Touma Kamijou didn't know what to think at this point.
There he was, sitting in his kotatsu, confusion, shock and bewilderment adorning his face. Across from him, sitting innocently, as if the earlier situation hadn't happened in her mind, was the ornamentally dressed girl who looked too young for her age.
He offered her down to the balcony, but her stomach kept grumbling, so he took out some food from the fridge. The overwhelming smell of the spoiled yakisoba bread met his very keen sense of smell, and he nearly passed out from it. He kept his wits though, and threw it on the table, looking for any other food in the fridge he could dredge up for the weird foreigner girl.
(Nothing here, well that figures. I didn't expect a silver and gold girl to be draped around the railing of my back pantry. Some day, Kamijou. Some day.)
He pinched his ridge, feeling the accumulated stress of the past week catch up to him.
Remedial classes, a crazy zap-happy brat chasing him around the city, typical shenanigans with his misfortune...
'Hey so uh, I know you're hungry and all but I got nothing on here. The food's all spoiled so I might go out and buy something for you and,' he turned to talk to the nun only to stop, 'me.'
There was only one food article that was in the fridge, the yakisoba bread.
He dropped it on the table before, and it was there on that table as he went back to the fridge.
Then he turned back and he saw it wasn't there.
Why wasn't it there?
Kamijou went over to search the table only to hear a rather loud belch from the other side of the room.
'A little tangy and sour, but simply delicious! I would've starved to death if it weren't for you, so thank you for your generosity!'
'Uh.' Kamijou stood there, stunned.
He walked over to the other side of the room, sitting at the other table's edge near the bed. He sat across where the glutton of a woman was.
'You... ate the bread?'
'Yes. I didn't wish to seem ungrateful.'
'...Even the plastic?'
'Oh so that's where that weird taste came from! ...What's plastic?'
'...Oh such misfortune, what have I gotten myself into?'
Kamijou got up and walked out of the dorm, but not before telling her not to go anywhere. A second later he returned, bringing two paper bags with a famous brand logo at both fronts.
'Eat up,' Kamijou shook out the contents of the bag, a big hamburger with a side packet of fries. His was the same albeit without the fries. He chose bottled water instead of soft drinks since he didn't want to splurge on his budget too much, and softdrinks for breakfast wasn't healthy.
Kamijou watched as the girl's green eyes shone like emeralds, before she ripped the wrapper apart and gulped down the large meal into her mouth.
Then she had the audacity to delicately wipe off a smidge of ketchup on her mouth with her thumb.
Kamijou promptly dropped his meal to the table before ruminating on what just happened.
'Are you okay?'
'No. I'm... not very OK.'
'Oh dear. I can go over-'
'No. Please don't. I don't want any more implications headed in my way.'
'Oh. Okay then,' she said as sat back into her seat (actually the floor on the other side of the table). 'Well, I thank you most sincerely for your generosity, but I need to leave. I've a place to go to.'
'Wawawawait, where you going? Besides do you even know where to go?'
The girl stopped in her tracks. 'T-To be honest, only that n-need to go to a church.'
'A church.'
'Yes.'
'...Here.'
'Yes.'
'...I doubt you'll find one here in this district. Or in this city for that matter.'
After all, this was Academy City. The superstitious and occult do not survive in such a scientific and reasonable world.
At least, that's what the misfortunate Kamijou-san would say if one removes the adjective "misfortunate" to his person.
Case in put, Touma Kamijou was a very misfortunate person.
His whole life had been nothing but misfortune. He was born unlucky, he lived unluckily, and will die unlucky. That's just how it worked with him. Even the strength he had didn't help much; if anything it only intensified his misfortune.
Kamijou watched as the girl in front of him slumped down, a depressive aura emanating from her body can't help but feel bad. After all, whoever this girl is, she must be in a hurry to look for a church in here. 'I'm afraid to ask, but why do you need to go to a church here in the first place?'
'Because I'm being chased.'
The air within the room shifted. Kamijou felt his hands clench into fists.
'Who is hunting you?' Kamijou asked. His heart pounded within his chest, his breath got shallower by the second, the noise around him went away as he focused entirely on this troubled woman.
"I am being chased... by magicians."
Only to hear what he thought a POP! in his head.
'...mmm?'
