Toaru Majutsu no Index

Volume 6, Chapter 3: Closure. Battle_Cry.

Part 1

In this battlefield full of gunshots and smoke, Sherry Cromwell continued to walk about elegantly.

A stone golem was standing in front of her like a large shield. After the stone golem mixed all the rubble, signage and pillars, it started to shape up like clay, its height reaching 4m tall. As it was really too tall, the head of the stone golem had to remain tilted.

She waved the white oil pastel in the air. The lines that were drawn formed commands, telling the stone golem to move forward.

There was a group of Anti-Skill personnel dressed in black armour standing in front of Sherry. They had placed coffee shop tables, sofas and other things on the path to create a road block, and were poking their heads from the road block as they continued to shoot at the stone golem. In order to give no space when they reloaded, they were grouped in trios. When one group was reloading, another group would come in; it was like Oda Nobunaga’s musket corps.

(They barely pass off as decent, but there’s no style.)

Sherry dully made this evaluation.

As the underground street was already so narrow, the stone golem—Ellis was blocking the entire path, acting like a wall. Not one bullet hit Sherry, who was right behind it.

Several hundred bullets hit Ellis, but none did any fatal damage. The bullets dug holes deep into Ellis’ hands and legs, but Ellis could absorb the tiles from the nearby walls to repair its damage parts.

DING! The slight sound of metal colliding could be heard.

An Anti-Skill member ran out of patience and pulled the safety pin off a grenade. In order to cause damage to Sherry, who was behind the stone golem, he wanted to toss it between the legs of the golem.

“ELLIS!”

Though before he could, Sherry raised her oil pastel and drew another line.

The stone golem raised its leg and stamped onto the ground. With a huge boom, the floor of the entire underground street flipped up heavily like a boat among giant waves. At this moment, the Anti-Skill member wanted to toss the grenade out, but with this sudden tremor, the grenade that was without the safety pin rolled out of his hand and dropped beside his feet.

A growl.

And then, an explosion.

Blood was splattered all over the place. This model of grenade didn’t seem to rely on the explosiveness, but used shrapnel to injure. Thus, the road block wasn’t blown away. There was the smell of blood beside the road block. Luckily, the people jumped out of the road block to escape the storm of sharp shrapnel and save their lives.

Most of the Anti-Skill members let go of their rifles due to the impact of the explosion.

Shua! The oil pastel ripped the air like a sword being drawn out.

A black shadow appeared above the Anti-Skill members. Ellis raised its arm that was like heavy construction machinery.

The Anti-Skill members frantically pulled out their pre-prepared handguns, but it was too late.

Such weak weapons were not going to stop the stone golem.

Part 2

This is a battlefield.

Passing a corner in the underground street, Kamijou inadvertently covered his mouth.

This was a real battlefield.

No one was battling in front of him, and there were no gunshots or growls. All he saw were injured, battered people who were ripped apart and were leaning on the pillars and walls. It wasn’t the frontline, but a place similar to a hospital. The warriors who had lost and retreated from battle were treating their wounds in an impromptu manner.

These were all Anti-Skill members, numbering almost 20 of them. Every single one of them was injured badly, and it was hard to imagine what kind of monster they were facing. Band-aids and bandages were useless here. The treatment here was like using thread and needle to patch a large hole on a rag sack.

(To be able to beat Anti-Skill down like this. What kind of magician is he...)

Kamijou was flabbergasted. Even though he was an amateur who didn’t know the details, at least he knew that there was the ‘science side’ and the ‘magic side’ in the world. Before today, he thought that both sides were equal.

However, the current reality right now was like this.

Up till now, Kamijou had faced off against numerous magicians that couldn’t be underestimated, so he wouldn’t underestimate a magician’s capability. However, right now, he was seeing the science side that he was living in being beaten badly, and was rather shocked by it.

The people in charge of security in Academy City were as weak as the armies in those monster movies.

But even so, they didn’t intend to retreat.

The people who could still move were trying to move the tables and chairs near the shops, intending to create a road block. No, the ones who couldn’t move were the important ones. At this moment, Kamijou had already confirmed that they couldn’t move.

These people weren’t just betting on their own lives.

They had the determination of finishing this even if they died.

(Why...)

Kamijou was speechless.

These people may have been trained, but their occupations were only ‘teaching staff’... or school teachers. No one forced them to do this, and their salary wasn’t exceptionally high. On a whole, they had no need to risk their lives and do battle. They weren’t official policemen who had passed the National Security Test. Nobody would blame them even if they were to run away and try to protect their own lives. But they were not doing this...

At this moment, an Anti-Skill member who was sitting against the wall spotted Kamijou, who was rooted at the corner. What was surprising was that this Anti-Skill member was a woman. She was taping up her injured comrade’s wrist, but on seeing Kamijou, she was stunned.

“OI, THAT BOY OVER THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOIN HERE!?”

The angry shout caused several Anti-Skill members to turn around. Kamijou didn’t respond. The woman who shouted scowled impatiently and said,

“Damn it, are you that brat from Tsukuyomi-sensei’s class? What’s wrong? You got locked up? That’s why I said not to let down the sealing wall! Boy, you ran to the wrong direction! Go to exit Ag, the Judgement members backups will be waiting over there! Though it’s impossible to escape there, at least it’s safer over there! Put on this helmet, at least it’s better than nothing!”

Tsukuyomi was Komoe-sensei’s name. In other words, this Anti-Skill woman had heard from Komoe-sensei regarding Kamijou. The female Anti-Skill member angrily took off her gear and roughly threw it at Kamijou. Kamijou frantically reached his hands out to catch the safety helmet that was passed over like a basketball.

Kamijou again looked around.

Then, he roughly knew why these people wouldn’t retreat.

Kamijou then walked further in.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING? DAMN IT, I CAN’T MOVE MY BODY! SOMEONE GO GRAB THAT DAMNED CIVILIAN!”

The female Anti-Skill member reached her hand out, but she was rather far from Kamijou.

On hearing that, several Anti-Skill personnel rushed up to stop Kamijou, but since they were injured, they couldn’t do it. Their remaining strength was such that they were unable to stop a High school student who was not even trained at all.

Even so, they were still not running away.

They were not officially policemen. No matter how much professional training they had, they were still school teachers. Their actions were like patrolmen who were standing by at the roads from school in the evening to ensure the students’ safety.

But because of this, they were clear about it. Nobody had forced them to do this, so once they lost to the fear within them, they would immediately succumb. And if they succumbed, what kind of people would be hurt?

From the start, the system that Anti-Skill and Judgement used was that they didn’t accept recommendations and requisitions, but volunteers.

If so, the answer was simple. These people chose to gather here because they wanted to protect the children, they weren’t requested to.

(Damn it...)

Kamijou couldn’t help but let this out.

He tossed aside the injured Anti-Skill member who had stepped up to stop him and continued to move forward. Inside this dark passage that was right ahead, there were many idiots like these. And from how things were going, it seemed like the situation was rather disparaging.

He tightly clenched his right hand.

Without looking away, he stared forward and dashed forward.

Even though fighting against this enemy was a suicidal act, if the enemy was a magician, there may have been a chance of turning the situation around if they used the final trump card, his right hand. Kamijou thought.

Continuing to run down the passage, Kamijou suddenly realised something.

(No...sound?)

There should be a shootout in the path deep inside, but yet it was so quiet it was terrifying. No gunfire, no footsteps, no shouts, nothing. There was not even a single tremor on the floor. A heavy bad premonition struck Kamijou’s abdomen heavily.

And like bacteria on a mildew, it was gradually corroding Kamijou’s body.

(Don’t tell me...)

Under the red light, he dashed towards the other side of the dim passage.

“Hehe, good afternoon. Hehohohoho...”

The heavy voice of a woman speaking echoed throughout the dark space.

There was a woman with messy hair wearing a black robe, her skin as tan as chocolate, standing right in the middle of the passage. The skirt of her dress was extremely long, such that even her ankles couldn’t be seen. Maybe it was because that she had dragged it for a long time that the edges of her skirt were dirty and worn out, heavily tattered. A stone golem stood beside her as if it was her shield. This was a huge puppet made by steel wires, chairs, tiles, dirt, lights and other things being crushed, mashed and shaped together by a powerful force.

And surrounding them...

The things that were supposed to be materials for the road block were crushed into pieces and scattered all over the place. As if they had been shot by a cannonball, 7 or 8 Anti-Skill members were lying on the floor together with the shrapnel. They seemed to be breathing, as their limbs were still trembling.

“Hoho, seems like you people have equipment that can absorb quite a lot of impact, to be able to survive a direct attack from Ellis...but because of that, I can play to my heart’s content.”

There was some cruelty in that smile.

Kamijou didn’t know what the ‘direct hit from Ellis’ meant, but he could roughly guess that it was the attack that the stone golem had released. Just seeing the road block that had been blown to pieces, one could imagine how shocking the power was.

“Why...”

Kamijou wanted to ask ‘why must you do such a thing’, but was unable to say it.

