In the corner of the café sat a young man with silky black hair of which few strands seem to desperately arise heavenwards, only to fail miserably. He raised a cup of hot, black coffee, looking around the fairly empty café. He cooled the coffee down with his breath; inherently making some of his hair - which was previously resting on the bridge of his nose - flow gently on the stream of air.
It wasn't often that he got a luxury of such a calm morning – usually, the day began with a bite in the head by a certain nun; a vigorous escape from few thugs (which he finally acknowledged as a dose of a daily cardiovascular exercise); a few lightning bolts from a now-high school tsundere; and possibly some threat of nation-wide destruction by overconfident group of magicians.
It seems that he probably just spent all of his luck for a lifetime to get that kind of tranquil, peaceful morning... but, that would be too good to be true, wouldn't it? After all, something like luck doesn't exist in vicinity of Kamijou Touma. Of course something had to bother him. This time, it was his memories. Memories of the "phases", he lived and died through – a courtesy of Othinus, his girlfriend, who also helped him as much as she could in suppressing those traumatic experiences.
He was able to be occupied enough for those two years, so that he wouldn't accidentally recall them in all their morbid glory. Lately, it had been proving quite a challenge. As he had less and less to do, those accursed memories scratched at the surface of his mind more often. Especially, when he felt similar sensations to some of fates he had to endure.
He sipped his coffee, burning his tongue a little. This little, irrelevant and common thing, triggered a memory wherein he was burnt alive – his skin deforming in the heat, the awful pain when his flesh was consumed by fire. He grimaced, trying to suppress that traumatic memory – something he excelled in. This time, he even managed to halt himself from spilling his coffee all over the place – which is something he'd be proud of, if he noticed.
He opened his flip-cell with a single movement of his wrist and tapped at the keys with inhuman-like speed, sending a text message to his friend, triple-spy Tsuchimikado. Maybe there is something he can help with? Someone is smuggling a magical artefact into Academy City, maybe? Wait, since when has he been trying to actively search for conflict?
[Sorry, Kami-yan, nothing is happening, nyah~!]
A single sentence broke Kamijou Touma's illusion past the point of repair. He had nothing to do and it was overwhelming.
After sitting with a blank look for what seemed like eternity (in reality, barely five minutes passed before Kamijou came back to his senses), he finished his coffee in a record time and walked out of the café. His overcoat flowing with the autumn wind... somewhat grandiose, one would say.
If there was anybody to witness that. The streets of Academy City where empty – no traffic, no pedestrians – it felt unnatural... because it was unnatural. Of course, he wasn't surprised at all – after all, that kind of trick with the usage of Opila rune was something few of his old friends took liking to.
"Ah, Kamijou-kun! I finally meet you in person!" Somebody's voice called out behind him – cheerful, yet gentle.
"If you wanted to meet me, you could have just sent an invitation letter." Kamijou sighed, looking in the direction of the voice.
In front of him stood a petite-built girl, no older than 14 years old, her purple hair tied into a ponytail. Her azure eyes were gently looking at Kamijou, with traces of caution hidden deep inside. She wore white dress, adorned with seemingly random placed ribbons – yet at the same time, that randomness somehow complimented her outfit. Another rather bizarre thing that he has noticed was that she wasn't wearing any shoes. While he sometimes enjoyed walking barefoot on the grass, it's completely different thing when one has to do that on concrete.
"But would you accept an invitation from somebody you don't know?" She asked with a smile on her face.
"I did weirder things. Who are you and what is it this time? Am I interrupting your magnificent plan of destroying this world or enslaving the populace of Earth? Have I defeated your friend or relative and you want to kill me at least once to exact revenge? Which is it?" He watched the girl cautiously, watching for any signs of a possible attack.
"Ka ka! Do people really approach you only for those reasons?" She asked, seemingly amused by his response.
"No, sometimes they also try to seduce me into working for a nation," He answered the question nonchalantly, thinking about a certain imp-girl. "You still haven't answered me."
"Oh! My apologies, Kamijou-kun! My name is Tiamat, Babylonian..." She spread out her arms, trying to adorn her introduction in flamboyance. However...