'For the past couple months, magicians have been pursuing me throughout Japan. They nearly got me a couple times, but by the grace of God I managed to get away.'
'Wha-'
'One of them was a tall man, with an oddly youthful face, wearing priestly robes. The other one is a striking Japanese beauty, with an odd choice for clothing...'
'Wait a second.'
'I'm getting ahead of myself. In a few moments your life will be in danger, which is why I must go to a church and ask for sanctuary. Forgive me for not coming clean with you on this matter but seeing your attire it seems you aren't someone involved with the occul-'
'Time the F out! What the hell is happening, and furthermore, what are you talking about!?'
'I'm being chased.'
'Yes?'
'By magicians?'
'...'
'...Why are you looking at me like that?'
'Is this some obscure roleplay you're doing, the kind where you physically go and do potentially life-threatening stuff for authenticity? Because if it is, I need to have a long talk with you about self-love and the value of getting better friends.
'I mean, you got me riled up for nothing. First you telling about some bastards chasing after you, then you making stuff up-'
'I'm not joking.' Kamijou stopped, and looked at the girl. Her somber glare pierced through the boy.
'Are you certain? I mean, occult, MAGIC? That's not possible.'
'Why not? Why isn't it possible?'
'It just isn't.'
'But why, why isn't it? Enlighten me,' she crossed her arms, looking very ticked off. He had no clue why, but he decided to humor her.
'Magic is just something people in the past made up to explain scientific phenomena, or their ability to trick people into believing they're incredibly gifted in a specific ability. But here in Academy City, you can gain a supernatural power through scientific means, like Pyrokinesis, Clairvoyance, Psychometry, all that stuff,' Kamijou explained while waving his hand around. 'In short, Esper abilities exist, but Magic doesn't.'
'Are you ignorant or something? Magic exists.'
'You cannot expect me to believe that.'
'Magic exists.'
'Look, just tell me who's responsible for all this mess, and I'll go talk with them.'
'MAGIC EXISTS!'
Kamijou stopped despite himself. The girl was pouting, and her eyes were getting glassy.
For a girl her age, she has very poor emotion control.
Kamijou only sighed. 'You did tell me to "enlighten you". Don't get all cranky when you feel as if your world's about to crumble. But it's the truth.'
'You have no problem with supernatural phenomena happening around you, and magic is where you draw the line? That doesn't seem fair.'
'Because magic isn't-'
'Magic is real, and I'll prove it!'
'Oh really? Go ahead, do some magic. Convince me.'
'...cannot...'
'What?'
'I said I can't! I can't... do magic myself. Which is why I need to find sanctuary here.'
'Are you the type of con man who goes and makes excuses as to why they can't do something extraordinary?'
The girl got up, glaring at the boy.
'Glare at me all you want, it's not as if you'll be able to convince me- where are you going?' Kamijou looked as the nun walked to the kitchen. An opened drawer, sounds of metal clanking, and a closed drawer later she went back to the living room.
'...Miss, just... let's talk about this.'
'You wanted proof? Here, stab me with this knife!'
'Miss, I don't want to be implicated with murder so put that down!'
'The clothes draped over me are built with the minimum requirements needed to make the Church. A "Walking Church" for simplicity's sake. Therefore, any damage done against me, physical or magical, is completely absorbed by my clothing because of its composition as an exact replica of the Shroud of Turin! Stab me, shoot me, slash at me all you want, but this won't draw blood from me!'
'...I am not stupid enough to go and stab you like that.'
'Here you are again, still making fun of me! But this is real magic,' the nun grabbed her clothes and shoved them forward. 'Unless you need more proof?'
Kamijou was irritated at this woman's attitude. Was she so deep into this delusion, that any thing he would say would just pass through her ears?
'Right dammit! If you're so adamant to keep it up with this delusional fantasy then you got another thing coming!'
'Well, what are you gonna do then? You won't entertain my request, so I don't see what you can do at this moment.' Kamijou wanted to wipe that smug look on the "nun"'s face. So he walked over to her, and thrust his right hand to her shoulder.
'I'll do this then!'
'...'
'...'
'...'
'...'
'...was something supposed to happen after that?'
'Normally, yes. But-'
The sound of shattered glass echoed throughout the room.
'What was that?'
'I think I removed something on you.'
'Remove what?'
'You said something about your clothing being magical, so I thought my right hand could go and cancel it outright?'
