Disclaimer: I do not own To aru majutsu no index. I do not own the characters. Or any other properties mentioned in this story.
What you should know: Obviously, this is my first story in this fandom (So... Go figure). And also the first story in this account. Since the series has no specific ending yet, I would just be winging it until then. Now I shall apologize in advance if this story would hurt your sensibilities.
Bad luck to the Future
# 01
Back to square one
"Seems it was nothing." A plump doctor said in an examination room on some hospital.
The doctor spun around in a swiveling chair. It, creaking annoyingly like it was saying, 'Dude! Ever heard of the gym!'. He seemed to have been aware that he resembled a frog, because he had a sticker of a small tree frog on the ID card on his chest.
Index gave him a quizzical look, the doctor that was in front of him was funny one. (Not 'ha ha' funny, but 'weird' funny) She wondered why she was alone with him, but without any other place she could wait, she had no choice.
"I don't like speaking so politely to someone who isn't my patient, so I'm going to stop. This is my first and last question to you as a doctor: Why did you come here to my hospital?"
Not even Index knew the answer to that question.
No one, truly no one, had told her the truth.
She disliked having magicians, whom she thought were her enemies, tell her about the yearly wiping of her memories or about how a certain boy had risked his life to save her from those horrible circumstances.
"But having three people in Academy City without an ID is quite a surprise. Did you know a strange beam shot down one of our spy-...surveillance satellites? It left Judgment quite busy."
That wasn't your first and last question at all. Chided Index.
Index was one of the three without an ID. The other two were likely those magicians. Despite having chased her all over, they had brought her to the hospital and then disappeared without a trace. Like magic.
"By the way, where did you get that chili dog?..." The doctor glanced down at her hands. Which was in fact, holding the certain 'hot' that is not a dog. "...And that letter you have there is from them, isn't it?"
The frog-faced doctor stared at the envelope in Index's hand that looked like it could hold even a love letter. With an angry look, Index ripped the envelope apart and took out the letter. Before she rammed the food into her face, of course.
"Oh? I thought it was addressed to that boy, not you."
"It doesn't matter." The girl replied indignantly.
Since the letter was sent by "Stiyl Magnus" and started with "Dear Kamijou Touma", it was simply too suspicious, and if this was a game it would obviously lead to a 'certain' route. A deadly malice could be felt from the heart shaped sticker on the envelope.
At any rate, the letter read…
First of all, rather than thanking you for helping us I'll interpret what index has been up to now that you have your secluded life back. It'll be a big problem if I save it for later.
I mean... It's not like I wanted to specifically explain it to you or anything, I just wanted you to know on what's exactly going on, understand?
For some odd reason, Index couldn't help but imagine a scene where that red-headed magician was blushing and acting like a giddy japanese high school girl while saying this to a spiky haired someone.
It went on like that for 8 pages of stationery. Index silently and carefully read through it all, crushing up each page she finished and tossing it behind her.
The doctor's frog face grew more and more annoyed with each new balled-up page littering the floor of his workplace, which was not really that neat in the first place, but he could not say anything to Index who emitted the odd intimidation of a guy who has been in a line for hours, only to find out that the certain thing he wanted to buy was sold out.
Now on the 9th and final page, the following was written:
There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her memories. After the incident with the collar, an order came from the higher ups...
"Bring her back immediately!" or something like that.
So... how's your head? You should still be in that place where they look after you. I don't understand how you can stay calm while receiving treatment from a place like that. For the time being, she is allowed to do as she wishes.
Personally, I feel that having her spend even one second with you is unforgivable, but...
It seems that girl was using the 103,000 grimoires to use magic. Now that John's Pen mode has been destroyed, I wonder if she'll be able to use magic on her own. Probably not?
I don't think it's even possible, but if that one in a million chance happens. Then we'll have to prepare ourselves for it.
If she ever uses the grimoires in that library of hers, then she would have the same powers as a powerful magician.
Index paused for a moment, that was a bit redundant, isn't it?
(By the way, this does not mean we have given up and are leaving her to you. Once we have gathered the information and equipment we need, we intend to come back to take that girl again. I don't like catching people off guard, so make sure you prepare yourself for our arrival. And no surprise parties!)
P.S. This letter is made to self-destruct after it has been read. Even if you had realized the truth, you need to be punished for making that bet without consulting us. I hope this blows off a finger or two of that precious right hand of yours.
One of Stiyl's runes was carved into the paper. As soon as Index frantically threw the letter away, it burst into pieces with a crackling noise.
