Yes. Here is the next chapter. Enjoy.
"Are there any places you want to go?" Kamijou asked the girl next to him.
"Hmm… I was planning on buying some clothes at a certain shop… But I'm not sure you would want to just stand there while I look at clothes."
"It's fine." He said with a smile.
A little while later, Kamijou sat on a small cushioned chair in a woman's clothing store in the local mall while Misaki got changed. He was getting strange looks and he could tell that when people started whispering it was about him.
"Such misfortune."
"Kamijou?"
He looked up as the girl exited the dressing room. Suddenly he felt like one of those anime characters that got nosebleeds when they were turned on.
Misaki was wearing a red miniskirt that showed her smooth legs up to her thighs and a white shirt that was low cut enough to show off her large breasts. The shirt had frills along the edges.
"Uh…"
"H-How does it look?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Say something. This is embarrassing, you know."
"Oh um… It looks really good on you." Kamijou replied awkwardly. He suddenly felt uncomfortable being here with her. It wasn't that he didn't like being with her, but he didn't want to actually fall for her.
Misaki was about to say something, but the lights in the store turned off. No, it wasn't just the lights in the store. It was the lights in the entire mall.
The voices of panicked people reached his ears from all around.
Then the intercom for the mall sounded and everyone went quiet.
"Um… Can Kamijou Touma please come to the manager's office? If he does not within the next twenty minutes, everybody in here will die. Later!"
"…"
"…"
"What kind of threat was that?" Kamijou asked. "They sounded like a child playing a game with somebody. Anyways, come on."
He grabbed Misaki's hand and pulled her out of the shop.
"W-Wait. I haven't paid for these yet." She said.
He brought her to the central staircase that led to the second floor and stopped. He got down on one knee and took out a talisman, placing it on the ground.
Kamijou took out a small pocket knife and cut his thumb with it, then proceeded to draw symbols on the floor around it.
"Blood is but ephemeral. Let the essence of this life force flow free. Bring me mist from the abyss."
The blood slowly flowed toward the talisman and vanished as it came into contact with it. A black mist rose from the talisman.
"Why do you even know how to cast such magic?" Misaki asked him.
"So I can survive. Come on." He grabbed the mist as if it was a solid object and brought it over them.
"What's the point of this?" She asked as they walked.
"Look around. The security cameras are still functioning. That means that whoever called me up there is watching for me. They won't be able to see us or the mist. So it's fine."
Slowly they made their way to the manager's office. A window allowed view into it.
A girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes was talking to a girl older than her. The other girl was taller and had long brown hair and brown eyes.
"You obviously didn't make it clear enough." The girl with long brown hair said.
"I thought I did fine." The other girl said. "It's not like he's likely to just leave the place anyways. If he does, we'll just have to blow it up. I already have everything set up."
"Fulfill your end of the contract. Come to me for I am in need of thy service. Lend me your knowledge and power that I may take down any enemy that shows themselves before me. Come, Index." Kamijou said this quietly.
Index appeared in the mist next to them. The mist blocked the burst of light that came with her arrival from being seen from the outside.
"How may I help you, Master?" She asked.
"There are bombs or some sort of explosive devices set up around the mall. I want you to do a scan and deactivate every one of them as quick as possible."
"Very well, Master." Index turned and disappeared.
"Was that your familiar?" Misaki asked. "She was so cute."
"Yeah. Anyways, focus. I'm going to dispel the cloud as we go in. If a fight breaks out, I want you to take on the girl with blonde hair. I'll take on the other one."
"Okay."
They walked up to the door.
"Dispel." Kamijou said and the mist vanished. He opened the door and walked inside, much to the surprise of the two girls. "Looks like I made it on time." He said as he walked in.
"How did-" The blonde-haired girl started to say, but the other cut her off.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Mugino Shizuri and this is Frenda Seivelun."
"Likewise. I'm Kamijou Touma. I suppose you already know that though." He acted calm but he was ready to enact a spell the second one of them made a move. "So, what do you want with me so badly that would threaten to hurt innocent people?"
"What else? Don't act like you don't already know. You have th-" Shizuri stopped when she saw the girl next to the boy.
Misaki was also staring at her in astonishment.
Kamijou looked between the two.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Mugino Shizuri…"
"Shokuhou Misaki…"
"What are you doing here!?" They both yelled at the same time.
Kamijou looked at Frenda who looked just as confused as he was.
"Do you two know each other perhaps?"
"Yes…" Misaki said. "We met once in England."
"England?"
"Yeah." Shizuri said. "It's a long story. So, what are you doing on this island, Misaki?"
"I don't think that's any of your business. What business do you have with my friend Touma?"
They both seemed wary of each other. Kamijou was sure that there was an interesting story behind that, but he decided that now was not the time to think about it.
"So, let me take a guess." Kamijou said, getting their attention. "You want to take Othinus, don't you?"
"Othinus?" Misaki asked.
"I'm glad that we're on the same page. If you hand her over without a fight, I guarantee everyone's safety."
"You see, that might be an issue."
"Why is that?"
"If I give her to you and you somehow get the rest of the Keys, the world will be in a lot of danger. After all…" He stared straight into her eyes. "You want to open the Void, right?"
Shizuri laughed.
"You've learned a lot in a short amount of time. I was told that you were rather ill-informed concerning the matter."
"I was. I learned a lot from some people."
Just then, Index appeared next to the boy.
"All hostile explosives have been taken care of, Master." She said.
"Wha-!? A familiar!?" Frenda said in surprise.