In contrast, the blond lady didn’t seem to feel anything, just saying casually,

“Oh, so you’re that Imagine Breaker? Isn’t the key to the Imaginary District with you? That...how do you pronounce that? Ka...Kazakiri whatsoever. Really, Japanese names are too complicated.”

With an impatient look on her face, the lady played with her blond hair.

“Anything, whoever it is will do. Besides, it’s not like I have to kill that brat.”

“What?”

Kamijou couldn’t help but suspect that he had heard that wrong.

He could vaguely tell that this woman was after him and Kazakiri, so he was stunned when he saw the woman have such a casual attitude.

“Don’t you understand? Basically saying, it doesn’t matter even if the one I want to kill is you.”

The woman raised her oil pastel and quickly drew a horizontal line.

The stone golem responded and stamped hard on the floor. The strong tremor caused Kamijou to lose his balance. The stone golem again stamped onto the floor, and Kamijou finally fell to the floor. It was unknown how the woman was still standing upright. It was like she was isolated from the image, as she was the only one who couldn’t feel the impact.

“The ground’s my strength. In front of Ellis, nobody can stand upright. Fall, be hopeless as you lie on the ground! You defeated dogs, can you still bite me now?”

The blond woman let out a declaration of victory, and Kamijou, who was lying on the floor, could only glare at her.

Truly, in this situation, it was a curb stomp battle. The Anti-Skill members who were wielding guns were unable to effectively attack, and if their guns were pointed in the wrong direction, there was the possibility of them hitting their own men.

Kamijou tried to stand up, and the woman again drew another line with the oil pastel. The stone golem stamped again, causing the ground to tremble again. Kamijou had the Imagine Breaker ability, and he only needed just one finger to destroy the stone golem, but he couldn’t move at all.

“You...you woman...”

“Not ‘you woman’, my name’s Sherry Cromwell, remember this. However...it’s useless to say my name to you, since you’ll die here. It’s useless even if I’m to say that I’m from the English Anglicans.”

“WHAT?”

Kamijou frowned.

English Anglicans. Wasn’t that the organisation that Index was affiliated to?

On seeing Kamijou, Sherry revealed a slight sneer.

“I need a spark to ignite a war, so I have to let more people know about it. I’m a member of the English Anglicans, got it?—ELLIS!”

Sherry flipped her wrist and used the oil pastel to draw a circle. The stone golem called Ellis started to move, standing firmly on the floor, and raised that terrifyingly huge fist. Though it was not a punch that was going to be made without preparation, it was still a punch that could crush a road block. Kamijou wanted to get away, but the tremor on the ground caused him to be unable to move, and he could only wave his right hand wildly.

“MOVE ASIDE, BOY!”

Suddenly, an angry shout could be heard from beside him.

An injured Anti-Skill member who was lying on the floor was holding tightly onto a rifle. Before Kamijou could move, the little muzzle started to emit sparks. Gunfire and flashes coved the entire underground street. The bullets that ripped the air continuously collided with Ellis’ legs in order to force the stone golem down.

However...

“WAH!”

A stream of strong wind pressure fizzed past Kamijou’s face, forcing him to make that sound.

Ellis, who was covering the entire passage, was made of steel and concrete. When one fires at this several ton wall, the bullets would naturally bounce off like a ping-pong ball.

Anti-Skill was aiming to protect Kamijou’s life from Ellis, and truthfully, Ellis’ feet had stopped. As Anti-Skill was focusing their fire on Ellis’ legs, Ellis couldn’t stamp onto the floor. If it did lift its legs carelessly, the bullets may have hit Sherry, who was behind.

However, as the bullets were still bouncing off Ellis, they ended up bouncing off in different directions. In the end, Kamijou could only remain on the floor and not move. Anti-Skill was concentrating on firing, and Kamijou was worried about whether he would be hit by stray bullets as he covered his head with both hands.

(Damn it, if I can just touch it...!)

Kamijou and the golem were less than 3m apart, but carelessly moving forward to touch Ellis was a dangerous thing to do. It was obvious to say that the closer he was to Ellis, the more likely he would be hit by stray bullets.

The only chance would be when they reload.

The Anti-Skill rifles were unable to beat the stone golem, and the rifles couldn’t possibly have unlimited ammo. After a while, the bullets would be used up. During the few seconds when they reloaded, the flying bullets would vanish. The only chance would be at that moment, when he would rush at Ellis.

Kamijou tightened his body, getting ready to move forward at any second.

Clack.

Suddenly, some gentle footsteps rang behind Kamijou.

As the gunfire continued to reach his ears, that gentle footstep, for some reason, Kamijou had a deep impression of it.

In order to avoid being hit by bullets, he continued to remain prone on the ground, only moving his neck to look behind.

The emergency red lights were very weak, and so he couldn’t see the entire underground street clearly. The entire passage was pitch black except for the emergency lights that barely showed the way out. The footsteps came from the darkness.

Those footsteps weren’t of one who was trained, nor did they have the presence of a new enemy. It was like someone was trembling as this person entered a haunted house, or a child who went back to school late at night to take back something that was left behind; it sounded rather timid.

A bad premonition rose up Kamijou’s chest.

And this premonition came true.

“Erm...that...”

He could hear a girl’s voice.

Under the dim red lights, the owner of the voice gradually appeared. It was the girl that Kamijou was familiar with. A long skirt covering her thighs, straight-haired with a rubber band tied beside her ear, and a pair of thin-framed spectacles—it was Kazakiri Hyouka. She was standing right in the middle of the passage, slowly walking over.

“DAMN IT! WHY WEREN’T YOU WAITING FOR SHIRAI!”

The shout that wasn’t any softer than the gunfire echoes throughout the underground street.

Kamijou wanted to dash forward at the completely defenseless Kazakiri, who was standing over there, but he couldn’t move due to the flying bullets.

However, Kazakiri seemed like she didn’t understand the situation as she said,

“...Erm...because...”

“DON’T SAY ANYTHING, HURRY UP AND GET DOWN!”

“...Eh?”

On hearing Kamijou’s shout, Kazakiri was stunned.

PAM! After that, her head got blown backwards.

“Ah?”

Kamijou inadvertently let out this sound of disbelief.

Of course, a human’s eyes couldn’t see bullets that were flying about. However, anyone could guess what happened. Some of the rifles bullets that had hit Ellis bounced off and hit Kazakiri’s face. Some skin and muscle was blown off, and her spectacles were blown away.

However, Kamijou was unable to believe the truth that appeared in front of him. No, it was that he didn’t want to believe. His mind was blank due to the confusion.

It was unknown when the gunfire ceased. The Anti-Skill members just stared at the girl that was hit. Seeing her target come forward like this and self-destruct in such an unexpected manner, Sherry frowned slightly as well.

At this moment,

Kazakiri’s body arched backwards.

Like a puppet that didn’t respond.

They could hear that her face got partly destroyed. A thing that resembled a shell dropped onto the floor with a bit of long hair. The bullets seemed to have hit the right side of her face, and the shape of her head was destroyed completely. The broken spectacles landed on the floor, and the ripped off ear still had the edge of the spectacle frame on it.

“Ka...KAZAKIRI—!!”

Kamijou frantically stood up and dashed towards Kazakiri. As he was too panicky, his feet were as slumber as a drunk.

But after getting to Kazakiri, Kamijou suddenly stopped.

His face was full of shock and surprise.

However, it was not because the scene was too devastating.

Kazakiri’s injuries were definitely grave, the right half of her head had been blown off. She didn’t seem like she had got hit by bullets, but rather, like there had been a bomb in her brain, the wound was so frighteningly big. Such overwhelming destruction was far more than what a person could imagine in everyday life. It made Kamijou feel such a lack of realism, such that even he was about to laugh.

But that wasn’t the biggest problem.

The biggest problem that Kamijou was facing now could make anyone forget about the above.

Kamijou carefully inspected Kazakiri’s wound.

It was truly a huge wound that had caused half her head to blow off. However, the wound was hollow. There was no flesh, no bone, no brain, nothing at all. There was not even a drop of blood from Kazakiri Hyouka’s wound.

It was just like a fake human that was made of papier-mâché, or a 3D puppet that was made from multiple angles. The realistic looking skin looked merely like layers of light purple plastic when one looked from the inside of the hole.

At the middle of the large hole in her head, there was a small magnet-like thing floating. There a triangular column showing the skin colour, the base was an equilateral triangle with less than 2cm on each side, the height was less than 5cm. The little column remains fixed there, spinning continuously. The sides of the triangular column had many rectangular things on it, each 1mm long and 2mm wide. Like a super-mini piano keyboard, as if there were invisible fingers playing it, the rectangular keys on the sides of the triangular column continued to move back and forth.

(What...is this...)

Kamijou was completely confused. The scene in front of him was too far away from reality; nobody could associate the feeling of ‘it looks painful’ or ‘it looks unbearable’ with it.

Was this an esper power as well? Did Kazakiri’s ‘counter stop’ create this kind of phenomenon as well?

For a basic esper power, Kazakiri’s current appearance was too abnormal. Even if there were only 7 Level 5 espers in Academy City like the Railgun and Accelerator, their bodies were still made of flesh. However, this Kazakiri was far different from a human.

