Toaru Majutsu no Index

Volume 16, Chapter 1: From Peace to Ruin on the Proceeding Path. Battle_of_Collapse.

Part 1

Due to a certain factor, fourth period dragged on oddly long.

By the time the normal high school boy named Kamijou Touma and his class ran to the school store and cafeteria, it was already too late. They were so horribly late that the store’s bread had been wiped out, the cafeteria seats were filled, and those seats were unlikely to open up until the end of the lunch break. On top of that, the meal ticket machine had all of its “sold out” lights on like a cigarette vending machine late at night. Such misfortune. And the situation was entirely thanks to the digression caused by Kamijou Touma asking his history teacher, “Really? So what would’ve happened to Japan if Oda Nobunaga had created the Oda Shogunate?”

He felt responsible, so he headed to the faculty room to make a direct appeal to Komoe-sensei who was chowing down on a 580 yen healthy zaru soba set.

“Please at least open up the cooking classroom! I can make the Kamijou Special!! Just give me some leftover cold rice, grated cheese, and ketchup, and I can whip up something great!!”

But despite his plea, his teacher only smiled bitterly. To add insult to injury, the math teacher Oyafune Suama was eating a gorgeous seafood bowl with sea urchin and roe while the PE teacher Yomikawa Aiho was downing several nikuman that did not seem to be part of her lunch. This filled the room with delicious aromas, so Kamijou fled before he lost control of himself.

“I-is the drink machine the only path remaining? But will that be enough to get through my afternoon classes?”

The number of students suffering from a shortage of food numbered 21 in all. There was Kamijou Touma, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Himegami Aisa who had forgotten to bring a lunch on this day of all days, Fukiyose Seiri who was out of mail-order health foods, and all the other boys and girls in the class who got their food from the cafeteria or the school store.

As they watched those with lunches eat their extremely delicious looking tiny Salisbury steaks, steamed dumplings, and other foods, the empty stomach alliance finally made up their minds.

“Let’s escape!! Let’s escape and go to a convenience store!!”

It was unclear who exactly had shouted that.

The next thing they knew, the cafeteria & school store group had formed a circle and begun a strategy meeting.

Times like this were when Fukiyose Seiri truly shined.

“If we all leave the school at once, the teachers will definitely notice. The odds of success are highest if we have a team of three or four take everyone’s money and buy all the food!!”

“Then what will the others do?” asked Himegami with a tilt of the head.

Kamijou raised his head.

“Provide backup by gathering information and creating diversions. We have to make sure the teachers don’t find out about this plan, so we need your help. We need to keep our cell phones connected. Only the latest information is of any use.”

“Okay, but where will we escape from, nyah?” Tsuchimikado drew a detailed diagram of the school on the back of a printout he no longer needed. “These are the locations related to intruder alarms. This infrared sensor is only active at night, so we don’t have to worry about it. Given the location of the faculty room, we’ll definitely be spotted at the fence if we leave through the front. Their window gives them a full view of the schoolyard there, nyah. It’s gotta be the back entrance. But the guy working at the store goes in and out through there. We’d be in trouble if we ran into him, nyah.”

“I see. So the trick is when we pass through the back entrance. Okay, let’s divide up the jobs!!”

On Fukiyose’s instructions, the 21 rebels divided into a few groups. Kamijou Touma, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, and Fukiyose Seiri formed the team that would actually leave the school. It seemed they were known for being quick on their feet thanks to their usual idiotic commotions.

“But can we really entrust our lunches to Kamijou and his misfortune?”

“It’ll be fine. He can play the crucial role of the decoy.”

As his classmates whispered amongst themselves, Kamijou silenced them with his fist.

While still standing in a circle, they all pulled out their phones, set them to transceiver mode which connected multiple lines at once, and then synchronized the digital clock down to the second.

“Let’s go. Mission start!!”

Fukiyose clapped her hands twice and the cafeteria & store team scattered like baby spiders.

Kamijou, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado, and Fukiyose hurried, but travelled down the hallway in what could be seen as a fast walk in order to avoid the simple mistake of being stopped for running in the hall.

“Time is the real issue here,” said Fukiyose as they made their way past a few teachers with a smile. “Lunchtime is when convenience stores make an overwhelming amount of their money. This escape will all be a waste if all the lunches are gone from the convenience store shelves as well!!”

They did not stop at the shoe lockers. If a teacher noticed they were wearing loafers instead of indoor shoes, their escape plan would be discovered. The fact that they had no shoes yet were not playing in the schoolyard made for a fairly fatal situation.

And so they had another group get some PE shoes which they exchanged for their indoor shoes. After travelling to the outdoor passageway connecting the school building to the gym, they put on the PE shoes and made their way outside. They then ran to the back entrance before anyone could question them.

The metal fence came into view.

No one was around. The problematic school store man was nowhere to be seen.

“Okay! Let’s make a run for it!!”

Kamijou tried to jump the fence.

But then a shrill siren reached him.

He turned around and saw the gorilla-like Saigo-sensei who seemed to be just returning from eating out at a family restaurant.

The educational guidance counselor was driving a four door family car, but it was made for normal humans to ride. That openweight gorilla made it look as cramped as a phone booth.

“Tch!! We should have considered the possibility of the back entrance being used by faculty after parking!!”

Fukiyose regretted her own error, but Kamijou felt something else.

And that feeling led to a shout.

“No fair!! You went out to eat!? That muscular beast of a guidance counselor left us to battle our own in that over-capacity cafeteria while he went to enjoy a leisurely restaurant!?”

“K-Kami-yan, you idiot. Ignore him. If we get caught here, how will we ever get lunch!?”

Aogami Pierce’s shout brought Kamijou to his senses.

The gorilla teacher got out of his car and approached with terrifying speed, so Kamijou climbed over the metal fence to escape. Recognizing the unfavorable turn of events, Fukiyose quickly fled on a different route. Just before he was caught, Tsuchimikado kicked Aogami Pierce down from the fence to offer him up like a flare used as a missile countermeasure.

So as not to waste Aogami Pierce’s noble sacrifice, Kamijou and Tsuchimikado ran down the road with all their strength.

As he ran, Tsuchimikado looked over his shoulder and gained an expression of shock.

“Damn that gorilla teacher. He’s already taken out Aogami Pierce and is running this way, nyah!?”

“Seriously!? Tsuchimikado, let’s split up! We can’t let ourselves be wiped out here!!”

The two boys exchanged a nod and turned right and left at an intersection to increase their odds of survival.

Part 2

Itsuwa, a girl belonging to the Amakusa Christian Church, was near Kamijou’s high school.

She wore a pink tank top over a sweatshirt that was as fluffy as a sheep. Below, she wore deeply colored pants, but the pants had cuts wrapping around them with a transparent plastic material that prevented the fabric from moving out of place. This was a new Academy City design that boldly showed off the flesh color of her legs. She had carefully chosen her outfit in order to blend into this rare city that was 80% students. A suit when in a business district and a miniskirt when in a shopping district. That was the Amakusa style rather than Itsuwa’s personal style.

She had a reason for being in Academy City.

Two days before, a letter had arrived at the Anglican Church and the top levels of Academy City. It had been sent by Acqua of the Back, a member of the secret Roman Catholic organization known as God’s Right Seat. The letters had been a sort of challenge. He had said he was on his way to utterly destroy Kamijou Touma and that they should send out their strongest forces if they wished to stop him.

It was of course possible the letters were fakes.

However, the one sent to the Anglicans had contained an additional item to boost its credibility.

To put it simply, it was Terra of the Left’s remains.

Those remains had been gently wrapped in the highest quality velvet and shipped in a paulownia box that smelled faintly of wood. It was unclear if the extravagant jewelry box style decorations had been meant as ridicule for his enemies or a sign of respect.

The upper body ended at the waist and it definitely belonged to that member of God’s Right Seat.

Itsuwa had directly fought Terra, so she had been called to St. George’s Cathedral to confirm his identity. But that had left her bewildered.

There were two reasons for this.

First, Terra had supposedly been fried in Avignon by Academy City’s weapons, but this corpse had clearly been sliced in two at the waist.

Second, if Terra had survived those Academy City weapons, how much strength had Acqua of the Back needed to so easily execute him?

The man had been killed in a single strike.

That was the story told by the bisecting wound.

As one who had directly fought Terra of the Left, Itsuwa could tell. That man had caused her to so much torment and had broken through an Academy City unit, so it would have taken extreme cruelty to rip his body apart by force like that.

And she had further questions.

Why had Acqua of the Back sent out an old-fashioned letter of challenge rather than attacking at a weak point as God’s Right Seat had done before?

And why had he killed Terra of the Left and then used him in the letter of challenge?

His method had been so straightforward that the Anglican Church and Academy City had made many different speculations and suspected a trap, but they had been unable to grasp his true intentions. At any rate, if he was targeting Kamijou Touma, they had decided that defeating him here would be best, so the Anglicans had dispatched the Amakusa Christian Church.

It was normally forbidden for magicians to act as a group within Academy City.

That action was defined as crossing the line between the magic side and the science side.

But that agreement had been broken for this exceptional situation.

Itsuwa did not know the details, but the Anglican archbishop had likely struck some form of deal with the head of Academy City.

Most likely, the Anglicans had chosen a small independent group under their command like the Amakusas because they could be cut away like a lizard’s tail if things grew inconvenient. It was also possible they had been chosen because they had originally operated within Japan and knew the land.

Either way, Itsuwa was now within Academy City where she could not normally be.

This was partly due to the world beginning to divide between the “Academy City and Anglican Church” side and the “Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church” side, but it was even more due to Acqua of the Back being such a great danger that he could not be defeated while following the rules.

To put it another way, Academy City and the Anglicans had both decided an attack solely by Acqua was more of a threat than the global chaos caused by crossing the line between the science and magic sides. That was how powerful an enemy the man was.

“...”

Due to that situation, it had also been decided that Itsuwa would join the battle as Kamijou’s bodyguard.

She needed to contact him as quickly as possible, but she also had enough sense not to arrive when he was in the middle of class. She was waiting in a position from which his class was visible and planned to take action once school let out.

(I need to do my best.)

She clenched her small fist as she secretly filled herself with motivation.

During the C-Document incident from a few days ago, her insufficient strength had left her unable to protect Kamijou through to the end. To make up for that fact, she was prepared to act as a professional magician and not let anyone lay a finger on civilian Kamijou Touma.

She carried a bag over her shoulder and she could feel the weight of the dismantled Friuli Spear inside.

(With Vento of the Front and Terra of the Left, he has already defeated two members of God’s Right Seat, but there has to be something for me to do. I need to do my best.)

And then a familiar face cut by in front of Itsuwa’s eyes.

It was Kamijou Touma.

“Eh?”

She tilted her head as she wondered why and then she checked the time. There was no way school had been let out yet. Also, Kamijou’s expression as he ran through the streets was not normal. It looked like he was being pursued by something.

Something may have happened.

Slight tension filled Itsuwa.

And then she saw a suspicious gorilla-like person cut by in front of her in pursuit of Kamijou.

The person’s face looked the polygonal villain in a unique western video game.

Itsuwa thought about Kamijou, recalled that western video game face and then looked back toward Kamijou’s fleeing back.

There was no way that gorilla was a normal person.

Kamijou Touma was a courageous veteran of many battles yet his face was filled with fear.

His expression made it look like he thought he would be torn limb from limb.

Finally, she came to a conclusion.

According to the report on September 30, Acqua of the Back was a man.

(He’s already here!!)

She swiftly assembled her spear and charged straight toward the western game villain.

Part 3

Due to health reasons, Saigo the disaster teacher in charge of life counseling had to retreat.

“...Ha.”

After school, Kamijou, who had finally managed to finish the great battle of lunch, sighed heavily as he walked out of the school gate after changing his shoes at the shoe shelves. Right now, Itsuwa, who was still blue with shock, was standing there.

For some reason, she had appeared at the noon break, and like a spirit, intercepted the life-counseling teacher (with a spear, no less). It seemed like all of that had been a misjudgment on her part. “EH? He’s not Acqua of the Back? EHHH!? A SCHOOL TEACHER!?”, and after which, Itsuwa had collapsed into confusion.

There were many questions Kamijou really wanted to ask Itsuwa, including ‘Why are you here in Academy City?’, but Itsuwa was rolling her eyes around in confusion as she tried to settle the gorilla-teacher problem, carrying his huge body and quickly heading to the hospital.

And it all ended up like this.

“I-I really... even if I’m useless, there’s got to be some limit...”

Itsuwa, who had come back from the hospital, was now sunk in a deep and bottomless-looking hole.

