquents drop out of the chase, leaning forward with their hands on their knees. He felt his plan was the perfect way of resolving the situation without any injuries.
56
57	“D-damn it. Why do I have to waste my youth on this stuff!?”
58
59	Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but couples full of dreams and happiness. Unable to stand it, Kamijou Touma felt as if he had somehow ended up on the short end of life. The date need only change and it would be summer vacation and yet he had neither love nor comedy to speak of.
60
61	It made him feel like quite the loser.
62
63	He then heard one of the delinquents shouting from behind him.
64
65	“Hey!! You fucking brat! Stop, you master runner!!”
66
67	It only angered Kamijou more to receive such a violent love call.
68
69	“Shut up! You should be thanking me for not turning around and knocking you and your monkey-level IQ out cold!” Kamijou shouted back despite knowing it was just a waste of stamina.
70
71	(He really should thank me for going this far out of my way to keep him from getting injured)
72
73	After another two kilometers of sweaty and teary running, he exited the urban area and came to a large river. A large metal bridge spanned the river, about 150 meters across, and no cars could be seen on it. The sturdy iron bridge wasn’t even lit up, just blanketed by an eerie darkness reminiscent of the sea at night.
74
75	Kamijou glanced back as he darted across the bridge.
76
77	He then stopped: at some point, he had escaped all of his pursuers.
78
79	“Sh-shit. Did I finally shake them?”
80
81	Kamijou desperately suppressed the urge to sit down right then and there and sighed as he stared up into the night sky.
82
83	He had actually managed to resolve everything without having to punch anyone. He wanted to praise himself for that.
84
85	“Really now, what are you doing? Do you think protecting those delinquents makes you a good person? Are you some overzealous teacher?”
86
87	In an instant, Kamijou’s body froze over.
88
89	Because the bridge had no lights, Kamijou had not noticed the girl standing about five meters ahead in the direction he had been running, a completely normal middle school girl wearing a gray pleated skirt, a short-sleeved blouse, and a summer sweater. Kamijou stared up into the sky and seriously considered collapsing onto his back. The girl before him was the same one from the family restaurant.
90
91	“Wait, so that’s why they stopped chasing me?”
92
93	“Yeah. They annoyed me, so I roasted them.”
94
95	The zapping sound of bluish-white sparks echoed. Rather than a stun gun, as her shoulder-length brown hair swayed, sparks flew from it like an electrode.
96
97	The moment a convenience store bag in the wind passed by her head, it was blown away by bluish-white sparks reminiscent of an interception device.
98
99	“Ugh,” sighed Kamijou wearily.
100
101	July 19. That was why he had grabbed a manga at the bookstore despite a glance at the cover telling him it was no good, entered a family restaurant to treat himself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack, found a middle school-aged girl surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order.
102
103	However, Kamijou had not a single thought about rescuing the girl. Instead, had tried to rescue the boys who had carelessly approached her.
104
105	Once again he sighed. The girl was always like that. He had seen her here and there sporadically for almost a month, but they had yet to learn each other’s names. In other words, they were by no means friends.
106
107	She was the one always coming up to him all haughty, saying she’d reduce him to a heap of trash, and Kamijou’s job was to shrug it off. Without a single exception, it went that way and he won every time.
108
109	If he actually lost, the girl would likely be satisfied, but Kamijou was a terrible actor. He once tried to fake his defeat and she chased him like a demon for the rest of the night.
110
111	“…What did I even do?”
112
113	“I cannot allow anyone to be more powerful than me. That is enough of a reason.”
114
115	That was how it was with her. He felt that even a character in a fighting game would have a more detailed incentive.
116
117	“But you’re treating me like an idiot, too. I’m a Level 5. Do you really think I would go all out against a powerless Level 0? I do know how to handle the weak.”
118
119	This city, unlike others, didn’t follow the traditional scenario where street thugs were the toughest. Those delinquents who could not keep up with the esper powers development Curriculum were Level 0s, the powerless.
120
121	The truly strong in that city, the top-tier students, were espers.
122
123	“Yeah, about that, I do understand that you possess a talent that only 1 in 328,571 have. I really do. But if you want to live a long life, you should stop speaking to people so condescendingly.”
124
125	“Shut up. If you couldn’t bend a single spoon after having various crazy things done to you like have drugs injected directly into your blood vessels or have electrodes stabbed in through your ears and into the brain, what could it be but lack of talent?”
126
127	“…”
128
129	That was indeed the kind of place Academy City was.
130
131	Academy City’s other face was somewhere that Brain Development—using more palatable names like Mnemonics or Memorization Techniques—was quietly included in the Curriculum.
132
133	However, not all of the 2.3 million people living in Academy City had ceased to be human and became something like a manga protagonist.
134
135	Just under 60% of the whole population were utterly useless Level 0s who could only bend a spoon after focusing their brain to the point their blood vessels burst.
136
137	“If I need to bend a spoon, I can just use pliers, and if I need fire, I can just buy a cheap lighter. Also, what do I need telepathy for when I have a cell phone? Are esper powers really that great?”
138
139	Those were the words of Kamijou who had been branded as useless by Academy City’s physical examination sensors.
140
141	“And everyone’s priorities are all messed up. They’re all rejoicing over the byproduct we call esper powers, but isn’t our real objective something beyond that?”
142
143	In response, the girl who was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s twisted the edges of her lips.
144
145	“Hahh? …Oh, that. What was it again? Something like, ‘Humans cannot calculate god, so we need to acquire a body that exceeds humanity before we can arrive at god’s answer’, right?” She snickered. “Hah. Don’t make me laugh. What is all this about the ‘brain of god’? Have you heard about the supposed military Sisters created based on an analysis of my DNA map? It seems to me these lucrative side effects are more important than that objective.”
146
147	After saying that, the girl suddenly stopped.
148
149	In the silence, it felt as if the quality of the air was changing.
150
151	“...Well. That’s what strong people would say, isn’t it?”
152
153	“Huh?”
154
155	“The strong, the strong, the strong. Those are the fearless and cruel words of a manga protagonist who was born with his abilities and does not understand the pain of arriving there on his own.”
156
157	The river below the bridge began to make an unsettling amount of noise.
158
159	A dark flame could be felt on the grit of her words that hinted at just how much of her humanity she had abandoned to arrive at the position of one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s.
160
161	Kamijou denied all of it with just a few words. Not even once did he turn around.
162
163	He did this by never losing.
164
165	“Wait, wait, wait, wait! Take a look at the results of the annual physical examination. I’m a Level 0 and you’re a Level 5. Ask anyone you find out on the streets, and they’ll tell you who’s stronger!”
166
167	Academy City’s esper development heavily used things such as pharmaceutics, neuroscience, and cerebral physiology. It was a purely scientific endeavor. After undergoing the Curriculum to a certain extent, one could bend a spoon even without talent.
168
169	And yet Kamijou Touma could do nothing.
170
171	Academy City’s measurement instruments had verified a complete lack of talent in him.
172
173	“Zero, you say,” repeated the girl as if she was turning it over in her mouth. She stuck a hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out an arcade coin. “Have you ever heard the term Railgun?”
174
175	“Hm?”
176
177	“It’s some sort of battleship weapon that fires metal shells using superpowered electromagnets. The principle’s the same as a linear motor train.”
178
179	The girl flicked the coin up into the air with her thumb. The coin rotated a few times before landing back onto her thumb.
180
181	“It’s apparently something like this.”
182
183	Just as she spoke, an orange spear of light suddenly and silently shot past Kamijou’s head. It was more like a laser than a spear. He could only tell it had originated from the girl’s thumb because the afterimage of light stretched back to it.
184
185	Almost like thunder, the noise rumbled in with a slight delay. As a shockwave tore through the air around his ears, Kamijou’s sense of balance was thrown off. He staggered and glanced over his shoulder.
186
187	The instant the orange light struck the road surface on the bridge, the asphalt was blown away like an airplane making an emergency landing on the ocean. Even after traveling a thirty-meter path of utter destruction and stopping, the orange afterglow was still burning the air like an afterimage.
188
189	“Even a coin like this can be quite powerful when it’s fired at three times the speed of sound. Of course, the coin melts after fifty meters because of air friction.”
190
191	That bridge made of steel and concrete swayed like an unreliable suspension bridge. Failing metal bolts could be heard occasionally.
192
193	“…!!”
194
195	Kamijou felt a chill, as if someone had thrown dry ice in his blood vessels.
196
197	He felt like all the moisture in his body had been turned to sweat and evaporated.
198
199	“Damn you. Don’t tell me you used that to drive them away!!”
200
201	“Don’t be stupid. I match my methods to my opponent. I don’t want to become a homicidal maniac.” As she spoke, sparks flew from the girl’s brown hair like an electrode. “This was enough for those Level 0s!”
202
203	Bluish-white sparks flew from the girl’s bangs like a horn and a spear-like line of lightning flew towards Kamijou.
204
205	There was no way to evade. After all, he was up against a bluish-white lightning spear shot from a Level 5’s hair. It was an experience like watching a thundercloud fire a bolt at light speed and then trying to dodge it.
206
207	An explosive noise followed after a slight delay.
208
209	Kamijou immediately held up his right hand to protect his face and the lightning spear struck it. It rampaged through Kamijou’s body and sparks scattered in every direction and into the bridge’s steel framework.
210
211	…Or so it had seemed.
212
213	“So, why are you completely unhurt?”
214
215	Her words seemed lighthearted enough, but the girl baring her canines was glaring at Kamijou.
216
217	The high voltage current that had scattered into the surroundings had been powerful enough to burn the steel framework of the bridge, yet, Kamijou’s right hand had not been blown off by the direct hit. …In fact, it lacked even a single burn.
218
219	Kamijou’s right hand had erased the girl’s electrical strike that numbered a few hundred million volts.
220
221	“Honestly, what’s with you? That power of yours isn’t listed in Academy City’s Bank. If I’m a one in 328,571 genius, then you’re a one in 2,300,000 disaster,”1 the girl muttered in annoyance but Kamijou neglected to give even a single word in response. “If I pick a fight with an exception like that, I might be able to raise my level, don’t you think?”
222
223	“…But you always lose.”
224
225	He received a response in the form of more lightning that shot from her forehead, well over Mach 1 at that.
226
227	However, it scattered in every direction the instant it met Kamijou’s right hand.
228
229	It was very much like a water balloon bursting.
230
231	That was Kamijou Touma’s Imagine Breaker.
232
233	Esper powers ranged from the ones mocked on TV to the ones established with numerical formulas in Academy City. Anything using that kind of supernatural power, even if it were part of God’s system, would be negated without question by that supernatural power of his.2
234
235	As it was supernatural in origin, even that girl’s Railgun ability was no exception.
236
237	However, Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker only worked on the supernatural power itself. Simply, he could negate an esper’s fireball, but he was still vulnerable to the concrete shards broken by the fireball. Also, the effective range was only his right hand and wrist. If the fireball hit him anywhere else, he would be burned.
238
239	And yet…
240
241	(I really, really thought I was going to die there! Kyaahhh!!)
242
243	Kamijou Touma’s calm and composed expression stiffened awkwardly. Even with a right hand that could completely negate those light-speed lightning spears, it was sheer coincidence that they struck his right hand.
244
245	His heart was pounding in his chest as he desperately tried to force a mature smile onto his face.
246
247	“I guess you could say that was either some misfortune or you’re just unlucky.”
248
249	That was how Kamijou brought that day, July 19, to an end.
250
251	With just one comment, he seemed to be lamenting everything in the world.
252
253	“You just really aren’t lucky at all.”
254
255
256
257
258
259Chapter 1
260
261
262	The Magician Lands on the Tower.
263
264	FAIR,_Occasionally_GIRL.
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266
267
268
269
2701
271
272
273	“If you’re an Aquarius, born between January 20 and February 18, you will have extremely good fortune in love, money, and business! No matter how improbable the circumstances, only good things are headed your way. Go buy a lottery ticket! But no matter how popular you may be, don’t try dating three or four girls at the same time. ♪”
274
275	“...Y’know, I knew it would be something like this, but still.”
276
277	It was July 20, the first day of summer vacation.
278
279	Kamijou Touma was at a loss for words. His dorm room in Academy City was ruled by a boiling heat due to a broken air conditioner. Apparently, lightning had struck during the night and taken out eighty percent of the electrical appliances. That also meant the contents of his fridge had been wiped out. When he had tried to eat the cup of yakisoba he kept as emergency rations, he spilled the noodles all over the sink. With no other option, he decided to eat out, but he stepped on and broke his ATM card while searching for his wallet. When he spitefully crawled back into bed to cry himself to sleep, he had been awakened by his ringing phone. It was his homeroom teacher conveying a heartfelt message: “Good morning, Kamijou-chan, you’re an idiot, so you need supplementary lessons. ♪”
280
281	He had always felt that horoscopes given on TV like weather forecasts tended to be just that, forecasts, but he was unable to laugh it off when it was that far off.
282
283	“…I really do get it. But I can’t fully grasp it without saying it out loud.”
284
285	The horoscope was always wrong and Kamijou had never encountered a true good luck charm. That was simply everyday life for Kamijou Touma. He had thought the fantastic extent to which luck deserted him ran in the family, but his father had won fourth prize (about 100,000 yen) in a lottery and his mother had scored free drinks from the vending machine jackpot multiple times. It was enough to make him wonder if they were even related by blood. But as he wasn’t harboring a crush on his little sister and wasn’t in line for royal succession, no good would’ve come of discovering that he wasn’t his parents’ son.
286
287	To sum it up, Kamijou Touma experienced nothing but misfortune.
288
289	It was to the extent that it could pretty much be called a running gag at that point.
290
291	But he had no intention of just lazing around because of that.
292
293	Kamijou did not rely on luck. In other words, he had a lot of drive.
294
295	“…Now then. The immediate problems are my card and the fridge.”
296
297	Kamijou scratched his head and looked around his room. As long as he had his bankbook, he could get a new card easily enough. The real problem was the fridge… or rather, breakfast. They called it supplementary lessons, but he was sure to be forced to take Methuselin pills and Elbrase powder for the sake of esper development. Doing that on an empty stomach would not be a good idea.
298
299	As he changed out of the T-shirt he wore instead of pajamas and into his summer uniform, Kamijou considered stopping by a convenience store on the way to school. Living up to his position as an idiot student, Kamijou had been pointlessly staying up all night as summer break approached, so a grating pain was running through his sleep-deprived head. However, he forced himself to think positively.
300
301	(Making up for four months’ worth of cut classes in a single week is a pretty sweet deal.)
302
303	His mood rebounded to the extent that he suddenly muttered, “The weather sure is nice. Maybe I should air out my futon.”
304
305	Kamijou then opened the screen door to the balcony. He expected the futon to be nice and fluffy once he got back from his supplementary lessons.
306
307	But on that seventh-floor balcony, the wall of the neighboring building was less than two meters away.
308
309	“The sky is so blue, and yet the future is pitch black. ♪”
310
311	His spirits dropped sharply. Forcing himself to say it cheerfully only had the opposite effect.
312
313	Having no one around to act as the straight man only tormented him with a feeling of loneliness as he used both hands to grab the futon on his bed.
314
315	(Failing all else, I have to at least get this nice and fluffy.)
316
317	Just as he had that thought, he felt something soft squish under his foot. He looked down to find a yakisoba bread still in its plastic wrapping. It had been in the aforementioned ruined refrigerator, so it had surely gone bad.
318
319	“…I just hope it doesn’t suddenly start raining this evening.”
320
321	Voicing a sudden bad premonition he had, Kamijou headed out the opened screen door and to the balcony…
322
323	…and spotted a white futon already hanging there.
324
325	“?”
326
327	It may have been a school dorm room, but the layout was exactly like a one-room apartment, so Kamijou lived alone. As such, there was no one besides Kamijou Touma who would be hanging a futon over the railing of his room’s balcony.
328
329	When he looked closer, it was not a futon hanging there at all.
330
331	It was a girl wearing white clothes.
332
333	“Huh!?”
334
335	The real futon fell from his hands.
336
337	It was a mystery. In fact, it was nonsensical. As if she had exhaustedly collapsed across a metal rod, a girl had her waist pressed up against the balcony railing and her body bent such that her arms and legs were dangling straight down.
338
339	Her age was… about fourteen or fifteen. She looked a year or two younger than Kamijou. She must have been a foreigner because her skin was pure white and her hair was white… no, silver. Her hair was rather long, so it completely covered her upside-down head, hiding her face from view. Kamijou guessed it must have gone down to her waist normally.
340
341	And her clothes were…
342
343	“Whoa, it’s a real sister… The nun kind, not the sibling kind.”
344
345	Was habit the term for what she wore? It was that outfit you expected to see on a nun in a church. Her clothes looked a bit like a long dress that reached her ankles, and she wore a one-piece hood over her head that was a bit different from a hat. However, while normal nun’s habits were jet black, hers was pure white. Was it made of silk? Also, at all the important points of the outfit, embroideries made of golden thread had been sewn in. Kamijou could not believe how much the impression given by the exact same design of clothes could change just by altering the coloring. What he saw reminded him of a nouveau riche teacup.
346
347	The girl’s lovely fingertips twitched.
348
349	Her head slowly rose from its hanging down position. Her silk-like silver hair smoothly split to either side like a curtain and the girl’s face appeared from between the long, long hair.
350
351	(Whoa, whoa…!)
352
353	The girl’s face was relatively cute. Her white skin and green eyes were a new experience for someone with overseas skill level of exactly zero like Kamijou, and she somehow seemed like a doll to him.
354
355	However, that was not what had left Kamijou so flustered.
356
357	She was a foreigner and Kamijou Touma’s English teacher had suggested he take up a lifelong policy of avoiding foreigners. If someone from some strange country suddenly started talking on and on to him, he would likely end up buying a down comforter without even realizing it.
358
359	“I…”
360
361	The girl’s cute but slightly dried lips slowly moved.
362
363	Kamijou took a step or two back without even thinking. With a squish, he stepped on the yakisoba bread once more.
364
365	“I’m hungry.”
366
367	“…………………………………………………………………”
368
369	For an instant, Kamijou thought he was so stupid that his mind had automatically substituted the foreign language he had heard with Japanese. Something like how stupid elementary school kids would give ridiculous lyrics to songs they didn’t know the real lyrics to.
370
371	“I’m hungry.”
372
373	“…”
374
375	“I’m hungry.”
376
377	“……”
378
379	“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m hungry?”
380
381	The silver-haired girl seemed to get a little mad at how Kamijou just stood there frozen.
382
383	(No. That settles it. This can’t be anything other than Japanese.)
384
385	“Ah, umm…” he said as he stared at the girl draped over the balcony railing. “What? Are you trying to say you collapsed from exhaustion or something?”
386
387	“You could also say I have collapsed and am about to die.”
388
389	“…”
390
391	The girl could speak Japanese really well.
392
393	“It would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up.”
394
395	Kamijou looked down at the squished and likely spoiled yakisoba bread still in its wrapper at his feet.
396
397	He had no idea what was going on, but he knew he would be better off not getting involved. In the hopes of getting the girl happily off to some distant place, he stuck the squished yakisoba bread up to her mouth. He was sure she would run off once she caught a whiff of the sour smell, so he meant is as something similar to chazuke being given to a guest one wanted to leave in Kyoto.3
398
399	“Thank you. And it’s time to eat.”