“Uuu...”

Just as Kamijou was wondering what to do, Kazakiri let out a little moan.

Maybe it was because she had regained consciousness that the triangular column in the middle of her head started to spin rapidly, and the keys on the side were played even faster, like a firing pin on a sewing machine.

(No...)

At this moment, Kamijou was dragged back to reality, his entire body was feeling chilly all of a sudden.

(This seems to be the opposite...)

It wasn’t the triangular column responding to Kazakiri’s actions, but rather, Kazakiri was responding to the triangular column’s movement, creating her mannerism and expression.

Even Sherry forgot to attack as well as she could only stare blankly at this phenomenon.

The keys on the side of the triangular pillar continued to be hit, ringing like a torrential rain. The triangular pillar started to spin rapidly like a computer trackball rolling. It was unknown what kind of processes were changed to cause this girl with a wide hole in her head to gradually look up.

Left with only an eye, Kazakiri blankly stared at Kamijou. As if she had just woken up, there was not even a sign of pain or dizziness.

While on the floor, she slowly sat up.

“Eh...? Glasses...where’s my glasses...?”

She reached her hand out and touched the part where the spectacles should have been at...and seemed to feel that something was not right. First, her fingers shrank back as if she had touched scalding water. Next, she gingerly scraped her face with her fingers.

“What’s...going on?”

Her fingers slowly stroked the edge of the opening.

“N...no...”

Her eyes gazed at the glass window of the coffee shop beside her.

Most likely, she saw her face off the reflection in the glass window, as her face that was blown apart lost all colour of blood. The only eyeball left was trembling nonstop, showing her inner anxiety and insecurity.

“No...what...is this? NO...!”

Unable to control her own feelings any further, Kazakiri swung her hair away and shrieked. Kamijou felt like he had lost his breath. Kazakiri seemed to have lost her sense of balance, as she shakily stood up, seemingly trying to get away from her reflection in the mirror. Or maybe her thoughts were too messed up that she actually ran towards the stone golem—Ellis.

Sherry recovered on seeing this and drew a horizontal line with the stone golem.

The stone golem waved its concrete arm.

As if shooing a fly away, the stone golem swung its fist and hit Kazakiri’s arm and abdomen. Kazakiri, who was running forward, ended up flying away without landing on the ground, flying for about 3m. Her fragile body collided viciously with the pillar, and then bounced off like a ping pong ball, forming a ‘[’ with the pillar at centre, and landed behind Ellis, beside Sherry’s feet.

Pa! A vicious landing sound could be heard.

Looking closely, Kazakiri, who was hit by Ellis’ punch had her left arm ripped off, her flank was completely distorted like a box of candy being stomped on.

“Ah...”

Even so—

Even so, Kazakiri Hyouka’s body was still wriggling.

“Ah...ah...ahh, aHH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—!!!!!!!”

This high-pitched scream that came from the nearby thoroughly battered body shocked Sherry. For the first time, she turned her attention to Kazakiri and raised her oil pastel. However, Kazakiri completely ignored Sherry, having lost all ability to see the current situation clearly. The moment she saw that her left arm that was ripped off was completely empty, she started to wave her limbs, as if slapping away a bug that landed on her, and escaped into the pitch black world of the passageway.

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“Ellis!”

Sherry shouted lightly and tapped the surface of the oil pastel lightly with her fingertip. Ellis raised its fist and hit a nearby pillar. BOOM! The entire underground street continued to shake, and the ceiling clattered.

The next moment, the materials of the ceiling collapsed on the Anti-Skill group who were holding rifles.

“Humph, now this is interesting. Let’s go, Ellis. Let’s go capture that poor and funny little fox.”

Not looking at Kamijou and Anti-Skill who were buried alive one bit, Sherry raised the oil pastel in her hand and made one round with it, controlling Ellis and headed off into the darkness. It seemed like she was aiming to follow Kazakiri.

(Kazakiri...)

Kamijou just stood there in shock, unable to move for a while.

The scene just now was etched deeply into his mind.

Part 3

Shirai Kuroko was stunned.

After sending that irritating nun and her onee-sama back to the surface, she went down to the underground street for a look...Kamijou Touma and the girl with little presence had already disappeared.

(How troublesome...should I start looking around here?)

Luckily, she could no longer hear the sounds of a battle. But as for when a battle would arise, nobody knew. And also, there were several civilians here.

In terms of threat level, Kamijou and Kazakiri were in most danger since they were targeted, but the people here may have been hit by debris, and she couldn’t leave them alone like this.

In comparison to the people who were directly involved in this, it seemed more important to rescue these outsiders.

After pondering for a while, Shirai decided to save these people in front of her first.

(The value of life is the same for everyone. I know that onee-sama is worried and wants me to find them, but it doesn’t seem right to leave these people here like this.)

Shirai sighed and walked towards the students who were locked underground and terrified.

The material that dropped from the ceiling was unexpectedly light, and the Anti-Skill members who were buried alive weren’t too heavily damaged.

The Anti-Skill members lying around were injured, but at least no one was killed as they start to stitch or bandage their wounds.

Kamijou helped Anti-Skill move the materials off them, and ignored Anti-Skill's attempts to stop him as he ran off where Kazakiri and Sherry had gone. There were many department stores there, and each of them were linked to one another, and each basement level of the department stores were also linked to one another, creating a complex map that was like a spider web, completely different from the straight path from a while back.

(Damn it, what’s going on...)

Kamijou was definitely mindful that Sherry called herself one of the English Anglicans, but what bothered him even more was Kazakiri Hyouka.

Originally, she hadn’t seemed to realise that her body was abnormal.

The moment she had seen herself in the mirror, she had screamed as if she had seen a monster.

To Kamijou, Kazakiri seemed to have just found out about the secret regarding her own body, and was now confused.

(...If so, this means that it’s not Kazakiri’s esper ability? Or rather that’s her power that she’s unaware of? Damn it, I’m all confused now. Is it alright now that she’s like this now? But even if I want to heal her...damn it, what should I do?)

Thinking about this, Kamijou inadvertently stopped.

That mysterious appearance of Kazakiri appeared in his mind. Even if he wanted to save her, he didn’t know how to. He couldn’t even get an answer for such a basic question.

(Should I stop Sherry or find that escaped Kazakiri? Damn it, what should I do?)

After being troubled for quite a while, Kamijou pulled out his phone.

Anyway, there were too many things he didn’t understand about Kazakiri Hyouka. If Kamijou wanted to ask someone with even more knowledge than him regarding esper power from the science side, there was only one best candidate.

Tsukuyomi Komoe.

Kamijou thought, she should be able to do something. However, the phone couldn’t get any reception. Thinking about it, when he was at the playground, he couldn’t hear the contents of the conversation properly.

(Anyway, I got to get near a base station first.)

Kamijou looked around, and then walked forward. After walking for a while, he saw a sports shop. There seemed to be something like an antenna on the side wall.

Kamijou moved to a position below the antenna, and the phone could finally get reception.

After just two rings, Komoe-sensei picked up the phone.

“Ah! Kamijou? Good! Good! I finally contacted you! Kamijou, where are you right now?”

“You’re looking for me, sensei?”

“Himegami tried to call you, but it seemed like there was bad reception.”

Kamijou tilted his head as he recalled. So that call was made by Himegami.

“Kamijou, Kamijou. Sensei got something to say to you...”

“Sorry, sensei, I’m in a rush here as well. Can you hear me out first?”

“Eh...? Sensei’s going to say something important...alright, what do you want to say?”

Komoe-sensei didn’t insist and let aside instantly. Deep down, Kamijou earnestly said his thanks.

Kamijou basically explained Kazakiri’s situation to Komoe-sensei. Of course, he purposely left out her name and the gunfight, just asking, “Is there a power that will create these symptoms?”

But Komoe-sensei pondered for a while, and then said,

“...Kamijou, you’re talking about Kazakiri Hyouka, right?”

Spot on with just one sentence.

On hearing this, Kamijou was speechless. Komoe-sensei seemed to feel relaxed as she said,

“Mm, to be honest, what sensei wants to say is regarding her.”

“Eh? Sensei checked up on Kazakiri? Why?”

“Kamijou, sensei will tell you that the school has a so-called security system. Besides, since there’s an esper development program inside the school, and that there’s an increase in trend of strange crimes recently, it’s natural to investigate an outsider who’s not a transfer student and yet appeared here, right?”

Komoe-sensei also mentioned that since that nun had interacted with Komoe-sensei several times, the nun wasn’t investigated.

At this moment, Kamijou remembered those words that Himegami said at noon near the school gate.

—But the records indicate that I should be the only transfer student.

“Next, regarding Kamijou’s question...there is such an esper. Like for example, those with ‘body change’ ability can change their bodies according to their will.”

“So this means that Kazakiri is...”

“No, ‘body change’ is an extremely rare ability, there are only three people with this ability in Academy City. And Kazakiri Hyouka is not one of these three.”

Komoe-sensei’s voice became slightly stiff.

“Also, there’re some things about Kazakiri Hyouka that can’t be explained with the body change ability.”

“What do you mean?”