To Kamijou, if he had been caught by that gorilla teacher, he would have been thrown onto the asphalt floor by ancient martial arts, and afterwards, have gotten smothered with a sweaty pinning move combo; this was undeniable. Thus, it was hard to tell whether Itsuwa had served her purpose or not. However, it seemed that Itsuwa wasn’t down because of that.

(...Seems like it’s also not because she injured an ordinary person... because, that gorilla had a legend going about that he managed to catch a falling boulder with both hands while in a rockfall zone. That’s not an ordinary person.)

Anyway, no matter what, Kamijou decided to start by asking why Itsuwa, as a resident of the magic side, was appearing in the main base of the science side—Academy City.

“...Acqua of the Back. Do you still remember that name?”

Itsuwa trembled as she asked.

Kamijou’s eyebrows moved suspiciously.

“Yeah. I remember, he’s one of the members of God’s Right Seat...right? I met him once on the 30th of September.”

Yes, after Vento of the Front had been defeated in Academy City, it was Acqua who forced his way in. Besides being a member of God’s Right Seat, he had the capability of a Saint. It was impossible to imagine his battle prowess, and he was essentially different from all the enemies Kamijou had faced so far.

Though Kamijou didn’t really want to go anywhere, he continued to walk towards a busy street, chatting with Itsuwa.

“Then, what about Acqua? Don’t tell me he intends to do something strange in another country?”

“N-not that, that’s not it...”

Itsuwa looked like she had trouble articulating. After she seemingly processed everything in her brain, she finally said,

“Acqua of the Back’s target seems to be you.”

“Ha?”

“About that, both the Anglican Church and Academy City have gotten a challenge letter from Acqua. It was written that in these next few days, he’ll... um... come back to attack Kamijou Touma. So he told both sides to be wary, something like that.”

Itsuwa looked troubled, as she paused halfway through talking. She was like those parents who purposely concealed the extremely sensitive issues from their children.

His own life was being threatened by Acqua of God’s Right Seat... Just how serious was this? This ordinary high school student called Kamijou Touma was unable to immediately understand.

“God’s Right Seat, huh?”

Kamijou pondered for a while.

“Vento of the Front once said that in order to kill me, the Pope had to prepare the relevant documents to let them attack Academy City. But they probably wouldn’t mobilize such a powerful guy to attack me, an ordinary high school student.”

“AH!? NONONO! This is because you helped so many people and managed to stop the Roman Catholic Church from carrying out their underground deeds! How could they still consider you to be an ordinary high school student after you have done so many things!?”

For some reason, Itsuwa had begun to shout. Though it wasn’t clear, Kamijou suitably concluded that most likely, she had been sent here by the Amakusa to guard him. Although he was praised by her, the boy standing here really was just an ordinary high school student, and there really wasn’t anything about him that was praiseworthy.

“But Vento of the Front came here before... it’s Acqua of the Back now?”

“Right now, the English Library’s checking on his history. Including the other members of God’s Right Seat, there hasn’t been any important information dug up on him so far.”

“Well, they are secret members of a secret organisation.”

“Though there hasn’t been any specific information, he obviously has the strength worthy of a member of God’s Right Seat and what seems to be the power of a Saint, so it’d be great if we can get the Priestess's assistance.”

This Priestess she was talking about should be Kanzaki Kaori.

She was one of the 20 Saints in the world, and had managed to survive a fight against a real archangel. This was truly one achievement she could brag about.

It was true that Kanzaki’s help could help the situation a lot more, but as a lot of things had happened in the past, there was a rift between Kanzaki and the Amakusa. Also, Stiyl once said that because Saints have such ridiculous powers, they were not allowed to go about freely.

“...But this doesn’t mean we’re completely at our wits’ end,”

Itsuwa sounded like she wanted to discard any unrest as she said.

“God’s Right Seat is an extremely powerful group of the magic side. Truthfully, even if we fight against them all, we can’t guarantee that we could even manage a draw against them. But, Vento of the Front and Terra of the Left... we managed to fight them back. Why is that?”

“Mm.”

“We didn’t analyze the details thoroughly, so we can’t say that our current intel is correct, but both sides have a common point of ‘having been interfered greatly by the science side’. Terra of the Left was forced to change his plans because of those powered suits and supersonic bombers, and as for Vento of the Front, it was... that... thing which looks like an angel, right?”

Now that she mentions it, this was true.

It had been because of Academy City’s irregular counterattacks managed to shake up the strongest magic group, God’s Right Seat. They hadn't been able to perform on the perfect stage where they could utilize all of their strength, but instead performed on the stage of the science side, which they were not used to. Maybe this was the real reason why they had managed to win.

“Then, to fight in Academy City where science is everywhere, there should be a huge significance.”

“...I-I feel that things aren’t that simple...”

“?”

Seeing Itsuwa continue to mince her words, Kamijou felt puzzled. Itsuwa immediately waved her hands to get over it.

“An-anyway! Acqua of the Back will be attacking, so I’ll protect you well. The Anglican Church gave us orders to protect you, publicly and privately, so please do not worry too much!!”

Though Itsuwa said this with energy, Kamijou did feel that these words were important.

Wanting to verify whether he had heard this wrongly, Kamijou confirmed it again,

“Itsuwa, why are you here?”

“Do I need to say it? I’m here to be your bodyguard.”

Itsuwa clenched her small fist. Seeing her like this, Kamijou felt that every part of his body was getting stiff.

So he asked again.

“Itsuwa, why are you here?”

“I said it before, I’m here to be a bodyguard, to stick to you and protect you.”

Part 4

The substitute Supreme Pontiff of the Amakusa-style Church, Tatemiya Saiji was hiding behind a building, his eyes leaving the pair of binoculars.

They were beside a little cinema. Nearby, there was a little lateral path, and at the entrance, there was a lottery shop that was conveniently and deliberately placed there to block the line of sight. This was supposedly a crowded place, yet unexpectedly, hardly anyone noticed this place — a really intriguing place.

Showing a dirty look as he held the binoculars with one hand, the narrow-eyed Tatemiya silently said,

“...How boring.”

Regarding this comment, the big guy beside him, Ushibuka, was pretending to read a magazine while nodding his head in agreement.

“That Itsuwa...she’s been talking about work all this time, not even going on the offense.”

“Yeah, we finally gave her the perfect chance to get real close to Kamijou Touma, yet she hasn’t done any self-revealing yet. Looks like she’s forgotten about the greatest weapons on her body.”

“What’s Itsuwa’s greatest weapon?” The lanky teenager, Kouyagi, asked as he continued to pop popcorn into his mouth.

Tatemiya rummaged through a tossed-aside bag and pulled out something like a whiteboard used for a riddle contest. The black marker then started to run on the whiteboard.

After that, he wrote the correct answer on the whiteboard and showed it to everyone.

“—Yes, that’s Itsuwa’s huge, hidden breasts!!” Tatemiya widened his eyes as he said this.

Besides Ushibuka and Kouyagi, a group of men, including the middle-aged man Isahaya and the already married Nomozaki, immediately gathered towards where Tatemiya was.

“On what basis do you make this hypothesis, Pope!?”

“To actually say such a thing... I won’t agree to this kind of horse race-like prediction, you bastard!!”

The males all pent out steam from their nostrils, and Tatemiya again moved the black marker on the whiteboard.

“According to the great Itsuwa Massage battle, her sore shoulders index is 40. But considering Itsuwa’s muscle strength and activity level, and also her clothes, equipments, and everything else she has, even after totaling all these, it’d be weird if her maximum sore shoulder index even reached 37.”

“If so, this means...”

A group of men swallowed their saliva.

Tatemiya seriously nodded his head. He gathered all of his energy in his abdomen before declaring in a high-pitched voice:

“Yes, this sore shoulder index has only a difference of 3. This is the best evidence to show that Itsuwa has huge hidden breasts!!”

Because of this stunning truth that was written plainly on the whiteboard, Ushibuka and Kouyagi immediately fainted. Isahaya, who was over 50 years old, seemed like he was happy about seeing his own granddaughter grow up. On the other side, Nomozaki was, on one hand, muttering to himself that breasts should be a bit smaller, and on the other hand, he seemed both regretful and disappointed.

Standing slightly farther away, the blond female, Tsushima, looked like she was seeing a bunch of idiots, and sighed heavily.

“...Stop talking about such useless things; keep your eyes on the one being guarded.”

Tatemiya and the other males got a dampener over them. With probing eyes, they stared at Tsushima’s body, whose height was disproportionate to her bust size.

“Tsushima-senpai’s ambiguous, so she shouldn’t say much.”

“WHAT!?”

“No matter what, at least tall people should have huge breasts, or short people with small breasts. Tsushima doesn’t have a fixed character trait, that’s why.”

Beside Tsushima, who was unable to say anything, Tatemiya pulled out a new whiteboard and uses the black marker on it.

“Sheesh, don’t you guys know this—the legend of Tsushima’s beautiful legs!!”

Not knowing what the substitute Supreme Pontiff could say next, Tsushima kicked Tatemiya right between the legs to force him to shut up.

The males seemed uninterested in Tsushima, as they all choose to ignore this side and focus on Itsuwa.

“But is this really alright? That Itsuwa looks like she’s going to continue with the wet napkins tactic.”

“It’s true that Itsuwa’s too passive. She won’t be able to climb over the fence at this rate...” Isahaya, who was more than half a century old, said while gritting his teeth.

At this moment, Tatemiya, with tears in his eyes, again snatched the right to lead the conversation.

“Yes, to allow Itsuwa to display her extra large oranges to the maximum, we can’t let this continue.”

“Eh...? Extra large oranges!? I thought they’re at most as big as apples!!”

Beside Ushibuka, who was making a ruckus, Kouyagi asked,

“But substitute Supreme Pontiff, it’s useless to discuss this further, right? Itsuwa’s really maturing too late.”

“Humph, that’s why I prepared a countermeasure.”

Tatemiya unveiled an evil smile as he pulled out something from a pretty bag.

“A soccer ball?”

“The wilderness sharpshooter Tatemiya Saiji will again propose a free kick match.”

Part 5

Because of recent events during the past few days, Misaka Mikoto was in a daze.

Ever since she became aware of ‘a certain thing’ regarding Kamijou Touma, she had always been like this. No matter how much she considered it, the problem wouldn’t settle. No matter how much time was lost, the problem wouldn’t settle. It was like asking someone to answer a question he couldn’t answer: no matter how much the person thought, he would continue to be stuck at the same spot.

(As expected, that wasn’t a bluff.)

That certain thing.

In other words, it was... a loss of memory.

It was supposed to just be a sentence consisting of only a few words, yet it shook Mikoto’s heart up.

(But, since when...?)

She hadn’t felt that anything was amiss during the date on the 30th of September, and there hadn’t been any change during the Daihaseisai tournament. Did something happen on the 31st of August? Or was it that time when he interacted with the Sisters and Accelerator?

“...”

She couldn’t make a correct judgment.

If so, even though that boy looked like he was near to her to some people, there were a lot of things about him that she didn’t know about.

(I know that this isn’t something that can be solved by worrying about it.)

Since when did he become like this? How much of his memory was lost? Does this affect his life? Did he let a doctor check up on this before? Is there really no way to treat this?

And,

How much of his memories with her were lost?

(I could check it out with someone that’s an expert in mental control, but...)

In Tokiwadai Middle School, besides Mikoto, there was another person who was also a Level 5. In terms of mental control, she was at the top of Academy City—in other words, she was the strongest ever in regards of her Mental Out. Reading other people’s memories, changing other people’s personalities, carrying out conversations with people far away, destroying memories and willpower, revealing feelings and transplanting them... No matter what kind of mental phenomenon it was, she could control them all. Like a Swiss knife, she was a multi-functional Level 5.

“But I’m not used to dealing with her...”

She subconsciously said out loud.

This meant that Mikoto didn’t really want to deal with that esper.

Unlike Mikoto, whom was unaffiliated to any sect, she was the queen of ojous, the leader of the largest sect in Tokiwadai Middle School. From this, it was obvious that both of them were incompatible. If Mikoto was to seek her to talk, it would end up with Mikoto being in her debt... In the worst case scenario, she could do some unnecessary things to that idiot during the therapy. Accurately saying, the trust placed with her wasn’t so great that Mikoto was willing to place her friend into that person’s hands.

So she shouldn’t consider this.

Anyway, Mikoto decided to chase away this existence of another Level 5.

(Even though I understand that idiot’s personal problems, yet asking me not to mind about it, it’s obvious that I can’t do it. I’m not the kind of person who won’t care about other people.)

Why didn’t he go look for her? Should he continue to pretend that he doesn’t know anything? Including these questions into the mix, Mikoto had no other choice but to grit her teeth. Furthermore, Kamijou Touma himself did not know that Mikoto was aware about this issue, and it looked like he didn’t wish for her to be. If she forcefully confronted him... through that, there was a high likelihood that a lot of damage could be done to him.