'Why? What's with your right that makes it that important for you to remove this something on me?'
Kamijou was about to say something, but his words stayed in his mouth, and his eyes widened in terror.
'W-What's wrong?' The nun asked him, but it was at that moment that she felt a chill through her body. Which was weird, considering her robes were bulky enough to keep her warm throughout last night-
She wasn't wearing anything underneath.
'Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!'
XxX
(How the hell did those hurt me?) Kamijou internally grumbled to himself as he was outside the room. He rubbed his arms and head, to ease the pain of a thousand bear traps hurting him.
The other occupant of the room was inside, and Kamijou heard her grumble about "her first time being taken like that" and "this was rather difficult to do".
After a while, Kamijou slightly opened the door. 'Is it good to come in now?'
'You saw me in such a shameful state, and you can speak to me in a nonchalant way!?'
'I'll take that as a "no" then.'
Kamijou waited for a while, until the girl inside told him to come in.
Kamijou walked inside, seeing the girl's robes held together by gold pins unto every inch of the clothing, where they would unravel.
'You know I could just go out and buy some clothes for you, I don't know why you're still rearing to wear that even with...'
Kamijou closed his eyes due to the nun's glare. Which quickly turned to a sigh.
'This is the worst day of my life.'
'So uh, I didn't catch your name the first time?'
'Hm? Oh, my name is Index, as in 'Index Librorum Prohibitorum'. My magic name is Dedicatus545, "the dedicated lamb protects the knowledge of the strong".'
'Okay then. Well, why were you chased then? You can't do magic, as you said yourself. So it must be something you own that made them come after you.'
'Yes. ...It's because of the 103,000 grimoires I carry in me.'
'...But you're not carrying anything on you.'
'Not physically. I carry all of them in my mind, stored and locked away where no one can access it so easily.'
Kamijou looked at the girl. She had calmed a bit from earlier, and freely shared what would be very sensitive information to a stranger like him. He couldn't help but wonder why situations like this were almost the norm for him, but he let it go.
'It was this right hand's fault, anyway.'
'Hm?'
'My right hand, it's got this really crappy ability. I can negate and cancel out any supernatural power it touches, no matter how powerful it is. It's kept me through some really bad spots here in this City. Anything from a man-made supernova, to a H-bomb-grade energy beam attack, it'll go and block against. I'd go so far and say that even a miracle can be canceled out by my power.'
'...Normally I'd be skeptical by your claims but my tattered robes are the result of your power's effects so I can't refute that.' Index only sighed. 'That said, that whole "cancelling miracles" part is highly questionable, and quite offensive.'
Kamijou stirred.
'By the way they must be really important that you'd be hunted down by those magicians.'
'Yes. Grimoires are incredibly dangerous to even read. Because of my Perfect Memory I was able to bypass their harmful effects and record each and every word within each of the 103,000 grimoires' pages. It was a lot of work.'
'Sounds kinda boring if you always go around and read a bunch of books, deadly or not.'
'Yeah. But not like I would know that.'
Kamijou stirred. That sentence was rather suspicious.
'Well anyway I really need to go now. Even if there isn't a church around here I cannot stay here and indulge myself with your generosity for much longer.'
'Hey wait a bit!'
Kamijou got up as Index rushed to the door, opening it before turning to the left. As Kamijou went after her his foot tripped on the carpet, causing him to lose his footing. He managed to keep himself upright, only to hear a crack underneath his foot. He raised it up, and saw a broken cellphone.
'S-Such misfortune,' Kamijou grumbled.
'Your ability,' Index started, 'you once said your power might cancel out a miracle, but I think it's a lot more nuanced than that. God's grace is given out to all his children, thus giving them constant "blessings" throughout their lifetime, but your hand would often erase them by contact.
In other words, your misfortune's more or less the result of that rotten ability of yours than anything else.'
(My ability...?) Kamijou processed her words. He slumped in response, feeling the weight of that reveal sink into his mind.
'So as long as my hand's stuck to me, misfortune's all I'll ever face? Truly, this is such bullshit misfortune.' Touma grumbled, scratching his head in frustration. 'But wait, where will you go? You said you need to find a church around here. But I told you it's incredibly unlikely to find one around this city.'
'That's okay. As long as I keep moving around they won't be able to capture me. I've been doing this for almost a year now, I think I can handle myself quite well.'