Deep inside his heart, Kamijou had a bad feeling about this.

Whether it was correct or not, Kamijou couldn’t tell.

“Kamijou, sensei just said that the school has a security system. There are many things similar to surveillance cameras around the school.”

Komoe-sensei paused for a while, then continued,

“However, none of the cameras caught sight of Kazakiri Hyouka. We contacted Anti-Skill and checked the satellite images, and yet we couldn’t spot any suspicious people...at that time, that Kazakiri Hyouka that appeared beside you, when did she get inside the school?”

“What...?”

“Did you see her leave the canteen when she disappeared? Sensei didn’t see it. It’s like she vanished into thin air...”

“Wait...wait a second! Does that mean that Kazakiri is an esper who has both body change and teleport abilities at the same time?”

“Kamijou, having too many abilities will cause too much burden to the brain, it’s confirmed that it can’t happen. But sensei’s next hypothesis may be even more unbelievable than having multiple abilities.”

For some reason, Kamijou was afraid to continue listening.

But he couldn’t avoid the problem. Kamijou swallowed his saliva and asked,

“Komoe-sensei, what’s your guess?”

“Sensei’s guess is...”

Komoe-sensei slowly said,

“It has a lot to do with the AIM dispersal field—”

On hearing that, Kamijou didn’t have much of a deep impression on it.

“AIM...it’s that energy that espers unconsciously let out, right?”

“That’s right. If I want to add on, it’s that the AIM dispersal field is extremely weak, such that a machine is required to detect it, and the energy released by each esper is different.”

“Then what does that have to do with Kazakiri? Is it that the energy that Kazakiri unconsciously lets out will create such a shocking phenomenon?”

Komoe-sensei didn’t answer Kamijou’s question, and continued,

“Didn’t sensei say it this morning? In order to carry out research for her classmates from my college days, sensei was carrying out research regarding AIM.”

At this moment, there was the sound of paper being ruffled,

“Revealing the contents of other people’s theses is prohibited, but sensei believes that your mouth is sealed tight...the contents of this research thesis is regarding the additional effects of multiple AIM dispersal fields gathering at the same place.”

The more Kamijou listened, the more he was unable to understand what Komoe-sensei was trying to say. Did these things really have anything to do with Kazakiri Hyouka? Was she just grumbling or having a conversation? Just as Kamijou was thinking about this, Komoe-sensei said,

“Kamijou, if you use a machine to test a human, you can get many values, right?”

“Eh?”

“The generation of heat, heat lost, heat absorbed; The reflection of light, refraction, absorption; The creation of electric flow within humans and the creation of electric fields; the amount of oxygen used up, the amount of carbon dioxide released; and more basically, weight and mass...sensei believes that it’s impossible to list them all—even if the machines used are different, we can measure tens of thousands of values.”

“And so what?”

Kamijou noticed the surrounding darkness and prompted Komoe-sensei to continue on.

“This is just sensei’s guess...”

Komoe-sensei paused for a while, then continued,

“If we look at it from the other way, if we gather all these human values, wouldn’t we form a ‘human’?”

“What...?”

Kamijou was utterly shocked, unable to say anything.

“There are all sorts of esper in Academy City. Every esper will subconsciously let out a weak energy. Even though the energy everyone lets out is weak, if they are all gathered, it may create a complete significance. It’s like any English alphabets like ‘B’ or ‘P’; on their own, they have no meaning on their own, but if we are to arrange many of them together, we can create significant words like ‘select’ and ‘start’. Sensei feels that this is the basis for forming Kazakiri Hyouka. ‘Kazakiri Hyouka’ is like numerous English alphabets stringed together to form a command code that’s entered into a computer. Every student in the city provides a letter, and these letters will form a code, which in turn forms a process.”

Komoe-sensei said.

On first glance, it seemed like Kazakiri Hyouka vanished into thin air.

But what if that was not the case?

What if Kazakiri Hyouka had never existed right from the beginning?

If we reversed the thoughts.

What if it was not because there was someone around that there was a body temperature, but that because there was a body temperature that one assumed that there was someone around?

Pyrokinesis brings body temperature, telekinesis brings touch, sonicwave energy brings sound. All sorts of AIM dispersal fields form numerous numbers and alphabets, forming a code and creating a ‘process’, perfectly creating a human shape on this world.

“Wait...wait a second! That’s ridiculous! What values to form a human...didn’t you say it before, sensei? There are tens of thousands of them!”

“Yes, but Academy City has 2.3 millions espers, right? Like the pyrokinesis espers being in charge of body temperature unknowingly, the electrogenerators unknowingly being in charge of the electric flow within humans. All these add up to form the process called Kazakiri Hyouka.”

Komoe-sensei said this without any hesitation, rather confident of it. Kamijou gasped.

Starting from the fingertips, he was gradually losing heat.

He even forgot that he was right in the middle of a battlefield, where the enemy could be lurking anywhere.

Truly, if one could use telekinesis to create the energy required to flick a finger, perhaps it was possible to create the sense of touch of a skin’s tension. By manipulating the vibrations in the air, ‘sound’ could be created. By manipulating the refraction of light, one could ‘see’ shape.

“Himegami said that she often heard of people saying that they witnessed an ‘incomplete Kazakiri Hyouka’. At that time, maybe Kazakiri Hyouka was like a phantom that existed on a different plane. In terms of coding, it’s like a command that can’t be executed due to the lack of a few letters. Thus, it can’t be captured with sight or smell. The senses can’t capture it, but there is that feeling. The Kazakiri Hyouka research lab that was said to exist in Kirigaoka was originally set up to thoroughly investigate this phantom that doesn’t really seem to exist, right? If not, it’s an AIM dispersal field research facility.”

A phantom that seemed like it didn’t really exist.

Kamijou recalled the hole on Kazakiri’s head and inadvertently shuddered. After that, he remembered something.

“But Kazakiri herself doesn’t seem to notice this. She always thought of herself as a human, so when she noticed that her body was abnormal, she ran away in fright. If Kazakiri wasn’t human right from the beginning, wouldn’t this be abnormal?”

“What’s unreasonable?”

“What...?”

“Sensei is asking, if she thought that she was human right from the beginning, why would she need to suspect whether she’s a human?”

“This—”

—How is it possible? Kamijou was dumbstruck.

According to Komoe-sensei’s guess, Kazakiri Hyouka may be something created by the AIM dispersal fields generated by the 2.3 million espers in Academy City...

In other words, it had absolutely nothing to do with her will.

Even her own thoughts were an illusion created from the outside world.

“In conclusion, Kazakiri Hyouka isn’t human, but a physical phenomenon created by the AIM dispersal fields.”

Komoe-sensei’s words spun Kamijou all around.

“Damn it...how can there be such a thing...that’s too much.”

“Too much? Kamijou, your thinking here is wrong.”

“...What? Sensei, are you trying to tell me that it’s stupid to have feelings about a natural phenomenon?”

“On the contrary, Kamijou, if you’re going to continue to say this, sensei will have to lecture you.”

For some reason, Komoe-sensei seemed to be angry.

“Kamijou, sensei will tell you this. If this guess is accurate, Kazakiri Hyouka is not a human. Even if she has everything that a human needs, she can’t be called a ‘human’. No matter how much she tries, her nature is such that she’s a non-existent illusion that will disappear on the slightest touch.”

Komoe-sensei paused for a while, and then continued,

“But why a human?’

Komoe-sensei sounded rather emphatic.

“Sensei never talked to Kazakiri Hyouka, so she has no right to express her thoughts, but in your eyes, how do you view Kazakiri Hyouka? Do you also think that Kazakiri Hyouka is just an illusion that has no life, feelings, basically just a thing appearing in front of you?”

“...”

No, that wasn't it. Kamijou recalled. Kazakiri looked rather happy when she was with Index. Kazakiri, who was often scared by Kamijou’s words, seemed like she had her own intentions, and could act according to her own thoughts.

“Do you think that Kazakiri Hyouka isn’t something that’s important, that it’s alright even if she’s to vanish? A human, not a human; a real, a fake; are you going to use these to form prejudices against her?”

No, of course not. Kamijou concluded. Kazakiri had looked rather painful. She was just a simple, lonely girl, who saw the truth that she had never known before, was unable to accept this cruel truth, was all confused and could only run into the darkness.

Kamijou gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t just do nothing.

Even if she was just an illusion that would disappear once his right hand touched her.

There was no reason on Earth to decide she should just vanish.

“Hoho, that’s the way. Sensei likes those honest sheep the most.”

Hearing Komoe-sensei’s laugh, Kamijou slightly heaved a sigh of relief, and then thought of another question.

The thing regarding the friend whom Komoe-sensei was helping in regards to the research on AIM dispersal fields.

“Sensei, I want to ask something. Does that friend of sensei want to research on the truth regarding Kazakiri?”

“Sensei’s not too sure about this. Sensei only knows that that friend is researching the interference caused by multiple AIM dispersal fields. As for whether the person found out about Kazakiri Hyouka, sensei doesn’t know. However, at least sensei hasn’t heard of any research relating to Kazakiri Hyouka. The hypothesis just now was just made based on the information sensei’s friend provided.”