Now, what should she do?

Was there anything she can do?

(AH!! DAMN IT. WHY AM I BEING SO BOTHERED ABOUT THAT IDIOT’S PROBLEMS!? I’M GETTING ALL WORRIED AND GETTING MY BRAIN ALL AFFECTED, AND THIS MAKES ME EVEN MORE WORRIED! Maybe I should recollect my thoughts.)

She wanted to say that, but if she was really able to change feelings so easily, she wouldn’t be so bothered.

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Thinking about all of these, Mikoto sighed heavily. At this moment,

“...?”

She just so happens to see a group of suspicious people beside a little cinema.

A large man placed a soccer ball on the ground. He had black hair that was as shiny as a beetle, and after nodding to the surrounding people, he did a little start up run before kicking the ball forcefully.

The forcefully-kicked ball soared, spinning end over end, making a sharp arc. If it were a proper match, it was most likely that this free kick would have passed over the defense’s wall and headed into the goal.

What were they doing on the road? Mikoto’s eyes naturally moved towards the destination of the soccer ball.

At that moment, she froze.

*PAM!!* With a crisp sound, the side of Kamijou Touma’s head collided heavily with the soccer ball.

Possibly because of the impact from the soccer ball, Kamijou’s head sunk deeply into the valley of the chest of the girl who was walking beside him.

It looked like the impact just now was rather great, but Kamijou was just buried into the girl’s chest for a while. The girl looked like she didn’t know what to do and blushed before rubbing on the part of his head that had been hit. This entire sequence of events just gave the wrong impression that Kamijou’s head was being forced in.

Because of the sudden series of events, Mikoto was unable to say anything. At this moment, shouts of ‘bravo!’ could be heard. Looking at where the voices were coming from, it seemed like the guy who had made that free kick and those young guys were happily giving high-fives to each other.

*Pacha pacha* One could hear the sounds of sparks falling.

After realizing that this was due to the high voltage emitting from her body, Mikoto exploded.

“There’s someone here with all sorts of trouble... STOP GIVING ME ALL SORTS OF TROUBLES, YOU BASTARDS!!!”

The long spears of thunderbolts continued to shoot out from Mikoto’s bangs. After noticing this, beetle-head and company immediately dispersed, and in the next moment, vanished without a trace. Like a chameleon mixing into the crowd, they could not be found by her. Mikoto was intrigued by that.

Yet even after losing her target, her anger wasn’t kept in check.

Besides, that mastermind, the hedgehog-head boy still had his head buried inside the girl’s chest, and even gave an “Uuuu...” sound as if he was saying something. It was like a dazed and sleepy child grabbing a certain expanded part of a girl.

“That idiot... HOW LONG MUST HE CONTINUE TO BE MESMERIZED BY THE FEMALE ANATOMY!?!?!?”

Mikoto shouted and immediately dashed towards Kamijou, who, logically, should be the one punished.

Part 6

Such a pitiful day.

Kamijou Touma exhaled heavily. After suddenly being hit in the head by a soccer ball, he had been chased around by Mikoto’s lightning attacks. In order to fulfill her job, Itsuwa had started to assemble her spear, and in order to stop her, Kamijou hugged her. But for some reason, Mikoto got angry again, so in an attempt to avoid her electric attacks, he ran around Academy City. As for the running distance, with that level of activity, nobody would worry about him having too much fat or get sick.

And right now, there was a new problem in front of him.

Yes, this was the most problematic situation,

“...Ah, Touma. Why is someone from the Amakusa here?”

The most dangerous checkpoint of today.

The door to the dormitory was opened, and this sentence from Index was enough to make Kamijou sweat heavily. Index looked like she was ready to bite as she continued to grind her teeth. Kamijou was already terrified upon seeing just the fangs alone.

On a side note, the calico cat with Index continued to circle around Itsuwa, and it seemed to be smelling her as if asking the question ‘Who is she? Who?’

Kamijou wiped away the sweat on his body as he said,

“No, it’s not that. This, that, err, how am I supposed to explain this...?”

He stared at Itsuwa’s face while she was still blankly standing there.

“In other words, the God’s Right Seat—”

“KYAAH!!”

Kamijou suddenly let out a ridiculous scream, scaring Itsuwa such that she couldn’t make a sound. From behind, Kamijou held Itsuwa’s neck with his wrist and quickly pulled her away from Index, silently going through a battle plan.

“(...Miss Itsuwa!! Regarding that, can you please keep it a secret from Index!?)”

“Wa, wa...”

“(...Acqua’s target is only me; it’s alright as long as he doesn’t target Index! So it’ll be bad if you say some unnecessary words and get Index involved in some dangerous situation, don’t you think?)”

“WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA!?”

“(...Itsuwa, do you hear me?)”

“I, I hear it!! I, I, I, I hear it clearly!!”

For some reason, Itsuwa’s face was all red as she nodded her head up and down.

Was it making her feel discomfort? Kamijou took his wrist off her neck. But after that, Itsuwa’s disappointed expression made him all the more puzzled.

At this moment,

“...”

From who knew when, Index started to conceal all emotion, even temper, just muttering a ‘...never mind’ before turning around to watch the television again. This act made people feel a lot less secure. This was to be expected, since it was no longer on the level of ‘this idiot, idiot! Touma, you idiot!’ It was the same as in the past when he had saved his classmate, Himegami; he constantly felt that there was an unknown aura surfacing. Why was it like this? Why was Index angry? After Kamijou trembled for a while, he made a decision and got both knees on the ground, poking his head out and sitting behind Index.

“...That, I don’t know what’s going on, but can you please bite me before you explode? If you can use up a bit of that anger power, it at least feels that Kamijou-san can settle this before his skull gets bitten to bits.”

Not knowing what to do, Itsuwa continued to stare at the two that weren’t doing anything, and because of her sense of duty, she hadn’t resigned from her job yet. After purposely looking away for a while, she looked at the calico cat that had confirmed her smell and was together with her.

“Oh, oh yes! Little kitten, do you want this present?”

Seemingly trying to break the deadlock, Itsuwa started to look for something in her huge bag (Oh? She couldn’t possibly know that Kamijou’s house has a cat for a pet, right...?). She pulled out a high-class golden can that had the words ‘Cat’s food association: a 3-star platinum rank’. On seeing the can, the calico kitty immediately trembled before remaining at the same position. Its eyes widened, its back straightened, and even when Itsuwa opened the can and reached over, the kitten gave the feeling of ‘About that, I’m just an ordinary cat — can I really eat this level of food nya!?’

Sitting there upright, Kamijou noticed that there was something in Itsuwa’s bag.

“...Why does Itsuwa’s bag have meat and vegetables? Is this some secret spell required of the Amakusa?”

“No, no, there’s no need to fast,”

Itsuwa replied as she waved her hands in front of her.

“I passed by a supermarket before I came here. About that, if it’s just some simple dishes, I can still do them. No matter what, as a bodyguard, I can’t just eat and drink here for free. Please entrust the housework and like to me; just order anything of me, if I can do it.”

At this moment, Kamijou didn’t understand what she said.

After a few blank seconds, his mind finally processed what Itsuwa said. This time, he wordlessly turned towards Index.

“Wha, what, Touma? Why did the atmosphere in the house change?”

“Just ask yourself that. Handing everything over to Kamijou-san, who exactly is the one who hasn’t helped out one bit?”

“Uu, mm, I’m sorry, but...? Ah! Are you intending to change the atmosphere forcefully with this...!?”

Although Index saw through Kamijou’s intentions, once the flow of events had changed, it was hard to revert it back. Kamijou naturally turned around and headed into the kitchen space.

“Then, it’s better for me to tell you where the wok is.”

“Ah yes, thank you.”

Both of them exchanged this conversation, and the white nun had been completely ignored, having thrown all sorts of questions like ‘why did it become like this’, and ‘always like this, just what is he trying to do?’ into the dustbin.

(But why would Itsuwa, a shrinking violet, have such enthusiasm!? How am I going to explain things that I don’t understand? But at least I can thank Itsuwa first! Haha!! It’s good to escape from Index’s demonic clutches without getting bitten. How great is this GGYYYAAAHHH!!!)

Just as Kamijou was delighting in the victory, he was forcefully bitten on the back of the head by Index, and was now rolling on the floor in pain. In the meantime, he knocked into the deluxe cat canned food and flipped the contents out. ‘What a waste!! I’m tucking in! Eating it all now!!’ the calico kitten started to indulge in the food.

Itsuwa could only force a smile as she walked into the kitchen.

To her, the scene now was a happy and jolly one, but for the main party involved, it was as if he had just come back from the gates of Hell.

(Come to think of it...)

To be able to mix into the surroundings perfectly was one of the Amakusa’s ability. Kamijou looked at Itsuwa, who had been accepted so naturally.

As he had just been bitten on the back of the head, the human teeth marks were still there. Kamijou lay on the floor like a corpse, and he could hear the sound of food being stir-fried.

(...The, the scene of a girl cooking.)

Though it was stupid, he still teared up.

“Eh? Why is Touma revealing a look of a sheep, as if he just saw a miracle?”

As Index said this, Kamijou seemed like he had just gotten baptized by the light of grace emitted by a nun.

But, he would feel mindful about seeing Itsuwa cook and yet not do anything himself. Might as well clean the room up. Kamijou pondered seriously.

On the other hand, Index, who was biting on Kamijou’s head to relieve her stress, was attracted by the smell of the food like small fish being attracted by bait as she slowly crept into the room.

“AH! Don’t eat the food anytime you want to!!”

“Even though you say it now, I can’t take it anymore.”

Index immediately lost to her hungry stomach and started to bother Itsuwa, who was cooking. Seeing Index like this, Kamijou Touma got up, and then got into a dashing position before getting over to Index, grabbing her waist with both hands before pulling her out of the kitchen. Using the momentum of his starting run, he threw her onto the bed with a strange professional wrestling throw while yelling "soryaaaa!!"

“STOP DESTROYING A MAN’S DREAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!”

“WAAH! Tou, Touma, what’s going on!?”

Due to shock, Index’s eyes continued to twirl in confusion. Hearing her shout, the calico cat put in some distance in irritation.

Kamijou didn’t make a reply, and wordlessly grabbed Index’s head with one hand, turning it towards the kitchen.

“LOOK, INDEX!! THIS SHOULD BE HOW YOU BEHAVE WHEN YOU LIVE IN SOMEONE ELSE’S HOUSE!!”

“OWOWOWOWOW!? Why is Touma acting so weird today!?”

“If I’m to calm down and think, why is it always you who’s over there eating and sleeping, and then watching the television!? FROM TODAY ONWARDS, YOU’RE GOING TO WORK! HURRY UP, GET A SPONGE AND CLEANING DETERGENT, AND CLEAN UP THE BATHROOM!!!”

“Eh, but it’s about time for Magical-Powered Kanamin Integral to start, right?”

“Good, HURRY UP AND GET TO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOORK!!!”

Why? While Index was still puzzled, she was thrown into the bathroom by Kamijou. Seeing someone serious like Itsuwa, it should allow her to change. Oh yeah, the ones who were with her in the past included a pyromaniac-like priest with a cigarette stench and a multi-sided spy who continued to laugh slyly all year long, so compared to them, she could be considered normal, but upon thinking about it carefully, Itsuwa was still the most suited to be called an ordinary human.

(Then, I should start cleaning up the room like a serious person.)

Though Kamijou considered this...but compared to Itsuwa, who was cooking for others, Kamijou was just cleaning his own room, and these things couldn’t be compared. But no matter what, it was better than not doing anything at all. After making this conclusion, Kamijou started to tidy up the messed up living room by picking up all the magazines.

At this moment. ‘’’(?)’’’

“Wha, what’s with this traditional Japanese cuisine smell!?”

Suddenly, he could hear a girl’s shout, and after that, he heard the sound of plastic breaking. Kamijou panicked and turned his head toward the veranda, and Itsuwa, who was in shock, stopped moving her hands that had been working on the meal. Appearing there was Tsuchimikado Maika in a maid outfit.

It seemed like she had broken the ‘except in case of a fire, please do not break this board which is meant to separate the rooms and the balcony’ board without any hesitation, and invaded here.

“DAMN IT!! I FINALLY MANAGED TO MAKE A SERIOUS TURNOVER, AND NOW I HAVE ANOTHER WEIRDO HERE!!”

Ignoring a really irritated Kamijou, Maika, who normally lacked changes of expression, looked extremely serious as she smelled her way to the kitchen.

“...I smell it, I smell it... This miso soup... you used dried scallop to hide the smell, and you added it after grounding it into powder, right...?”

“How, how did you know that!? Not even mum saw through that!!”

Itsuwa was shocked that the food expert saw through it.