400
401	Her mouth engulfed it, wrapping and all. And Kamijou’s hand for that matter.
402
403	Once again, Kamijou’s day began with misfortune and a scream.
404
405
406
407
408
4092
410
411
412	“I suppose I need to start with an introduction.”
413
414	“Actually, I would rather you started with explaining why you were hanging there.”
415
416	“My name is Index.”
417
418	“That’s clearly a fake name! What do you mean Index!? Are you a table of contents or something!?”
419
420	“As you can see, I am from the Church. That is important. Oh, but I’m not from the Vatican. I’m from the Anglican Church4.”
421
422	“I don’t know what that means and are you just going to ignore my questions!?”
423
424	“Hmm, is Index not enough? Well, my magic name is Dedicatus545.”
425
426	“Hello? Hello? Just what kind of alien am I talking to?”
427
428	Kamijou did not understand so he dug his finger inside his ear, and Index chewed on her thumbnail. Was that a habit of hers?
429
430	Kamijou wondered why they were politely sitting there facing each other from across a glass table like they were in a marriage interview.
431
432
433
434
435
436	If he did not leave soon, he would be late for his supplementary lessons, but he could hardly leave this strange person in his room. To make matters worse, the mysterious silver-haired girl calling herself Index seemed to have taken a liking to the room to the extent that she seemed willing to laze about on the floor.
437
438	Had Kamijou’s misfortune called her here? He seriously hoped not.
439
440	“Anyways, it would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up.”
441
442	“Why would I do that!? I don’t want to raise your parameter. I’d rather die than activate some strange flag and end up stuck on the Index route!!”
443
444	“Um… is that slang? I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you are saying.”
445
446	As expected of a foreigner, she did not understand Japan’s otaku culture.
447
448	“But if I leave now, I will collapse three steps from the door.”
449
450	“…Don’t give me that collapsing nonsense.”
451
452	“And I will draw up my last remaining strength to leave a dying message. It will be a picture of you.”
453
454	“Wha—?”
455
456	“And if someone happens to save me, I will tell them I was imprisoned in this room and tormented to the point that I collapsed. …I’ll tell them you forced your cosplaying tastes on me.”
457
458	“Don’t you dare say that! And you do know a thing or two about otaku culture, don’t you!?”
459
460	“?”
461
462	She tilted her head to the side like a kitten seeing itself in a mirror for the first time.
463
464	He regretted letting her get a rise out of him. He felt like he alone had been somehow horribly sullied.
465
466	(Okay, let’s do this!)
467
468	Kamijou noisily headed toward the kitchen. Only spoiled trash was left inside the fridge, so it would not hurt his wallet to feed it to her. He figured it would be fine if it was heated. He dumped everything left into a frying pan and made something similar to stir-fried vegetables.
469
470	(Come to think of it, where did this girl come from?)
471
472	Of course, there were foreigners in Academy City. However, she did not have the characteristic “scent” of a resident. But it was also strange for someone to come in from outside.
473
474	Academy City was treated like a city made up of hundreds of schools, but it was more accurate to think of it as a city-sized boarding school. It was large enough to cover a third of Tokyo, but it was surrounded by a wall like the Great Wall of China. It was not as strict as a prison, but it was still not a place you could just wander into.
475
476	…Or so it was made to look. In reality, three satellites launched for experiments by a technical college were constantly monitoring the city. Everyone going in or out of the city was completely scanned and if any suspicious person who did not match the records at the gate was found, either Anti-Skill or members of Judgment from all the schools would immediately head there.
477
478	(But that electrical girl called in that thundercloud yesterday. That may have hidden her from the satellites.)
479
480	“So why were you hanging out to dry on my balcony?” Kamijou asked the girl as he put soy sauce on the stir-fried vegetables-like dish he was making with purely ill intentions.
481
482	“I wasn’t hanging out to dry.”
483
484	“Then what were you doing? Did the wind blow you here or something?”
485
486	“…Something like that.”
487
488	Kamijou had meant it as a joke and stopped moving the frying pan as he turned around to face the girl.
489
490	“I fell. I was trying to jump from rooftop to rooftop.”
491
492	(Rooftop?)
493
494	Kamijou looked up at the ceiling.
495
496	Cheap student dorms lined the area. More of the same type of eight-story building were lined up and one glance out to the balcony showed there was a gap of two meters between buildings. It was true that a running jump could get you from one rooftop to the other, but…
497
498	“But that’s eight stories high? One wrong step and you’d be headed straight to hell.”
499
500	“Yeah, you don’t even get a grave if you commit suicide,” said Index cryptically. “But I had no choice. I had no other way to escape.”
501
502	“Escape?”
503
504	Kamijou frowned at that ominous word.
505
506	“Yeah,” said Index like a child. “I was being chased.”
507
508	“…”
509
510	Kamijou’s hand shaking the hot frying pan stopped moving once more.
511
512	“I made my jump just fine, but I was shot in the back in midair.” The girl naming herself Index seemed to be smiling. “Sorry. It seems I got caught on your balcony as I fell.”
513
514	She gave a pure smile in Kamijou Touma’s direction without even a hint of self-deprecation or sarcasm.
515
516	“You were shot…?”
517
518	“Yeah? Oh, you don’t need to worry about a wound. These clothes also function as a defensive barrier.”
519
520	What did she mean by a defensive barrier? Was it a bulletproof vest?
521
522	The girl spun around as if to show off new clothes and she certainly did not look injured. Kamijou had to wonder if she had really been shot. The idea that she was delusional or making it all up seemed more realistic.
523
524	But…
525
526	The fact remained that she had indeed been hanging from his seventh story balcony.
527
528	If, hypothetically, everything she was saying were true…
529
530	Who had she been shot by?
531
532	Kamijou thought.
533
534	He thought about just how determined one would have to be to between the rooftops of an eight-story building. He also considered how lucky she was to be caught on his seventh-story balcony. And he thought about the hidden meaning to the fact that she had collapsed.
535
536	She had said she was being chased.
537
538	He thought about the meaning of the smile on Index’s face when she said that.
539
540	Kamijou did not know what circumstances Index was in and he had not understood what the few things she had told him meant. Most likely, he would only understand half of it if Index explained everything from start to finish and he would likely have no idea how to even start to understand the other half.
541
542	Nonetheless, one truth remained.
543
544	With a tightening in his chest, he understood the fact that she had gotten caught on his seventh story balcony when one wrong step could have sent her straight to the asphalt below.
545
546	“Food.”
547
548	Index poked her head in from behind Kamijou. Despite speaking Japanese, she must not have been used to chopsticks because she was holding them in her fist like a spoon while staring excitedly into the frying pan.
549
550	Her eyes were like those of a kitten taken from a cardboard box in the rain.
551
552	“…………………………………………………………Ah.”
553
554	Kamijou had put the food that was nothing more than trash into the frying pan to make something like (poisonous) stir-fried vegetables.
555
556	For some reason, the Angel Kamijou inside him (that usually came along with the Devil Kamijou) was writhing horribly at the sight of the starving girl.
557
558	“Ahh! I-I know! If you’re really that hungry, how about we go to a proper family restaurant rather than give you this horrible meal made by a guy with the leftovers!? We can even get it delivered!”
559
560	“I can’t wait that long.”
561
562	“….Ah…kh!”
563
564	“And it isn’t horrible. You made this food for me without charging anything. It has to be good.”
565
566	For the first time, she gave a shining, nun-like smile.
567
568	Kamijou’s stomach felt like it was being wrung out like a mop. Index ignored him, taking the chopsticks in her fist and scooping the contents of the pan into her mouth.
569
570	Munch munch.
571
572	“See? It’s good.”
573
574	“…Oh, is it?”
575
576	Chomp chomp.
577
578	“It’s nice how you added that sour flavor to help get my strength back.”
579
580	“Geh! It’s sour!?”
581
582	“Munch munch.
583
584	“Yeah, but that’s fine. Thanks. You’re like a big brother or something.”
585
586	She gave a large grin. She was eating with such a pure heart that she had a bean sprout on her cheek.
587
588	“…Gh…Uuwhaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
589
590	At the speed of sound, Kamijou grabbed the frying pan. Index looked incredibly displeased, but Kamijou swore in his heart that he would be the only one to fall down to hell.
591
592	“Are you hungry too?”
593
594	“…Huh?”
595
596	“If not, I’d rather you let me eat the rest.”
597
598	When Kamijou saw Index looking at him with slightly upturned eyes while chewing on the end of the chopsticks, Kamijou received a divine revelation.
599
600	God was telling him to take responsibility and eat it himself.
601
602	This had nothing to do with misfortune. He had completely brought it on himself.
603
604
605
606
607
6083
609
610
611	Kamijou Touma stuffed his mouth full of the heated garbage and grinned.
612
613	“Mhh,” said the girl naming herself Index with a look of complaint on her face as she gnawed on a biscuit. The way she held the small biscuit in both hands made her look a bit like a squirrel.
614
615	“Okay, you said you were being chased. Chased by whom?”
616
617	Having returned from Nirvana, Kamijou once again asked about the biggest issue in her story.
618
619	He was not about to follow a girl he had met less than thirty minutes ago down to the depths of hell. However, it was likely already too late for nothing at all to happen.
620
621	(So in the end, I have to go with fox words,) thought Kamijou using his personal term for pretending to be nice.
622
623	He knew it would not resolve anything, but he still wanted to comfort himself by feeling like he had done something.
624
625	“Hmm…” she said with a slightly dry throat. “Now who was it? Maybe it was the Rosicrucians or S∴M∴ aka Stella Matutina. I think it was some group like that, but I don’t know their name yet. …They aren’t the type to find meaning in names.”
626
627	“They?” Kamijou asked meekly.
628
629	Apparently, she was being chased by a group or organization.
630
631	“Yes,” said Index surprisingly calmly. “A magic society.”
632
633	……………………………………………………….
634
635	“Hah? Magic? Hah? What!? That’s crazy!!”
636
637	“Eh? Huh? W-was my Japanese weird there? I mean magic. A magic cabal.”5
638
639	“…” Hearing it in English did not exactly help. “What, what? Are you talking about some dangerous cult that says anyone who doesn’t believe in the cult’s leader will receive divine punishment and then gives you LSD to brainwash you? That’s bad in more ways than one.”
640
641	“…Are you making fun of me?”
642
643	“…Sorry, I just can’t. I can’t accept magic. I may know all sorts of supernatural powers like Pyrokinesis and Clairvoyance, but I just can’t accept magic.”
644
645	“…?”
646
647	Index looked confused.
648
649	She had likely expected a believer in only science to deny that any kind of strange thing could exist in the world.
650
651	However, Kamijou’s right hand held a supernatural power.
652
653	It was named Imagine Breaker and it could negate even the systems of god seen in myths in a single strike so long as it was a supernatural power that exceeded the ordinary.
654
655	“Esper powers are pretty common here. Anyone’s brain can be ‘developed’ so the pathways open up by having esperin injected in their veins, electrodes attached to their neck, and certain rhythms played through headphones. It can all be explained with science, so it’s only natural to accept it, right?”
656
657	“…I don’t really get it.”
658
659	“It’s normal! It’s completely normal and utterly normal. Is three times enough!?”
660
661	“…Then what about magic? Magic is normal.”
662
663	Index sulked as if someone had insulted her pet cat.
664
665	“Umm… Well, take janken for example. Wait, is janken known worldwide?”
666
667	“…I think it’s called rock-paper scissors where I come from, but I know it.”
668
669	“Okay, if you played janken ten times in a row and lost each time, would there be a reason behind that?”
670
671	“…Mh.”
672
673	“There wouldn’t, right? But it’s human nature to think there is,” said Kamijou with little interest. “You would think there is no way you would keep losing like that. You would assume there was some rule behind it that you couldn’t see. And once you start thinking like that, what happens when you start adding in things like horoscopes?”
674
675	“…You mean like, ‘if you’re a Cancer, then you’re unlucky, so you should not attempt any kind of competition’?”
676
677	“Right. That is the true identity of the occult. Luck is just us dreaming of these invisible rules. While reality is just something pathetic like a coincidence, our hearts mistake it for some great inevitability. That is the occult.”
678
679	For a bit, Index frowned like a displeased cat, but then she said, “So you didn’t just deny it without giving it any thought.”
680
681	“Right. And it is because I gave this serious thought that I can see why those musty old stories are no good. I can’t believe in some magician from a picture book. If we could raise the dead with the only cost being a bit of MP, no one would be developing these other powers. I just can’t believe in the occult that has no connection to the reality of science.”
682
683	He felt that people only saw esper powers as strange and mysterious because they were idiots.
684
685	The fact that those powers could be explained scientifically was common knowledge in that city.
686
687	“…But magic exists,” said Index as she pouted.
688
689	Most likely, that was something like a pillar supporting her heart. Similar to Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker.
690
691	“Well, whatever. So why are they chasing you?”
692
693	“Magic exists.”
694
695	“…”
696
697	“Magic exists!”
698
699	It seemed she obstinately wanted him to accept it.
700
701	“Th-then what is magic? Can you shoot fire from your hands without undergoing our esper Curriculum? If so, I’d like to see it. I might believe you then.”
702
703	“I have no magic power, so I can’t use it.”
704
705	“…”
706
707	Kamijou felt like he had just seen one of those failed espers that said they could not bend a spoon when a camera was present because it distracted them.
708
709	All the same, a rather complex feeling filled his chest.
710
711	He was insisting that the occult did not exist and that magic was ridiculous, but he really knew nothing about the Imagine Breaker power that resided in his right hand. How did it work and what was going on that he could not see? Academy City was at the peak of the world’s esper development, but even its System Scan could not see through his power, so he was labeled as a Level 0.
712
713	It was a power he had possessed since birth, not one he had obtained through the Curriculum.
714
715	He was insisting the occult did not exist and yet he himself was part of the occult that ignored the rules.
716
717	But even so, he was not about to accept the ridiculous reasoning that magic could easily exist just because there were strange things in the world.
718
719	“…Magic exists.”
720
721	Kamijou sighed.
722
723	“Okay. For argument’s sake, let’s say magic exists.”
724
725	“For argument’s sake?”
726
727	“If it does,” continued Kamijou, ignoring her. “Why are they after you? Does it have something to do with how you’re dressed?”
728
729	Kamijou was referring to the extremely extravagant habit Index wore made of pure white silk and embroideries of golden thread. Another way of saying it would be, “Does this have to do with the church?”
730
731	“…It is because I am the Index.”
732
733	“Hah?”
734
735	“They are likely after the 103,000 grimoires I have.”
736
737	……………………………………………………………………
738
739	“…Once again, I don’t understand at all.”
740
741	“Why do you seem to lose all motivation every time I explain something? Are you a fickle person?”
742
743	“Um, let’s go back over this. I’m not sure what these grimoires you mentioned are, but the image I have is of a book. Something like a dictionary.”
744
745	“Yeah. The Book of Eibon, the Lemegeton, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Cultes des Goules, and the Book of the Dead are good examples. The Necronomicon is so famous there are all sorts of imitations and fakes, so it isn’t very reliable.”
746
747	“No, I don’t really care about the contents.”
748
749	He wanted to add, “because it’s all a bunch of nonsense anyways”, but he held his tongue.
750
751	He instead asked, “So where are these 100,000 books?”
752
753	He refused to back down on that. One hundred thousand books were enough to fill an entire library.
754
755	“Do you mean you have a key to where they’re stored?”
756
757	“No.” Index shook her head. “I have every single one of the 103,000 grimoires with me.”
758
759	“Hah?” Kamijou frowned. “Can stupid people just not see them or something?”
760
761	“Even if you weren’t stupid, you wouldn’t be able to see them. What would be the point if you could just look at them whenever you wanted?”
762
763	Index’s words were so removed from reality that Kamijou felt like he was being mocked. He glanced around, but he could not see a single musty old book that might be a grimoire. All he saw scattered on the floor were game magazines, manga, and the summer homework he had tossed into a corner.
764
765	“…Wahh.”
766
767	He had forced himself to listen up until then, but he could not stand it anymore.
768
769	He started to wonder if she was merely imagining that she was being chased by someone. If she had jumped from the eighth story rooftop, messed up all on her own, and gotten caught on his balcony all due to a delusion, she was not someone he wanted anything more to do with.
770
771	“Believing in esper powers but not in magic makes no sense,” said Index, pouting. “Are those esper powers really all that great? It isn’t right to make fun of people just because you have some kind of special power.”
772
773	…
774
775	“Well, yeah.” Kamijou gave a small sigh. “I agree. That’s exactly right. It’s wrong to think of yourself as above others just because you can pull off some little trick.”
776
777	Kamijou’s gaze dropped to his right hand.
778
779	No fire or lightning would come from there. It could not cause any beams of light or explosions, and no strange markings were going to appear on his wrist.
780
781	However, his right hand could still negate all kinds of supernatural powers. It did not matter if that power was good or evil or even the systems of god seen in the myths.
782
783	“Well, for the people who live in this city, the power they have is like a part of their personality, so you should probably be a bit forgiving as far as that goes. In fact, I’m one of those espers, too.”
784
785	“Is that so, idiot. Hmph. You can always just bend a spoon with your hand instead of messing around inside your head.”
786
787	“…”
788
789	“Hmph, hmph. What’s so great about a guy who has cast aside his natural side to artificially color himself? Hmph.”
790
791	“…You don’t mind if I shut that mouth of yours along with that ridiculous pride, do you?”
792
793	“I-I won’t give in to terrorism. Hmph,” said Index like a displeased cat. “A-anyway, you say you’re an esper, but what can you do?”
794
795	“Umm, well, if you put it that way…”
796
797	Kamijou was a bit unsure of what to say.
798
799	He did not often have to explain his Imagine Breaker to people. Also, since it only reacted to supernatural powers, it could not be explained without knowledge of the supernatural or esper powers.
800
801	“Y’see, it’s this right hand of mine. Oh, and in my case, it isn’t through drugs; I’ve had it from birth.”
802
803	“I see.”
804
805	“If I touch it with my right hand, any kind of supernatural power will be negated. That goes for A-bomb level fireballs, tactical railguns, or even the systems of God.”
806
807	“Eh?”
808
809	“Why do you have a look on your face like you just saw a miracle stone that brings good fortune in a magazine?”
810
811	“But you don’t even know the name of God and yet you just said you could negate His miracles.” In surprise, Index dug into her ear with pinky and gave a scornful laugh.
812
813	“…Kh. Th-this is really annoying. I hate being made fun of by some kind of fake magical girl who claims magic exists but can’t show you it.”
814
815	That muttering of Kamijou Touma’s soul seemed to upset Index.
816
817	“I-I’m not a fake! Magic really exists!”
818
819	“Then show me something, Halloween girl! You aren’t going to believe me about my Imagine Breaker until I destroy it with my right hand anyway. C’mon, fantasy head!”
820
821	“Fine, I will!” Index threw both her hands above her head in annoyance. “Here! These clothes! They’re the highest quality of defensive barrier called the Walking Church!”
822
823	Index spread her arms to show off the teacup-like nun’s habit.
824
825	“Walking Church? What? You’re not making any sense! It’s not very nice to keep using these incomprehensible technical terms like Index and defensive barrier, y’know!? Explaining things means to tell things to someone who doesn’t understand in a form simple enough for them to understand. Do you not get that!?”