“...”

“Hm? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t worry, sensei won’t tell this to her friend. Even if she says this, it won’t affect the completion of the thesis.”

“But, even though I can’t determine the value, this should be something important to a researcher, right? If sensei’s friend is to find out about Kazakiri, the friend won’t remain silent for long...”

“Hahaha, that’s true. If the hypothesis is true, Kazakiri Hyouka’s existence will be a huge discovery in the AIM field. The one who found it may end up leaving their name in the history books. But if so, Kazakiri Hyouka will be locked into the icy room. Kamijou, do you think that sensei wants this to happen?”

“This...”

“If you really think so, sensei will really be disappointed. Kamijou, who do you think this Komoe-sensei is? Even though I’m so simple that it borders on naivety, but as a teacher, this is the biggest pillar of support in my heart. Sensei’s job scope doesn’t involve selling out her students’ important friends to increase her reputation.”

Komoe-sensei used the words ‘important friend’.

How much significance that held, Kamijou finally understood.

“Hoho, don’t make Kazakiri Hyouka cry due to sadness.”

After saying that, Komoe-sensei hung up the phone.

Kamijou Touma lowered his head and stared at the handphone for a while, then folded it and slipped it into his pocket.

He was clear on what he should do.

His mind understood where he should go.

“However...”

Kamijou couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

He couldn’t handle that stone golem by himself. The difference in strength was too great. Once that thing stamped and created a giant shockwave, Kamijou would be unable to stand up and have to prowl onto the ground.

(Hurry up! Calm down, quickly find an answer! Damn it, if I fail, Kazakiri will suffer!)

Kamijou understood that it was not that easy to find a way to settle things, but he forced himself not to stop. He was thinking about any possibilities now.

A surprise attack.

(No, the impact of that stamp will spread out in all directions with that stone golem at center. Even if I’m to get behind, I can’t avoid the attack!)

A weapon.

(That won’t do as well. Is there any weapon that can blow that several-ton stone golem? A knife or a metal rod can’t even do anything to it! Anti-Skill may have rockets or something like that, but an ordinary high school student can’t possibly use that!)

Kamijou Touma was starting to panic, scratching his head wildly. If he couldn’t think of any good ideas, it didn’t matter even if he was to scratch all his hair off. With every passing second, the sweat of anxiety continued to increase. That uncomfortable feeling made Kamijou want to let out a beast like roar.

Suddenly, from the mirror image on the glass window beside him, Kamijou saw someone standing behind him.

“!?”—

Kamijou turned his head around at a wind breaking speed.

Standing in front of him was...

“Ha...”

Kamijou inadvertently laughed. No, he was just letting out all the air that was accumulated in his lungs, naturally laughing it out. Ignoring his will, his face moved.

For a while, his face was just holding an expression of disbelief. After a while, he was finally able to show a smile.

“I see—”

The boy smiled.

“—I’m so stupid. Isn’t this something that anyone can think of, Kamijou Touma?”

With a smile full of self-confidence, the boy made up his mind.

The final trump card to fight against that stone golem was right in front of him.

Part 4

Up till now, Kazakiri Hyouka had felt a burning sensation of pain.

“Ugh...gueeh!”

Half of her face, the left wrist, the left abdomen felt like it was dipped inside molten metal as the sensation of pain occurred. Forget about running, Kazakiri couldn’t even stand up, and could only lay prone on the cold floor. In order to distract herself, she started to move her legs wildly, rolling on the floor.

She took signals of pain that any ordinary human would die from, but she couldn’t even escape by dying; it was like a living Hell.

But the pain didn’t last long.

“Ah...?”

A terrifying change occurred.

With squishy sounds like jelly being crushed, the wounds started to heal. Like a fast rewind the holes started to heal at a rate no human could possibly achieve.

The pain that would make anyone go crazy subsided like a decrease in temperature.

Those had definitely been fatal wounds.

She shouldn’t be alive at all.

Not just the skin, even the spectacles that had been blown apart and the edges of her clothes were starting to regain shape.

“Ah...ahhh...!”

With the sense of pain gradually disappearing, her originally blank mind started to process thoughts.

Regarding the fact that her body was hollow inside.

Regarding the fact that her body was abnormal.

Like an originally sealed memory being released, covering all her knowledge.

“Ahh...uu! Ky...uu...UUGH...UUGG!! AGH...UGH..MM...GYAA..GYAA...UU...UU...EE...GYYAAAHH!! UUU....UUUUU...KY...AAAHHH!!”

Her thoughts were all messed up such that she couldn’t compose a sentence, but the huge pressure inside Kazakiri Hyouka made her unable to hold back her cries.

At this moment, seemingly in response to the cry of despair within Kazakiri’s heart, another despair appeared.

A tremor shook the entire underground street.

Kazakiri fell off as if she was sitting on a berserk horse’s back, as her body floated up in the air while her eyes were fixated on the other side of the darkness.

Standing there was an ugly monster made of iron and concrete.

Behind the monster was a blond lady who was even scarier.

The woman was smiling.

As if reminding Kazakiri that only humans could have such a distorted smile.

“Ugh...AAHHH...!!”

Kazakiri remembered the pain when she had gotten hit by the giant stone golem’s huge arm, and instinctively tried to escape. But due to fear, her feet wouldn’t oblige.

The woman didn’t say anything to Kazakiri.

She silently raised the oil pastel that looked like white chalk and used it to draw. The stone golem swung a fist at Kazakiri’s back.

Kazakiri frantically sprawled onto the floor.

However, her long hair that was swaying in the air still got hit by the stone golem, and Kazakiri felt a sharp pain, as if her scalp had been ripped off. Her body shot out like a cannonball.

“Kuu...!”

POW! Kazakiri’s body let out a terrifying sound. Rolling on the floor with such a terrifying force, Kazakiri’s entire body felt like it had been grinded by a large grindstone.

“Ah...ahh...ahhh...!”

The fragments of skin and hair that were forcefully ripped off formed a straight line that was several metres long.

Chichi...a strange sound could be heard from Kazakiri’s face.

Touching her own face, Kazakiri was face was trembling strangely. The fragments of skin that had peeled off on the floor again returned back to their original position.

“How can there be such a laughable thing?”

The blond lady finally spoke, looking as if she had just seen something really awkward, and said,

“I thought the key to the Imaginary District was something that had 3 heads and 6 arms, to think that it’s actually such a thing! HAHA...HAHAHA! To create such a thing as a gem of science, it really makes people wonder!”

While the woman laughed, Kazakiri’s body started to recover. Her face started to let out sounds of water being compressed, and reverted back to its original shape within a few seconds.

“Ugh...ahh!”

Kazakiri started to feel fearful and irritation at her own body. In contrast, Sherry said happily,

“Hoho...but if so, killing you will be a lot more troublesome. Hm, how about we try this? Let’s turn you into a pile of minced meat, and see if you can recover?”

“Wh...wh...yy...?”

“Hm?”

“Why...must you...do such an unreasonable thing?”

“Oh, no particular reason.”

Such a cruel sentence made Kazakiri Hyouka speechless.

“There’s no real reason for it to be you. It’s alright even if it’s not you. However, the fastest method is for me to take you out. That's the reason. How? Simple?”

Before Kazakiri’s mind could process the shock, the woman had already waved the oil pastel, and the stone golem Ellis swung its fist at Kazakiri, who was on the floor. Kazakiri frantically rolled backwards, and Ellis’ fist crushed the ground; the shrapnel pierced into Kazakiri’s entire body. Kazakiri’s body bounced up due to the impact. With the huge horrific sound, a certain part of her body got distorted. The abnormal pain caused Kazakiri’s mind to go blank, but as she rolled on the floor, Kazakiri’s body started to recover. Though her body rolled all the way to the cross junction, she continued to breathe.

And neither was she dead.

But the woman intending to kill her didn’t change her expression, not even a tinge of disappointment was on her face.

It was as if Kazakiri’s life or death was insignificant to her.

Seeing her life being belittled like this, Kazakiri’s eyes watered due to the humiliation. Also, she was angry at her own weakness; she was definitely unhappy, but she couldn’t do anything about it.

Seeing Kazakiri’s expression, the blond lady delightedly said,

“Oi oi, what’s with that expression of yours? Don’t tell me you’re still afraid of death?”

“Eh?”

“Oi oi oi oi! What’s with that justified look of yours? Haven’t you realised? You were beaten up so badly and you aren’t dead, how can you possibly be human?”

“...”

“What’s with that pale look of yours? Are you trying to gain sympathy? Don’t be foolish, even if you’re to disappear, what will this world lose? Here’s an example, watch!”

The blond lady used her thumb to tap the side of the oil pastel.

The next moment, the stone golem swung its fist horizontally. Its arm smashed into the wall and broke.

“What I did to you was like this.”

“Ah...”

“Even if a monster has its limbs broken, who will sympathise with you? Don’t you understand? Why must we show feelings to those that don’t have life? Must I make this thing to be such that it can shed tears? Wouldn’t I become like a pervert who delights in taking off a doll’s clothes?”

“AH...UWAAHH!”