So the basics of cooking come from the mother! Besides Kamijou, there was a small plate that Itsuwa used to hold a bit of the miso soup. After considering for a while, Itsuwa passed the plate over the girl in maid clothes.

Maika received the plate in a tea dance-like movement, and without any sound, places her lips near it. After drinking it, she paused for a while—GUAAAHH!! Suddenly, her eyes widened as she shouted.

Maika’s shoulders continued to tremble as she said,

“This, this woman, she’s good...”

“What?”

“GUAAAHH!! HOW, HOW CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE!!”

For some reason, Maika immediately went 180 degrees and through the veranda, moving back into the neighboring room.

Through the open window, a conversation between siblings could be heard.

“Ah, oi!? Why are you throwing away today’s cream stew nyaa!? What’s going to happen to my dinner!?”

“SHUT UP, YOU AMATEUR!! SEEING SUCH AN OUTSTANDING DISH, THIS LEVEL OF THING ISN’T GOING TO MATCH UP AGAINST THAT! YOU, YOU JUST WATCH, FROM NOW ON, I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT A MISO SOUP IS REALLY LIKE!!”

"EH!? I FEEL THAT CREAM STEW IS GOOD TOO, YOU KNOW!?". Hearing the blond, sunglasses-wearing agent’s moan about stew, Itsuwa’s shoulders trembled in fear.

“That, that, that guy’s voice just now, I seem to have heard it in Avignon before...? Speaking of which, who’s that kid?”

I’m not so sure myself, but it seems like you’ve hurt the pride of that prospective maid, so she views you as a rival...Kamijou paused. Itsuwa was a normal human; he felt that he shouldn’t let her get used to those weirdoes’ antics.

To Kamijou, he was just thinking about all of these.

If he had a wish that God could grant, it would be that this girl wouldn’t become like those weirdoes.

Part 7

At one moment Index and Itsuwa were engaged in a pretty dangerous situation, but once Index ate the food Itsuwa made, the dangerous atmosphere had disappeared without a trace; and now she was rolling on the floor asking Itsuwa for an 8th bowl of rice. Itsuwa was bothered by this, and as for the calico cat, it was biting on the ball of wet napkins that Itsuwa had made, playing around with it.

(Hah... Well, if it doesn’t cause any huge problems, it’s all good.)

If ‘Index’s mood can improve because from this’, would I have to prepare some meat, fish or sausages to placate Index? Though Kamijou thought this way... No, wait, if Index knows that I’ve been hiding food, won’t I get bitten the moment I reveal it? Kamijou readjusted his thoughts. Though it was a good idea, it seemed that carrying it out was still a lot more difficult.

But since they had already eaten lunch, there was nothing else for them to do.

He didn’t have any school assignments today, and Kamijou wasn’t one who’d take the initiative to go and study, so what was left to do was to bathe and sleep.

However, here was the problem.

“—HOW IS IT THAT YOU CAN BREAK THE BATHTUB WITH JUST A SPONGE AND DETERGENT, INDEX!?!”

“Ev, even if you say that, I only followed Touma’s instructions and just went ‘creak creak’ a few times!!”

Kamijou and Index’s shouts echoed through the night street, and Itsuwa made a forced smile.

The reason why the trio were on the streets was simple: Kamijou’s bathtub (or more accurately, the water heater) was damaged and couldn’t be used, so the trio were forced to move to a public bath.

“I WOULD BET THAT INDEX DIDN’T FOLLOW WHAT KAMIJOU-SAN SAID TO SCRUB IT THOROUGHLY! COME TO THINK OF IT, WHY DOES THE SINK IN THE BATHTUB SMELL OF MELTED PLASTIC!? LET ME GUESS, INDEX, DID YOU POUR A LARGE AMOUNT OF DETERGENT INSIDE!!?”

“Eh? Didn’t you say that you can make things clean by just pouring detergent in?”

“VERY GOOD! AN INCREDIBLE NATURAL AIRHEAD HAS APPEARED!! THANKS TO YOU, THE WATER HEATER’S ALL BURNED UP, AND WE ALMOST HAD A FIRE ON OUR HANDS!!!”

“Ah, ah haha. W, well, isn’t it good to go out to a bathhouse and change a bit of the atmosphere? This isn’t bad.”

Itsuwa used her god-like interrupting skills to appease the atmosphere between Kamijou and Index.

These creatures called humans could slowly calm down as long as someone did a little adjustment to a huge commotion.

“Unexpectedly, Academy City has quite a lot of bathhouses. From those kinds of old public bathhouses to some natural hot springs... Oh yeah, what’s here? It seems like a large spa with entertainment facilities.”

“...Speaking of which, why does Itsuwa have such detailed information about Academy City?”

Kamijou didn’t even know that Academy City had natural hot springs. And the guidebook-like thing that Itsuwa was holding didn’t even look like the typical one Academy City released, but a torn and tattered old notebook.

“(...Eh, about that. Getting a good grasp of the surrounding geography is what a bodyguard should do.)”

Itsuwa said in a volume that Index couldn’t hear.

“(...Besides, Acqua’s from the magic side, so I’m checking the pulse flow throughout this street, and if possible, checking his movements would be a lot easier.)”

...It was good to be so enthusiastic about work, but before Acqua arrived, Anti-Skill wouldn’t come over under the charge of tight security. Regarding this, Kamijou was a bit uncomfortable.

“Then, where’s that recreational bath?”

“Mm... it seems to be in District 22. This is District 7, so in other words, it’s at the edge of Academy City.”

“If you’re talking about District 22... an underground street, huh.”

The place took up only 2 square kilometers, and among all the school districts, it was the smallest in area. However, it was developed underground about several hundred meters in depth, so it could be considered the one district that had the most scientific style.

“Hm, but the last bus just left.”

Itsuwa continued to flip through the old notebook,

“It’s not that far. If we borrow a 3-seater motorbike, we can get there right away. Luckily, there’s a bike rental shop here.”

“Eh? Itsuwa knows how to ride a bike?”

“Ma, well, basically, I still can. Cars, motorcycles, mini-boats... ah, even though I can’t pilot a plane, if it’s a helicopter, I still can...”

From Itsuwa’s tone, it seemed that she still felt incapable.

Was not being able to pilot a plane really something worth being mindful about?

“Since we’re in Japan, the transport network is really good, so it’s not really necessary, but...for work, there’s a need to go to the vast desert or grasslands or places like that.”

Seemed like Itsuwa wasn’t boasting; on the contrary, it seemed that she was being lectured as her voice got softer and softer until it was as loud as a mosquito buzz. However, it meant that she didn’t just have any ordinary license in Japan, but rather, an international license. To Kamijou, who just found that being able to ride a unicycle was impressive enough, Itsuwa was someone really worth respecting.

Today, this ordinary girl called Itsuwa really had quite a few surprising sides, and Kamijou was slightly touched as they walked towards the motorbike rental shop near a student dormitory. In this Academy City that was full of students, the need to rent bikes was a lot higher than cars.

Seeing the rent prices on the pricing board, Kamijou revealed a thunderstruck-like expression.

“Oh, oh yeah. Itsuwa’s not a student from District 7, so she can’t enjoy any district premiums!!”

“Eh, there’s no need to worry; I have enough military funding.”

Although Itsuwa said that, to Kamijou, who had a housewife-like accounting ability, he would still choose a cheaper one if possible. This was the most basic way to go.

In the end, they made use of a premium rate for those that missed the last ride and were unable to go home, and rented a 2-seater medium sized bike. They also paid extra to rent a side seat.

The one driving the motorbike was Itsuwa, the one sitting behind was Kamijou, and Index was sitting in the side car.

“Touma, I can sense some intention from this, you know?”

“No, there’s no such thing. How about you call this ladies first? The side car’s the most comfortable, so Kamijou-san has no choice but to give you that seat.”

Kamijou tried to force an explanation, but Itsuwa, who was being hugged on the abdomen, felt her heart beating like crazy.

Itsuwa tried to help Index put the helmet on her nun's cap, and suddenly remembered something. She said,

“Come to think of which, is it really alright to leave the cat at home?”

“No matter what, we can’t bring animals to a bathhouse. Well, that cat would continue to move around in a circle, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

On a side note, that calico kitten was standing in front of the high-class scratchboard that Itsuwa brought back. ‘Wh, what!? This thing has an attractive smell, but can I really scratch this thing without making anyone angry!?’, considering all of this as it trembles. Of course, nobody noticed it.

Just like that, when Index finally understood the correct way to put on the helmet, Itsuwa started the engine of the motorbike.

“Wow, the night Academy City sure is nice. No matter whether it’s the control or the engine sound, it makes me so relaxed. The road surface is in rather good condition as well; I feel like I can speed up whenever... ahh, if I had known, I might as well have challenged that famous thing from Academy City, that super electromagnetic motorcycle. It’s said that the wheels and axles are held together by magnets, letting the donut-shaped wheel pass through the motor gas and run.”

“Well, I don’t really understand bikes, but outside technology can’t even be compared to this. Also, I hope that you would drive safely—STUPID ITSUWA, YOU’RE REALLY, REALLY SPEEDING UP!!?”

Kamijou reflexively increased the strength of his grip on Itsuwa’s waist, but Itsuwa, really happy about this reaction, didn’t notice that she was speeding up.

Kamijou’s dormitory was located in a corner of District 7, and the distance to District 22 could be covered by walking. The reason why Itsuwa would rent a motorbike was most likely because they could go home immediately, and if it took a long time, their thoroughly-bathed bodies would be dry.

Coming out of District 7 and entering District 22, Index, who was seated in the side car, widened her eyes.

“WAAHH! Touma, look, there’s a jungle gym! A huge jungle gym!!”

The surface of District 22 was a lot different from the other districts. On the surface, there weren’t any buildings here, just a whole stretch of windmills. Furthermore, the windmills here were a whole lot different from the rest, as they weren’t just a replacement of electric cables. Like the metal frames in a building, there were parallel pillars linking both of them, and the 30-stories tall pile of the large number of windmills were placed there, arranged as a structure. This view resembled just what Index mentioned, a giant jungle gym.

Itsuwa handled the handlebar, turning the bike towards the underground street entrance, saying,

“District 22 is extended downwards, so it can’t rely on wind-generated electricity or solar-generated electricity. Also, the underground streets seem like they need a lot of electrical energy, so I heard that they have all sorts of energy generators all over Academy City.”

Having an unexpectedly large amount of knowledge, Itsuwa steered the motorbike through the rectangular door and down into the underground.

The space in the underground District 22 was a giant cylindrical area, and the entrance looked like it was outside this 2 kilometer diameter area , continuing to spiral down to the bottom. Including the passage that was heading the other way, it looked like the signs used at a barber shop.

In this gradually spiraling downwards tunnel, the orange light shone onto the ground. Seeing the infrastructure that was completely different from ordinary streets, Index raised her hands and cheered.

Kamijou smelled the exhaust gases released by the vehicles as he said to Itsuwa,

“These underground streets, they aren’t suited for Japan. It’s scary when there’s an earthquake, you know. Actually, no matter how strong the walls are, once there’s an earthquake that can level the ground, the entire thing will be destroyed.”

“The place here is really safe against earthquakes. Oh yeah, this huge spiral path is like a huge spring: it can absorb the impact when there’s an earthquake. Haven’t you heard of this before?”

“...That is just some baseless rumor. Speaking of which, Itsuwa, why would you check up on things that don’t appear on the blueprints, layouts, and aren’t real?”

“Ah, ah haha,” Itsuwa just let out a forced laugh.

“However, where’s that entertainment bathhouse?”

“Well, it seems to be on the 3rd level.”

“Touma, what’s this ‘seaweed’? Some sort of vegetable?[1]”

“Not seaweed, level. District 22 is split into 10 underground levels, and we’re going to the third one right now.”

While saying this, they could see the third level—a gate that was 90m underground. Itsuwa turned on the indicator, slowing down as she headed toward the door.

Passing through the rectangular door, their vision suddenly widened.

“WAHH...!!”

Index couldn’t help but let out a shout.

In contrast to the orange lights in the tunnel, the place here was a slightly blue space. In this place that was 2km in diameter, the ceiling had become a planetarium projection panel, passing through a camera to form a huge night sky. The other streets all used the same color so it gave one the impression of moving into a starry sea.

From the floor to the ceiling, passing through the planetarium screen and acting as the support to the underground street was the lobby. Speaking of which, the roof of the underground street was like the ceiling of a sports hall, supported by a large amount of metal frames, scattering the weight. However, this architecture alone didn’t seem able to support its own weight, so a lot more ways were used to support it.

Index continued to sit in the side car as she looked around.

“Is this really the underground!? There’s even a flowing river and forest!!”