'But even so...'
'Furthermore, they'll come after you. Anyone who's come into contact with me'll be pursued, and I don't want you to be involved in something like this. You're already in danger because of me explaining to you my goals and directives, as well as the knowledge of the grimoires in my mind.'
'But I can't just leave you alone out there! I can help you out, I can go around and look for a church for you to enter in. I don't know how it works but maybe if you tell me what to look for I can at the very least ease your worries and get you to safety much quicker!'
'Really now, are you so willing to drag yourself down to the depths of Hell for someone like me?'
Kamijou went silent by the woman's casual words. A chill went down his spine. His mind wondered as to how someone like her was this resilient, yet so fragile at the same time. Unlike the espers of Academy City whose appearances belie their powers, Index didn't seem to have the aura of a battle-hardened warrior, but that of a prey pursued by predators. It made Kamijou want to keep her here in his house. He wanted to give her a room key at the very least if she decided to come back, but he figured she might not take it.
But he really didn't want her to risk her life for someone like him.
After all, he was far stronger than her, he can take her in and protect her.
Kamijou went to open his mouth, but no words came out.
Index only smiled, and took off with a farewell.
Kamijou went over to the door. 'If you need my help you know where to find me okay?!'
'Sure thing! If I ever get hungry again I'll know where to find your house-wah wahwahwah!? What are these things!! Agathions?! Waaaaaah!' Kamijou watched as the strange woman ran away from the cleaner robots.
Kamijou sighed. 'Well, this was a rough start to my morning. And I barely got to prepare all my stuff for school today,' he said to himself as he closed the door.
...the sounds of ruckus and declarations of being late were heard outside the room, much to the amusement of Kamijou's next door neighbor.
'Game. Set. And match.'
XxX
After saying his catchphrase for the 1 billionth time today, Kamijou trudged along the streets of District 7, already tired from dealing with his class's antics earlier.
During Komoe's rather tedious lesson regarding Telekinesis Kamijou found himself thinking about a certain silver nun. He hoped to see her once again, as something about that girl drew the super-strong boy in. Was it her strange clothing, her long silvery hair, her doll-like appearance? He didn't know, but it made him smile slightly. He was content to spend the rest of the class occupied all to himself until he was rudely interrupted by a certain blue-haired bastard.
'Hey Sensei! Kamijou's looking over at the tennis girls' fluttering skirts again!'
He found himself kissing Fukiyose's knuckles again after that, and he had to wonder if the Iron Wall Girl had a strength-boosting ability to hurt someone like him. He really needed to talk to Aogami some day.
He was so caught up in his thoughts he initially ignored the brown-haired brat that was calling for his attention constantly.
'Hey, what the hell!? I've been calling you for 45 seconds! What am I to you, the wind!?' Kamijou stopped in the middle of the street, meeting face to face with the bane of his whole existence. The very reason why his room had been steaming hot.
'So, what do you want Biribiri? Don't you have something else to do that's more important than me?'
'Shut it! Mikoto. Misaka. Get my name right you spike-headed idiot. And don't act all casual to me, we still haven't settled our dispute have we? You better man up and get your last words ready, because today's the day I defeat you right now!'
'Yeah no, hard pass. See ya later Biribiri.'
'Tch. Don't try to ignore me you bastard!!!' With a stomp Mikoto Misaka unleashed a powerful wave electricity around the street, which fried many of the pedestrians' cellphones. Kamijou blocked one stray bolt with his right hand.
'There, that probably made you quiver in your pants already huh? Because unluckily for you there's more where that came fro-'
'YOU BITCH! WHAT THE HELL'S YOUR PROBLEM, LIKE WERE YOU SO NEGLECTED BY YOUR PARENTS SO MUCH YOU GO AROUND AND DO STUPID STUFF LIKE THIS!? HAVE SOME FUCKING HUMAN DECENCY GODDAMIT!
SERIOUSLY, BECAUSE OF YOUR STUNT LAST NIGHT, I HAD TO SLEEP THE ENTIRE NIGHT DRENCHED IN MY FUCKING SWEAT BECAUSE YOU FRIED THE WHOLE ELECTRIC GRID OVERNIGHT! ADD TO THAT ALL THE FOOD IN MY FRIDGE FUCKING EXPIRED, AND I'M BLAMING YOU FOR IT!'