In front of the despairing Kazakiri, the damaged arm of the stone golem started to regrow as it absorbed the surrounding glass and materials, reverting back to its original state. That look actually looked similar to her right now.

That was Kazakiri Hyouka’s true nature.

The real, ugly nature of her's once the human skin was peeled off.

“Do you understand now? Right now, you’re a monster like Ellis. You can’t escape. Where do you want to run to? Is there a place that accepts such a monster like you? Do you understand now? Hurry up, why do you still not understand? There’s no place to accommodate you.”

The woman slowly waved the oil pastel in her hand, and the stone golem slowly moved towards Kazakiri.

Kazakiri continued to remain dumbstruck in a fallen position.

She couldn’t move.

Not because of her injuries, since they had already healed a long time ago.

Not because of her psychological fear, since it was telling her to run away.

However,

Where could she run to?

Kazakiri remembered.

—Today’s the first day she went to school.

Thus she thought that she was a transfer student.

—Today’s the first day she had a nutritious meal

Thus she said that she wanted to check out the school canteen.

—Today’s the first day she spoke to a boy.

Thus she thought that she was afraid of the boy because of that.

—Today’s the first day she used the vending machine.

She had knowledge on how to use a vending machine, but she never drank from it before. In the past, how did she manage to find an excuse to explain this anomaly?

The first time, the first time, the first time, the first time, the first time. These were all first times, no exceptions.

Then what was she doing in the past? Why didn’t her heart raise such a suspicion? It was as if she thought that she didn’t exist in the past. Right now, Kazakiri discovered that the ‘me’ right now was just a bubble of illusion floating among the mist.

Even if she was to look away, it was meaningless.

Even if she didn’t look at her wounds, the pain wouldn’t subside.

No matter how hard she tried, it was too late. Kazakiri couldn’t escape, couldn’t hide. There was no wonderland on the world that could warmly receive this ugly monster that didn’t have any self-awareness.

Inside the pocket of her skirt was the photograph that Kazakiri had taken together with that white girl.

But the girl in the photo, Index, didn’t know.

She didn’t know that Kazakiri Hyouka’s real identity was such a monster.

Once she knew the real identity beneath the human skin,

At that moment, the girl would not smile back at her. Not only that, she would prefer to think that she didn’t smile at her. This was because the Kazakiri Hyouka that was smiling in the photo doesn’t exist anymore. What remained was an ugly monster with a fake human exterior.

Tears gathered in Kazakiri’s eyes.

She really wanted a warm world, wanted to smile with a certain someone, even if for a minute, a second; if she could just get this short moment of light, it was alright no matter how much she lowered her head to beg.

But in the end...

Nobody would grant this request.

“Don’t cry, you monster.”

The blond lady mockingly waved the oil pastel.

“Seeing you cry makes me sick.”

That gigantic arm of the stone golem that could even break through thick wood closed in.

“Ahh...”

Kazakiri pondered while in despair.

Though she didn’t want to die.

Instead of saying that nobody wanted her, it was more like once anyone saw her, they would completely treat her as a monster. Thus, it may be better to die here.

Kazakiri closed her eyes tightly.

Curling her body tight, waiting for the imminent Hell of pain.

The pain didn’t come.

After a while, there was still no sound.

But this strange silence wrapped around Kazakiri Hyouka’s body, warmly and gently. It was like she returned to a warm house with a roof while it was pouring outside.

Kazakiri Hyouka gingerly opened her eyes.

There seemed to be a familiar figure in front of her. However, her tears blocked her vision, and she could only see a blurry image.

The figure seemed to be that of a boy.

Kazakiri was standing in the middle of the cross junction. Standing in front of Kazakiri and facing the stone golem, the boy seemed to have cut in from the underground street beside her. The side of the face seem to enter her vision in a blurry manner.

The stone golem stopped moving.

The boy casually reached out his right hand and grabbed the stone golem’s giant arm. The palm was like a powerful fist that could even crush a battletank.

Such a simple action caused the stone golem to be unable to move—even letting out a cracking sound.

“Ellis?”

The voice of a woman could be heard from afar.

“Ellis, why aren’t you responding? ELLIS? DAMN IT, WHAT’S GOING ON!?”

For the first time, the woman sounded panicky. However, the boy didn’t even look at her.

The boy just stared directly at Kazakiri Hyouka’s face.

“Seems like I was late.”

The boy’s voice caused Kazakiri’s shoulders to tremble slightly. Even though she couldn’t see clearly due to the tears, the voice was ever so familiar.

Truthfully, Kazakiri had only met a few people.

Such a powerful voice.

Such a warm voice.

Such a reliable voice.

And most importantly,

Such a gentle voice.

The boy said to Kazakiri,

“However, it’s alright. Don’t cry, it’s so ugly. What’s the point of crying over such a trivial matter?”

Like a child, Kazakiri Hyouka reached her hand out to wipe her eyes.

The cover of tears was removed.

The boy was in front of her.

Kamijou Touma was in front of her.

Revealing an expression that was like an intimate friend.

The stone golem behind him started to crack before it crumbled.

The wall of despair that no one could cross seemed to be broken.

“ELLIS...STOP STANDING OVER THERE BLANKLY, ELLIS!”

A roar that was full of anger and fear.

The blond lady gripped tightly onto the white oil pastel, almost breaking it. She raised it and started to doodle on the wall as if she was drawing out a sword, muttering hastily at the same time.

The concrete wall collapsed like dried dirt. And within a few seconds, it was as if an invisible hand molded a stone golem with a head on top.

The woman looked rather anxious, but she hadn’t lost her cool yet.

This was an ace that could regenerate no matter how many times it was destroyed. Also, this was the biggest advantage to the blond lady. The stone golem could be used as a shield, as a bait, as a strikeforce or to self-destruct.

Kamijou turned his head around.

In order to protect this girl that was being bullied, he stood in front of the ugly stone golem.

Seeing the situation, Kazakiri was terrified, whereas the blond lady was laughing.

“Ho...haha! WAHAHAHA! IS THIS A JOKE? OI, WHAT CAUSED YOU TO GROW UP TO BECOME LIKE THIS? HAHAHA! BE HAPPY, MONSTER! THIS WORLD ISN’T SO BAD TO YOU! AT LEAST THERE’S STILL AN IDIOT HERE!!”

The deepness of the voice caused Kazakiri’s shoulders to tremble violently.

That was right. The boy came here to protect her. Though that was something worth taking comfort from, she couldn’t just let the boy get involved in this battle between monsters. Kazakiri Hyouka didn’t want to see the boy that worked so hard to create this warm world for her to fall over here.

However, no matter how terrified Kazakiri was, the boy was unmoved even as he was facing the stone golem.

The boy said,

“It’s not just me.”

“What?”

The woman was shocked.

At that moment,

BOOM! A bright light appeared.

The white rays of light almost blinded her eyes as Kazakiri inadvertently used her hands to cover them.

Kazakiri was sitting in the middle of the cross junction, and the light came from the 3 lanes other than the one the blond lady was standing in. The dazzling lights even caused Kazakiri to have a migraine, but she barely managed to squint her eyes and look around.

It was as intense as a car’s headlamp.

The light actually came from the searchlights attached onto rifles. And it was not just one or two; right now, there were about 30, 40 people gathered here.

Anti-Skill.

None of them were unscathed. Some of them had bandages on their abdomens and heads, some were dragging their injured arms and legs, and all of them looked like patients that should be lying on the hospital beds.

But they were not afraid at all.

Not caring for their own safety, not uttering anything even with so much pain, they came back to this battlefield where they were extremely likely to die. These people weren’t mighty men like those main characters in an action movie, as there were women among them. The female Anti-Skill member wielding the transparent shield didn’t seem to be fazed by her own injuries as she revealed a confident smile. Her eyes seemed to be saying, “Don’t worry, it’s alright.”

“...Why...?”

Kazakiri Hyouka asked in surprise.

Though she couldn’t be certain about how much these people knew about her, at least they should know that she wasn’t an ordinary human. These people should have witnessed her face being hit by the stray bullets and immediately standing up after she got hit by the stone golem.

Thus, Kazakiri asked this.

Why?

Why didn’t they just shoot that terrorist together with her? Why did they purposely come all the way over here just to protect her? Kazakiri Hyouka was unable to understand at all.

But the boy responded without any hesitation, “Don’t be silly. Is there a need for a reason?”

Facing this monster called Kazakiri, the boy didn’t look away from her even once.

The expression was exactly the same as when they were in the arcade.

Among all these lights, he said,

Like usual, without any pretense, “This isn’t anything strange. I just spoke to them.”

In this place that was full of light, he said, “I told them...please save my friend.”

For a moment, Kazakiri Hyouka was unable to understand what this sentence meant.

For Kazakiri Hyouka wasn’t a human, but a monster; her body was hollow, there was nothing underneath her skin. She had been hit by gunfire, blown away by the stone golem, and yet she wasn’t dead. Any doctor or scholar would drop their jaws if they saw this.

Didn’t these people care at all?

Were they willing to accept the ‘unknown’ body that Kazakiri herself despaired over?