“For the forest, they used an agriculture tower to grow them. Besides purifying the air, they also have an important role in providing a sense of serenity to humans. And the water is one of the most important sources of electricity. It passes through the entire level, and each level uses this falling water power to generate electricity from water power.”

It sure felt like today's Itsuwa was playing the role of a guide girl on a tour bus in Academy City.

Index tilted her head and asked,

“Itsuwa, why is there a need for so much electrical energy?”

“Uh hmm... most of the energy is used to pump air in. Absorbing oxygen in from the surface, removing the carbon dioxide accumulated below. This is a must. Also there’s a need to pump rainwater and wastewater up. So considering all of that, there’s a need to pump them all out. 40% of the electricity consumed in Academy City is put into these large air pumps. Regarding that, it seems that they’re using a real life bottlecap-like effect.”

“As more than half of Academy City’s electricity is generated by wind, no matter how much energy they use, there’s no need to worry about fuel consumption and environmental destruction. But in contrast to other countries, while people are voicing out about oil prices rising, creating a street that relies primarily on fossil fuels isn’t realistic... Additionally, while Academy City is limited in land space, those countries with wide acres of land don’t even need to build any underground streets.”

(Well, if the research is successful, then other problems would crop up if we were to really market this.)

The motorbike with a side wheel continued to move forward on this starry night.

Kamijou, who was sitting in the back seat, pointed at the electrical decorations on the tower far away.

“Hm? Oi, Itsuwa, that entertainment bathhouse you talked about, is it over there?”

“Ah, it looks that way.”

“But that place sure seems busy recently.”

“Eh, you’re right. It seems to be ranked 3 among all bathhouses.”

...Is this kind of information really needed in an escort battle against Acqua? Though Kamijou was puzzled, Itsuwa didn’t mind.

“Is there a problem?”

“No... actually, in this famous place, I feel that I might meet someone familiar there.”

Part 8

Misaka Mikoto stopped, roughly seeing the huge building in front of her.

This building that shot through the floor of District 22 to the ceiling was the Spa Resort Serene Springs. Basically speaking, this entire building was the hot spring. Every level had all sorts of different herbs, electrical power, sonic waves; all kinds of pools were available there. Even so, it still had space for a shopping district, like a karaoke center, a bowling alley, etc.

In contrast to the old context of bathhouses, calling this a bathhouse-styled relaxation zone would be more appropriate. The place was targeted (opening this in Academy City, where the majority were students, was also one of the reasons) at the 10+ year-old boys and girls, and so the design matched the age group.

As this was an entertainment-based facility, there was of course a VIP pool. However, Mikoto wasn’t aiming for that.

“...An out-of-bath Gekota strap...”

If one was able to accumulate 10 collection cards with stamps on them, they could receive this gift. For this, Mikoto had come all the way over to this Spa Resort Serene Springs. If it hadn’t been for this strap, she wouldn’t have purposely broken the dormitory curfew and ran out, shaking off Shirai Kuroko, who had tailed her, before coming all the way here.

(Well, it’s alright to bring Kuroko along...but if I were to tell her that I was coming here to bathe, she’d cling onto me like a snake...)

This image appeared in Mikoto’s mind, making her feel a chill up her spine. She shook her head around to get rid of this terrifying idea and entered the building. Upon entering, what appeared in front of her was the lobby — there didn’t seem to be a reception point, as the payment areas were all at the entrance to each bath area.

There was a group of people fanning themselves and there were also children, who had gotten sick of the bath area, playing around at the game corner. After passing through these crowds of people, Mikoto reached the elevator.

“Now, where shall I collect these stamps...”

She had passed through the ultrasonic bath area; as an Electromaster, she had no need to especially use those electrical bath pools. Through this elimination, all that was left was just some basic baths with a higher composition of herbs. Medicinal effects, though the way it was phrased made one suspicious, it was just a scientific method of analyzing the composition of the water, and then adjusting the composition of the artificial pool to have the same effects.

“Can’t you just say that you just added a bit of some bathing agents?”

Mikoto said such explicit words as she took the elevator to the 8th level. At the entrance to the bathhouse, she paid some money, borrowed a towel, quickly took her clothes off in the changing area, wrapped her body in the light-colored bath towel, locked her items up, and finished her preparation for this operation.

(...It’s unexpectedly short.)

The bottom of the bath towel just reached near her thighs. Though Mikoto was mindful about that, she still opened the door to the huge bathroom.

One couldn’t even sense the height of this tower. There were no windows, not a single one. In District 22, even if there were windows, it’d just be a wide space. If this place had been in the mountains, it would have been okay; but in the middle of a city, setting up windows in a woman’s bathroom just to allow them to see the scenery was like committing suicide.

The bathroom’s setup was very similar to traditional ones. There were three bath pools, set according to the water temperature. The wall had an oil-painted Mount Fuji on it... well, no such thing. Replacing it was a large magnetic particle color screen. It was said that the selling point of this screen was that it allowed the particles to change colors immediately and to, without the need for external light, be able to display all sorts of colors, but the price was exorbitantly high. Besides, an ordinary television screen that people used now wasn’t much of a problem, so besides a handful of artists and cinemas, there hadn’t been many buyers; it was somewhat of a very tragic item.

The screen looked like it also had a touchscreen function, as 2 to 3 children were chattering ‘There really is, I'm saying that a white angel really appeared.’ ‘No way that’s possible.’ ‘Really! They probably hid all the bad things!’ as they continued to draw on the screen. The females watching the night serial drama through a small window on the screen were also doing the same.

Mikoto arrived at a row of shower taps and sat down in front of one of them, gently held onto the tap with a sensor on it, and after a few seconds, the number ‘38°C’ appeared on the screen. Over here, the machine would use one’s palm to detect body temperature before setting it at the most suitable temperature for the customer to shower.

(If I want to get all the stamps, I might as well go into every bath for a few seconds and then go into the next one, and then repeat — how about it? Hmm... that doesn’t really seem like the best way... I should have risked it and asked Kuroko over to get 2 persons’ worth of stamps. No, that’s not right...!?)

Mikoto considered all these as she bathed herself, and then used hot water to wash away the soap bubbles.

(Speaking of which, I’ve only collected about half of the number required; still a long way to go for the bath Gekota.)

In truth, Mikoto didn’t really like baths that were too hot, thus among the three bath compartments, she headed to the most kiddy-looking one.

At this moment, Mikoto froze.

In front of her was the silver-haired, green-eyed nun who she had seen so many times before.

“AH, EHHH!? WHY ARE YOU HERE!?”

Mikoto couldn’t help but shriek, but Index, who was soaking in the clear pool, placed her index finger near her lips.

“...Be quiet while you’re in the bath!”

Now that she mentioned it, this sure was the case. Mikoto shut up and carefully stepped into the bath pool.

This time, Index said again,

“...Don’t put your towel inside the water!”

As a Japanese person, for Mikoto to unexpectedly be lectured by a foreigner regarding bathhouse etiquette, this really deflated her. Mikoto took off her towel and let the bath water rise to her shoulders. At this moment, she noticed the double-eyelid girl beside Index, remembering clearly her special characteristic.

No, she couldn’t say that she knew that girl.

“Oh yeah, you’re that girl who got hugged by that idiot because of some strange soccer ball, right!!?”

Now that Mikoto suddenly mentioned this, the girl with her eyes shut let out a ‘GUAAH!!’ shout and blushed, her hands waving about as she said ‘No, it’s not that, nonono, I, I, I, I-I-I...!!’, trying to make a decent excuse but unable to say anything of the sort. On the other side, the foreign nun slightly opened her mouth, revealing her shiny fangs inside.

But Mikoto didn’t hear anything of what the ordinary girl said.

She stared at the girl who was waving her arms about, leaving her defenseless, making a hypothesis as she looked through the clear water.

(Seems to be unexpectedly big...)

Considering that her only choice was to admit defeat willingly, Mikoto’s jaw dropped. Although still hidden in the slightly-colored water, if this ordinary girl stood up from the water, it would instantly bring Mikoto despair.

The ordinary girl continued to chatter, softly yet quickly. Seeing her, Mikoto remembered,

(Speaking of which, do these children know about that idiot’s ‘issue’?)

Memory loss.

Mikoto herself had only just found out about it recently. Since when had he lost his memory? How had it happened? She didn’t know any of these specific details. Piecing two and two together, it seemed that the idiot himself wanted to hide the fact about his memory loss... Mikoto could only make this hypothesis.

(These guys...they...don’t know about his memory loss.)

Mikoto sneakily looked at their expression. Of course, not being a mind reader meant that even if she did this, she couldn’t understand what they were thinking.

Mikoto let her body soak in the water as she pondered.

“(Speaking of which, this is all because of that idiot, and I’m just a complete stranger. No matter how much I think about it, there won’t be any developments... even though I understand, but... Speak-speaking of which, why must I be so troubled by that idiot; if I feel that it’s troublesome, shouldn’t I stop caring about it glup glup glup glup glup glup glup glup...)”

“AH, EHHH? SHORT-HAIR’S SINKING INTO THE HOT WATER!!!?”

“SHE’LL DROWN!!! WE NEED TO SAVE HER!!!”

“?”

Kamijou, coming out of the bath first, was standing in front of the vending machine. He was wondering whether he should go for ice milk coffee or ice cream. At this moment, ‘patapatapatapatapatapatapata,’ he heard footsteps and turned his head back.

All he saw was a female doctor running out from the resuscitation room to the female pool. Of course, he didn’t know what was going on inside.

Part 9

After passing through a time of relaxation, the happy time of bathing was now over.

Kamijou walked out of the relaxation bathing tower and was now standing at the main entrance of the building. He wasn’t there to smoke, but to get some night wind.

“...I completely forgot that this is an underground street.”

After standing there for quite a while, there still hadn’t been any wind. Realizing this, Kamijou couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

Even so, he was considering something.

A man from the deepest organization within the Roman Catholic Church's God’s Right Seat, Acqua of the Back, had sent a letter of challenge over... There wasn’t anything critical yet, but even if he opened the box and peeked inside, there wasn’t anything special going on.

(Is he just bluffing...? No, it’s too early to conclude that.)

At this moment, Itsuwa, who was fragrant after bathing, slowly approached a frustrated Kamijou.

“You’ll get cold if you stay in such a place.”

“No, I need to get some blood to my head, so this should be good.”

“Well, we’re using the motorbike to get back anyway. If we consider the time now, we’ll definitely get colds.”

After being lectured by Itsuwa in such a conservative manner, Kamijou looked dejected.

Seeing him like this, Itsuwa couldn’t help but chuckle.

“How about a walk together?”

“You’re the one who said that we’ll get cold, Itsuwa!!”

“We’ll get cold anyway, so I feel that it’s alright. Also, if you really want, why don’t you go back into the baths again later? There are many baths for you to play around in, like a swimming pool.”

This really is a rather good wonderland, Kamijou thought.

To be honest, it was lonely for a man to bathe by himself.

“Oh yeah, where’s Index?”

“It seems like she said that she wanted to look around the food tasting area in the food space.”

If Kamijou asked Index whether she wanted to go for a walk when Index was like this, he would likely be bitten by her iron fangs the moment he said it. Since she won’t leave the food tasting area, there’s no need to worry about her getting lost, Kamijou made an apt conclusion.

(...Besides, it’s better to ask Itsuwa all sorts of things regarding Acqua.)

Acqua of the Back may arrive in Academy City, and besides, Kamijou had kept this a secret from Index. This time, Acqua’s target was Kamijou alone, so Kamijou wanted to try his best to avoid getting Index involved a dangerous situation.

Therefore Kamijou and Itsuwa started to talk as they began this night stroll.

In this uniformly blue-ridden night scene, the street felt like the scales of a butterfly from a southern country, and yet it also looked like underwater coral reefs. Maybe because their bodies were still hot from the baths, the scene in front didn’t look all that icy cold.

“Speaking of which, the Amakusa have moved from Japan to England, right?”

“Mm, yes.”

“So how’s life in England?”

“Mm...”

Itsuwa pondered while she faced Kamijou.

“Even though we moved to London, we’ve been entrusted with the Japanese street area, so basically there isn’t too much of a change. Our daily meals there are the same as in Japan.”

“Eh? Is that so?”

“Mm...”

Itsuwa again revealed an ambiguous smile, and after pausing for a while,

“Actually, the Amakusa is a group that learns about all the surroundings and thinks of the most suitable ways to blend into the surroundings, so our reaction to arriving in a foreign land so suddenly isn’t much different from ordinary people.”

In other words, Itsuwa and company had chosen to go to the Japanese street not because they were bogged down by Japanese habits, but because they could only choose to go somewhere where, even if there was a group of Japanese, they wouldn’t feel oppressed. The feeling one got was like a mix of Eastern and Western cultures.