826
827	“Wha-? How dare you say that when you aren’t even making an attempt to understand!?” Index swung her arms around in anger. “Fine, seeing is believing, right? Take a knife from the kitchen and stab me in the gut!!”
828
829	“Stab you!? Is this going to end up as a news story where it says ‘it all started with a trivial argument’ or something?”
830
831	“Ah, you don’t believe me.” Index’s shoulders rose and fell as she breathed heavily. “These have the bare minimum of components required to make up a church so that they are a church in the form of clothes. The way the cloth is woven, the way the threads are sewn, the way the embroideries decorate it…It’s all calculated. A knife won’t even put a scratch on it.”
832
833	“Yeah right. What kind of idiot would just agree to stab you? He’d have to be some unprecedented kind of juvenile criminal.”
834
835	“Will you ever stop mocking me? This is an accurate copy of the Shroud of Turin, the cloth worn by the saint that was stabbed by the Lance of Longinus, so its strength is pope-class. I guess you would say it’s something like a nuclear shelter. It turns aside or absorbs any attack, be it physical or magical. I told you I got caught on your balcony after getting shot, right? Well, I would have a giant hole in me if it wasn’t for the Walking Church. Do you understand now?
836
837	(Shut up, idiot.)
838
839	Kamijou’s appreciation gauge toward Index rapidly dropped and he stared at her clothes with scorn.
840
841	“…Hmm. So if that really is a supernatural power, then would it be torn to pieces if I touched it with my right hand?”
842
843	“Yes, but only if your power is real. Heh heh heh.”
844
845	“Perfect!!” shouted Kamijou as he grabbed Index’s shoulder.
846
847	As if he had grabbed a cloud, he felt a strange feeling like the impact was being absorbed by a soft sponge.
848
849	“Wait…huh?”
850
851	Kamijou cooled his head and thought.
852
853	What if everything Index was saying was true (as unlikely as that was) and this Walking Church really was sewn together with supernatural power?
854
855	Would negating that supernatural power send her clothes to pieces?
856
857	“Huuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”
858
859	Kamijou reflexively yelled out at the sudden premonition he had that he was about to suddenly go up a few steps on the stairway to adulthood. But…
860
861	…
862
863	…
864
865	…?
866
867	“Ehhhhhhh? ...Huh?”
868
869	Nothing happened. Nothing happened at all.
870
871	(Oh, c’mon. Don’t make me worry like that.)
872
873	Kamijou just could not stand it.
874
875	“See? What was all this about your Imagine Breaker? Nothing at all happened. Heh heh.”
876
877	Index put her hands on her hips and puffed her small chest in pride.
878
879	But in the next instant, her clothes fell straight down like the ribbon on a present.
880
881
882
883
884
885	All the threads sewing her nun’s habit together had cleanly come apart, turning it all into mere pieces of cloth.
886
887	The hat-like one-piece hood must have been an isolated item because it alone remained. Having only her head covered made it seem all the more painful.
888
889	The girl froze still with her hands on her hips and her small chest puffed out in pride.
890
891	To sum it up, she was completely nude.
892
893
894
895
896
8974
898
899
900	Apparently, the girl naming herself Index had a habit of biting people when she was mad.
901
902	“Oww… You bit me all over. What are you, a mosquito at a camp?”
903
904	“…”
905
906	He received no response.
907
908	Index was naked and wrapped in a blanket. She was sitting with her legs bent back to the sides while (futilely) attempting to return her clothes to their original form by sticking safety pins into the pieces of the nun’s habit.
909
910	The sound effect dohhn seemed to dominate the room.
911
912	It was not that a new Stand user had attacked.
913
914	“…Um, princess? This may be presumptuous of me, but I have a button-down shirt and pants you could wear.”
915
916	“…”
917
918	She stared at him with snake-like eyes.
919
920	“…Um, princess?”
921
922	(What kind of character is this she’s playing?)
923
924	“…What?” she replied when he called out to her again.
925
926	“I was completely the one at fault there.”
927
928	The only response he received was an alarm clock flying at him.
929
930	“Ee!” Kamijou shrieked just as a giant pillow flew at him as well.
931
932	To make matters even more ridiculous, a video game system and small radio came flying his way as well.
933
934	“How can you talk to me like normal after something like that happened!?”
935
936	“Ahh, no! It was quite the concerning event for this old man as well. But that’s youth for you!”
937
938	“You’re making fun of me…Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh!!”
939
940	“Okay...I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Don’t bite that rental video like it’s a handkerchief, you idiot!”
941
942	Kamijou Touma bowed down to the ground with both his hands straight forward like it was part of some kind of joke.
943
944	Deep down, Kamijou felt like his heart was being crushed in someone’s grip over having seen a girl naked for the first time.
945
946	However, Kamijou Touma was the type to not show it on his face.
947
948	…Or so he thought, but he would have been quite surprised at what he saw if he looked in a mirror.
949
950	“Done.”
951
952	While triumphantly blowing air from her nose, Index spread out the pure white nun’s habit that had somehow regained its original form from that hellish do-it-yourself job.
953
954	Dozens of safety pins glittered across the nun’s habit.
955
956	“………………………………………………………(sweat)”
957
958	“Um, are you going to wear that?”
959
960	“………………………………………………………(silence)”
961
962	“You’re going to wear that iron maiden?”
963
964	“………………………………………………………(tears)”
965
966	“In Japanese, we call it a bed of needles.”
967
968	“…Uuuuuuhhhhhh!!”
969
970	“I get it!” apologized Kamijou as he head-butted the floor with all his might.
971
972	Meanwhile, Index stared at him like a bullied child and was about to bite through the power cord to the television. Was she a naughty cat?
973
974	“I’ll wear it! I’m a nun!!”
975
976	Kamijou was not quite sure what sense that made, but Index started changing by squirming around inside the blanket wrapped around her such that she looked like a caterpillar. Her head was the only thing sticking out of the blanket and it was as red as a bomb.
977
978	“Ahh, this reminds me of when we had to change for the pool at school.”
979
980	“…Why are you looking at me? At least look the other way.”
981
982	“What does it matter? Compared to what happened before, just changing isn’t all that arousing.”
983
984	“…………………………………………………………”
985
986	Index suddenly stopped moving, but when Kamijou did not seem to notice, she gave up and started changing inside the blanket again. She was so focused on what was going on inside the blanket that she did not notice at all when her hood fell off her head.
987
988	The awkward atmosphere of a silent elevator took over the room.
989
990	Kamijou’s mind had started to flee from reality, but then the term “supplementary lessons” floated up into his mind.
991
992	“Wah! That’s right! I have supplementary lessons!” Kamijou glanced at the clock on his cell phone. “Um…I have to get to school, so what are you going to do? If you’re going to stay here, I can give you a key.”
993
994	The option of simply kicking her out had disappeared from his mind.
995
996	Since Index’s Walking Church nun’s habit had reacted to Imagine Breaker, she clearly had some connection to the supernatural. That meant that not everything she had been telling him was a lie.
997
998	It was possible she really had fallen from the roof because she was being chased by magicians.
999
1000	It was possible she really would have to continue playing a deadly game of tag.
1001
1002	It was possible wizards from a picture book or something crazy like that really were running amok in that city of science where established theories about espers existed.
1003
1004	And even if those things were not true, he did not want to just abandon Index.
1005
1006	“…That’s okay. I’ll leave.”
1007
1008	However, Index stood straight up and made that dramatic announcement. She then slipped past Kamijou’s side like a ghost. She showed no sign of noticing that her hood had fallen from her head. But if Kamijou tried to pick it up, he would likely cause it to fall to pieces.
1009
1010	“U-umm…”
1011
1012	“Hm? No, not that.” Index turned around. “If I stay here, they will likely come after me. You don’t want your room blown up, do you?”
1013
1014	That smoothly delivered response left Kamijou speechless.
1015
1016	As Index slowly exited the front door, Kamijou frantically ran after her. He wanted to do something, so he checked his wallet and found he had only 320 yen left. He ran after Index to give her what little he had, but his little toe struck the door frame at the speed of sound as he tried to exit the front door.
1017
1018	“Bh…myah! Myaahhh!!”
1019
1020	As Kamijou held his foot and let out that strange cry, Index turned around in shock. As Kamijou writhed around in great pain, his cell phone fell from his pocket. At the exact moment he realized that, the LCD screen struck the hard floor and he heard the crack of a fatal blow.
1021
1022	“Uuuuhhhh! S-such misfortune.”
1023
1024	“I’d say that was clumsiness, not misfortune,” said Index with a slight smile. “But if this Imagine Breaker is real, it may be inevitable.”
1025
1026	“…What do you mean?”
1027
1028	“This is related to the world of magic, so I doubt you will believe me,” said Index with a giggle. “But if the divine protection of God and the red string of fate actually exist, then wouldn’t your right hand negate all of those things?” Index shook her safety pin-covered nun’s habit and added, “The power of this Walking Church was a blessing of God after all.”
1029
1030	“Wait. What we call fortune and misfortune are just matters of probability and statistics. What you’re talking about is completely—!”
1031
1032	The second he said that, Kamijou’s finger touched the doorknob and was shocked by static electricity.
1033
1034	“Wha—!?” he cried out as his body twitched reflexively.
1035
1036	The odd way his muscles moved caused a cramp in his right calf.
1037
1038	“~ ~!!”
1039
1040	The agony left him incapacitated for about six hundred seconds.
1041
1042	“……………………………Um, sister?”
1043
1044	“Yes?”
1045
1046	“……………………………Please explain.”
1047
1048	“There’s not that much to explain,” said Index as if it was obvious. “If what you said about your right hand is true, then merely having it is enough to be continually negating the power of fortune.”
1049
1050	“…………………………….Do you mean what I think you mean?”
1051
1052	“Just by touching the air, your right hand is giving you more and more misfortune♪”
1053
1054	“Gyaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!! S-such misfortuuuuuuuunnnneeeee!!”
1055
1056	Kamijou did not believe in the occult, but things were different when it was related to misfortune. At any rate Kamijou was the type of person to whom nothing he did ever turned out well. It was to the point that he felt like the entire universe was out to get him.
1057
1058	Meanwhile, a pure white nun gazed upon him with the smile of the Virgin Mary.
1059
1060	In her eyes was what people called an inviting look.
1061
1062	“Wouldn’t the real misfortune be having been born with that power?♪”
1063
1064	The smiling nun brought tears to Kamijou’s eyes and he finally realized the conversation had gotten off track.
1065
1066	“W-wait, that’s not it! Do you have somewhere to go once you leave here? I don’t know what situation you’re in, but you can just hide here if these magicians or whatever are nearby.”
1067
1068	“If I stay here, the enemies will come here.”
1069
1070	“How can you be sure? If you just stay in my room and don’t draw any attention to yourself, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
1071
1072	“That’s not true.” Index pinched at the chest of her clothes. “This Walking Church functions using magic power. The church seems to call it ‘divine power’, but it’s the same thing. Simply put, the enemy seems to be searching for the magic power of the Walking Church.”
1073
1074	“Why are you wearing clothes that act as a tracking device!?”
1075
1076	“I told you its defensive power is pope-class, remember? Your right hand tore it to pieces, though.”
1077
1078	“…”
1079
1080	“You tore it to pieces, though.”
1081
1082	“I said I was sorry, so don’t look at me with those tearful eyes. …But Imagine Breaker destroyed that Walking Church, right? So shouldn’t the tracking device-like functionality be gone too?”
1083
1084	“Even if it was, they will know the Walking Church was destroyed. As I said before, its defensive power is pope-class. Simply put, it is like a fortress. If I was the enemy, I would make an appearance when that fortress was destroyed whatever the reason might be.”
1085
1086	“Wait a second. That’s all the more reason I can’t just let you go. I still don’t believe in the occult, but if someone is after you, I can’t just let you leave.”
1087
1088	Index stared blankly at him.
1089
1090	From just that look, she truly, truly seemed like nothing more than a normal girl.
1091
1092	“…Then will you follow me to the depths of hell?”
1093
1094	She smiled.
1095
1096	It was such a heartbreaking smile that Kamijou was left speechless for an instant.
1097
1098	Index had used kind words to implicitly say, “Do not come with me.”
1099
1100	“Don’t worry. I am not alone. If I can escape to the church, they will shelter me.”
1101
1102	“…Hmm. So where is this church?”
1103
1104	“In London.”
1105
1106	“That’s a long way away! How far are you planning to run!?”
1107
1108	“Hm? Oh, don’t worry. I think there are a few branches in Japan,” replied Index as her nun’s habit that looked the result of a bullied wife fluttered.
1109
1110	“A church, hm? There might be one in the city.”
1111
1112	The term “church” brought to mind a giant wedding hall, but the examples in Japan were pretty shabby. First of all, the culture had little to do with Christianity. Also, a country with so many earthquakes had few historical buildings. The churches Kamijou had seen out of train windows had all been small prefab buildings with a cross on the top. He had a feeling he was mistaken in thinking those were nouveau riche churches, though.
1113
1114	“Oh, but it can’t just be any church. It has to be the British style I belong to.”
1115
1116	“???”
1117
1118	“Um, there are lots of different kinds of Christianity,” said Index with a bitter smile. “First, there is the distinction between the old-style Catholics and the new style Protestants. Also, while I belong to the Catholics, there are various types of them as well. For example, there is the Roman Catholic Church6 centered on the Vatican, the Russian Orthodox Church7 with its headquarters in Russia, and the Anglican Church with its core at St. George’s Cathedral.”
1119
1120	“…What happens if you accidentally go to the wrong church?”
1121
1122	“They would turn me away,” said Index with the same bitter smile. “The Russian Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church primarily exist within their respective countries, so Anglican churches are rare in Japan.”
1123
1124	“…”
1125
1126	Things were not looking good.
1127
1128	Was it possible Index had tried going to church after church before she collapsed from hunger? What had she been feeling as she fled and fled while being turned away at each church she went to?
1129
1130	“Don’t worry. I just have to keep at it until I find a British-style church.”
1131
1132	“…”
1133
1134	For just an instant, Kamijou thought about the power in his right hand.
1135
1136	“Hey! …If you’re ever in any trouble, you can stop by here again.”
1137
1138	That was all he could say.
1139
1140	He had the power to kill even God and yet that was all he could say.
1141
1142	“Sure. I’ll stop by if I’m hungry.”
1143
1144	Her sunflower-like smile was so perfect that Kamijou could not say anything in response.
1145
1146	And then a cleaning robot passed by, having to go out of its way to avoid Index.
1147
1148	“Hyah!?”
1149
1150	That perfect smile was blown away in an instant. Index jumped as if she had a cramp in her leg and then tripped backwards. With a horrible sounding thud, her head struck the wall behind her.
1151
1152	“~ ~ ~ ~! S-some weird thing just showed up like it was nothing!”
1153
1154	Index had tears in her eyes, but she completely forgot to even hold the back of her head as she shouted out.
1155
1156	“Don’t point at it and call it weird. It’s just a cleaning robot.”
1157
1158	Kamijou sighed.
1159
1160	Its size and shape were similar to a drum container. It had small tires on the bottom and a circular rotating mop similar to those on a street cleaner. It had cameras in order to avoid people and other obstacles, so they were quite hated by girls in miniskirts.
1161
1162	“…I see. I had heard Japan was a leading nation in technology, but I didn’t know you had made mechanized Agathions.”8
1163
1164	“Hello?” Kamijou was a bit frightened by how impressed Index seemed. “This is Academy City. You can find those things all over the city.”
1165
1166	“Academy City?”
1167
1168	“Yes. It’s a city made by buying up the entire western area of Tokyo where development had slowed. The name comes from the fact that it has dozens of universities and hundreds of elementary, middle, and high schools in it.” Kamijou sighed. “Eighty percent of the residents are students, so all the apartment buildings you see are dorms.”
1169
1170	He omitted the fact that it had a hidden face where esper powers and bodies were developed alongside the studying.
1171
1172	“That’s why the city is a bit odd. The city is overflowing with university experiments like the automated disposal of kitchen waste, the wind turbines that function well enough to be practical, and the cleaning robots like this one. Thanks to all that, our level of culture is about twenty years ahead of anywhere else.”
1173
1174	“Hmm.” Index carefully examined the cleaning robot. “So are all the buildings here part of Academy City?”
1175
1176	“Yup. I guess it might be best to leave the city if you’re looking for an Anglican church. All the churches here are probably teaching institutions for theology or Jungian psychology.”
1177
1178	“Hm.”
1179
1180	Index nodded and then finally brought a hand up to the back of her head where she had hit the wall.
1181
1182	“Hyah!? H-huh? My hood is gone!?”
1183
1184	“Oh, you finally noticed? It fell off earlier.”
1185
1186	“Hyah?”
1187
1188	By “earlier”, Kamijou had meant when she was changing in the blanket, but Index seemed to mistake it for when she had tripped backwards in shock over the cleaning robot. She started looking around on the floor and a question mark appeared over her head.
1189
1190	“Oh, I know! That electric Agathion!”
1191
1192	While still mistaken, she made a dash after the cleaning robot and disappeared around a corner of the passageway.
1193
1194	“…Ahh, what is going on?”
1195
1196	Kamijou look at the door to his room where Index’s hood was and then down the passageway. Index was nowhere to be seen. There had been no farewell, tearful or otherwise.
1197
1198	(From the looks of her, I get the feeling she’ll live on even if the world is destroyed.)
1199
1200	He had no proof of that, but nevertheless that was the thought he had.
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
12065
1207
1208
1209	“Okay, I have a handout for you. Follow along while we go through this supplementary lesson.”
1210
1211	Even after spending an entire term in that class, Kamijou still could not believe it.
1212
1213	The homeroom teacher of Year 1 Class 7, Tsukuyomi Komoe, was a ridiculous teacher who was so short that only her head could be seen when she stood behind her desk. That little girl teacher was one of the school’s seven mysteries, she was 135 centimeters tall, there was a legend saying she was refused riding a roller coaster due to safety concerns, and she looked all the world like a twelve-year-old who should be carrying a soprano recorder and wearing a yellow hard hat and a red randoseru.
1214
1215	“I won’t stop you from talking amongst yourselves, but you need to listen to what I say. I put a lot of effort into making a quiz, so if you do poorly on it, you will be punished with the See-Through lesson.”
1216
1217	“Sensei, isn’t that where you play poker with a blindfold on!? That’s part of the Curriculum for Clairvoyance! I’ve heard you can’t leave until you win ten times in a row despite not being able to see your cards, so wouldn’t we just be stuck here until morning!?” protested Kamijou Touma.
1218
1219	“Oh, but Kamijou-chan, you don’t have enough development credits, so you’ll be doing the See-Through lesson regardless.”
1220
1221	“Ugh,” Kamijou was at a loss of words when faced with the salesman smile of a salaryman teacher.
1222
1223	“…Mhh. I see. Komoe-chan finds you so cute she just can’t help herself, Kami-yan,” said the blue-haired pierced-eared9 (male) class representative who was sitting next to Kamijou.
1224
1225	“…Do you sense malice coming from that teacher’s back as she enjoyably stretches up to reach the blackboard?”
1226
1227	“What? What’s wrong with having such a cute teacher scold you for failing a quiz? Getting physically abused by a little kid like that gets you a ton of experience points, Kami-yan.”