'SHUT UP! IT'S YOUR FAULT IN THE FIRST PLACE, NOT MINE! YOU PISSED ME OFF!'
'In what way!? I didn't try to hit you once over our encounters, and you won most of them!'
'I don't count it as winning when my opponent blocks every single attack I throw at them. And you don't even try to hit me! Like what, are you some sort of white knight who thinks hitting girls is too much for them?'
(As long as they aren't annoying like you), was what Kamijou wanted to say, but fearing the repercussions that might bring out from it he only said, 'Alright fine, I get it. Really, I do. Perhaps you're just so bored with your schoolwork that you needed someone to vent off to. Or you have but they're too much of a yes-man to say anything negative towards you, is that it?'
'What? H-Hey, get back here! I'm leaving until you take me seriously!'
'Do you really want that? Because,' Kamijou turned. 'I can't guarantee you'll survive.'
Biribiri stood silently. Her eyes widened in shock. She stumbled back from Kamijou's words, not fully expecting his stern demeanor. His aura changed from a relaxed mellow tune, to a colder, more ruthless one, making her skin crawl.
She... didn't expect this to happen. She wanted the boy to go and fight her at full strength, so why? Why the hesitation? She didn't know it at the time, but she was trembling.
The tense atmosphere continued on for a while, until it ended with a heavy sigh from Kamijou. 'Honestly what the hell was all that? Magicians, grimoires, and such? I can't deal with this day, like what the fuck?'
Biribiri was confused by the older boy's mutterings. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud shrill noise. Both teens turned around, seeing three cleaner robots spazzing around on the street.
Each cleaner robot cost ¥50,000 to repair, and anyone who's caught, or even suspected of wrecking one was gonna have a field day at the AntiSkill office.
'Good luck,' Kamijou said to the ozone-scented brunette as he rushed away from the crime scene.
'Wha-? What the hell- oh this sucks!' The girl yelled indignantly as she ran away as well, left behind by the super-quick boy ages ago.
XxX
Kamijou leaped up to the third floor of the dorm building he lived in, skipping the long stairs, and the old rickety elevator which looked to break down any time soon.
Fatigue settled in his mind as the sun started to set. He was hoping to leave his bag behind, scrounge up enough money he had saved up and go eat outside. As he walked to the direction where his dormitory was he saw three cleaner robots next to his door. He went over to check out the strange sight, only to freeze in shock and terror.
Blood. Unmistakable, it was the scent of blood.
And the scent was strongest at the center of the robots. Kamijou quickly pushed them aside.
His face paled in horror.
Lying in their own blood, back facing up, was Index. Her white-gold habit was stained with black and red, and the gash at the back poured out more and more blood than he could imagine. He saw the deathly pale face of the nun, frozen in silent anguish.
'Hey hey, stay with me now! I-I'll go get some help,' Kamijou went to go and leave but his shirt was grabbed.
'D... Don... 't.... plea.... se...'
'Hey Index, don't worry ok? I'll go get help, just stay with me okay? It'll take only a few minutes and an ambulance will take you-'
'Actually that won't be necessary. We'll go take it from here so unless you have a death wish, I suggest you leave now.'
Kamijou quickly turned around, a sight so surreal he hadn't a clue if it was real or not.
He was rather tall, almost 2 meters. His red hair dropped to his jaw, and he wore long black robes normally worn by priests and pastors, however his look clashed with his attire. It was anything but priestly; a small barcode was tatooed under their right eye, some piercings on their left, and a single cigarette lit on his mouth.
'What? What are you talking about? Who are you?'
'I do not wish to make this as drawn out it'd be, so I'll make this short.'
The tall man's mouth stretched into a grin.
'I am one of the Magicians the List of Prohibited Books has mentioned to you. And I've come to retrieve her.
I suggest you move out of the way before things get worse for you.'
Kamijou felt his mind clear a bit.
This was the Magician Index had talked about?
He clenched his fist.
This won't take long, he supposed.
Using his speed, he charged towards the lone Magician, arms stretched out.
A second later an explosion rocked the third floor of the dormitory.
XxX
If you enjoyed so far please leave a comment down below, tell me what you guys think so far. If there's the need for any improvements and all.
Constructive criticism is much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Komigakuo.