“The Anglican Church treats us rather well. Of course, it’s just an Amakusa feeling, but living in London is really interesting,”

Itsuwa said this with a smile, but things shouldn’t be that simple.

Because the Anglican Church couldn’t head out to settle all problems due to political reasons, before they could finally mobilize, the Amakusa would act on their own, and once something went wrong, they would be abandoned like a lizard’s tail. Kamijou had seen things like this happen numerous times. Being under the umbrella of a large organization, sometimes they would be assigned work due to convenience.

“Is that so?”

But Kamijou swallowed these thoughts and only gave a simple reply.

Itsuwa wasn’t giving just a simple smile, but one could still tell that she was happy with how she was treated.

“Say, the Amakusa is originally like those ordinary sects that blend into the street culture anyway.”

“Mm, besides, that’s our goal.”

“You’re right.”

Kamijou Touma reconfirmed Itsuwa’s attire.

Right now, she had a pink tanktop over her brightly-colored sheep-like sweatshirt. Her dark pants were like cloth wrapped on legs, and there were large gaps in between. A transparent vinyl was used to hold it together.

“So are the people in London dressed like that?”

“Ah, um, right now, this get-up is chosen under the condition of ‘settling the problem in Academy City’.”

“Does it really look indecent...?” Seeing Itsuwa sink into discomfort, Kamijou could only casually shake his head.

This seemed to calm her down quite a bit.

“Though it’s a bit harder to explain it in words, but, well, I’ll choose a more mature look when I’m in London.”

“Well basically, I don’t know the clothing brands in Academy City, but the designs over there do feel a bit stiff, right?”

“Well, that’s not really the case. The people over there don’t just like domestic products; on the contrary, it’s dangerous to choose that... Besides, even if there are people wearing the same things, the different characteristics and actions can thoroughly change a person’s overall image, you know?”

Though Itsuwa was trying her best to explain this, since her entire attire was based on feeling, it was very hard to explain it in theory. It was like someone saying that he was teaching how to ride a bike, but not teaching anything besides how to get on the bike, no further explanation.

Thus, Kamijou was a bit mindful of Itsuwa’s image in London.

At this moment, Kamijou remembered that beside Itsuwa, there was another familiar person among the Amakusa.

Kanzaki Kaori.

“—But isn’t Kanzaki’s attire weird as well?”

“EH!? WHAT—ARE—YOU SAYING — STRANGE AS IN...?”

“Though her get-up does look adult-like, that should be classified as sexy, right?”

“YOU, YOU SUDDENLY GAVE A SHOCKING COMMENT ABOUT THE PRIESTESS!? THAT ISN’T BECAUSE IT’S OBSCENE, BUT RATHER THE SPELL COMPOSITION THAT REQUIRES ASYMMETRY!! IT WAS DELIBERATELY MADE LIKE THAT TO ALLOW THE BALANCE ON BOTH SIDES BE USED EVEN MORE EFFECTIVELY, AND NOT MEANT TO DELIBERATELY SHOW OFF THE CURVES ON HER BODY OR WHATSOEVER—!!”

HA!? At this moment, Itsuwa finally reverted back to normal.

Seeing the change in this late-blooming girl that had her two hands clenched and placed in front of her chest, Kamijou tried to pull her back, saying,

“Then, well, so to Itsuwa and the rest, it seems like ‘coming to London was the best choice’, right?”

“??? Well, we’re really happy to be living on the same land as the Priestess.”

The way Kamijou suddenly changed the topic caused Itsuwa to remain dazed for a while.

“...Well, as the distance is too far, it’s a pity that I can’t immediately see the person I want to see when the person’s in Japan...”

She continued to walk beside Kamijou, her vision slowly turning downwards, her mouth muttering.

“...But, recently, things are alright. That, it’s like Vega and Altair...”[2]

“? What now, Itsuwa?”

“NO, NOTHING!! NOTHING AT ALL!!!”

Kamijou stared at Itsuwa as he questioned a blank Itsuwa, and Itsuwa blushed as she started to wave her hands.

Part 10

With Tatemiya Saiji leading the pack, the Amakusa members were standing slightly far away from Kamijou and Itsuwa’s position. They were not gathered at one spot, but scattered all around with Kamijou at center, looking around at the surrounding lanes, continuing to move around at a similar speed as Kamijou. And even so, they continued to blend with into the surroundings; it was hard to tell who they were protecting. If that happened, an observing VIP guard expert would be shocked by it. Besides, the Amakusa’s skills were a lot better than those experts, so they were not likely to be found out.

The Amakusa had been commanded by the Anglican Church to carry out this mission, and with Tatemiya leading, the group of teenagers continued to move down the street (or pretending to be). They were lined up on a karaoke relaxation street, occasionally looking like they were going into some shops and pretending to look into some shops, continuing to maintain their distance from Kamijou and Itsuwa as they moved around.

“So what do you think, substitute Supreme Pontiff?”

Ushibuka asked.

“About Itsuwa’s ‘abandon Index and have a night date’ battle?”

“I’m talking about Acqua of the Back.”

Ushibuka’s short and simple sentence made Tatemiya’s expression change.

He slightly looked around for a while.

“Up till now, there hasn’t been any signs of invasion, and Academy City hasn’t received any similar reports, but,”

“...Well, we still can’t believe it, huh?”

“In this situation, there’s a double meaning to not being able to believe it.”

Tatemiya revealed an evil smile.

“First, it’s that Academy City’s security itself has holes that the magic side can exploit, so it can’t be trusted. The other one is—why would the higher ups of Academy City choose to hide this information? So, Ushibuka, which one do you believe?”

“Well...”

“For just Kamijou Touma alone, the three sides—Academy City, the Anglican Church, and the Roman Catholic Church—are all racking their brains as they come up with plans. By itself, this scenario is already peculiar.”

“Substitute Supreme Pontiff.”

“Mm, I understand. To us Amakusa, just the name Kamijou Touma alone is worth protecting, because he’s not just our savior, but our comrade as well.”

But at this point, Tatemiya paused.

“But what’s Kamijou Touma to Academy City? What’s Kamijou Touma to the Anglican Church? What’s Kamijou Touma to God’s Right Seat of the Roman Catholic Church...? Is he someone that such a huge thing like an organisation has to take action against?”

With Tatemiya as centerpoint, the small band of familiar people remained silent.

It was not that they didn’t understand the answer.

It was that even though they thought of it, they were afraid to say it out loud.

“...There are a few hypotheses we can make.”

Tatemiya finally said,

“But, that thing... Kamijou Touma’s value, is it the same to all three of these organisations? We can’t make any developments if we just consider this. It seems like there’s a lot of hidden information that we don’t know of.”

“Substitute Supreme Pontiff...”

“If we really want to protect Kamijou Touma, we may have to investigate those things as well. We can’t just be happy with forcing the attackers to retreat. We have to directly take down ‘the guy that sent those attackers’.”

Speaking so far, Tatemiya Saiji suddenly paused.

He felt constricted.

The thing that had vanished was a human. From who knew when, the only ones walking down this street were Tatemiya and company. Seemed like he had controlled the crowd flow through some means, and could even use a highly-skilled technique of ‘blending into the surroundings’ like the Amakusa.

“...”

There was not even a need to say a single word.

Tatemiya gave a few movement signals to discreetly give his orders, and the teenagers of the Amakusa quickly reached for their hidden weapons.

It was a feeling of constriction.

This feeling was like the huge columns of air whipped up when a subway train moved near a train station. Just like when a huge thing got near, there would be shockwaves or something similar to that.

Tatemiya looked over at the source of this constricting feeling.

What was over there was...

Part 11

Kamijou and Itsuwa were slowly walking down an underground street that was completely covered in blue. Different from the other streets, the view here was specially tailored. A uniform night scene would bore one if they continued to look in the same place, but overall, it still looked pretty.

At this moment, Itsuwa, who was walking on, suddenly said,

“He hasn’t made a move yet, that Acqua.”

“...Maybe he got tangled in Academy City’s security. Hehe, there won’t be such good fortune.”

As they had been very relaxed, they had forgotten all about it, but the pressing issue now was still God’s Right Seat.

Though Anti-Skill of Academy City weren’t idiots, they had let some magicians invade Academy City in some battles between magicians. Having seen all of these, Kamijou wasn’t going to just let them handle it all...besides, after the battle against Vento of the Front, Acqua himself had invaded Academy City to bring her back.

Though the Amakusa’s reinforcements were very reliable, once there was some political problem, they would definitely be cut off like a lizard’s tail, so their actions weren’t as limited. This was something that was to be expected, even without anyone saying it, because if the Anglican Church didn’t care about all of these and were going to go all out just to beat Acqua, they would have immediately sent Kanzaki over.

The moment the topic was changed, the entire blue atmosphere changed as well. Maybe it was a coincidence or something, but the color that signified Acqua of the Back seemed to be blue.

“Though the fact that I’m not being attacked should be something to be happy about...”

She didn’t know how to decide on this, as Itsuwa’s tone indicated that she was a bit nervous.

While continuing to walk on this blue street, Kamijou pondered for a while,

“Maybe he’s doing something secretly, maybe something happened.”

Up till now, the two members of God’s Right Seat who had attacked... Vento of the Front and Terra of the Left had both used completely different methods of attacking. One brashly had come attacking right from the front, while the other had let the world sink into chaos and made one huge detour to attack Academy City.

He could only use those two as examples, so it was hard to pin down the methods of God’s Right Seat. Besides, Vento and Terra’s actions had both been too extreme, so it was impossible to use them as reference.

“Anyway, we can’t just let down our guard so easily...”

Itsuwa again clenched her little fist.

“Including the substitute Supreme Pontiff, everyone’s working hard in ways that we can’t see. No matter who’s here, the fact that we will use all our strength to complete our mission won’t change. Just treat this as what we do all the time; there’s no need to be mindful about this.”

“What you do all the time, huh?”

On hearing Itsuwa’s words, Kamijou forced a smile.

“...Speaking of which, I’m supposed to be targeted by this really huge group called God’s Right Seat, and yet I’m forced to come to this relaxation facility because my heater got spoilt. I do feel bad about bothering other people...”

“No, it’s not that. I don’t think that everyone feels that way,”

Itsuwa quickly waved her hands as she interrupted Kamijou.

“Even if we know that a strong enemy’s about to come, we’ll be very fatigued mentally if we continue to remain alert. We have to properly rest up in order to be able to use all our strength at the critical moment: this is very important. Thus it’s very important for us to relax now. Trying to force oneself to live in one’s own special rhythm isn’t going to work. It’s the same thing as putting freshwater fish in seawater.”

It’s that kind of a thing, huh? Kamijou felt puzzled.

Neither of them really planned on a path for their stroll. Index would definitely choose to join the fight if they were to talk about Acqua right in front of her, thus they had decided to keep it a secret from her. They had already said what they wanted to say, and now they had reached a place where they could see a river. Kamijou’s plan was to use the metal bridge to pass over the river, and make a round before heading back to where they had come from through another path.

“Speaking of which, about the other Amakusa members, you’re talking about Tatemiya and the rest?”

“Mm, yes. They should be somewhere nearby, watching and protecting us.”

Itsuwa said in a seemingly regretful tone,

“...If the Priestess were here, her strength alone would be equivalent to 100 people.”

“We’re talking about Kanzaki here, right? She is really strong.”

“Yes, yes! Because the Priestess is one of the Saints, and there are only 20 of them! No matter what, we only need the Priestess to finish them off in one hit!”

Hoho, is that so, Kamijou suitably replied to Itsuwa.

“Well, since she could fight against an archangel like Power of God, she is truly strong, that Kanzaki.”

“EHYAAHEH!? SHE FOUGHT AGAINST AN A-ARCHANGEL!? WHAT HAPPENED...!?”

Oh? This reaction shocked Kamijou. That had been during the Angel Fall incident, so Itsuwa may not have known. However, she seemed to have heard from Tsuchimikado that he had intruded upon Kanzaki changing clothes... but it seemed like regarding this Angel Fall incident, Kamijou didn’t really remember much of it.

“Hmm...” Kamijou scratched his head.

“No matter whether it’s a Saint or an angel, both are really strong. There are a lot of strong people out there in this world.”

“This, well, it isn’t really a critical evaluation...”

Itsuwa looked like she hadn’t recovered from the shock.

“No matter what, if we compare an angel against a Saint, an angel is still stronger.”

“Really? Then does that mean that Kanzaki can’t beat an angel no matter how much she tries?”

“That, that is really a tough question... it’s just that, in terms of raw power, an angel is still stronger. The power that a Saint has is different in nature when compared to an angel.”

Based on Itsuwa’s explanation, humans that were Saints were limited in how much power they could use. If they were to even barely try to surpass that limit, they may end up self-destructing. Among the scholars in the magic side, there were many different explanations regarding ‘why can an angel retain so much power and yet not go amok’?