Maybe it was because it was Academy City. 80% of the population here were students, and each had their own powers. Everyone knew that each person is different, so they were more accepting Kazakiri Hyouka who was ‘different from others’.

Can I continue to remain here?

Are they willing to smile and accept me?

The boy said to the perplexed Kazakiri,

“Wipe your tears clean and watch clearly. You should be proud of yourself since not one person here wants you dead.”

Kazakiri lifted her head up.

The world that was surrounded in darkness was already gone.

“Watch. We’ll prove to you that this world you live in isn’t so bad!”

Kazakiri understood.

Even though that blond lady caused the underground to be surrounded in darkness,

These people here would use light to fight the darkness,

In order to save the hand within the darkness that was waiting to be saved.

The boy then said,

“We’ll also let you know that your resting place won’t be destroyed so easily!”

Part 5

“ELLIS!”

Hiding behind the stone golem, Sherry shouted in an angry, almost trembling voice,

“—KILL THEM ALL! USE THESE PEOPLE’S CORPSES AS YOUR BODY’S MATERIALS!”

She shouted this as she waved her oil pastel. Numerous overlapping lines form the direction that the golem moved in.

“NOT SO FAST! FORMATION B! PROTECT THE CIVILIANS FIRST!”

With an Anti-Skill member shouting, everyone started to fire.

The Anti-Skill members formed up in pairs; the front person held a transparent shield and the ones behind started to fire. The shields weren’t mean to block Ellis, but to block the stray bullets.

Gunfire that almost broke their eardrums echoed throughout, and Kamijou and Kazakiri were pulled aside by a female Anti-Skill member. She used the transparent shield in her hand to protect them.

Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa! The shield in front of them let out such a cry.

Seeing this, Kamijou was flabbergasted. Even the deflected bullets that hit Ellis had such power. Maybe because Kazakiri had been hit by a stray bullet before, she was trembling hard like a child afraid of thunder.

Kamijou saw the stone golem in front of him.

Ellis’s leg got concentrated fire that was like cannon fire which looked like the sun magnified with a mirror. It tried to take a step forward, as though it was trying to move through a strong wind. However, it was not able to take that step. As Ellis’s body was as big as a wall, the impact area was wide like an open sail waving in a storm. The concrete and glass that’s mixed inside Ellis’ body continued to be hit, but Ellis just absorbed the surrounding floor and wall, and even the bullets hitting it, quickly allowing it to recover.

“Cheh!”

On the other side of the screen of gunfire, Sherry let out an angry growl.

“‘The one similar to God’, ‘Medicine of God’, ‘Power of God’, ‘Fire of God’! The four elements that represent the four worlds will allocate the right power on the right direction, and bring forth the correct lead!”

The oil pastel quickly drew a distorted Cross in the air.

Chi chi...Ellis’ body started to cackle.

This was Ellis’ cry.

The stone golem didn’t have a mouth for it to speak, but the sound of pain echoed throughout the body. It continued to try and obey this impossible order, as if cracked gears were forced to spin and more gears were forced in. The stone golem’s huge body let out cackling and terrifying sounds.

Even so, Ellis continued to move.

With that terrifying cackling sound, it finally took a step forward.

BOOM! A heavy sound slightly trembled the ground.

On seeing this, Sherry was delighted, continuing to wave the oil pastel.

“Ah...ah...what to do...”

In the explosion of gunpowder, Kazakiri couldn’t help but ask.

“Though the situation isn’t too good, it’s still within what I expected. It’ll be best if I can push her back or maintain her balance, it seems like things aren’t going to go as I wanted.”

Kamijou’s words made Kazakiri doubt her own ears.

Then, the female Anti-Skill member wielding the transparent shield in her hand said,

“Are you sure you’re going to do this, boy? No one will blame you if you back away, you know.”

“I have to go up, you know. You just saw it, that huge piece of trash got destroyed when my right hand touched it. My right hand has such a power.”

“It’s true that Tsukuyomi-sensei told me this before...”

Kazakiri felt that strength was disappearing from her fingertips.

What were they saying? Kazakiri wondered. They seemed to be ready to carry out some shocking plan, and yet she herself didn’t know anything.

“If I don’t do anything now, that thing will come over anytime. Besides, bullets can’t be fired forever, and you can’t possibly continue to hold that shield for much longer.”

“There’s only one chance. If you fail, we won’t be able to save you, we’ll shoot. At that moment, you’ll become bullet target like that stone golem.”

On hearing the Anti-Skill woman’s words, Kazakiri was shocked.

“...Wait...hold on...may I know...what you’re trying to do...?”

“Do you need to ask?”

Kamijou replied without hesitation,

“...We’re here to stop that monster.”

THUNK! The heavy footsteps of the stone golem could be heard again.

The sound was a lot more forceful than before. Sherry and Ellis were now starting to get used to the force of the barrage.

“No...this...is too dangerous...”

“Too bad my power can only be activated when my right hand touches it. If I could just release a long ranged attack like a railgun, it’d be a lot easier.”

BOOM! The earth shook again.

Like the traveler moving against the North wind, the stone golem continued to move forward.

Both sides were within 10m of each other.

“I’m about to give the order, and I’m going to confirm it with you again. Boy, are you ready?”

“...Yes.”

It was likely that they had already discussed what they should do before coming here.

Thus, the boy just needed to respond with a single sentence, and didn’t need to say anything more.

“Still trying to act cool, eh, boy? Sigh, Tsukuyomi-sensei really taught her students well.”

The female Anti-Skill member smiled slightly, and then pulled out a mini-wireless telephone.

“Alright, then I’ll play with you then. However, you must succeed, and come back alive. We’ll try and coordinate with you.”

On hearing this, Kamijou’s lips curled up.

At that moment, Kazakiri discovered that the boy was trying his best to hold himself from trembling.

“On the count—THREE!”

The female Anti-Skill member gave some command to the wireless radio.

Kazakiri felt goosebumps down her body. Was this boy really thinking of rushing outside of the shield arrays and at the stone golem? In this rain of bullets, even the people firing the guns wouldn’t be able to tell where the bullets would fly to.

Once he was hit, he was dead.

It was not possible for him not to be afraid.

“—TWO!”

Originally crouched on the floor, Kamijou slightly lifted his upper body.

“Wait...no! This...you’ll definitely die...this...no...I...!”

“Don’t stop me, Kazakiri.”

Facing Kazakiri, who was all in a disarray and distraught, Kamijou, who was supposed to be in the most danger said calmly,

“The reason you’re afraid of me should be because of this right hand, right? No matter good or evil, as long as it’s a supernatural power, it will be removed by this right hand, even you.”

Kamijou then said,

“So don’t try and reach your hand out to stop me.”

Kazakiri felt deeply shocked by it, almost unable to breathe.

Sherry also seemed to sense that Anti-Skill was trying to do something, waving her oil pastel even more frantically. Ellis despite getting hit hard by the concentrated fire, started stepping forward with more force.

But at that moment, Kamijou didn’t even look at Sherry.

He just focused on the girl in front of him.

Understanding the power in Kamijou’s right hand and why she would deliberately avoid this boy, Kazakiri couldn’t hide the shock on her face. Looking straight at Kazakiri, Kamijou said,

“However, don’t be too mindful. Even if you can’t touch me, you’re still my friend. And also, don’t think about dying so easily. I’ll come back alive, I will.”

“Ah...come back...alive...?”

“Yeah. We’ll then bring Index along, and go out to play again.”

After saying that, he smiled.

After that, he turned to look in front.

The voices of Anti-Skill seemed to cut off the last contact between Kamijou and Kazakiri.

“—ZERO!”

In an instant.

Anti-Skill stopped shooting.

Even Sherry didn’t expect this.

Since the bullets were the last line of defense that was protecting Anti-Skill, once they stopped firing, everyone would become victims of Ellis’ fist the next instant. Normally speaking, nobody would do such a suicidal thing.

But this was effective.

For Ellis’ heavy body suddenly tripped forward.

It was forcing its way forward as if it was resisting the North wind, only for the wind to suddenly stop. The excessive force generated on its body caused Ellis to lose balance and fall forward.

Kamijou jumped over the transparent shield and charged forward.

There was about 7m between him and Ellis.

“DAMN IT!! GET RID OF HIM, ELLIS!!”

Seeing Kamijou dash forward like a rocket, Sherry frantically waved her oil pastel.

Obediently following the order, Ellis raised its fist. However, its body was in an unstable state. If it tried to punch in this state, it would definitely trip. If so, Kamijou didn’t need to do anything, and without her shield to protect her, Sherry would immediately be shot by the Anti-Skill bullets. Kamijou just needed to get down and avoid the bullet fire.

Even so, Ellis still raised its fist.

Even so, Ellis still raised its fist.

As expected, the body that was already about to fall lost balance even more, and Ellis fell forward, face down. The stone golem was about 4m tall, and since the distance between the stone golem to Kamijou was about 7m, Kamijou would definitely not be crushed.

Kamijou gripped his fist hard, intending to catch the moment Ellis landed on the floor.

VOOM! Ellis swung its fist.