1228
1229	“I knew you were a lolicon, but you’re a masochist, too!? You really are hopeless!!”
1230
1231	“Ah hah! It’s not that I like lolis! It’s that I also like lolis!!”
1232
1233	Kamijou almost shouted out “You’re omnivorous!?”, but he was interrupted.
1234
1235	“You two over there! If you say a single word more, you’ll be stuck with Columbus’ Egg.”
1236
1237	Just as one would expect, Columbus’ Egg involved standing a raw egg upside down on a desk without anything supporting it. Those specializing in Psychokinesis could keep the egg from falling when they worked to the point of the blood vessels in their brain almost bursting. (It was actually an extremely difficult challenge because the egg would break if the Psychokinesis was too powerful.) As with the previous example, you would be stuck there until morning if you could not do it.
1238
1239	Kamijou and Aogami Pierce stared at Tsukuyomi Komoe while forgetting to breathe.
1240
1241	“Okay?”
1242
1243	Her smile was quite frightening.
1244
1245	While Komoe-sensei loved being called “cute” she got incredibly angry when called “small”.
1246
1247	However, she did not seem to mind being looked down on by the students. Part of that was just something that could not be helped within Academy City. The city was a veritable Neverland where over eighty percent of the population was students. The opposition to salaryman teachers was harsh even compared to a normal school, and more importantly, the “strength” of a student was based on both their academic ability and their power.
1248
1249	The teachers were the ones that developed the students, but the teachers themselves had no powers. Some, like the PE teachers and guidance counselors, seemed like they were from some foreign unit because they had to train Level 3 monsters with their own fists, but it would be cruel to expect that of a chemistry teacher like Komoe.
1250
1251	“…Hey, Kami-yan.”
1252
1253	“What?’
1254
1255	“Would it turn you on to get lectured by Komoe-sensei?”
1256
1257	“I’m not you! Just shut up already, idiot! If we have to play with a raw egg even though we don’t have Psychokinesis, we’ll be spending our entire summer vacation here! If you get it, shut that fake Kansai dialect mouth of yours!”
1258
1259	“Fake… D-d-d-d-d-don’t call it fake! I’m really from Osaka!”
1260
1261	“Shut up. I know you’re from a rice region. I’m in a bad mood, so don’t make me play the straight man right now.”
1262
1263	“I-I-I’m not from a rice region! Ah. A-ahhh! I sure do love takoyaki.”
1264
1265	“Stop trying to force yourself into the Kansai role! Are you going to bring takoyaki for lunch just for this role?”
1266
1267	“What are you talking about? Not even someone from Osaka eats only takoyaki, right?”
1268
1269	“…”
1270
1271	“Right? I think that’s right…no, wait. But…but yeah…but huh? Which is it?”
1272
1273	“You’re falling out of character, Mr. Fake Kansai,” said Kamijou before sighing and looking out the window.
1274
1275	He felt like he should be by Index’s side rather than dealing with that pointless supplementary lesson.
1276
1277	The Walking Church nun’s habit she wore had indeed reacted to Kamijou’s right hand (although “reacted” may be an understatement), but that did not mean he believed in magic. Most likely, the majority of what Index had said was a lie, and even if she was not lying, she may have just mistaken some natural phenomenon for the occult.
1278
1279	Even so…
1280
1281	(I guess the fish that escapes always seems huge.)
1282
1283	Kamijou sighed again. If the alternative was being stuck in that desk in that sauna-like classroom that had no air conditioning, charging into a fantasy of swords and magic may have been better. And he even had a cute (he was somehow hesitant to say beautiful) heroine to go with it.
1284
1285	“…”
1286
1287	Kamijou recalled the hood Index had forgotten in his room.
1288
1289	In the end, he had not returned it. He did not view it as having been unable to return it. Even if Index had disappeared, he would likely have found her if he seriously started looking for her. And even if he had not, he could still be out there running around the city looking for her with the hood in one hand.
1290
1291	When he thought about it, he realized he had wanted some kind of connection. He had felt that she might come back to get it someday.
1292
1293	Because that white girl had shown him such a perfect smile…
1294
1295	He had felt that she would disappear like an illusion if he did not leave some kind of connection.
1296
1297	He had been afraid.
1298
1299	(…Oh, so that’s it.)
1300
1301	After going through those slightly poetic thoughts, Kamijou finally realized something.
1302
1303	When it came down to it, he had not hated that girl who had gotten caught on his balcony. He had liked her enough that the thought of never seeing her again left him with a slight twinge of regret.
1304
1305	“…Ah, dammit.”
1306
1307	He clicked his tongue. With how much she was weighing on his mind, he wished he had stopped her from leaving.
1308
1309	(Come to think of it, what was with those 103,000 grimoires she mentioned?)
1310
1311	Index had said that the group called a magic cabal that was after her (Was a cabal something like a corporation?) seemed to be pursuing her because they wanted those 103,000 grimoires. And apparently, Index had been fleeing with those 103,000 grimoires in her possession.
1312
1313	It was not a key or a map to the place where all those books were stored.
1314
1315	When Kamijou had asked where all those books were, she had simply said, “Right here.” However, as far as Kamijou could see, she did not have a single book. At any rate, Kamijou’s room was not large enough to hold one hundred thousand books.
1316
1317	“…What was that all about?”
1318
1319	Kamijou tilted his head to the side in puzzlement. Since Index’s Walking Church nun’s habit had reacted to Imagine Breaker, what she was saying was not purely a delusion. But…
1320
1321	“Sensei? Kamijou-kun is staring out the window at the fluttering skirts of the girl’s tennis team.”
1322
1323	Aogami Pierce’s forced Kansai dialect sent Kamijou’s focus in a U-turn back into the classroom.
1324
1325	“…”
1326
1327	Komoe-sensei fell silent.
1328
1329	She seemed to have undergone quite a shock by the fact that Kamijou Touma-kun had not been focused on the lesson. She had the look of a twelve-year-old who had just found out the truth about Santa Claus.
1330
1331	Just as that thought reached his mind, Kamijou Touma was pierced by the hostile gazes of his classmates who wished to protect the human rights of that “child”.
1332
1333	♦
1334
1335	While it was called a supplementary lesson, they had been stuck there until the time when all students were supposed to have left school.
1336
1337	“…Such misfortune,” muttered Kamijou as he gazed at the three propellers of a wind turbine glittering in the sunset. Any kind of nightlife was forbidden, so the last bus and train in Academy City were set to go out when the students were all supposed to have left school.
1338
1339	Kamijou missed the last bus, so he was trudging along through the scorching shopping district that seemed to go on forever. A security robot passed by him as he did. It was also a drum on wheels and it functioned as something like a walking security camera. They had originally been improved versions of robot dogs, but children would gather around them and block their path. For that simple reason, all the work robots had been made into drum container shapes.
1340
1341	“Ah, there you are, you bastard! Wait up…wait! You! I’m talking to you! Stop!!”
1342
1343	The summer heat had done Kamijou in, so he just stared at the slowly moving security robot and thought about how Index had run off after a cleaning robot. Finally, he realized that voice was calling out to him.
1344
1345	He turned around to figure out what was going on.
1346
1347	It was a middle school-aged girl. Her shoulder-length brown hair glowed a flame-red in the sunset and her face was dyed even redder. She wore a gray pleated skirt, a short sleeve blouse, and a summer sweater… At that point, he suddenly realized who she was.
1348
1349	“…Oh, it’s you again, Biri Biri10 middle schooler.”
1350
1351	“Don’t call me Biri Biri! I have a name! It’s Misaka Mikoto! Why don’t you learn it already!? You’ve been calling me Biri Biri since we first met!”
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357	(Since we first met…?) Kamijou thought back. (Oh, right.)
1358
1359	When they had first met, she had been surrounded by delinquents just like the other day. As the children approached her, he had thought they were after her wallet and stepped forward in an Urashima Tarou-esque move. However, for some reason, the girl was the one that got mad, saying, “Shut up! Don’t get in the way of other people’s fights! Biri Biri!” Kamijou had of course blocked her Biri Biri with his right hand and she had responded with, “Huh? Why didn’t that work? Then what about this? Huh?” One thing had led to another, and things had ended up in their current state.
1360
1361	“…Huh? What? I’m not sad, so why am I crying, mother?”
1362
1363	“Why do you have a distant look in your eyes?”
1364
1365	Kamijou was exhausted from the supplementary lesson, so he decided to not give much thought in how to deal with the Biri Biri girl.
1366
1367	“The girl staring at Kamijou’s face with a stunned expression is the Railgun girl from yesterday. She is so frustrated over losing a single fight that she has come back to Kamijou again and again to challenge him to a rematch.”
1368
1369	“…Who is that explanation for?”
1370
1371	“She is strong-willed and hates to lose, but is actually quite a lonely person and is in charge of taking care of the class pet.”
1372
1373	“Don’t tack strange additions onto the setting!!”
1374
1375	The girl, Misaka Mikoto, flailed her arms around and all focus on the street was drawn to her. That was not too surprising. The completely normal summer uniform she wore was the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School, one of the five most prestigious and elite schools in Academy City. For some reason, the explosively refined girls from Tokiwadai seemed to stand apart even in a station at rush hour, so it would surprise anyone to see one sitting on the floor of a train messing around with their cell phone just like anyone else.
1376
1377	“So what do you want, Biri Biri? Actually, why are you wearing your uniform during summer vacation? Do you have supplementary lessons?”
1378
1379	“Gh…Sh-shut up.”
1380
1381	“Were you worried about the class bunny?”
1382
1383	“I told you to stop adding in that animal stuff! Also, today I’m going to make you twitch like frog legs with electrodes attached, so get your will and inheritance in order!”
1384
1385	“I don’t think so.”
1386
1387	“Why not!?”
1388
1389	“Because I’m not in charge of my class’s pet.”
1390
1391	“Why you… Quit making fun of me!!”
1392
1393	The middle school girl stomped down on the tiles of the footpath.
1394
1395	At that exact moment, a tremendous noise came from the cell phones of the people walking along the area. Also, the cable broadcast in the shopping district cut out and a horrible noise came from the security robot.
1396
1397	The crackling sound of static electricity came from the middle school girl’s hair.
1398
1399	That Level 5 girl who could use a Railgun with nothing but her own body smiled such that her canines were bared like a beast.
1400
1401	“Hmph. How about that? Has that changed your cowardly mind? …Mgh!”
1402
1403	In a frantic attempt to cover her mouth, Kamijou’s hand covered Misaka Mikoto’s entire composed face.
1404
1405	(Sh-shut up. Please just shut your mouth! Everyone’s cell phones were fried and they’re looking none too pleased!! If they find out it was us, they’ll make us pay, and I have no idea how much that cable broadcast costs!!)
1406
1407	Due to his recent encounter with that silver-haired nun girl, Kamijou prayed with all his might to the god who he normally only thought of around Christmas.
1408
1409	His prayers must have made their way to heaven because no one approached Kamijou and Mikoto.
1410
1411	(Thank goodness.)
1412
1413	Kamijou gave a sigh of relief (as he continued to suffocate Mikoto).
1414
1415	“Message, message. Error No. 100231-YF. Offensive electromagnetic waves in violation of radio laws detected. System malfunction detected. As this is possible cyber terrorism, avoid using electronics.”
1416
1417	Imagine Breaker and Railgun hesitantly turned around.
1418
1419	A drum container was on its side on the footpath spewing smoke as it spoke to itself nonsensically.
1420
1421	In the next instant, the security robot began sounding a high-pitched alarm.
1422
1423	Naturally, they ran away.
1424
1425	They entered a back alley, kicked over a dirty plastic bucket, and scared off a black cat as they continued running.
1426
1427	(Come to think of it, I didn’t do anything wrong. Why am I running away with her?)
1428
1429	Even with that thought, he kept running. After all, he had heard on a talk show that those security robots cost 1.2 million yen each.
1430
1431	“Uuhh…S-such misfortune. Why do I always get caught up in things having to do with her?”
1432
1433	“What do you mean by that!? And my name is Misaka Mikoto!”
1434
1435	The two had finally come to a stop in a back, back, back alley. One of the lined-up buildings must have been demolished because a rectangular area opened up there. It looked like a good place for street basketball.
1436
1437	“Shut up, Biri Biri! You’re the one that destroyed all of my electronics with that lightning yesterday! What could you possibly need after that!?”
1438
1439	“It’s your fault for pissing me off!”
1440
1441	“I don’t even understand what has you so mad! I’ve never even laid a finger on you!”
1442
1443	Afterwards, Mikoto had attacked Kamijou with everything she had, but Kamijou had stopped it all with his right hand. Her attacks did not end at that Railgun. She could twist together collected iron sand to create a whip-like sword of steel, send powerful electromagnetic waves to mess with internal organs, and she could finish it all off by sending real lightning down from the sky.
1444
1445	But none of it was a match for Kamijou Touma.
1446
1447	As long as it was a supernatural power, Kamijou Touma could negate it.
1448
1449	“You just kept coming in at me and wore yourself out! Don’t use your powers too much and then blame me when you don’t have enough stamina to keep it up, Biri Biri!”
1450
1451	“~~!!” Mikoto ground her back teeth together. “Th-that didn’t count. It can’t count! You never attacked me! That makes it a draw!!”
1452
1453	“Sigh…Fine, fine. It was your win. Punching you isn’t going to fix my air conditioner.”
1454
1455	“Gah…! W-wait a second! Take this seriously!!” shouted Mikoto as she flailed her arms around.
1456
1457	Kamijou sighed.
1458
1459	“Are you sure you want me taking this seriously?”
1460
1461	“Ah…” Mikoto trailed off.
1462
1463	Kamijou lightly clenched his right fist and then opened it again. A cold sweat started pouring from Misaka Mikoto’s entire body at that simple action. She froze in place, unable to even take a step backwards.
1464
1465	Mikoto did not know what Kamijou’s power really was, so Kamijou was truly an unknown horror to her for having sealed all of her trump cards without breaking a sweat.
1466
1467	It was not all that surprising. Kamijou Touma had received Misaka Mikoto’s attacks for over two hours straight without receiving a single scratch. It was only natural for her to wonder what would happen if he got serious.
1468
1469	Kamijou sighed and averted his gaze.
1470
1471	As if the strings holding her in place had snapped, Mikoto finally staggered a few steps back.
1472
1473	“…What can I call this other than misfortune?” Kamijou was shocked at how frightened she was. “First my room’s electronics were done in, then I meet that self-proclaimed magician in the morning, and now I meet this Biri Biri esper in the evening.”
1474
1475	“Magician? What?”
1476
1477	“…” Kamijou thought for a bit. “Yeah… That’s what I want to know.”
1478
1479	Normally, Mikoto would have likely shouted, “Are you making fun of me!? Is your head as messed up as your power!?” and then Biri Biri’d. However, she only jumped in fright whenever he looked at her that day.
1480
1481	It had only been a bluff to fool her, but he felt bad about how effective it had been.
1482
1483	(What was all that magician nonsense, anyway?)
1484
1485	Kamijou was reminded of what had happened that morning. That white nun had used that word readily enough, but now that he thought back, the term was definitely removed from reality.
1486
1487	(I wonder why it didn’t seem so strange while Index was around.)
1488
1489	Had there been some mysterious something there that made it seem more believable?
1490
1491	“...Wait, what am I thinking?” muttered Kamijou while completely ignoring the Biri Biri girl named Misaka Mikoto who was trembling in fear like a puppy.
1492
1493	He had cut his ties with Index and whatever world she lived in. The world was a large place, so it was unlikely he would run into her again in a meaningless coincidence. Thinking about magicians was entirely pointless.
1494
1495	Despite that, he could not get it out of his head.
1496
1497	He still had that pure white hood she had forgotten in his room.
1498
1499	That one remaining connection continued to irritatingly prick at the edges of his mind.
1500
1501	Not even Kamijou Touma knew why he was thinking about it so much.
1502
1503	After all, he had the power to kill even God.
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
15096
1510
1511
1512	Those days, one could not buy even a large gyudon with only 320 yen.
1513
1514	“………………………………………Regular, hm?”
1515
1516	The girls who happily ate a bento the size of a light novel would likely not understand, but a sweating growing boy saw the regular size as nothing more than a snack.
1517
1518	After driving off the Biri Biri girl, Kamijou had headed to a gyudon restaurant to eat his “snack”. With only thirty yen remaining (tax included), he approached his dorm building with the sun having already set.
1519
1520	The place seemed deserted.
1521
1522	It was the first day of summer vacation, so everyone was probably out having fun.
1523
1524	The building looked like a stereotypical one-room apartment building. Pathways along one wall of the rectangular building had doors lined up on them. The metal railing had no plastic sheets to prevent peering up girls’ skirts because it was a guy’s dorm.
1525
1526	The front doors and balconies on the opposite side were built on the sides of the building going back as seen from the road. In other words, they were in the gaps between buildings.
1527
1528	The entrance to the building was self-locking, but the distance between buildings was only two meters. One could easily sneak into it by jumping from roof to roof as Index had done that morning.
1529
1530	Kamijou went through the self-locking entrance, passed by the storage room known as the dorm manager’s room and got on the elevator. It was just for fun that the elevator was more cramped and dirty than the elevator for bringing items into a factory, but the “R” button, indicating the roof, was sealed with a small metal plate in order to prevent Romeo and Juliets from heading up to the roof night after night.
1531
1532	With a microwave oven-like ding, the elevator stopped on the seventh floor.
1533
1534	Kamijou pushed aside the door that clanked as it opened and exited to the passageway. He was on the seventh floor, but there was no wind and it seemed even hotter and stuffier than before due to the neighboring building being so close.
1535
1536	“Hm?”
1537
1538	Kamijou finally realized something. Down the straight passageway and right in front of his door, three cleaning robots were gathered. Seeing three of them was rare. For one thing, he was pretty sure only five were ever deployed to that dorm.
1539
1540	From the way they were trembling and moving back and forth, they seemed to be cleaning up quite a horrible mess.
1541
1542	For some reason, Kamijou had an intense feeling of impending misfortune.
1543
1544	Those drum robots had enough power to cleanly rip up gum that was stuck to the floor, so what was giving three of them such trouble? Kamijou shuddered at the thought that his neighbor Tsuchimikado Motoharu might have gotten drunk while acting like a delinquent in order to lose his virginity and had ended up vomiting in tremendous quantity while using Kamijou’s door in place of a telephone pole.
1545
1546	“What happened…?”
1547
1548	People had an unfortunate tendency to want to see horrible things.
1549
1550	After taking a few more subconscious steps forward, he finally saw it.
1551
1552	The mysterious girl named Index had collapsed from hunger.
1553
1554	“………………………………………………………Ahh.”
1555
1556	He could not see all of her due to the robots being in the way, but someone wearing a white nun’s habit covered in glittering safety pins was clearly collapsed face down there.
1557
1558	Even though the three drums were doing nothing but ramming her, Index was not moving at all. It made her seem all the more pitiful, just like if she was being pecked at by city crows. For one, the cleaning robots were made to avoid people and other obstacles, so why was she being treated as not human even by those machines?
1559
1560	“…I guess this is misfortune, too.”
1561
1562	Kamijou Touma would have been surprised to see his face in the mirror at that moment. He had a clear smile on his face.