Though as she was reading the paper out load, the doctor couldn't really help but not take her words seriously, due to the fact that she didn't even wiped her mouth, and there were still bits and pieces of the sandwiched meat stuck to her face.
"You seem to have some rather extreme friends. Did they soak the letter in liquid explosive?"
The fact that the letter exploding did not surprise the doctor made Index half-seriously think he was a bit crazy himself. However, Index's feelings seemed to have numbed over too, because no other thoughts entered her mind. As such, she decided to do what she had come to the hospital to do in the first place.
"If you want to know about that boy, it would be faster to just meet with him directly…Or so I'd like to say." The frog-faced doctor truly seemed to be enjoying himself. "It would be rude for you to receive the shock before the boy himself, so how about a quick lesson beforehand?"
Kamijou Touma was laying lethargically on his hospital bed. He was truly having one of those days.
Days where he seriously has no clue on what was going on around him. It wasn't because he was uninformed on the matter, nor was it because they were holding out on him. It was most likely that he was the only one that knew what was exactly transpiring at the moment.
The boy inwardly sighed, he glanced at the left side of his room. The sight of a city to behold. But that wasn't exactly the main reason he looked at his side. He was thinking of something else entirely. Something that the frog faced doctor told him just a while ago.
July 28.
He knew that date. It was something that was forever etched into his head, the day he lost his memories... And also something that happened a long time ago.
He still didn't believe it.
The boy frowned at the thought, but stopped when he heard a knock at the door.
He answered the door with a 'Yes?'.
It didn't budge. There was a few minutes of silence, until the door jerkily opened.
A girl with long silvery hair in a white nun dress entered robotically. What greeted her was a pure white room, in the middle was a boy with uncharacteristically spiky hair sitting at the lone bed. The window next to him was open, and the pure white curtain fluttered slightly.
There was a feeling that she was about to be brought to tears just by seeing him okay.
While on the other hand, a strong sense of deja-vu entered the boy.
He gave the girl an odd look, not because he didn't remember her or anything, but because of her expression. There was a pang of regret.
A moment of pause followed.
The boy stared at her indignantly, there was a weird feeling he was getting from her, an impression that he had already endured.
"Yo, Index." Breaking the silence, he was the first to act, the boy gave her a wave of his bandaged hand. There were also bandages wrapped around his head in a way that made him look like he was wearing headband.
"You're already here?" The boy continued to speak in a tone that was neither translucent nor doubtful.
He crumpled one of his hands into a fist and thumped it on his chest, giving her an assured look. "As you can clearly see, this 'Kamijou' is doing fine." He followed with a grin...
The familiarity in his voice, the way he spoke, it wasn't that of someone meeting a stranger. She felt her body relaxed at that. There was something unexplainable that was forming in her heart, it was akin to a sense of relief.
Though, she paused for a moment from his weird speech pattern, but she just shrugged it off thinking it's just him being 'him'.
She was unsure if she should leap into his arms right then and there or if she should first give his head a good chomp for being so reckless on what he did.
The frog faced doctor had told her something about him getting his memories destroyed. It seems that it wasn't the case. He seemed to have retained it. The boy that had help- No, Saved her, was a very strange person indeed with an equally strange hand.
A hand that could even destroy the miracles of god.
So there was a strong possibility that the frog faced doctor's examination was wrong and he had just miscalculated on it. She was never really sure about this 'scientists'.
But still, she needed to check if he actually still has his legit memories.
"Um, Touma, are you really okay?" Index questioned meekly.
She cowered a bit at the side of his bed. The certain action in itself was cute.
The bandaged boy just stared at her for a few seconds. Thinking why the girl was doing this. After a while, he found his answer.
"Index..." He smiled, the purest smile he could give. It made the nun's heart flutter. Her cheeks glowed even redder.
"...you can't have my desserts." The boy looked with all seriousness that it could even be considered funny.
Yes, it was already near lunch time, and the food tray will be delivered by the resident nurse any minute now.
It was already something to be expected from the boy. The one who breaks illusions, and the one who can't read the mood.
Index slowly lowered her head, a dangerously forming visible tick mark was plastered at her forehead, her long silvery bangs covered her expression. As she slowly drooped on the floor, her shoulders trembled slightly. It seemed she was gritting her teeth.
"Tou~~ma~~" She growled.
Kamijou grew a bit unsure of himself and the tone of his voice dropped. The room was instantly filled with what could only be described as dread.
"Um?" Was the only thing the unfortunate boy could mutter.
"Do you seriously think that food is the only thing in my head?"
It was a question that could essentially determine the poor boy's fate, he needed to choose the correct and smart answer for this.