But even as it fell down, Ellis wasn’t aiming its fist at Kamijou, but the floor.

“What...?”

With Ellis’ fist as centre, there was a spiderweb-like crack of radius 8m on the floor. The entire place acted like a cushion as it moved about, and Kamijou’s body was tossed high up into the air. The walls, ceiling, pillars and every single corner let out a terrifying clattering sound, echoing throughout the underground street.

Then, Kamijou, who fell onto the ground, saw the giant stone golem Ellis use the impact caused by punching onto the floor to stand upright like a spring.

Sherry waved her right hand.

Ellis’ giant fist was raised high again, as if it was trying to crush a bug on the floor.

“Damn it...”

Kamijou heard the slight sound of metal colliding with each other, and it seemed Anti-Skill was raising their weapons. However, they weren’t firing yet. Once the torrent of bullets arrived, Kamijou would definitely be dead.

(Damn it, how can there be such a dumb thing! Hurry, think of how I’m going to get out of this...!)

Raising its fist, Ellis was just nicely positioned above Kamijou. In this situation, even if Kamijou used his right hand and destroyed Ellis’ fist, several tons of rubble would collapse and crush him to death.

Even if he was to try and escape, due to the time left, he could only take one more step. Ellis was already over 4m tall, and the arm’s length was about 2m. No matter whether he was to try and jump aside, left or right, or even roll backwards, he wouldn’t be able to avoid the attack.

(Damn it, damn it! Isn’t there any way...!)

Ellis’ fist carried all the force of its weight as it headed down from directly above Kamijou. Kamijou at least understood that using his right hand to block it would be suicidal. He focused all his attention on his legs, strongly determined to jump over at it.

Not left, right nor backwards, but forward.

Ellis was over 4m tall. In other words, the blind spots close to its chest was a lot bigger than a human. There was already an almost 2m tall hole between its legs. Normally, if anyone was to try and sneak in between Ellis’ feet, Ellis would definitely kick the person out.

However, Ellis was swinging its fist down.

While its entire body was unstable as the whole weight was focused on the fist, Ellis had to stand firm and maintain balance.

In fact, Kamijou, who was used to fighting, understands clearly that even though a forceful hit was powerful and looked cool, it had the flaw of being easily counterattacked. Due to the center of gravity, once it let out this hit, it wouldn’t be able to evade.

Ellis couldn’t move its legs by an inch before it finished swinging its fist.

Trying to maintain balance like a human caused Ellis’ downfall.

Kamijou bent down, staying in a position close to the ground before jumping forward. Like an arrow released from the bow, he shot out between Ellis’ legs.

Then,

Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta! Ellis’ body emitted a lot of sparks. The Anti-Skill members who had raised their guns again squeezed the trigger.

Ellis’ movements were again restrained.

And what was ironic was that Kamijou, who was standing behind Ellis, wouldn’t be hit by the gunfire.

Kamijou slowly stood up, reaching his right hand out as he wanted to touch Ellis’ back. But thinking about it, he didn’t do so. He looked away from Ellis and turned his head behind.

Sherry Cromwell was just in front of him.

“Ah...ELLIS...”

Full of fear and tension, Sherry shouted, but she was clear that if she was to move Ellis carelessly, Anti-Skill's rifle bullets would hit her. Also, Sherry was unable to escape from the narrow space behind Ellis.

The oil pastel in her hand was waving unnaturally. Unlike the clear actions she did before, she didn’t know what she should command Ellis to do.

Right now, Sherry had no one to turn to.

Her strongest weapon was right in front of her, yet it couldn’t move, even helping Kamijou block the enemy’s bullets.

“Good.”

Kamijou said.

He raised his right hand up and swung one huge round, as if he was trying to check the flexibility of his shoulder.

“Ah...”

Facing this situation of despair, Sherry inadvertently revealed a distorted smile.

“Haha, what the Hell. This means I have no way to escape now, is it?”

“There’s no need to.”

With gunfire ringing throughout, Kamijou closed an eye.

“You just need to sleep quietly.”

With a punch, Kamijou Touma sent Sherry Cromwell flying far without mercy.

Sherry’s tender flesh was like paper floating in the air as it continued to roll on the floor.

Part 6

The gunfire hadn’t ceased.

Since Sherry was beaten down, Ellis couldn’t move; but Anti-Skill hadn’t given Ellis the decisive blow, so of course they didn’t dare to stop their attacks. Kamijou turned his eyes from Sherry, who was knocked 5m away, and turned to look at Ellis.

(Speaking of which, if I’m to suddenly destroy this...won’t the bullets hit me?)

Kamijou gingerly reached his right hand out to Ellis...

“Ho...hohoho...”

Suddenly, he could hear a girl’s laughter. Kamijou turned behind and looked at Sherry.

She was smiling, she was lying on the floor and smiling.

But she was still holding onto the white oil pastel.

Shua! She swung the oil pastel quickly on the floor as if she was drawing a sword, drawing some mysterious lines that looked like a picture or symbol.

“Ah...damnit, you’re thinking of creating of creating a second one?”

Kamijou dashed forward, intending to stop her.

“Hoho...hohoho...hohohohoho. That’s impossible. Since Ellis exists, I can’t create a second Ellis. If I could create more than one Ellis, why do you think I didn’t create an army of Ellises? Even if I’m to barely create a second one, I can’t maintain its shape, it’ll collapse like rotten mud.”

Sherry then laughed in a sinister way.

“But as long as I can use it properly, I can create such a effect.”

In an instant, with the lines that Sherry drew on the floor as centre, an area of radius 2m collapsed. Sherry got carried into the hole and disappeared as if she had been swallowed by the hole.

“Damn it!”

Kamijou frantically dashed forward, but there was only a hole there. The hole was extremely deep, it was hard to tell how many metres deep it was. However, it seemed like there was air flow inside it.

(Damn it, this is an underground passage...)

Kamijou said. At that moment, Ellis, which wasn’t moving, suddenly collapsed. Since both golems couldn’t exist at the same time, it was likely that Sherry destroyed the old golem to create a new golem. With the destruction of the old Ellis, the gunfire ceased.

(However, it somehow doesn’t feel right.)

Seeing the inside of the dark hole, doubts lurked within Kamijou’s heart.

Sherry Cromwell's persistence to her target was too little. This was a lot different from the other magicians he had met up till now. If it had been those magicians from before, they would not escape that easily with the target Kazakiri Hyouka there (and Kamijou himself was a target as well).

(Think! What am I so worried!?)

Kamijou carefully recalled every word that Sherry had said before, his face looking serious as he lowered his head. After a while, he suddenly looked up.

“Oh, isn’t the key to the Imaginary district with you? That...that...how do you pronounce that? Really, Japanese names are so complex.”

That was right. Thinking back, Sherry’s interest in Kazakiri wasn’t that high from the start.

“I need a spark to ignite a war, so I have to let more people know about it. I’m a member of the English Anglicans, got it?—ELLIS!”

If Sherry had another motive, and killing Kazakiri was just one way to achieve the it...

“Anyhow, it’s alright whoever it is. It’s not like I have to kill that brat.”

If Kazakiri could be replaced by someone else...

“Hoho...hohoho...hohohohoho. Index, Imagine Breaker, the key to the Imaginary District, who shall I choose? Can I choose anyone? Hoho, what a hassle. It’s problematic if there are too many options.”

Sherry Cromwell didn’t escape.

She went off to find a new target.

Also...

She had only 3 targets, two of them, Kamijou and Kazakiri were here, protected by Anti-Skill.

The only one not there and not protected by Anti-Skill was—

“DAMN IT...INDEX!!!!”

Between the lines 2

The footsteps echoed inside the underground streets.

These weren’t the footsteps of a human. These were the footsteps of the 4m tall monster that was made of concrete and railroad tracks, the stone golem Ellis.

Cradled in Ellis’ arms, Sherry was waving her oil pastel, controlling Ellis’ feet. Where should she go, she was rather clear of it. Before creating the second Ellis, Sherry had already used several mud eyes to grasp the target’s location. But in order to create the second Ellis, she had already destroyed those eyeballs.

The face that took a punch was all numb. At first, the feet that were hidden underneath Sherry’s skirt weren’t touching the ground, but floating several centimeters in the air. Because of this, Sherry wasn’t affected by the shockwaves created by Ellis. But after she got punched by that boy, even though the levitation spell absorbed the impact from the punch, the spell itself was destroyed. Thus, right now, Sherry could only let Ellis carry her away.

Sherry looked around, muttering.

It was so irritating to the eyes.

This underground space that was formed by concrete; this stinky, dusty and dirty air was really an eyesore.

The one who created this thing was really an eyesore. The force that was enough to create this was really an eyesore.

Sherry hated this city.

She hated the water of this city, the wind in this city, the land in this city, the fire in this city, everything and anything about this city. She wished for everyone in this city to disappear, to disappear from history; to disappear from human memory, to disappear from this world.

The face that got hit by the boy started to feel hot.

This city itself was the biggest reason for disaster, Sherry grumbled.

“Ellis.”

Sherry said.

Originally, Ellis wasn’t the name of this golem.

But the name of an esper who died at the age of 20.