1563
1564	He had been worried deep down. He may not have believed her about the magicians, but it was possible some cult was chasing the girl around.
1565
1566	He was glad to see her in her usual(?) state.
1567
1568	And even ignoring those worries, he was simply happy to see her again.
1569
1570	Kamijou then remembered the one thing she had forgotten: the pure white hood he had not given back to her. He found it strange that he saw that hood like some kind of charm.
1571
1572	“Hey! What are you doing here?”
1573
1574	He called out to her and ran over.
1575
1576	(Why does just running over put me in the mood of an elementary school kid who can’t sleep on the night before a trip? Why does each step I take forward make me feel like I’m headed to the store on the release date of a major RPG?)
1577
1578	Index had not yet noticed him.
1579
1580	Kamijou Touma forced down a smile at how “Index-like” that was.
1581
1582	And then he finally noticed Index was lying in a pool of blood.
1583
1584	“…Ah…?”
1585
1586	The first thing he felt was confusion, not shock.
1587
1588	He had been unable to see it before because the group of cleaning robots had been in the way. As she lay face down, he could see a single horizontal strike near the bottom of her back. The wound was from a blade, but it was so straight it looked like someone had used a ruler and a box cutter. The end of her waist-length silver hair had been cleanly cut off and that silver hair was dyed red by the red substance flowing from the wound.
1589
1590	For an instant, Kamijou was unable to comprehend that it was human blood.
1591
1592	The difference in reality between the instant before and the instant after sent his thoughts into chaos. Red…red…ketchup? Had Index been using her last strength to suck up ketchup just before she collapsed from hunger? With that pleasant image in his mind, Kamijou almost smiled.
1593
1594	He almost smiled, but he did not.
1595
1596	There was no way he could.
1597
1598	The three cleaning robots continued to move back and forth while making a clanking noise. They were cleaning the stain on the floor. They were cleaning the red substance spreading across the floor. They were cleaning the red substance flowing from Index’s body. Like digging at a wound with a dirty rag, they were sucking out everything inside Index’s body.
1599
1600	“St…op. Stop! Shit!!”
1601
1602	Kamijou’s eyes finally came into focus with reality. He frantically grabbed at the cleaning robots gathered around the seriously injured Index. The robots were made unnecessarily heavy to prevent theft and they had a good bit of horsepower, so he could not tear them away from her.
1603
1604	Of course, the cleaning robots were only cleaning the continually spreading stain on the floor, so they never actually touched Index’s wound. Even so, Kamijou saw them as bugs swarming over a festering wound.
1605
1606	And yet he was having trouble moving aside even one of those heavy and powerful robots, much less three. While his focus was on one of them, the other two would head for the stain.
1607
1608	He was supposed to have the power to kill even god.
1609
1610	And yet he was unable to move those toys out of the way.
1611
1612	Index said nothing.
1613
1614	Her pale purple lips were so still he was not even sure if she was breathing.
1615
1616	“Shit, shit!!” Kamijou shouted out in confusion. “What happened? What the hell happened!? God dammit! Who the hell did this to you!?”
1617
1618	“Hm? That would be us magicians.”
1619
1620	And that was exactly why the voice coming from behind him was not Index’s.
1621
1622	Kamijou spun his entire body around as if to rush in to punch the person. A man was standing there who had come from…no, not the elevator. It seemed he had come from the emergency staircase next to the elevator.
1623
1624	The white man was over two meters tall, but his face looked younger than Kamijou’s.
1625
1626	His age was…probably fourteen or fifteen just like Index. His great height was characteristic of foreigners. His clothes were…a pure black version of the habits worn by priests in the church. However, it was unlikely you would find anyone who would call that man a priest even if you searched all across the world.
1627
1628
1629
1630
1631
1632	It may have been because he was standing upwind, but Kamijou would smell the horribly sweet perfume on him even though he was over fifteen meters away. His shoulder-length blond hair had been dyed red like the sunset, silver rings glittered on all ten of his fingers like brass knuckle, he had poisonous earrings on his ears, a cell phone strap could be seen sticking out of his pocket, a lit cigarette moved at the edge of his mouth, and as if to finish it all off, he had a barcode like tattoo underneath his right eye.
1633
1634	You could not quite call him a priest and you could not quite call him a delinquent.
1635
1636	The air around where the man stood in the passageway was clearly odd.
1637
1638	It was like the area was being ruled by completely different rules from the ones that Kamijou had used up until that point. That strange feeling spread out throughout the area like icy tentacles.
1639
1640	What Kamijou felt first was neither fear nor anger.
1641
1642	It was confusion and unease. It was a desperate loneliness like his wallet had been stolen in a foreign country where he did not know the language. The icy tentacle-like feeling spread through his body and froze his heart, but then Kamijou realized something.
1643
1644	This is a magician.
1645
1646	This has become a different world where strange things like magicians exist.
1647
1648	He could tell at first glance.
1649
1650	He still did not believe in magicians…
1651
1652	But he could tell this was definitely a resident of somewhere beyond the world he lived in.
1653
1654	“Hm? Hm, hm, hm. She got her pretty good.” The magician looked around and the cigarette in the corner of his mouth waggled as he spoke. “I heard Kanzaki sliced her, but this is… I thought there wasn’t anything to worry about because there was no blood trail…”
1655
1656	The magician looked at the cleaning robots gathered behind Kamijou Touma.
1657
1658	Most likely, Index had been “sliced” elsewhere and had barely escaped here with her life before collapsing. She must have left fresh blood as she went, but the cleaning robots had cleaned it all away.
1659
1660	“But…why?”
1661
1662	“Hm? You mean why she came back here? Who knows. Maybe she forgot something. Come to think of it, she had her hood when I shot her yesterday. Did she lose it somewhere?”
1663
1664	The magician standing in front of Kamijou had said “came back”.
1665
1666	In other words, he had been following Index’s actions all day. And he knew that she had lost the hood to her Walking Church nun’s habits.
1667
1668	Index had said something about the magicians searching for the magic power of her Walking Church.
1669
1670	That meant the magicians had been following Index by detecting the supernatural power in her Walking Church. They would have known the Walking Church was destroyed when the “signal” cut out…Index had mentioned that too.
1671
1672	But then Index had to have known.
1673
1674	She had known, but she still seemed to have relied on the defensive powers of the Walking Church.
1675
1676	But then why had she returned? Why did she need to recover a portion of the destroyed and therefore useless Walking Church? Kamijou’s right hand had rendered the entire Walking Church useless, so there was no point in recovering the hood to it.
1677
1678	“—Then will you follow me to the depths of hell?”
1679
1680	Suddenly, it all clicked.
1681
1682	Kamijou remembered something. He had never touched the hood of the Walking Church that had been left in his room. In other words, the hood still had magic power. She must have thought the magicians might detect it and head there.
1683
1684	And so Index had braved the danger to “come back”.
1685
1686	“…You idiot.”
1687
1688	There had been no need to do that. It had been Kamijou’s clumsiness that had destroyed her Walking Church, and he had realized she had left her hood in his room yet had left it there. And more importantly, Index did not have any obligation, duty, or right to protect Kamijou.
1689
1690	Even so, she had not been able to help but head back.
1691
1692	Kamijou Touma was a complete stranger she had met less than half an hour before.
1693
1694	And yet she had not been able to help but risk her life and head back to keep him from getting involved in that fight with magicians.
1695
1696	“You idiot!!”
1697
1698	Index’s unmoving back got on his nerves for some strange reason.
1699
1700	Index had told Kamijou before that his misfortune was due to his right hand.
1701
1702	Apparently, his right hand was subconsciously negating even the faint supernatural powers that were things like the divine protection of god and the red string of fate.
1703
1704	And if Kamijou had not carelessly touched her and destroyed her Walking Church nun’s habit, she would have at least not returned.
1705
1706	(No. Those kinds of excuses don’t matter.)
1707
1708	His right hand and the destruction of her Walking Church were not the reason she had felt the need to return.
1709
1710	If Kamijou had only not wished for that connection…
1711
1712	If he had only returned her fallen hood to her in that instant…
1713
1714	“Hm? Hm, hm, hm? C’mon, I can’t have you looking at me like that.” The cigarette in the corner of the magician’s mouth waggled as he spoke. “It wasn’t me that sliced her and I doubt Kanzaki meant to turn this into something bloody. The Walking Church is supposed to be an absolute defense, after all. Really, she shouldn’t have been injured at all by that. …Honestly, what twist of fate led that being destroyed? Unless St. George’s Dragon has come again, I don’t see how a pope-class barrier could have been destroyed.”
1715
1716	That last bit had been spoken to himself and his smile disappeared as he said it.
1717
1718	However, that was also only for an instant. The cigarette in the corner of his mouth twitched back up as if he had suddenly remembered to smile.
1719
1720	“Why?” Kamijou said despite not expecting an answer. “Why? I don’t believe in the magic from fairy tales and I don’t really understand magicians or whatever you are. But aren’t there good and evil types of you? Aren’t there magicians that protect things and people?”
1721
1722	He knew very well that he had no right to use fox words there.
1723
1724	When Index had left, Kamijou Touma had let her go and gotten back to his normal life.
1725
1726	And yet he could not help but say it.
1727
1728	“You ganged up on this little girl, chased her all over the place, and then injured her this badly. Can you really say you’re just with this reality staring you in the face!?”
1729
1730	“Like I said, it was Kanzaki that did this, not me.” The magician paused for a second. Kamijou’s words had not hit home with him in the slightest. “And whether she’s injured or not, we have to retrieve her.”
1731
1732	“Retrieve her?”
1733
1734	Kamijou did not understand what the magician meant.
1735
1736	“Hm? Oh, I see. You knew the word magician, so I assumed you had been fully filled-in. I guess she was afraid of getting you involved.” The magician exhaled cigarette smoke. “Yeah, we need to retrieve her. Technically, it isn’t her we need to retrieve though; it’s the 103,000 grimoires she has.”
1737
1738	…There were those 103,000 grimoires again.
1739
1740	“I see, I see. This country isn’t very religious, so I guess you don’t understand,” said the magician in a bored sounding voice despite the fact that he was smiling. “The Index Librorum Prohibitorum is a list created by the Church of all the evil books that will sully your soul just by reading them. Even if you announce that these dangerous books are out there, people can still unknowingly acquire one if they don’t know their titles. Thus, she has become something of a crucible of poisonous books with 103,000 such books. Oh, but be careful. Reading just one of the books she has would make a vegetable out of someone from an irreligious nation like this.”
1741
1742	Despite what he said, Index did not have a single book. The lines of her body were clearly visible in that nun’s habit, so it would be obvious if she was hiding any under her clothes. Not to mention that no person could walk around carrying one hundred thousand books. That was an entire library’s worth of books.
1743
1744	“D-don’t be ridiculous! And where exactly are these books!?”
1745
1746	“Oh, they’re there. They’re in her memory,” said the magician as if it was obvious. “Do you know what a perfect memory is? It seems to be the ability to memorize anything you see in an instant and never forget even a single sentence or letter. Simply put, it makes you a human scanner.” The magician smiled disinterestedly. “It has nothing to do with our occult or your science fiction. It’s a natural condition. She has been to the British Museum, the Louvre, the Vatican Library, the Pataliputra ruins, Château de Compiègne, Mont Saint-Michel Abbey, and everywhere else that has grimoires that cannot be taken from where they are sealed. She stole them with her eyes and stores them as a grimoire library.”
1747
1748	Kamijou simply could not believe it.
1749
1750	He could not believe that these grimoires existed or that she had a perfect memory.
1751
1752	But what mattered was not if that was correct. What mattered was that someone believed it was true and had sliced open a girls’ back.
1753
1754	“Well, she has no ability to refine magic power herself, so she’s harmless.” The cigarette in the corner of the magician’s mouth moved up happily. “But since that stopper was prepared, the Church must have some concerns. Well, that has nothing to do with a magician like me. At any rate, those 103,000 grimoires are quite dangerous, so I came to shelter her before anyone who would use them comes to take her away.”
1755
1756	“Shelter…her?”
1757
1758	Kamijou Touma was utterly astonished. What had that man just said in the face of such a blood-red scene?
1759
1760	“Yeah, that’s right. Shelter her. No matter how sensible and good hearted she may be, she cannot stand up to torture and drugs. The mere thought of handing a girl over to the likes of them hurts my heart, y’know?”
1761
1762	“…”
1763
1764	Kamijou’s body was trembling in places.
1765
1766	It was not pure anger. Goosebumps covered his arm. The man before him viewed himself alone as right. He lived not seeing his own mistakes. All of that put together sent a chill across Kamijou’s entire body like he had just plunged into a bathtub filled to the brim with tens of thousands of slugs.
1767
1768	The term “mad cult” oozed into his brain.
1769
1770	The thought of magicians that hunted people based on groundless beliefs made him feel like the nerves of his brain were going to burst.
1771
1772	“Who the hell do you think you are!?”
1773
1774	His right hand felt wrapped in heat as if in response to his anger.
1775
1776	His two feet that had been planted to the ground moved before he even thought about moving them. His thick body filled with flesh and blood charged toward the magician like a bullet. He clenched his right fist so hard, he felt like he was smashing his fingers to pieces.
1777
1778	His right hand was of no use. It would not let him defeat even a single delinquent, it would not raise his scores on tests, and it would not make him popular with girls.
1779
1780	But his right hand could also be quite useful. After all, he could use it to punch out the bastard standing before him.
1781
1782	“I would prefer to name myself as Stiyl Magnus, but I guess I’ll have to go with Fortis931.”
1783
1784	However, the magician was completely motionless expect for the wagging of the cigarette in the corner of his mouth.
1785
1786	After muttering something under his breath, he spoke to Kamijou as if introducing the pet black cat he was proud of.
1787
1788	“That’s my magic name. Not familiar with those? It seems we magicians cannot give our true name when we use magic. It’s an old tradition, so I don’t really understand why myself.”
1789
1790	They were fifteen meters apart.
1791
1792	Kamijou Touma filled half of that gap in just three steps.
1793
1794	“Fortis…I guess in Japanese, that would be ‘the strong’. Well, the etymology doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that I have given that name. For us magicians, it is less a magic name for when we use magic and more like…
1795
1796	Kamijou Touma took two more steps down the passageway.
1797
1798	Even so, the magician’s smile did not crumble. He seemed to be saying Kamijou was not even an opponent worth getting rid of his smile over.
1799
1800	“…a killing name, I guess.”
1801
1802	The magician named Stiyl Magnus grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it away to the side.
1803
1804	The lit cigarette flew horizontally, over the metal railing, and hit the wall of the neighboring building.
1805
1806	An orange line traced the cigarette’s path as an afterimage and sparks flew when it hit the wall.
1807
1808	“Kenaz (Flames).”11
1809
1810	The instant Stiyl muttered that, the orange line exploded.
1811
1812	A sword of flames appeared in a straight line as if someone had turned on a fire hose loaded with gasoline.
1813
1814	The paint gradually changed color like a picture being scorched by a lighter.
1815
1816	He was not touching the flames, but it still felt like his eyes were being burned just by looking at it, so Kamijou instinctually stopped running and brought his hands up to cover his face.
1817
1818	Kamijou stopped so suddenly that it looked like his feet had been staked to the ground.
1819
1820	A sudden question entered his mind.
1821
1822	Imagine Breaker could negate any kind of supernatural power in one blow. Not even the Level 5 Biri Biri girl’s Railgun that could destroy a nuclear shelter in one blow was an exception to that.
1823
1824	But the truth was…
1825
1826	Kamijou had yet to see any supernatural power that was not esper in nature.
1827
1828	In other words, he had never tested it.
1829
1830	He had never tested it on magic.
1831
1832	Would his right hand really work on the strange power known as magic?
1833
1834	“Purisaz Naupiz Gebo (A gift of pain for the giant.)”
1835
1836	Past the hands covering his face, Kamijou could see the magician smiling.
1837
1838	While smiling, Stiyl Magnus swung the blazing flame sword horizontally at Kamijou Touma.
1839
1840	The instant it touched him, it lost shape and exploded in all directions like an erupting volcano.
1841
1842	Heat waves, flashes of light, explosive noise, and black smoke burst in every direction.
1843
1844	“Maybe I overdid it.”
1845
1846	Stiyl scratched at his head in front of what looked like the aftermath of a bombing. Just to be sure, he looked around to see if anyone was coming out to see what was going on. It was the first day of summer vacation, so most of the residents of that boy’s dorm would be out. However, it would be bad if some friendless shut in was in one of the rooms.
1847
1848	He could not see directly ahead due to a screen of flames and smoke.
1849
1850	However, he did not need to check. That strike had created hellish flames of three thousand degrees Celsius. At temperatures higher than two thousand degrees Celsius, the human body would melt before it burned, so the boy likely looked something like the metal railing that had melted like a sugar sculpture. He was likely splattered across the dorm wall like a used piece of gum.
1851
1852	Stiyl gave a sigh as he reflected on how right he had been to get the boy away from Index. Things would have been a bit more difficult if the boy had used Index’s injured form as a shield.
1853
1854	But he could not retrieve Index as things were.
1855
1856	Stiyl sighed again. The wall of flames blocked him from heading to the other end of the passageway where Index was. If there was another emergency staircase on the other side of the passageway, he could manage, but it would hardly be funny if Index got caught up in the flames while he took that detour.
1857
1858	Stiyl shook his head in annoyance and spoke as he peered into the smoke one last time as if he could see through it.
1859
1860	“Thank you, excellent work, and too bad. Well, at that level, you couldn’t win even if you had a thousand tries.”
1861
1862	“Are you really so sure I can’t win no matter how many times I try?”
1863
1864	For an instant, the magician froze in place at that voice coming from those hellish flames.
1865
1866	With a roar, the wall of flames and smoke swirled and was blown away.
1867
1868	It was as if a tornado had appeared in the center of the flames and smoke and blew them all away.
1869
1870	Kamijou Touma stood there.
1871
1872	The metal railing had been melted like a sugar sculpture, the paint on the floor and walls had peeled, and the fluorescent lights had melted and dripped down in the intense heat, but that boy had remained unharmed in the middle of those hellish flames and scorching heat.
1873
1874	“Honestly, what was I so afraid of?” said Kamijou with the sides of his mouth twisted in disinterest. “This is the same right hand that destroyed Index’s Walking Church.”
1875
1876	Kamijou truly did not understand anything about what was known as magic.
1877
1878	He did not know how it worked or what was going on where he could not see. Most likely, he would only understand half of it if it was explained to him from start to finish.
1879
1880	But there was one thing even an idiot like him knew.
1881
1882	In the end, it was just a supernatural power.
1883
1884	The crimson flames he had blown away had not been completely extinguished.
1885
1886	In a perfect circle around Kamijou, the scorching flames continued to burn. But…
1887
1888	“Out of the way.”
1889
1890	With that one statement, Kamijou touched the three-thousand-degree magical flames with his right hand and the rest of the flames vanished.
1891
1892	It was like the candles in a birthday cake had all been blown out at once.
1893
1894	Kamijou Touma looked at the magician standing before him.
1895
1896	The magician was as flustered as any normal human being at the unexpected turn of events.
1897
1898	In fact, he was a normal human being.
1899
1900	If you punched him, he would feel pain, and if you cut him with a cheap knife, he would bleed red blood.
1901
1902	He was a mere human being.
1903
1904	Kamijou’s legs were no longer cramped with fear and his body was no longer frozen with nerves.
1905
1906	His arms and legs moved like normal.
1907
1908	He moved!
1909
1910	“…Wha-?”