"...Yes?"
He was too painfully honest.
"SUCH MISFORTUNE!"
The nurse's call rang.
The scream of a boy who had been bitten on the top of the head rang throughout the hospital.
Perfectly fitting in with some angry sound effects, Index left the hospital room.
"Oh?" said a voice near the entrance. The frog-faced doctor entered just as Index exited and had almost bumped into her. "I came because the nurse's call went off, but… Oh, now this is bad."
The boy's upper body had slipped from the bed, and he cried while holding the top of his head with both hands.
"That was scary... Too scary..." He muttered to himself with such realism that it was frightening.
The boy didn't even bother to question why the doctor came from a nurse's call. Though, the healthy high school boy that was inside of him still cried in bitter tears that it wasn't a female nurse that came to comfort him.
The doctor glanced back towards the open door to the hallway before turning back to Kamijou.
"Should you really have done that?"
The boy gave him a questioning look. "Done what?"
"You don't remember anything, do you?" The doctor replied.
He was still giving an incredulous look to the man in the lab coat. "Don't remember what?" He deadpanned.
The odd looking doctor just stared quietly at him for a while. And he sighed. He rubbed the bald (He doesn't like to talk about it) spot in his head. "Well, whatever, It is best to do what the patient wants."
There was a light pause after his sentence.
"Don't you mean, 'I'm getting too old for this'?" The boy sitting at the bed remarked, his eyes still staring at the man's non-existent hair.
The doctor smiled, though he did not know why he smiled. It wasn't because of the irritating joke made by the boy, it was something else differently. Like something was compelling him to do it.
"And I thought you were going to say something cheesy like 'It's in my heart.' or something." The frog faced doctor smirked, and then waved goodbye as he left the room giggling.
Leaving the spiky haired boy alone in his quarters. Still looking dumbfounded.
He instinctively glanced at the ceiling, and then looked at the windows again. It was a very peaceful day.
Remembering what the doctor said a while ago, before he entered after index, he pondered at the moment. Something about two so called magicians in weird clothing bringing them here, the white nun, the glowing feathers that touched his head.
Those certain circumstances were very familiar, like he had already heard it from the same person before.
He didn't really understand why. He just randomly woke up inside a hospital, though, the concept itself wasn't exactly new to the boy. It was still odd that he didn't remember the reason why he was in here in the first place.
He couldn't exactly remember what happened yesterday. It was all just a blank slate to him. When he asked why, the frog faced doctor just simply answered that he lost his memories. 'It was more like it was destroyed', he explained further.
The boy just simply gawked at him, what was he talking about? Didn't he already got his memories erased at 'that' certain date. Why was he repeating everything about it again, the implications, the repercussions, all of it. Like it had just recently happened. He had already heard of it.
It was beyond creepy at best.
He was going to retort to the doctor, but he just simply held his mouth, maybe the good ol' doctor was just mentally and physically exhausted from all the work, so he had just accidentally grabbed an old file about him, and read it him out loud without noticing it.
Yeah, that's it, the doctor is just too overworked on the matter.
Though, what bothered him the most was the part about when Index entered his room, it felt like it was their first meeting. He had known Index for a while now, but he had never seen her with a face like that when she slowly walked towards his bed, not since 'that' time.
There was seriously something weird going on around here. He didn't know why, but he had the feeling that he was in the center of it.
Then he stopped for a moment, he bashed his head to his pillow, trying to jog up some old memories. Which wasn't that long ago. It wasn't really useful. Fortunately, after a few swings of pointless racking, something came up in his head, seemingly connecting the dots.
'This' did happen before. The day after he lost his memories. The way they acted, the way they spoke, it was exactly alike from 'that' day...
But why would they try to repeat something that has already happened.
"Unless..."
The boy bent in a thinking pose that resembled a certain statue. For a moment there, a gleam in the eyes could be seen. He was obviously having his eureka moment.
He paused. There can only be one reason why they are doing this.
"...It's a PRANK!"
The boy grinned, thinking he had solved the mystery of the year, in a span that is less then a day.
He laughed it off, shouting to the world, "You got me, guys!".
Oh how wrong he was...
Though, he wasn't the only person that was screaming in the hospital.
On a certain room.
"Gaahh!" A person wearing sunglasses in a janitor's clothing with the words 'Suou' written in the back shouted as he opened one of the hospital's fridges in the staff's lounge.
"What the hell! Who ate my damn chili dog!? Do you know how expensive hotdogs are in this city!?"
The guy cried in bitter tears.
"...I was saving that for later!"
#1 Fin