"... Goddess of the sea, yes..." He interrupted, putting the girl named Tiamat into state of a slight shock, as her effort towards a memorable introduction was shattered in a manner of seconds. Noticing this, he spoke, "After nearly two years of dealing with magicians, the least I could do is to do my homework on that type of things, don't you think?"
She stared at him for few seconds, almost as if time itself has been stopped and then laughed cheerfully. "Ka ka! I think I underestimated you a little, Kamijou-kun! I suppose I shouldn't dismiss Othinus-chan's stories about you!"
"Wait! How did Othinus got mixed up in this?" Kamijou was flustered. How did his lover knew Tiamat and more than that, shared stories about him? Just what happens behind the scenes?!
"Oh, I met her couple months ago in a bar, Kamijou-kun, we were drunk and some things happened..."
As Kamijou felt his face turn vibrant red, Tiamat laughed, "Oh, Kamijou-kun! You're so naïve! Half of it is not true!"
That calmed him down... "It wasn't couple months ago, that is."
The girl couldn't even begin to comprehend some of the words Kamijou Touma spoke at the speed of Academy City's planes. All she was able to hear was 'lesbian', 'girlfriend', 'misfortune'.
"Ka ka! Kamijou-kun, you're so easy to tease! But enough of that, we can have this chat later," Tiamat's once cheerful demeanour became solemn in an instant, "As to why I came to you, Kamijou-kun - I need your help. I trust you know what happens with Tiamat in the mythology, yes?" She slowly treaded towards the young man, as his expression grew serious.
"Marduk, god of storm kills her – and from her body heaven and earth is born. I seem to get what you're trying to say. Whoever took the name of Marduk, he's getting a bit too zealous in fulfilling his role, is that so?" Kamijou was a bit worried about the well-being of Tiamat. After all, being sliced in half isn't the most pleasant death, he knows that very well.
And then, cheerfulness emerged from the dark, "Once again, you surprise me, Kamijou-kun! Yes. Of course, there's also a plan to enslave humanity into working hard, so he can sit on his cou-"
"I KNEW IT! IT ALWAYS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH ENSLAVING PEOPLE!" Judging by the way he shouted, the goddess of the sea was convinced he could rip heavens asunder with his voice.
"I- I'm getting slightly worried." She backed away very slowly, not wanting to agitate him further.
Kamijou Touma sighed, trying to come up with more or less of a plan to keep Tiamat alive, "Does he know about your location?"
She shook her head, "No, but he will when the storm comes over Academy City. According to telly, in three days, I'll be a sitting duck."
He blinked, "I did not expect a Babylonian goddess to gather her information from weather programme. Let's go somewhere else, shall we? I think I need a change of scenery," saying that, he walked slowly, waiting for her to follow.
Judging by the fact that her life is at stake, Kamijou concluded that almost certainly she hasn't got any hotel room booked. Hell, she probably didn't even get into Academy City legally. Therefore, he has to keep her in his dorm room – along with Index. He can almost feel the power of her bite on his head. Fortunately, it's not for a life and maybe she can do at least something basic in terms of usefulness, unlike Index.
She chuckled and walked beside him, "Well then, Kamijou-kun, after you."
"Aren't you uncomfortable, walking barefoot in the city?" He asked, both worried about her possible health problems as a result of that and curious, as to why exactly would she do that – it's not like magicians are so poor that they cannot afford shoes, especially those who name themselves after gods.
"Ka ka! That's sweet of you to worry about me, Kamijou-kun. I can see why Othinus-chan is so infatuated with you." That made Kamijou blush a little... which made Tiamat chuckle gleefully.
He returned soon with his thoughts to the issue at hand – Marduk. Even though the situation was dire, Kamijou was glad. He had something to do – his insanity may now wait in the cage of his own mind. Right now, he was doing the usual business Kamijou Touma did: saving people. Of course, he'll probably get into the hospital later. It doesn't matter. He did that for two years, after all. If that girl beside him will be safe, he has no reason to moan about such a trivial thing like getting into hospital with several broken bones. The hardest part was the beginning – after all, a final boss at the beginning of the level means PAIN.