1911
1912	Meanwhile, Stiyl very nearly took a step backwards in shock over the incomprehensible phenomenon before him.
1913
1914	From what had become of the surroundings, that attack could not have been a dud. But did that mean that boy was powerful enough to withstand three thousand degrees? No, then he would no longer be human.
1915
1916	Kamijou Touma paid no heed to Stiyl’s confusion.
1917
1918	He clenched his heated right fist as hard as a rock and took a step toward Stiyl who was swaying on his feet.
1919
1920	“Tch!!”
1921
1922	Stiyl swung his right hand horizontally. The flame sword that appeared followed suit and flew forcefully toward Kamijou.
1923
1924	It exploded. Flames and smoke flew about.
1925
1926	But after the flames and smoke were blown away, Kamijou Touma stood there just as before.
1927
1928	“…Could he be using magic?” Stiyl muttered under his breath, but he immediately rejected the idea.
1929
1930	There could not be any magicians in that country that knew more about Christmas than magic and only knew Christmas as a day of dating and sex.
1931
1932	Also…Also, if Index who had no magic power had joined forces with a magician, she would not have needed to run away. That was how dangerous Index’s memories were.
1933
1934	Those 103,000 grimoires were on a completely different level from merely having a nuclear missile.
1935
1936	All living creatures would eventually die, an apple dropped from above would fall down, and 1+1=2. You would be able to take those kinds of natural and unchangeable rules of the world, destroy them, rewrite them, and create new ones. You could make 1+1=3, make an apple dropped from below fall up, and make all dead creatures eventually be revived.
1937
1938	Magicians called such a being a Magic God.
1939
1940	Not the god of the demon world12, but a magician who had thoroughly mastered magic to the point of entering the domain of a god.
1941
1942	A Magic God.
1943
1944	But Stiyl could not feel any magic power in the boy in front of him.
1945
1946	He would be able to tell at a glance if he was a magician. The boy did not have the “scent” of someone from the same world as him.
1947
1948	But then why?
1949
1950	“!!”
1951
1952	To hide the shuddering spreading across his body, Stiyl created another flame sword and attacked Kamijou.
1953
1954	This time, it did not even explode.
1955
1956	Kamijou swatted at the flame sword with his right hand as if at a fly and the flame sword shattered like glass and disappeared into thin air.
1957
1958	He shattered that three-thousand-degree flame sword with a right hand that had no magical reinforcements of any kind.
1959
1960	“…Ah.”
1961
1962	Abruptly, truly abruptly, something floated up in the back of Stiyl Magnus’s mind.
1963
1964	Index’s Walking Church nun’s habit was pope-class and its barrier rivaled a London cathedral in its power. It was absolutely impossible to destroy it unless the legendary dragon of St. George appeared.
1965
1966	But Index’s Walking Church had clearly been utterly destroyed since Kanzaki had sliced her.
1967
1968	Who had done it? And how?
1969
1970	“…………………………………………………”
1971
1972	By that point, Kamijou Touma had walked right up to Stiyl.
1973
1974	With one more step, he would be close enough to punch the magician.
1975
1976	“MTWOTFFTO. (Manifest one of the five great elements from which the world is constructed.) IIGOIIOF. (It is the great outset, it is the original flame.)”
1977
1978	An unpleasant sweat started flowing from Stiyl’s entire body. This was because the creature in a summer uniform before him had taken the form of a human. Stiyl’s spine trembled as he got the feeling that inside that boy’s skin was not flesh and blood but some strange oozing something.
1979
1980	“IIBOLAIIAOE. (It is born of life, and it is the arbiter of evil.) IIMHAIIBOD. (It is mild happiness, and it is the bane of death.) IINFIIMS. (It is named fire, and it is my sword.) ICRMMBGP! (I call thee into reality, masticate my body for great power!)”
1981
1982	The chest of Stiyl’s priest’s habit swelled out and the power from within popped off the buttons.
1983
1984	With the roar of flames sucking in oxygen, a giant mass of flames shot out from within his clothes.
1985
1986	It was not merely a mass of flames.
1987
1988	The crimson burning flames had something black and dripping like fuel oil at its core. It was in the form of a human. The thing was reminiscent of the seabirds dripping with black fuel oil after a tanker accident and it was eternally burning.
1989
1990	Its name was Innocentius. Its meaning was “I will surely kill you.”
1991
1992	That giant flame god who bore the meaning of certain death spread its arms and charged toward Kamijou Touma like a bullet.
1993
1994	“Out of the way.”
1995
1996	Kamijou used a backhanded blow with the annoyed attitude of someone brushing aside a spider web.
1997
1998	Kamijou Touma blew away Stiyl Magnus’s final trump card. As if he had stabbed a water balloon with a pin, the human-shaped fuel oil symbolizing the giant flame god burst into spray and scattered about the area.
1999
2000	“…?”
2001
2002	Kamijou Touma had no real reason for not taking his last step at that moment.
2003
2004	It was simply that Stiyl was still smiling despite having his final trump card destroyed. That expression was enough to make him hesitate before carelessly taking that last step.
2005
2006	The sound of a viscous liquid moving could be heard from all around.
2007
2008	“Wha—!?”
2009
2010	As Kamijou took a step back in surprise, the black spray returned from all directions, gathered in midair, and reformed into a human shape.
2011
2012	If Kamijou had taken that last step, he would certainly have been enveloped by flames from all directions.
2013
2014	Kamijou’s mind was thrown into disarray at the scene before his eyes. If his right hand could do what he was always saying it could, it could negate even the systems of god seen in myths in a single strike. If that had been the supernatural power known as magic, he should have been able to negate it with that one touch. And yet…
2015
2016	The fuel oil within the flames writhed, changed form, and now seemed to be holding a sword in both hands.
2017
2018	No, it was not a sword. It was a giant cross over two meters long, the type used to crucify people.
2019
2020	It lifted the cross up with both hands and swung it down towards Kamijou’s head like a pickaxe.
2021
2022	“…!!”
2023
2024	Kamijou immediately held up his right hand to receive the blow. Not counting his right hand, Kamijou was a simple high school student. He did not have the battle skill needed to see through the attack and evade it.
2025
2026	The cross and his right hand clashed.
2027
2028	This time, it did not even disappear. As if he was grasping a mass of rubber, Kamijou felt he was going to be the one to lose that struggle. His opponent was using both hands while he could only use his right hand. The flaming cross approached Kamijou’s face millimeter by millimeter.
2029
2030	Despite his confusion, Kamijou just barely managed to realize one thing. That mass of flames known as Innocentius was definitely reacting to his Imagine Breaker. However, it was being revived just after being annihilated. Most likely, the lag between annihilation and revival was less than a tenth of a second.
2031
2032	His right hand had been sealed.
2033
2034	If he let go for even an instant, he would likely be turned to ash by Innocentius in that instant.
2035
2036	“Runes.”
2037
2038	Kamijou Touma heard something.
2039
2040	Due to the danger in front of him, he could not turn around, but he certainly heard someone’s voice.
2041
2042	“Those twenty-four characters used to indicate mysteries and secrets have been used as a magic language by Germanic tribes since the second century and are found in the roots of Old English.”
2043
2044	However, Kamijou could not believe it was Index’s voice despite knowing it was.
2045
2046	“Wha—?”
2047
2048	With how beat up and bloody she was, how could she be speaking so calmly?
2049
2050	“Attacking Innocentius will have no effect. Unless the rune engravings carved into the walls, floor, and ceiling are eliminated, it will revive as many times as necessary.”
2051
2052	Kamijou Touma grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and just barely managed to keep the cross from advancing any further.
2053
2054	Kamijou timidly turned around.
2055
2056	The girl was indeed collapsed there. But Kamijou was unable to give the name Index to “that”. Like a machine, her eyes were utterly lacking in emotion.
2057
2058	With each word she spoke, more blood flowed from the wound on her back.
2059
2060	She paid no heed to that and seemed to truly be nothing more than a system meant to explain magic.
2061
2062	“You’re…Index, right?”
2063
2064	“Yes. I am the grimoire library belonging to Necessarius, the 0th Parish of the Anglican Church. My proper name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum, but that can be abbreviated to Index.”
2065
2066	The way that grimoire library named Index was acting, Kamijou almost forgot about the giant flame god trying to kill him. He felt such a chill coming from her.
2067
2068	“With my introduction complete, I will return to my explanation of runic magic. Simply put, it is like a reflection of the moon in a lake at night. No matter how many times you strike the lake surface with a sword, it has no meaning. If you want to strike the moon in the lake surface, you must first turn your sword on the real moon floating in the night sky.”
2069
2070	After hearing that explanation, Kamijou finally remembered the enemy in front of him.
2071
2072	Did she mean that what stood before him was not the true form of the supernatural power? Was it something like a photograph and its negative, and it would it continue to revive unless he destroyed a different supernatural power that was creating the giant flame god?
2073
2074	Even then, Kamijou did not completely believe what Index was saying.
2075
2076	No matter what was going on around him, the common knowledge that magic did not exist refused to leave him.
2077
2078	But with Innocentius sealing his right hand and keeping him from moving, he could test anything regardless. And it would be difficult to ask Index to help him given her bloody state.
2079
2080	“Ash to ash…”
2081
2082	Kamijou looked up in shock. From beyond the giant flame god, a flame sword had appeared in Stiyl’s right hand.
2083
2084	“...Dust to dust…”
2085
2086	And another one. A bluish-white burning flame sword extended silently from his left hand.
2087
2088	“…Squeamish Bloody Rood!”
2089
2090	With those power-filled words, he swung the two flame swords horizontally so they would slice straight through the giant flame god from left and right like a giant pair of scissors. With his right hand sealed by Innocentius, Kamijou could not block anything else.
2091
2092	(Shit… I need to run!!)
2093
2094	Before Kamijou Touma could even shout out, the two flame swords struck the giant flame god and it all turned into one giant bomb that exploded.
2095
2096
2097
2098
2099
21007
2101
2102
2103	When the smoke and flames cleared, the entire area looked like hell.
2104
2105	The metal railings had warped like sugar sculptures and even the floor tiles had melted into something like glue. The paint on the walls had peeled so the concrete was visible.
2106
2107	The boy was nowhere to be seen.
2108
2109	However, Stiyl heard the footsteps of someone running along the passageway downstairs.
2110
2111	“…Innocentius,” he whispered and the flames spread out across the area returned to human form, went over the railing, and followed the footsteps.
2112
2113	Inside, Stiyl was astonished. Nothing all that amazing had happened. Just before the explosion, in the instant Stiyl had sliced through the giant flame god with the two flame swords, Kamijou had let go with his right hand and jumped over the railing.
2114
2115	As he fell, Kamijou had grabbed the railing one floor below and pulled himself up onto the passageway. He had no lifeline and had pulled it off with pure guts and courage, so it had actually been quite reckless.
2116
2117	“But…”
2118
2119	Stiyl gave a gentle smile. Kamijou now knew the weakness of the runes thanks to the knowledge of Index’s 103,000 grimoires. As she had said, the rune magic Stiyl used was activated by carved engravings. That also meant that getting rid of the engravings would negate even the most powerful magic.
2120
2121	“So what?” Stiyl’s expression showed no sign of concern. “You can’t do it. It is utterly impossible for you to completely get rid of the runes carved into this building.”
2122
2123	♦
2124
2125	“I! I really thought! I really thought I was going to die back there!!”
2126
2127	After jumping over the railing on the seventh floor with no lifeline, Kamijou’s heart was still pounding in his chest.
2128
2129	As he ran along the straight passageway, he looked around. He did not fully believe what Index had said. He had merely been trying to get away from Innocentius so he could get some time to prepare himself.
2130
2131	“Dammit! What the hell is this!?”
2132
2133	But Kamijou could not help but shout out when he saw what lay before him.
2134
2135	He did not need to wonder where the runes were carved into the large dorm building. In fact, he had already found them. They were on the floor, on the doors, and on the fire extinguisher. Scraps of paper about the size of telephone cards were stuck all over the building like Hoichi the Earless.
2136
2137	Based on Index’s advice (he did not like having to recall that doll-like face), he guessed that the magic was something like a jamming signal called a barrier and the runes were like the antennae sending the signal. But could he even tear off every single one of the tens of thousands of “antennae”?
2138
2139	With the roar of oxygen being absorbed, a human-shaped flame dropped down on the opposite side of the metal railing.
2140
2141	“Shit!!”
2142
2143	If he was caught again, he would be unable to tear them off. Kamijou immediately made a dash for the emergency staircase to his side. As he jumped further and further down, he could see scraps of paper taped to the corners of the staircase and ceiling with strange symbols that must have been runes written on them.
2144
2145	They had clearly been mass produced with a copy machine.
2146
2147	Kamijou almost shouted out “How’s a crappy copy like that supposed to work!?” but then he recalled that the appendix of shoujo manga could be used for tarot divination and even the bible was mass produced at a print shop.
2148
2149	(Y’know…the occult just isn’t fair.)
2150
2151	He felt like crying. Tens of thousands of those “rune engravings” were probably taped up all over the building. Could he find every single one of them? And for all he knew, Stiyl was taping up new pieces of copy paper at that very moment.
2152
2153	As if to cut off his train of thought, Innocentius dropped down from farther up the staircase.
2154
2155	“Shit!”
2156
2157	Kamijou gave up on heading further down the staircase and ran out into the passageway to the side. When the giant flame god struck the floor, flames scattered about the area and it charged into the passageway even as it bounced up from hitting the ground.
2158
2159	The passageway was straight, and Kamijou had no way to lose Innocentius when it came to pure speed.
2160
2161	“…!”
2162
2163	Kamijou looked over to the entrance of the emergency staircase. According to the display, he was on the second floor.
2164
2165	With a roar, Innocentius charged straight forward in order to arrest Kamijou’s right hand.
2166
2167	“O-owah!!”
2168
2169	Instead of using his right hand or running away along the passageway, Kamijou jumped over the second-floor railing.
2170
2171	It was only after he jumped that he realized that the ground below was asphalt and that a number of bicycles were stopped there.
2172
2173	“Waaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!”
2174
2175	He just barely managed to land between two bicycles, but he still landed on hard asphalt. He tried to bend his knees to absorb the shock of impact, but he heard an unpleasant noise from his ankle. He had only jumped from the second story and it did not feel broken, but he had hurt his ankle a bit all the same.
2176
2177	He heard the roar of flames absorbing oxygen coming from above.
2178
2179	“!?”
2180
2181	Kamijou scrambled along the ground, kicking bicycles over as he did so, but nothing more happened.
2182
2183	“?”
2184
2185	Kamijou looked up with a puzzled look.
2186
2187	Still making the roaring noise, Innocentius was clinging to the second story railing and staring at Kamijou who was on the ground. It was almost like there was an invisible wall keeping it from following Kamijou.
2188
2189	Apparently, the runes had only been placed on the dorm building. Kamijou had managed to escape Stiyl’s flames by leaving the building.
2190
2191	Seeing that aspect of the runes made him feel like he now knew a bit about the invisible system of magic. He was not against a ridiculous opponent like the magicians in RPGs who could do anything by chanting a spell. Instead, his opponent acted based on set rules similar to the espers Kamijou knew.
2192
2193	He sighed.
2194
2195	Having been freed from any direct threat to his life, strength left Kamijou’s body. He sat down on the ground without even thinking. He was not afraid. Instead, he was assaulted with a different feeling that was more like a languid exhaustion. He started to wonder if he could escape all danger if he just ran away.
2196
2197	“I know. Anti-Skill,” Kamijou muttered.
2198
2199	Why had he not thought of it before? Academy City’s Anti-Skill were something like an anti-esper special unit. Kamijou could just notify them rather than risk his own life.
2200
2201	Kamijou checked his pants pocket, but his cell phone had been crushed under his very own foot that morning.
2202
2203	Kamijou looked out toward the road. He was looking for a pay phone.
2204
2205	He was not doing it to run away.
2206
2207	He was not doing it to run away.
2208
2209	“—Then will you follow me to the depths of hell?”
2210
2211	And yet those words still seemed to stab into his chest.
2212
2213	He was not doing anything wrong. He was not doing anything wrong, and yet…
2214
2215	In that very same situation, Index had gone back for Kamijou Touma. Kamijou just could not think about going down to hell with a stranger he had known for less than half an hour.
2216
2217	“Dammit. That’s right. If I don’t want to follow you to the depths of hell,” Kamijou smiled, “then I just have to drag you back out from them.”
2218
2219	He thought it was about time he understood that.
2220
2221	He did not know how magic worked, but he did not need to know what was going on where he could not see. He could send an email without needing the circuit diagram of his cell phone.
2222
2223	“…Huh. Once you understand that, it’s really not that big of a deal.”
2224
2225	He knew what he had to do, so now he just needed to try it.
2226
2227	Even if he failed, it was still much better than doing nothing.
2228
2229	A metal railing warped and glowing orange fell down and Kamijou frantically rolled out of the way.
2230
2231	He may have made up his mind, but he still had to do something about that Innocentius before he could save Index. The real problem was the tens of thousands of runes. But could he really tear off all of those scraps of paper taped to the building?
2232
2233	“…Y’know, I’m surprised the fire alarm hasn’t gone off with all of this going on.”
2234
2235	It had just been an offhand comment, but Kamijou Touma froze in place once he said it.
2236
2237	The fire alarm?
2238
2239	♦
2240
2241	The fire alarms installed around the building all went off at once.
2242
2243	“!?”
2244
2245	Amid that storm of roaring noise that sounded as loud as a bombing raid, Stiyl looked up at the ceiling.
2246
2247	Without a second’s delay, the attached sprinklers sent out a typhoon-like manmade rain. Since having the firefighters called in would be a pain, Stiyl had written his orders for Innocentius such that it would not touch the security sensors. That meant Kamijou Touma must have hit the button for the fire alarm.
2248
2249	Did he think it would put out Innocentius’ flames?
2250
2251	“…”
2252
2253	The notion was almost laughably ridiculous, but the magician thought the blood vessels in his head would burst when he thought about how he was getting soaked for such a stupid reason.
2254
2255	Stiyl stared at the red fire alarm on the wall in annoyance.
2256
2257	It was easy enough to set the alarm off, but he could not stop it himself. As it was summer break, most of the residents of the dorm were out, but it could get bothersome if the firefighters came.
2258
2259	“…Hm.”
2260
2261	Stiyl looked around the area and then quickly picked up Index and left. His goal was simply to recover Index, so there was no reason to get caught up in killing Kamijou. Given how long it would take for the firefighters to arrive, he could leave Innocentius on auto-chase and the boy would get a nice flaming embrace that would turn him into black charcoal or white ash.
2262
2263	(This doesn’t mean the elevator is stopped, does it?)
2264
2265	He had heard that elevators were made to stop during emergencies. That would be quite depressing for Stiyl. He was on the seventh floor. Even if it was a girl, carrying an unconscious person down stairs was tiring.
2266
2267	That was why Stiyl was initially relieved to hear the microwave oven-like ding come from behind him.
2268
2269	But then he came to his senses.
2270
2271	Who was it? Who was on the elevator?
2272
2273	It was the evening of summer vacation and he had already checked to make sure all of the students had left the dorm, leaving it deserted. So who was it and why did they need the elevator?