“Damn it, my head hurts now that we’re talking about studying; it’s the same no matter which side.”

“Though I’m just saying this generally, basically, that information can be trusted...”

Seeing as Itsuwa’s shoulders sink as she sighed, it seemed that she was really trying her best in every single aspect.

“Back to what we’re talking about, you said that Kanzaki couldn’t help, but aren’t both Kanzaki and the Amakusa affiliated to the Anglican Church? They should arrive if you ask, right?”

“Probably...I guess. Though we’re together, a Saint is like a nuke’s existence, so it seems that they can’t just allow her to act outside England. Besides, there are many things that the Amakusa can’t say, so we can’t just ask her like that... well, regarding this, it’s still something of a taboo...”

While talking about this, Kamijou and Itsuwa stepped onto the metal bridge.

The entire length of the metal bridge was about 50 meters.

Speaking of the size of the bridge, it wasn’t very big; considering that the river underneath was man-made, one would somehow lament about it.

This was a lit part as well. The entire bridge was all blue.

“(...Though I know I can’t let down my guard, but, just the two of us... WAAAAHHH...)”

“What’s wrong, Itsuwa?”

“N-NOTHING!! NOTHING AT ALL!! ISN’T THERE NOTHING GOING ON!!?”

Itsuwa immediately raised her petite hands to rapidly swing them in front of her face, left and right.

“That, that that that that, I just thought that there wasn’t really anyone around; and it’s now just two of us. It’s rare to see this place being decorated so nicely, it, it’s such a waste...”

Kamijou started to feel puzzled as both of them continued to walk on the metal bridge.

Why did Itsuwa start to talk really fast and start smiling happily?

“Well, it should be because of the time now, right? Night time in Academy City is like this. The last trains and buses are deliberately set so early so that students won’t go out to play till late. But then again, there’ll be guys who go out to play all the same.”

Though he said it, both of them immediately felt a sense of constriction.

It was past 10 PM now, and the main forms of transport had all ceased.

According to the timing, it was nothing strange for the traffic flow to change as well. Besides, this was Academy City, where students made up 80% of the population.

However,

If it was just past 10 PM, those groups of people who wanted to play should be playing outside as usual.

(Oh, crap...!?)

Facing this unnatural scene without people, Kamijou felt a sense of ominous danger. He immediately decided to tell Itsuwa that the situation now was extremely dangerous.

But he couldn’t do it.

Because he didn’t even have time to do it.

“—I did warn you before,”

He heard a voice.

From in front of them, coming from the silhouette of a person within the darkness shaped by the blue illumination, a stout man’s voice could be heard.

“—There were many paths in front of you that you could have chosen.”

They heard footsteps.

But these footsteps didn’t sound human. Every time the person took a step, *PAM...!!* the metal bridge below slightly tremored. One thing about the oppressive weight was that it could also be considered as a countdown to death. The blue darkness slowly let out sounds of strange footsteps, as if telling the opponent his unwillingness.

Itsuwa was dumbstruck by this sudden situation, revealing an expression that lacked tension, but...Kamijou immediately reacted. What happened to the contact with the main Amakusa forces? Shouldn’t they have be hiding somewhere in the darkness and protecting Kamijou and Itsuwa?

“—If, after receiving my declaration, you had thought through it and felt that ‘this’ choice is worth risking, I’ll use all my strength to directly crush you.”

But the voice became a mocking one.

“—But really, don’t you have any better options?”

The darkness scattered away.

Anyway, the only light source was the dim street light, and thus it was not something that could chase away the strong light of the night sky. But even though the man was slowly approaching from within the darkness far away, just like this, it felt like the darkness was avoiding the man.

Tea-colored hair, a straight-lined face that looked as if it had been chiseled from stone, a shirt that had blue as the base color and was similar to a polo shirt. Though he looked muscular, it was not the feeling that a bodybuilder gave, but rather, one of a soldier that had gone through many bloody and gory battles.

“You’re...”

It was not an unfamiliar face.

Once before—on the 30th of September, Kamijou Touma had met this man in Academy City.

After he had finally managed to use the Imagine Breaker to defeat Vento of the Front in an arduous battle, this brawny man had come rushing in.

“Acqua of the Back. I should have introduced myself before.”

God’s Right Seat.

And at the same time, he had the abilities of a Saint.

“Just as you declared? You mean—”

“I don’t need to think up some special plan,”

Acqua simply said.

“I came here with a purpose, and that’s to eradicate the mastermind behind all the unrest in the world.”

And you dare to say it, Kamijou silently cursed.

Vento of the Front had caused all the functions in the city to be paralyzed. Terra of the Left started commotions all over the world. No matter what reasons they had, he shouldn’t be treated by God’s Right Seat as a scapegoat.

“You don’t have any intention to negotiate? You’re intending to kill me right from the start?”

“Humph, we may have been too hasty.”

Acqua seemed a bit bored as he measured up Kamijou.

“My wish is to eradicate the mastermind behind all the chaos in the world.”

“What do you mean by chaos?”

“You won’t admit it anyway.”

“Even if there is, you’re the ones who started it!! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about what all of your people did in Avignon!!”

“Even that is because of that incident, there’s also the reason of ‘attacking the dangerous parties of Kamijou Touma and Academy City’.”

While both sides were in a deadlock, Acqua didn’t waver in the slightest.

This meant that he had never intended to hear Kamijou Touma out.

“All of those things happened because your body has some special thing. Therefore, I won’t be taking your life—as long as you hand that right hand over to me, cutting it off before me, I’ll spare that pitiful mongrel life of yours.”

Truly a request that one couldn’t respond to.

Acqua probably made this request knowing that he would be refused.

“What about the main Amakusa force...”

At this moment, Itsuwa finally said something.

This seemed to indicate something, as Itsuwa looked around.

“It’s useless.”

Acqua interrupted her action with just this sentence alone.

“What happened to my comrades?”

“I didn’t kill them,”

Acqua simply said.

“The ones I want to take down aren’t them,”

While saying this, Acqua slightly shifted his body.

The distance between them was about 10m. From here, one could see that Acqua wasn’t holding anything like a weapon, and it didn’t look like he was hiding anything under his clothes. The polo shirt was supported by the muscular body, and it didn’t look like there was any space to hide any weapons.

Even so, Kamijou and Itsuwa concentrated all their nerves, not even letting their sights off Acqua’s movements. This battle couldn’t be avoided, and because they knew this, they wouldn’t recklessly attack, but would choose to fight back at the right time and deliver the decisive blow.

But then...

From the side.

“Gh!?”

Before Kamijou could swallow his breath, Acqua was already beside Itsuwa. He had vanished: Acqua’s speed could only be seen as such. Sneaking into Itsuwa’s arms, Acqua swung his elbow to attack Itsuwa’s face from the side.

Not even a single sound.

But Kamijou’s vision finally caught up with Itsuwa’s body that had been sent flying through the pedestrian walkway and onto the road. Kamijou himself couldn’t even breathe, yet even so, he tried to use all the remaining air in his lungs. Basically, he instinctively shouted,

“Itsuwa!?”

“You still have the time to worry about others, do you?”

Acqua’s voice covered Kamijou’s shout.

Finally, *BOOM!!* a sound reached Kamijou’s ear. The sound came from within the shadow of Acqua dragging his feet. Like a huge tiger shark leaping out of the surface of the sea, a huge piece of metal came out from within Acqua’s shadow. A 5m-long unknown object; in shape, it looked like a lance that a European knight would use, but that was wrong.

It was like a huge umbrella created from a steel structure used to construct a building.

It was a mace intended for killing.

“I’m coming, my prey.”

“DAMN!!”

Before Kamijou could get into the correct posture, Acqua’s muscles expanded explosively.

(EVADE!!) Before his mind could give an order, the huge mace came slamming down from above.

It was a miracle that he was still alive. Itsuwa’s bag had come flying over and collided with Kamijou’s body, causing him to fall away in a direction completely opposite of what Acqua had anticipated. Because of that, Kamijou was able to keep his life.

The approximately 5 meter-long metal mace missed its target and easily crushed Itsuwa’s bag to bits, afterwards landing on the floor like a guillotine blade.

It was supposed to be a metal bridge reinforced with cement.

But with this heavy and blunt sound, the entire metal bridge shook due to the impact. The screws that held the metal bridge down broke and make lots of noises. The blue lights used to light the place up lost their glow unnaturally. However, Kamijou didn’t have time to notice all of those. Like a meteor colliding with the sea, with Acqua’s mace as the center, a large amount of concrete debris flew all over the place, and some of it hit Kamijou’s body.

“GGYYYYAAAAAHHH!!?”

Just the aftershock of this attack alone was enough to cause Kamijou to be unable to take a step forward.

Just as Kamijou felt that his legs were both light and floating, his body had already flown back several meters. His back hit one of the metal frames supporting the bridge, finally causing his body to stop moving.

There was a *clack clack* sound.

The small pieces of concrete fragments were falling onto the bridge like rain.

Acqua placed the mace that looked as heavy as a metal frame on his shoulder, moving forward to Kamijou, who was on the floor.

Although it was powder, it looked like a visible battle aura as it surrounded Acqua before being scattered away.

At this moment, his eyes looked off to the side.

The person who was trying her best to even stand up was Itsuwa. Maybe she had pulled it out before she threw the bag, but Itsuwa had already assembled the Friuli spear that could be dissembled anytime, the cross tip of the spear pointing at Acqua.

But Itsuwa had most likely taken a lot of damage from the initial hit. Red liquid was left on her lips, and her face that had been hit was all red as well. Even so, right now, Itsuwa looked like she might as well go do some casual fishing.

Acqua didn’t even smile.

He just warned, “You have an enemy that even an entire group couldn’t take down, and against such an opponent, you think you have a chance of winning?”

“...Even if it’s me...I have my own determination.”

Now, how much heavy emotion and realizations were put into this one sentence?

In contrast, Acqua just replied, “Is that so?”

Just that.

(Oh no...!!)

Kamijou tried to force his aching body to get between Itsuwa and Acqua. But in stark contrast to his thoughts, his body couldn’t move. During this time, Itsuwa and Acqua began fighting at close range.

Itsuwa’s movements were fast.

However, Acqua was fast to the point that he was basically disappearing. By the time he became aware, the huge metal mace had already sunk deeply into Itsuwa’s flank. After that, Acqua changes where he was facing, and using centrifugal force, he tossed Itsuwa to where Kamijou was.

React, this thought didn’t even appear in Kamijou’s brain.

With the metal mace’s weight and a person’s weight, Kamijou was completely sandwiched in between while his back was still against the metal frame. All the air in his lungs was forced out, and there was even a little smell of rusted metal in it. Several seconds later, the impacted body floated up from the ground, and afterwards, the impact would make one feel that the Earth’s gravity had been increased by numerous folds as it surrounded Kamijou’s body. Kamijou slowly fell onto the ground.

Itsuwa, who was on top of him, didn’t react at all. Though Kamijou wanted to push Itsuwa away, he couldn’t do it.

His vision was slowly becoming blurry, finally catching a glimpse of Acqua with much difficulty.

(The difference...is too great...)

Whether it was Vento of the Front or Terra of the Left, at least he could see their actions. As long as he could react to their attacks and make the suitable counters, at least he could land a few hits on them.

(But what on earth is this guy...) Kamijou wondered.

Acqua of the Back.

Was this guy really a fellow human?

This wasn’t a difference between one human and another. It was just like an online RPG where you were fighting someone that was 100 levels higher. It was not that he made the attacks obsolete through some trick, but rather, fighting through pure ability, there was no way he could win.

“Your right hand,”

Acqua, slowly raising his mace, said.

“If you hand it over, I’ll spare your life.”

“You...must be...joking...”

Though he wanted to stand up, his body couldn’t muster any strength.

Knowing that he was at his limit, Kamijou still didn’t give up.

However...

“Really? If so, I’ll let you understand the harsh reality even more.”

Part 12

(Ugh...)

Itsuwa’s consciousness had vanished for a while.

Like water seeping into soil, she slowly regained her consciousness. The first thing she noticed was a smell similar to rust, and then pain. While her brain realized these, the pain engulfed her body like a tsunami. Unexpectedly, the sight and hearing that one would normally rely on recovered last.

The surrounding darkness.

Being buried in the blue despair.

There was debris of asphalt and iron, the dust dancing above the metal bridge.

Up until a moment ago, both of them had been enjoying the night scene, but now it had become such a tragic sight.

And right now, she finally recognized the feeling of the spear in her hand.

“Hm!?”

Itsuwa suddenly remembered this scenario and frantically tried to use her spear to support herself up.

At this moment, she felt something warm flowing down her palm.