2274
2275	The doors of the elevator clanked as they opened up. A single footstep on the floor wet from the sprinklers reverberated through the passageway.
2276
2277	Stiyl slowly turned around.
2278
2279	He had no idea why his body was trembling on the inside.
2280
2281	Kamijou Touma stood there.
2282
2283	(What? What happened to Innocentius?)
2284
2285	Thoughts whirled around chaotically in Stiyl’s head. Innocentius was like a cutting-edge missile loaded in a fighter. After it locked on, it could never be escaped. No matter where you ran or hid, it would use its three-thousand-degree flames to melt through walls or obstacles, even if they were made of steel, and continue after you. It was not something that could be escaped just by running around a building.
2286
2287	And yet Kamijou Touma stood there.
2288
2289	He stood there unfazed, unstoppable, unassailable, and most of all, an unequivocal natural enemy.
2290
2291	“Come to think of it, runes are supposed to be carved into the walls and the floor, right?” said Kamijou as the cold manmade rain poured down on him. “Really, you’re damn amazing. To be honest, I would’ve had no way to win if you had carved them with a knife. Feel free to brag about this all you want.”
2292
2293	As he spoke, Kamijou Touma raised his right arm and pointed at above his head.
2294
2295	He pointed at the ceiling. At the sprinkler.
2296
2297	“…You can’t mean! Those three-thousand-degree flames couldn’t be put out with that!”
2298
2299	“Don’t be stupid. Not the flames. How can you put those things all over people’s homes?”
2300
2301	Stiyl then recalled the tens of thousands of rune papers he had set up on the dorm.
2302
2303	Paper was weak to water. Even kindergartners knew that.
2304
2305	By spraying water all over the building with the sprinklers, it did not matter if there were tens of thousands of the runes. He did not need to run around the building. Instead, he could press a single button and destroy all of the scraps of paper.
2306
2307	The muscles of the magician’s face spasmed.
2308
2309	“Innocentius!”
2310
2311	The instant he shouted that, the elevator door behind Kamijou melted like a sugar sculpture and the giant flame god crawled out into the passageway.
2312
2313	Each time the raindrops hit its body of flames, they evaporated with the sound of a beast’s breathing.
2314
2315	“Ha ha ha. Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Amazing! You have the battle sense of a genius! But you lack experience. Copy paper is not the same as toilet paper. Just getting it a bit wet isn’t going to completely dissolve it!” The magician spread his arms while laughter exploded from his mouth and he shouted, “Kill him!”
2316
2317	Innocentius swung its arm like a hammer.
2318
2319	“Out of the way.”
2320
2321	Kamijou Touma made that one statement. He did not even turn around.
2322
2323	Kamijou’s right hand touched the giant flame god in a backhanded blow and it exploded in all direction with a laughably pathetic noise.
2324
2325	“Wha-!?”
2326
2327	Stiyl Magnus’s heart truly did stop for an instant out of shock.
2328
2329	After being blown away, Innocentius did not revive. Black fuel oil-like chunks of flesh were splattered about the area and all they could do was just barely squirm a bit.
2330
2331	“Im…possible… How…How! My runes haven’t been destroyed yet!”
2332
2333	“What about the ink?” It seemed to take 5 years for Kamijou Touma’s voice to reach Stiyl’s ears. “Even if the copy paper hasn’t been destroyed, the water will make the ink come off.” Kamijou spoke in a leisurely manner. “Although that doesn’t seem to have taken care of every single one of them.”
2334
2335	The squirming pieces of Innocentius disappeared into thin air one at a time as the manmade rain continued to flow from the sprinklers.
2336
2337	It was as if the ink on the copy paper taped all over the building was coming off in the rain one by one, causing Innocentius to lose power bit by bit.
2338
2339	The chunks of flesh disappeared one by one until finally the last one dissolved and disappeared.
2340
2341	“Innocentius…Innocentius!”
2342
2343	The magician’s words were like those of a man shouting into a phone receiver after being hung up on.
2344
2345	“Now then.”
2346
2347	That one statement was enough to make the magician’s entire body flinch.
2348
2349	Kamijou Touma took a step toward Stiyl Magnus.
2350
2351	“Inno…centius…” the magician said…but nothing in the world responded.
2352
2353	Kamijou Touma took another step toward Stiyl Magnus.
2354
2355	“Innocentius…Innocentius, Innocentius!” the magician shouted…but nothing in the world changed.
2356
2357	Kamijou Touma finally started charging toward Stiyl Magnus like a bullet.
2358
2359	“A-Ash to ash, dust to dust, Squeamish Bloody Rood!” the magician finally roared, but not even a sword of flames appeared, much less the giant flame god.
2360
2361	Kamijou Touma drew near Stiyl Magnus and then continued even closer.
2362
2363	He clenched his fist.
2364
2365	He clenched his utterly normal right hand. He clenched his right hand that would be of no use unless he was using it on some kind of supernatural power. He clenched his right hand that would not let him defeat even a single delinquent, that would not raise his scores on tests, and that would not make him popular with girls.
2366
2367	But his right hand could also be quite useful.
2368
2369	After all, he could use it to punch out the bastard standing before him.
2370
2371	Kamijou Touma’s fist slammed into the magician’s face.
2372
2373	The magician’s body rotated like a bamboo copter and the back of his head struck the metal railing.
2374
2375
2376
2377
2378
2379Chapter 2
2380
2381
2382	The Illusionist Bestows Demise.
2383
2384	The_7th-Egde.
2385
2386
2387
2388
2389
23901
2391
2392
2393	It was night. The sirens of fire trucks and an ambulance rang from the main road and passed by.
2394
2395	The dorm seemed to have been mostly abandoned, but setting off the fire alarm and starting the sprinklers had changed matters. In no time at all, the empty dorm was filled with fire trucks and onlookers.
2396
2397	Kamijou had used his right hand to destroy the tracking function of the hood in his room before taking it with him. If he had left it working and abandoned it in some arbitrary place, he could have fooled the pursuers, but she obstinately insisted that she take it with her.
2398
2399	Kamijou Touma clicked his tongue in a back alley. He was holding Index’s bloody form in his arms as he could not let her wound touch the dirty ground.
2400
2401	He could not give Index to an ambulance.
2402
2403	Academy City fundamentally disliked outsiders. That was why walls surrounded the city and three satellites were constantly monitoring everything. Even the drivers of the trucks that supplied convenience stores needed an exclusive ID to get in.
2404
2405	For that reason, information on an outsider without an ID like Index would get out if she was hospitalized.
2406
2407	And her enemy was part of an organization.
2408
2409	If she was attacked there, the damage would spread to those around her and she would be defenseless if she was attacked while recovering or in surgery.
2410
2411	“But I can’t just leave her like this.”
2412
2413	“I’ll…be fine. If you…can only stop the bleeding…”
2414
2415	Index’s voice was weak and showed no hint of the mechanical voice she used while explaining about runes.
2416
2417	And that was why Kamijou knew immediately what she had said was wrong. Her wound was beyond something an amateur could handle by wrapping a bandage around it. Kamijou was used to fights, so he performed first aid on himself for most of the wounds best kept a secret. But the wound on her back was bad enough to make even Kamijou lose his cool.
2418
2419	There was only one thing left they could rely on.
2420
2421	He still did not believe in it, but he had nothing else left to believe in.
2422
2423	“Hey, hey! Can you hear me?” Kamijou lightly slapped at Index’s cheek. “Is there anything that can heal wounds in those 103,000 grimoires of yours?”
2424
2425	Kamijou’s idea of magic was nothing more than the attack magic and recovery magic from RPGs.
2426
2427	It was true Index had said she was naturally unable to handle magic power herself and therefore could not use magic, but Kamijou could handle supernatural powers, so if Index just told him what to do…
2428
2429	Index’s breathing was shallow but more due to the blood loss than to pain. Her pale lips trembled.
2430
2431	“There is…but…”
2432
2433	Kamijou’s face lit up for an instant until the word “but” belatedly caught in his mind.
2434
2435	“You…can’t do it…” Index let out a small breath. “Even if I…taught you the spell…your power would surely…get in the way…ow…even if you perfectly…imitated it.”
2436
2437	Kamijou looked down at his right hand in shock.
2438
2439	Imagine Breaker. The power residing there had indeed completely negated Stiyl’s flames. So there was a chance it would negate Index’s recovery magic in the same way.
2440
2441	“Shit! Not again…Why is it always this right hand’s fault!?”
2442
2443	But that just meant he needed to call someone. Like Aogami Pierce or that Biri Biri girl Misaka Mikoto. The faces of a few tough people who he would not have to worry about getting involved in this kind of trouble floated up in his mind.
2444
2445	“…?” Index fell silent for a bit. “No… That isn’t what I meant.”
2446
2447	“?”
2448
2449	“Not your right hand…The problem is…that you’re an esper.” In that broiling night, she shivered like on a snowy mountain in midwinter. “Magic is not…something to be used by ‘talented people’ like you espers. ‘Untalented people’ wanted…to do what the ‘talented people’ could do…so they created certain spells and rituals…that are known as magic.”
2450
2451	Kamijou was about ready to shout, “This is no time for explanations!”
2452
2453	“You don’t get it…? The circuitry is different between ‘talented people’ and ‘untalented people’… ‘Talented people’ cannot use the systems created…for the ‘untalented people’…”
2454
2455	“Wha—?”
2456
2457	Kamijou was left speechless. It was true that drugs and electrodes were used on espers like Kamijou to forcibly expand the circuitry of their brains in a way that was different from a normal human. It was true that their bodies were different from others.
2458
2459	But he could not believe it. No, he did not want to believe it.
2460
2461	2.3 million people lived in Academy City. And eighty percent of them had undergone the esper development Curriculum. Even if you could not tell by looking at them, even if they could not bend a spoon when trying so hard it burst the blood vessels in their brain, and even if they were the weakest of espers, they were indeed made differently from a normal person.
2462
2463	In other words, the people who lived in that city could not use magic, the one thing that could save that girl.
2464
2465	There was a way to save the person who lay before him, and yet no one could save her.
2466
2467	“Dammit…” Kamijou bared his canines like a beast. “How could this happen? How could this happen!? What the hell is this!? How is this fair!?”
2468
2469	Index’s trembling grew worse.
2470
2471	What Kamijou found the hardest to bear was that she was receiving the punishment for his own inability.
2472
2473	“‘Talented’ my ass,” he spat out. “I can’t even save the girl suffering before my eyes.”
2474
2475	But he could not come up with any other way of resolving the situation. The fact that the 2.3 million people living in the city could not use magic was the rule he needed to break down first.
2476
2477	“…?”
2478
2479	Kamijou suddenly noticed something off about what he had thought.
2480
2481	Students?
2482
2483	“Hey, any normal ‘talentless’ person can use magic, right?”
2484
2485	“…Eh? Yes.”
2486
2487	“And this isn’t going to end with it being useless because the person has no talent for magic, right?”
2488
2489	“You don’t…need to worry about that… As long as they prepare correctly and perform it correctly…even a middle school student should be able to do it.” Index thought for a bit. “Although, if they get the steps wrong, the pathways in their brain and their neural circuitry could be fried…But with the knowledge of my 103,000 grimoires, it will be fine. Do not worry.”
2490
2491	Kamijou smiled.
2492
2493	Without thinking, he looked up as if to howl at the moon in the night sky.
2494
2495	It was true that 2.3 million people lived in Academy City and that eighty percent of them developed to have some kind of esper power.
2496
2497	But the teachers that developed them were normal humans.
2498
2499	“I hope she isn’t already asleep.”
2500
2501	The face of a certain teacher appeared in Kamijou Touma’s mind.
2502
2503	It was the face of Tsukuyomi Komoe, the 135-centimeter homeroom teacher of his class who a red kiddie backpack would suit her despite her being a teacher.
2504
2505	♦
2506
2507	Kamijou used a pay phone to get Komoe-sensei’s address from Aogami Pierce. (Kamijou had dropped and broken his phone that morning. Why Aogami Pierce knew Komoe’s address was a mystery. Kamijou suspected he was a stalker.) Kamijou then began walking with Index’s limp form on his back.
2508
2509	“This is the place…”
2510
2511	He arrived after fifteen minutes of walking from that back alley.
2512
2513	Utterly unbefitting of Komoe-sensei’s twelve-year-old appearance, it was a two-story wooden apartment building that looked so old and worn down Kamijou felt it must have weathered the bombing of Tokyo. Since the washing machine was sitting directly out in the passageway, it must have had nothing like a bath.
2514
2515	Normally, Kamijou would have made jokes about it for the next ten minutes, but he did not even smile.
2516
2517	After checking the nameplates on the first-floor doors, he climbed up the run-down and rusty metal staircase and checked the doors up there. When he reached the farthest back door on the second floor, he finally found “Tsukuyomi Komoe” written in hiragana.
2518
2519	Kamijou rang the doorbell twice and then kicked at the door with all his might.
2520
2521	His foot striking the door made a tremendous noise.
2522
2523	However, the door did not so much as budge. True to form, Kamijou had the misfortune to think he heard an unpleasant crack come from his big toe.
2524
2525	“~ ~ ~!!”
2526
2527	“Yes, yes, yeees! The anti-newspaper salesman door is the only sturdy thing here. I’ll open it, okay?”
2528
2529	(Why didn’t I just wait?)
2530
2531	As Kamijou had that teary-eyed though, the door clicked open and a pajama wearing Komoe-sensei’s head poked out through the crack. Her relaxed expression made it clear she could not see Index’s back wound from her position.
2532
2533	“Wah, Kamijou-chan. Did you start working part time as a newspaper salesman?”
2534
2535	“What newspaper has its workers solicit people with a nun on their back?” said Kamijou with displeasure. “I’m in a bit of trouble, so I’ll be coming in. Excuse me.”
2536
2537	“W-wait, wait, wait!” Komoe-sensei frantically tried to block Kamijou’s way as he pushed her aside. “I-I can’t have you suddenly coming into my room. And that isn’t just because my room is a horrible mess with empty beer cans littering the floor and cigarette butts piled up in the ash tray!”
2538
2539	“Sensei.”
2540
2541	“Yes?”
2542
2543	“…See if you can make the same joke after seeing what I’m carrying on my back.”
2544
2545	“I-I wasn’t joking! …Gyahhh!?”
2546
2547
2548
2549
2550
2551	“So now you notice it!”
2552
2553	“I didn’t see you had such a bad wound on your back, Kamijou-chan!”
2554
2555	Komoe-sensei started panicking at the sudden sight of blood and Kamijou finally managed to push her aside and enter the room.
2556
2557	It looked like a room belonging to a middle-aged man who loved betting on horse races. The badly worn tatami mats had countless empty beer cans strewn across them, and the silver ash tray had a veritable mountain of cigarette butts in it. In what seemed like some kind of joke, there was even a tea table of the type a stubborn father would flip over in the middle of the room.
2558
2559	“…I see. So you weren’t joking.”
2560
2561	“I suppose it is hardly the time, but do you have a problem with girls who smoke?”
2562
2563	Kamijou felt that was hardly the problem with it as he stared at his homeroom teacher who looked twelve and kicked some beer cans out of the way to clear an open spot. He was reluctant to sit on the worn tatami mat, but there was no time to worry about preparing a futon.
2564
2565	He laid Index face down on the floor to ensure her wound did not touch the floor.
2566
2567	The way her clothes were torn hid the actual wound from view, but a dark red liquid was flowing out like fuel oil.
2568
2569	“Sh-shouldn’t you call an ambulance? Th-the phone is over there.”
2570
2571	Komoe-sensei pointed toward a corner of the room with a trembling hand. For some reason, her phone was a black rotary dial phone.
2572
2573	“The magic power in the blood is flowing out along with the blood.”
2574
2575	Kamijou and Komoe-sensei reflexively turned toward Index.
2576
2577	Index was still sprawled out limply on the floor, but her eyes were silently open even as her head lay on its side like a broken doll.
2578
2579	Her eyes were colder than the pale moonlight and more precise than the gears of a clock.
2580
2581	Her eyes were so perfectly serene that they looked inhuman.
2582
2583	“Warning: Chapter 2, Verse 6. The loss of the life force known as magic power due to blood loss has exceeded a certain amount, so John’s Pen is being forcibly awoken. …If the current situation persists, my body will lose the bare minimum of necessary life force and expire in about fifteen minutes according to the international standard minute defined by the clock tower in London. It would be best if you followed the instructions I am about to give in order to perform the most efficient treatment.”
2584
2585	Komoe-sensei stared at Index in shock.
2586
2587	Kamijou could hardly blame her. Even though he had heard that voice once before, he simply could not get used to it.
2588
2589	“Now then…”
2590
2591	Kamijou looked over at Komoe-sensei and thought.
2592
2593	If he out and out asked her to use magic, she would surely tell him it was hardly the time to be pretending to be a magical girl and that she was much too old for that kind of thing anyway.
2594
2595	So how was he supposed to convince her?
2596
2597	“Hmm. Sensei, sensei. Since it’s an emergency, I’ll keep this short. I need to tell you a secret, so come over here.”
2598
2599	“What?”
2600
2601	Kamijou waved his hand like he was calling over a small dog and Komoe-sensei approached with no caution whatsoever.
2602
2603	“Sorry,” Kamijou apologized to Index under his breath.
2604
2605	He lifted up her ripped clothes to reveal the horrible wound hidden beneath.
2606
2607	“Ee!?”
2608
2609	He could hardly blame Komoe-sensei for jumping in shock.
2610
2611	The wound was so bad it even shocked Kamijou. The wound was in a horizontal straight line across her back as if it was a cardboard box someone had used a ruler and box cutter on. Past the red blood, pink muscle, yellow fat, and even something hard and white that seemed to be her backbone could be seen.
2612
2613	If the wound was viewed as a red mouth, the lips around it had gone utterly pale like someone who had been in a pool.
2614
2615	“Gh…” Kamijou forced away some dizziness and carefully lowered the clothing that was wet with blood.
2616
2617	Even when the clothes touched the wound, Index’s icy eyes did not move in the slightest.
2618
2619	“Sensei.”
2620
2621	“Eh? Yes!?”
2622
2623	“I am going to call an ambulance. In that time, you listen to what this girl has to say and do whatever she says…Just make sure she does not lose consciousness. As you can see from her clothes, she is religious. Thanks.”
2624
2625	If she viewed it as nothing more than consoling the girl, she could continue to view magic as impossible. For that reason, Kamijou had changed the focus in Komoe-sensei’s mind from treating the wound to continuing the conversation by any means necessary.
2626
2627	Komoe-sensei was nodding with an extremely serious expression and a pale face.
2628
2629	The one problem was that Kamijou had to kill time outside while it happened.
2630
2631	If an ambulance arrived before the magic was complete, the “consolation” would end. That meant he could not actually call an ambulance.
2632
2633	But that alone did not mean Kamijou had to leave. After all, he could just call 117 with the room’s black phone and pretend to be calling an ambulance while actually speaking to a recording.
2634
2635	The real problem lay elsewhere.
2636
2637	“Hey, Index,” Kamijou said softly to Index as she remained collapsed on the floor. “Is there anything I can do?”