It was a bit warm, and had a bit of a rusty smell that could make anyone sick. And this fresh red fluid was very obvious.

Fresh blood.

But Itsuwa herself hadn’t bled that much, because if she had bled that much, it would be hard for her to retain consciousness. But this ink-like substance was different from any other fluid. It was definitely someone’s blood.

(Then whose blood is it?) Itsuwa considered, but in the next moment, she immediately denied her consciousness.

She knew without thinking about it.

It was Kamijou Touma’s blood.

“So you’re awake.”

If one were to calmly think this through, Acqua of the Back should be holding a weapon and behind her.

“Then move away from there. My one blow is too powerful, and if I freely exert all of my strength, the shockwaves will affect the surroundings.”

But Itsuwa’s consciousness wasn’t bothered by Acqua. Her shoulders trembled slightly and slowly, slowly turned behind her.

What had happened while Itsuwa was unconscious?

Having lost all his strength and lying on the ground, Kamijou’s limbs and face were both bloodied red. He couldn’t open his eyes, like an automatic door damaged and left in this half-open state. It should have been such an intense pain that it could rip his body apart, but Kamijou still didn’t move at all.

She couldn’t even comprehend it.

In terms of physical distance, they were both just a bit away from each other, but even with that little distance, Itsuwa still couldn’t tell.

“Ah...ah...”

Itsuwa’s judgment was slowly turning into dust.

This imminent threat called Acqua of the Back had vanished from her mind. Even against such a powerful foe, she didn’t care. She moved her hands that were dyed in other people’s blood, collecting the surrounding debris, taking out a wet handkerchief, and pulled out the wallet from a bloodied Kamijou’s pants pocket.

The magic that the Amakusa-style Remix of Church used didn’t require any strange spell or spiritual item.

The things used were basically everyday items.

Itsuwa was trying to find some unscientific leftovers from these everyday items, rearrange them in order to stop the bleeding, and cover the wounds in order to replenish his lifeforce. In order to do this, Itsuwa was going to cast a healing spell. To this girl called Itsuwa, the problem and battle she was facing was all about whether she could save this boy.

Actually, even while Itsuwa was in a panic, she was still acting extremely fast.

It would be a moment before the recovery spell was activated.

Dim glowing little balls danced around above Kamijou’s body. The green glow looked like fireflies, and these glowing lights looked like they wanted to patch up the wounds as they entered them.

However,

A *BAM!!* sound could be heard.

The recovery spell that Itsuwa used scattered away like sawdust, not even a single bit left behind as it scattered.

The reason was obvious.

“...Uuu, ah.”

Itsuwa’s consciousness wavered as she turned her sight from Kamijou’s face to his right hand.

His right hand.

The Imagine Breaker.

No matter what supernatural power it was, this thing would negate the effects, whether good or bad.

“WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Itsuwa cried out in despair, trying to rebuild the broken recovery spell, but it was futile. The magic broke the moment it was activated, again breaking even though it was rebuilt. Whatever daily item she saw and could use, they continue to be used up no matter how much she tried. The moment she noticed it, the materials used for the recovery magic were almost all used up.

“That’s enough,”

Facing Itsuwa, who hadn’t gave up no matter how many times she tried, Acqua said such ruthless words.

But Itsuwa couldn’t even make a proper reply.

Seeing Itsuwa not do anything besides shouting and crying about, Acqua didn’t say anything further.

He silently and slowly lifted his foot before stepping on Itsuwa’s back while she lay on the ground.

With a *BOOM!!* sound, Itsuwa stopped letting out this cry of despair.

With this violent sound being cut off, her strength was siphoned out of her limbs, and even her consciousness was about to cut off.

“Humph.”

Acqua didn’t even see Itsuwa collapse onto the ground as he raised the huge mace.

That was his initial motive.

His target was the unconscious Kamijou’s right hand.

But Acqua was unable to successful swing his mace down.

It was not that he relented.

Itsuwa, who was covered in wounds and most likely had her insides damaged very severely, should have lost consciousness. However, she still used her battered arms to raise her spear as she gingerly tried to stand up.

Like a miracle, she was standing between Kamijou and Acqua.

“Guh... ga... WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Itsuwa’s shouted out sounding like she was shaking her insides up and squeezing out every single ounce of air. Right now, she was not even thinking about the odds of winning. From her bloodshot eyes, one could tell that she didn’t even have time to think about that.

She didn’t want that person to die.

She didn’t want that person to be taken away.

She wanted to stand up again.

She was just barely able to move because of that.

Spitting out bubbles of blood, Itsuwa's eyes showed a strong will that no one had ever seen before.

Acqua looked bored as he sighed.

He then slowly let the muscles of the arm gripping onto the mace expand. The terrifying muscles. The mace which was supposedly only made of iron. The large grip that would make one wonder whether the mace would break.

Acqua never treated Itsuwa as his enemy.

He just wanted to bury Itsuwa together with Kamijou in the next blow.

Itsuwa bit her own lips.

She couldn’t even confirm all of these now.

And besides, she had no idea how much of a difference there even was between her and Acqua.

(...)

Slowly, Itsuwa turned silent.

It was not that she shut up. Right now, even her mind was silent. There was a mysterious blank in her heart. This may have been some sort of realization, or maybe she had given up. After she suddenly regained her thoughts, though the tip of her spear was shaking in an unstable manner, she charged towards Acqua head on.

The one hit that a dead man let out was simply a declaration of battle.

Itsuwa let her remaining ounce of strength gather at one spot.

The abrupt silence would be broken, and would bring about the final outcome.

“Thanks, Itsuwa.”

What broke Itsuwa’s will wasn’t Acqua’s blow.

But the soft palm of a certain boy placed on her shoulder.

Itsuwa’s petite body trembled because of this little action.

She was unable to turn back.

The hand that was placed on her shoulder should have been all battered.

But what appeared in Itsuwa’s mind was Kamijou’s smiling face.

“Thanks to your healing magic, I feel a bit better.”

That was impossible. His Imagine Breaker simply eradicated all forms of magic; Itsuwa’s recovery magic shouldn’t have had any effect at all.

In truth, the boy’s voice felt like toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube: extremely soft and still trembling. It felt like it could vanish at any moment.

Even so, that boy’s words were full of warmth.

Itsuwa’s body immediately softened gradually, but she also immediately realized what the boy was thinking and felt ominous about it.

Why would he choose to stand up at this point?

He couldn’t even move a finger, so why must he force himself to stand up now?

And also, there was meaning behind this hand that was stopping her from charging towards Acqua of the Back.

“Wai—!!”

Itsuwa didn’t even have a chance to let her voice out.

The boy exerted even more force on Itsuwa’s arm, and as if he wanted to switch positions with her, he moved forward. Having moved her battered body and seeing Kamijou’s back while he faced Acqua, Itsuwa was unable to stop him. Maybe it was because she didn’t know whether her lukewarm determination was shattered, but Itsuwa’s willpower, which had been supporting her body up until now, was all sucked out.

“WWWWWOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!”

No matter how much the boy was unused to fighting, he should understand that he couldn’t beat Acqua.

That boy’s aim wasn’t to beat Acqua.

Acqua of the Back, in the beginning, he had said that his target was just Kamijou Touma. He also said that he hadn’t killed the main Amakusa forces nearby. In other words, if this battle ended early, he wouldn’t cause too much damage to the surroundings.

For example,

This could be settled without Itsuwa, who was nearby, dying.

“...ah!!”

Itsuwa could only see that back moving further and further away, her expression distorted.

The transparent fluid continued to flow out of her eyes.

No matter what Itsuwa shouted, Kamijou didn’t look back.

Without looking back and running towards Acqua.

“Nice realisation,”

Acqua of the Back just said this one sentence.

After that, in front of Itsuwa, he dealt a horrendous blow. The giant more-than-5m metal mace was swung horizontally, piercing into the boy’s flank without mercy. The sound of this explosion would make one not expect that that thing was slammed into someone’s body, and the boy who was sandwiched between the metal bridge and the mace had his strength slowly sapped away. He couldn’t even swing his decisively clenched fist at Acqua.

This time, the boy finally lost consciousness as his body went limp onto the giant metal mace. It was like a blanket on a pole. Acqua saw the boy like this, and he smiled.

The smile seemed like he was praising the one who had lost.

He recognized the courage shown by the boy as he stood up for the girl who was behind him.

“I’m giving you one day.”

Acqua swung the mace with the unconscious boy on it.

“It’d be too cruel of me to take off your arm without numbing you. Let’s consider this time for you to prepare a prosthetic. As long as you cut off the thing behind all this chaos—your right hand—and hand it over to us, I’ll spare your mongrel life.”

After saying that, Acqua swung his mace without hesitation.

As a member of God’s Right Seat, and also a Saint, it was a devastating strike released by a monster.

The boy’s body hanging on the mace flew off the metal bridge at a cannon-like speed, through the handles, colliding several times with the dark and icy surface of the water several hundred meters away. As it was too fast, the boy’s body bounced 2 to 3 times before sinking beside a cruise boat, causing the river water to pop up like a water pillar.

After a while, a huge explosion could be heard.

Without confirming whether his target was dead, Acqua turned his back on Itsuwa.

Finally, he said,

“Just one day.”

Between the lines 1

What’s the problem? So you can’t sleep?

Then let this ol’ grandpa tell you a story, okay? Grandpa’s story is long and boring, so you can sleep nicely soon.

Alright, grandpa will tell you a story about an astrology group.

Ah, yes, that’s what it was called, but there’s not much difference to what it does now. We were helping others like what brats like you are doing now. Basically, we were a Christian magic group that followed others, and after understanding the situation, we’d use magic to settle it — it was that kind of an organization.

But there were a lot of people relying on us in the past. I’m not bluffing; there were many people within the country who were looking for us. Afterwards, as we had too many people relying on us, we couldn’t even stop at a single place. Us grandpas spent quite a few years slowly walking through the whole of Russia just to live.

After that, well, this thing called problems, it can happen anywhere.

Though I don’t know whether it’s because it’s troublesome or because we can’t help but interfere.

No, no, no, I’ll explain to you first, the Russian Orthodox Church is all made up of bad people. However, that idiot wanted to turn a part of the Russian Orthodox Church as one part of him. Thus, the grandpas were forced to run away from those battle groups that were pursuing us.

What’s that idiot’s name?

What would happen if grandpa got caught?

I can’t tell a brat like you all of that. Even if it’s twisted, we’re still a hidden part of the country. Though it’s easy for me to say this, they won’t even let children off. This isn’t something you’d normally hear.

Anyway, our Russian Orthodox pursuers were really dangerous. They were true monsters gathered together to fight ghosts and fairies and other things beyond the realm of humanity. Old men who were just helping out couldn't hope to face them head on. It was overwhelming.

Therefore, us grandpas decided to leave the country. Luckily, they were the Russian Orthodox, and so in other words, it means that we only needed to run away from Russia. It’s terrifying to wish for it, but no matter what, any human would do his utmost to grab onto this little ray of hope.

However, our surroundings were the -50 degrees Celsius of human Hell. It was a tough time. How should I say it, it was no longer a world that could be described through physical pain. Our feet were starting to sink, and we continued to walk on. There were people as old as grandpa and brats that were younger than you, everyone was the same. At that time, you were still in your mother’s womb, and I believe your mum got her shapeshifting ability because of that.

Under this situation, the pursuers should act properly even though they’re the Russian Orthodox, right?

But no, they’re real professional soldiers that were specially trained to move along in the eternal arctic terrain. They were like robots that were made into puppets, moving around in a rhythmic manner, and not only were they top-notch soldiers, their weapons were top notch as well. They had horses made of metal, and those were 8-legged horses, you know. Oh yes, they had a spiritual item called the Sleipnir[3].

The difference in speed between the grandpas and the Russian Orthodox Church was apparent by first glance.

We could see the border in the snowstorm, but everyone knew that our pursuers would catch up to us before we could reach there. It was right in front of us, and we couldn’t reach out and grab it, but after looking back to see our pursuers, we didn’t have any other thought except to give up. Compared to working hard in a futile way, it’s better to give up easily. But then again, we couldn’t do it; the border that represented our hope was there, so how could we give up there?

Hm?

Then what happened next?

Of course we escaped. Otherwise, how could you be born? Grandpa couldn’t possibly be here telling this story to you. You’re saying that we did something?

Really? Really?

Seems like you don’t understand how we escaped from the elites of the Russian Orthodox Church.

It’s simple.

‘That man’ appeared in front of the grandpas.

That person was William Orville.

Notes

1. ↑ Both ‘level’ and ‘seaweed’ are pronounced as ‘kaisou’ (かいそう), a mistake on Index’s part.

2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qixi_Festival

3. ↑ Ancient Norse reference here. Called 'the slipper' in Norse mythology. [1]