2638
2639	“There is not. The best option would be for you to leave.”
2640
2641	Her overly clear and direct wording made Kamijou clench his right fist so hard it hurt.
2642
2643	There was nothing Kamijou could do.
2644
2645	And it was all because of his right hand that would negate the recovery magic merely by being in the room.
2646
2647	“…Then, sensei. I’m gonna go look for a pay phone.”
2648
2649	“Wait…eh? Kamijou-chan, I have a phone he—”
2650
2651	Kamijou ignored Komoe-sensei’s words, opened the door, and left the room.
2652
2653	He gritted his teeth at the fact that he could do nothing but leave.
2654
2655	Kamijou ran through the city at night.
2656
2657	As he ran, he clenched his right hand that could negate even the systems of God but could not protect a single person.
2658
2659	♦
2660
2661	After Kamijou Touma left the room, Index moved her pale lips.
2662
2663	“What is the current time in Japan Standard Time? Also, what is the date?”
2664
2665	“It is 8:30 PM on July 20…”
2666
2667	“You did not seem to look at a clock. Is that time accurate?”
2668
2669	“I do not have a clock in my room, but my internal clock is accurate down to the second, so do not worry.”
2670
2671	“…”
2672
2673	“You don’t need to doubt me that much. I have heard that some jockeys have internal clocks accurate to a tenth of a second and you can regulate it with certain eating habits and rhythms of activity,” replied Komoe-sensei in puzzlement.
2674
2675	She may not have been an esper, but she was indeed a resident of Academy City. The idea of what level of knowledge was normal from medical and scientific fronts was different between those within the city and those without.
2676
2677	Still lying face down on the floor, Index glanced out the window with only her eyes.
2678
2679	“From the location of the stars and angle of the moon…that matches the direction of Sirius with an error of 0.038. Now to check once more. The current time in Japan Standard Time is July 20 8:30 PM, is that correct?”
2680
2681	“Yes. Well, technically it is now 53 seconds past that, but…Ah, no!! Don’t get up!!”
2682
2683	Komoe-sensei frantically tried to push Index back down as she tried to sit up which would further damage her already injured body, but Index’s gaze did not waver in the slightest.
2684
2685	Her gaze was neither frightening nor piercing.
2686
2687	All emotion had simply disappeared from her eyes like a light switch had been turned off.
2688
2689	There was no real presence in her eyes.
2690
2691	It was like her soul was missing.
2692
2693	“It is no matter. It can be regenerated,” said Index as she headed for the tea table in the center of the room. “It is near the end of Cancer. The time is between eight and midnight. The direction is west. Under the protection of Undine, the role of the angel is the cherub…”
2694
2695	The sound of Komoe-sensei gulping could be heard throughout the room.
2696
2697	Unexpectedly, Index started drawing some kind of figure atop the small tea table with her bloody finger. Even those who did not know what a magic circle was would recognize that it was something religious. Komoe-sensei had already grown timid, but now something overwhelmed her to the point that she could not speak.
2698
2699	After drawing a circle of blood that filled the tea table, Index drew a star-shaped symbol known as a pentagram.
2700
2701	Writing in some strange language was written all around it. Those words were likely the same thing Index was muttering. She had asked about the constellations and time because the words written changed depending on the time and season.
2702
2703	As Index put together her magic, she showed none of the weakness of one who was injured.
2704
2705	Her extreme focus made it seem like her sense of pain had been temporarily cut off altogether.
2706
2707	A silent chill ran down Komoe-sensei’s back as she heard the dripping of blood coming from the girl’s back.
2708
2709	“Wh-wh-wh-what is this?”
2710
2711	“Magic.” Index paused after that one word. “I will now be needing your help and your body. If you do as I say, no one will meet any misfortune and you will not be the target of anyone’s resentment.”
2712
2713	“H-how can you say that so calmly!? Just lie down and wait for the ambulance! Umm…bandages, bandages. With a wound this bad, I should bind the area around the artery to stop the flow of blood…”
2714
2715	“That level of treatment cannot completely close up my wound. I am not familiar with the term ambulance, but is it capable of completely closing this wound in the next fifteen minutes and supplying me with the needed level of magic power?”
2716
2717	“…”
2718
2719	It was true that an ambulance would take ten minutes to arrive even if they called right that instant. It would take that long again to get her back to the hospital and the treatment would not start the second she arrived at the hospital. Komoe-sensei did not really understand what an occult term like magic power meant, but it was true just closing the wound would not bring back her stamina.
2720
2721	Even if the wound was closed right that instant with a needle and thread, would that pale girl be too weak to live long enough to recover her missing stamina?
2722
2723	“Please,” said Index without changing her expression in the slightest.
2724
2725	A mix of fresh blood and saliva was dripping from the corner of her mouth.
2726
2727	There was no intensity in her. There was nothing ghastly in her either. But that calm and composure was scarier than either of those. The way everything she did seemed to widen the wound made her seem like a broken machine continuing to run without realizing anything was amiss.
2728
2729	(If I do anything that makes her resist, her situation could become even worse.)
2730
2731	Komoe-sensei sighed. She of course did not believe in magic. However, Kamijou had told her to keep the conversation going to make sure the girl did not lose consciousness.
2732
2733	All she could do was try not to provoke the girl sitting before her and place her hopes in Kamijou calling an ambulance as quickly as possible if not sooner and in the splendid first aid of the EMTs in the ambulance.
2734
2735	“So what should I do? I am not a magical girl.”
2736
2737	“I thank you for your cooperation. First…take that…that…what is that black thing?”
2738
2739	“? Oh, that is a video game memory card.”
2740
2741	“??? …Well, fine. At any rate, take that black thing and place it in the middle of the table.”
2742
2743	“Technically, it’s a tea table…”
2744
2745	Komoe-sensei did as she was told and placed the memory card in the middle of the tea table. She then took a mechanical pencil lead case, an empty box of chocolates, and two small paperback books and put them on the tea table as well. She also took two small figurines that came with her food, and lined them up next to each other.
2746
2747	Komoe-sensei wondered what the point of it was, but Index was still completely serious despite looking about ready to collapse.
2748
2749	All of Komoe-sensei’s complaints disappeared before the Japanese sword-like gaze coming from that pale face.
2750
2751	“What is this? You called it magic, but isn’t this just playing with dolls?”
2752
2753	Sure enough, it all looked like a miniature version of the room. The memory card was the tea table, the two books standing up were the bookshelf and closet, and the two figurines were in the exact place of the two people in the room. When glass beads were scattered over the tea table, they seemed to stop in the places that exactly replicated the beer cans scattered across the floor.
2754
2755	“The substances do not matter. It is the same as how a magnifying glass magnifies regardless of whether the lens is made of glass or plastic… As long as the form and role are the same, the ceremony is possible,” muttered Index as she dripped with sweat. “I just need you to accurately carry out my instructions. If you mistake the order, the pathways in your brain and your neural circuitry could be fried.”
2756
2757	“???”
2758
2759	“I am saying that failure will turn your body to mincemeat and kill you. Please be careful.”
2760
2761	“Bh!?” Komoe-sensei almost spat out, but Index continued without paying it any heed.
2762
2763	“We will now create a temple for the angel to descend into. Follow my lead and chant.”
2764
2765	What Index said after that went beyond words and become nothing but sound.
2766
2767	Without thinking about the meaning, Komoe-sensei tried copying just the tone in something like humming or singing.
2768
2769	And…
2770
2771	“Kyahh!?”
2772
2773	Suddenly, the figures on top of the tea table started to “sing” as well. “Kyahh!?” one of them screamed with the exact same timing. The figures were vibrating. Just as the vibration is transmitted along the string in a string telephone and comes out as a voice in the paper cup on the other end, the figure vibrated and reproduced Komoe-sensei’s voice.
2774
2775	The reason Komoe-sensei did not panic and run from the room right then and there was likely because she lived in a city where eighty percent of its 2.3 million residents were espers. A normal person would have thought they were out of their mind.
2776
2777	“Link complete.” Index’s voice and the voice from the tea table made it sound double. “The temple created on the table has been linked to this room. To put it simply, everything that happens in this room will happen on the table and everything that happens on the table will happen in this room.”
2778
2779	Index pushed the tea table lightly with her foot.
2780
2781	In that instant, the entire apartment shook under Komoe-sensei’s feet as if from some great shock.
2782
2783	She could feel the stuffy air of the room growing as clear as the air in a forest in the early morning.
2784
2785	However, nothing like an angel was present. All that was there was what could only be described as an invisible presence. A feeling assaulted Komoe-sensei’s entire body like she was being watched by thousands of eyeballs from every direction.
2786
2787	And then Index suddenly shouted.
2788
2789	“Imagine! Imagine a golden angel with the body of a child! Imagine a beautiful angel with two wings!”
2790
2791	When carrying out magic, determining the field was important.
2792
2793	For example, a pebble thrown into the sea does not make much of a ripple. However, a pebble dropped into a bucket makes quite a ripple. It was the same as that. To alter the world with magic, the field in which the alteration would take place had to be demarcated.
2794
2795	A protector was a temporary god in a small demarcated world.
2796
2797	If one properly imagined a protector, fixated its form, and freely controlled it, one could more easily cause mysterious things to happen in a limited field.
2798
2799	Komoe-sensei did not receive any such explanation and she was having a hard time imagining an angel. The term “golden angel” only made her think of that thing about one gold one or five silver ones.13
2800
2801	As the image in Komoe-sensei’s mind lost coherence, the surrounding presence followed suit and lost its form. An unpleasant feeling ran down Komoe-sensei’s back like she was wrapped in the rotten mud from the bottom of a swamp.
2802
2803	“Just imagine it! This will not actually call in an angel. It is just a gathering of invisible magic power. It will take form according to your will as the magic user!”
2804
2805	She must have truly been desperate because even the voice of that cool, mechanical Index grew sharp as an icicle.
2806
2807	Komoe-sensei’s eyes opened wide at that sudden change and she hurriedly started muttering under her breath.
2808
2809	(…A cute angel, a cute angel, a cute angel.)
2810
2811	Hazily, she frantically called up an image of the girl angel she had seen in a shoujo manga long ago.
2812
2813	Whatever it was that felt like invisible mud hanging in the air of the room took form as if it had been shoved inside a human-shaped balloon…or at least that was how it seemed to Komoe-sensei.
2814
2815	She timidly opened her eyes to check.
2816
2817	(…Huh? This will not actually call in an angel?)
2818
2819	In the instant that doubt entered her mind, the human-shaped water balloon burst and the invisible mud splattered across the room.
2820
2821	“Kyahh!!”
2822
2823	“…The fixation of its form has failed.” Index looked around with her sharp gaze. “If the temple is at least protected by a blue color Undine, that is enough. …Continue.”
2824
2825	Her words were positive enough, but Index’s eyes were not smiling in the slightest.
2826
2827	Komoe-sensei flinched back like a child whose parents had just seen a failed test she had tried to keep hidden.
2828
2829	“Chant. It will be over with just a bit more.”
2830
2831	That sharp order would not let Komoe-sensei lose her composure despite her rising confusion and flagging thoughts.
2832
2833	Index, Komoe-sensei, and the two figurines on the tea table sang.
2834
2835	The back of Index’s figurine on the table began to melt.
2836
2837	It was as if it was rubber being held up to a lighter. It melted, the surface lost its unevenness, it grew smooth, it cooled and hardened once more, and its form came back together.
2838
2839	Komoe-sensei felt like her heart was freezing over.
2840
2841	Currently, Index was sitting across the tea table from her.
2842
2843	She did not have the courage to circle around and see what was happening to Index’s back.
2844
2845	Index’s pale face was covered in oily sweat.
2846
2847	Her glassy eyes still showed no sign of pain or suffering.
2848
2849	“Replenishment of magic power and stabilization of condition confirmed. Returning John’s Pen to dormant mode.”
2850
2851	Like a switch had been flipped, a soft light returned to Index’s eyes.
2852
2853	Like a fire being lit in a cooled fireplace, a warmth filled the room’s atmosphere.
2854
2855	The look in Index’s eyes was so kind and warm that Komoe-sensei could not help but feel that warmth. It was the look of a normal girl.
2856
2857	“Now if the descended protector is returned and the temple is destroyed, it will be over.” Index smiled painfully “This is what magic is. It’s the same as how apple and ringo14 mean the same thing. You do not need a glass wand when a plastic umbrella is just as clear. It is the same with tarot cards. As long as the design and numbers match, you can perform divinations with the cut outs from the back of a shoujo manga.”
2858
2859	Index’s sweating did not stop.
2860
2861	Komoe-sensei grew even more afraid. She started to think what she had done had only made Index’s condition worse.
2862
2863	“Don’t worry.” Index looked about ready to collapse even then. “It’s the same as with a cold. You need your own strength to get over it. The wound itself has been closed up, so I’ll be fine.”
2864
2865	As soon as she said that, Index collapsed to the side. The figurine fell over, too. The tea table shook slightly and the room linked to it was assaulted by a thundering tremble.
2866
2867	Komoe-sensei was about to run around the tea table to Index, but Index began to sing.
2868
2869	When Komoe-sensei followed along and sang one last song, the strange atmosphere returned to being the normal stuffy atmosphere of the apartment. Komoe-sensei cautiously shook the tea table, but nothing happened.
2870
2871	(Thank goodness.)
2872
2873	As Komoe-sensei closed her eyes in relief, Index spoke.
2874
2875	Komoe-sensei would have thought anyone would be glad to have their deadly wound healed, but the nun said something else.
2876
2877	“I’m glad I did not burden anyone with anything.”
2878
2879	Komoe-sensei stared at Index in surprise.
2880
2881	“…If I had died here, he may have had to bear the burden.”
2882
2883	Index closed her eyes like she was dreaming and said nothing more. When that girl had been sliced in the back and collapsed and when she had performed that strange ritual, she had never once been thinking about herself. She had been thinking about the person who had carried her there.
2884
2885	Komoe-sensei could not think in the same way. She had no one to think that way about.
2886
2887	That was why she asked one thing.
2888
2889	She was sure Index was already asleep and would not hear her, but that was exactly why she asked it.
2890
2891	And yet the girl answered with her eyes still closed.
2892
2893	“I don’t know.”
2894
2895	She had never felt that way about anyone before and she did not know what the feeling was. But when he had recklessly gotten mad for her when faced with that magician, she had wanted him to run away even if she had to crawl up to him and make him. And when he had run away from Innocentius, she had thought she was going to cry when he had returned.
2896
2897	She did not really understand, but when she was with him, nothing ever went as she wanted and she felt pushed around.
2898
2899	And yet those unexpected things were so much fun and made her so happy.
2900
2901	She did not know what the feeling was, though.
2902
2903	This time, Index fell into a deep sleep with a smile on her face like she was having a pleasant dream.
2904
2905
2906
2907
2908
29092
2910
2911
2912	After dawn came, her symptoms were very similar to those of a cold.
2913
2914	Index was bedridden with a high fever and a headache. She did not have a runny nose or a sore throat because it was not due to a virus. It was simply a matter of regaining her missing stamina, so no matter how much immunity-strengthening cold medicine she took, it would not solve anything.
2915
2916	“…So why are you wearing only panties down below?”
2917
2918	As Index lay with a wet towel on her forehead, she must not have been able to stand the hot dampness inside the futon, so she had one leg sticking out in Kamijou’s direction. She was wearing a pale green pajama top and yet her bright skin-colored thigh was sticking out up to its base. Due to her fever, the skin was a bit pink.
2919
2920	The towel had grown lukewarm, so Komoe-sensei stuck it into a basin of water and splashed it around while glaring at Kamijou.
2921
2922	“…Kamijou-chan. I think those clothes were a bit too much.”
2923
2924	“Those clothes” likely referred to the safety-pin-covered white nun’s habit.
2925
2926	Kamijou agreed with her 100% on that, but Index looked like a displeased cat over having her familiar habit taken from her.
2927
2928	“The real question is how the pajamas of a beer-loving heavy-smoking adult like you fit Index so perfectly. Just what is the age difference between you anyway?”
2929
2930	“Wha-?”
2931
2932	Komoe-sensei (age unknown) was at a loss for words, but Index went in to kick her while she was down.
2933
2934	“Please do not look down on me like that. These pajamas are actually a bit tight around the chest.”
2935
2936	“What…impossible! That can’t be right. Now you’re just making fun of me!” protested Komoe-sensei.
2937
2938	“Actually, do you even have anything in the chest area for it to be tight around!?” asked Kamijou.
2939
2940	“…”
2941
2942	“…”
2943
2944	As the two ladies glared at him, Kamijou’s soul reflexively entered prostration mode.
2945
2946	“Right, right. By the way, Kamijou-chan, who exactly is this girl?”
2947
2948	“My little sister.”
2949
2950	“That is a blatant lie. With that silver hair and those green eyes, she is clearly a foreigner!”
2951
2952	“She’s my stepsister.”
2953
2954	“…You’re a pervert?”
2955
2956	“I’m just kidding! I’m well aware that a stepsister is bad manners but a real sister is against the rules!”
2957
2958	“Kamijou-chan,” she said, suddenly switching over to her teacher voice.
2959
2960	Kamijou fell silent. It was not really surprising that Komoe-sensei wanted to know what was going on. Not only had he brought a strange foreigner to her, but the girl had had a blade wound on her back that clearly smelled of bad news and Komoe-sensei had even been made to take part in some strange bit of magic.
2961
2962	It would have been difficult to ask her to turn a blind eye to it all.
2963
2964	“Sensei, can I ask one thing?”
2965
2966	“What?”
2967
2968	“Are you asking so you can tell Anti-Skill or Academy City’s board of directors?”
2969
2970	“Yes,” Komoe-sensei said immediately with a nod. With no hesitation, she had told her student she was going to sell them out. “I do not know what kind of situation you two are in.” Komoe-sensei smiled. “But if it happened here in Academy City, it is our duty as teachers to resolve it. Taking responsibility for the children is the duty of the adults. Now that I know you are in some kind of trouble, I cannot sit idly by.”
2971
2972	That was what Tsukuyomi Komoe said.
2973
2974	And yet she had no power, no strength, and no duty to do so.
2975
2976	She merely said it with the straightforwardness of a famous katana slicing straight through the proper place at the proper time.
2977
2978	“I just…” started Kamijou before finishing under his breath. (…can’t stand up to her.)
2979
2980	Kamijou had lived a long fifteen or so years and yet he had never seen someone else like that teacher of the type seen in dramas and not even seen in movies anymore.
2981
2982	And so…
2983
2984	“If you were a complete stranger, I would not hesitate to get you involved, but I owe you for that magic, so I can’t let you get involved.”
2985
2986	Kamijou’s response was just as straightforward.
2987
2988	He had already had enough of seeing people who were willing to protect others for nothing in return be hurt before his eyes.
2989
2990	Komoe-sensei fell silent for a bit.
2991
2992	“Mhh. I am not going to let you get away with trying to trick me with some cool line.”
2993
2994	“…? Sensei, why did you just stand up and head for the door?”
2995
2996	“I am giving this a stay of execution. I need to go to the supermarket for groceries. Kamijou-chan, you figure out exactly what it is you need to tell me in that time. And…”
2997
2998	“And?”
2999
3000	“I may get so caught up in shopping that I forget. No cheating when I get back. Make sure you tell me, okay?”