"Looks like that plan worked." Kamijou said. "All I had to do was keep you busy while she was disarming everything. Now then, Mugino-san, Frenda-san. I think that instead of giving Othinus to you, I'll show you why threatening people is a bad idea."
Shizuri immediately held out her hand, three green glowing spheres appearing in the air around it.
Each of them shot something like a ray from a particle cannon at the boy.
Kamijou was already enacting a spell though. He had been mumbling something under his breath.
He held up his left hand and a large magic circle formed in front of it.
The beams hit it but couldn't break through.
Shizuri smiled.
Another green sphere had formed farther out to her left and shot at Kamijou and Misaki.
"Misaki, get down!"
The girl fell to the floor and Kamijou stuck out his right hand. The beam continued for fire at his right hand but was being cancelled out as soon as it touched it.
"Screw off!" He closed his hand and the beam along with the sphere that was creating it shattered.
Misaki stood.
"What was-"
"Ah." Shizuri said. "The Imagine Breaker. That truly is an annoying ability."
"I've been told that plenty of times."
He dashed forward at the girl, completely ignoring the presence of Frenda. The blonde-haired girl tried to take advantage of that and took out a gun. Before she could take her shot though, she grabbed her head in pain and fell to the ground.
"Ahh! W-What the hell!?"
Misaki was holding a remote and pointing it at Frenda, one of her fingers holding a button down.
"Go, Touma!"
Kamijou didn't need to be told twice. He swung at the girl, but she dodged right. He swung with his other hand and she dodged left then kneed him in the stomach.
"Agh!" He coughed as the air was expelled from his lungs.
"I think it would be in your favour to just hand her over." Shizuri said. She slammed her elbow onto his back and he fell to the ground, blood coming out of his mouth.
She looked back at Frenda who had fainted from the pain and sighed.
"Looks like I'll be your opponent." Misaki said to the girl. She brought her remote up.
"I always thought your power was troubling." Shizuri said with a sigh.
"It has kept me as the third ranked esper in the world."
"And yet I'm just one spot above you." She said. "I'll show you why that is.
A green sphere shot a beam at the girl. Misaki swept her hand in a dramatic fashion and pressed a button on her remote. The beam was directed away. It burned a hole through the ceiling and probably kept going into the sky.
Misaki frowned.
"It's going to take a lot more to defeat me than that."
Just then she heard something in her thoughts. It was a female voice that seemed familiar to her.
"Master requests that you keep her still."
Those were the only words that she heard. She understood when she managed to steal a glance at Kamijou who was stealthily drawing on the ground under the girl with his own blood.
He did it at just the right angle so the girl couldn't see his hand moving.
Misaki pointed her remote at the girl and clicked a button.
Shizuri put her finger in the air and basically drew a circle of her "Meltdowner" and it filled itself in.
It was as if some force hit against it but was redirected.
"Your power relies on sending electromagnetic waves to somebody to interfere with the electric signals of their brain." Shizuri said. "In a way, it's similar to my power. That's why it's easy for me to block."
She shot three of the Meltdowners at the girl.
Misaki pressed the button on her remote three times, taking aim at each Meltdowner in turn, redirecting each one.
"Hey…" Kamijou said, getting the attention of both girls. Shizuri looked down at him and her face turned to one of shock. There was a small magic circle drawn under her with runes that she had never seen before around it. "Goodbye."
He mumbled something and tapped the circle.
A bright light rose from it, temporarily blinding the two girls. When the light faded, Shizuri was gone.
Misaki blinked a few times, then ran over to the boy.
"Are you okay, Touma?"
"Yeah. Might have lost a little too much blood." He showed her his wrist where he had made a small cut to get more blood.
Kamijou tore off part of his sleeve and wrapped it around his wrist. With the help of the girl, he stood.
"What are we going to do about her?" She pointed to Frenda.
"Index." Kamijou said. The girl appeared next to them. "Bring Frenda back to my place. Take care of her with Othinus until I return."
"Very well, Master."
Index put her hand on the girl and they both disappeared.
"That's an interesting familiar you have." Misaki said as she helped him out of the office.
The lights had come on and there were police officers escorting people out.
"She was the first familiar I ever contracted with." Kamijou said. "Her name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The index of prohibited text."
"What does that mean?"
"She has knowledge of forbidden magics that we couldn't even hope to understand. I don't care to try to learn any of those though."
They exited the mall and Kamijou started to walk on his own.
"She's one of two familiars I have." The boy commented as they walked through the city.
"One of two? Who's the other?"
He thought for a second.
"My other familiar is… interesting. They refuse to come out unless I'm in a near death situation though."
"Hm…" She left it at that.
They walked in silence for a while, slowly making their way to Kamijou's apartment.
"What was that all about, anyways?" Misaki asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You said something about not giving Othinus to her. Who is Othinus and why did that girl want them?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Kamijou sighed. He guessed there was no hiding the truth anymore.
"Othinus is a Key." Kamijou said.
"Key?"
"Yes. A Key to what lies beneath this island."
Misaki looked at him strangely.
"What does that mean?"
"Beneath this island, there is a door to the Void." Kamijou said. Misaki's eyes widened. "There are seven Keys needed to open the door. Othinus is the sixth."
"Wha-? A door to the Void? There's no way something like that exists. It would have been destroyed hundreds of years ago."
"What if they couldn't destroy it? There is no magic on record that can counter the Void completely. They destroyed creatures that came from it in the past, but they couldn't destroy the gateway which they formed themselves."
"I'm confused."
Kamijou went on to explain everything he knew.
Just as he finished explaining, a girl jumped from seemingly nowhere to land in front of him. She got down on one knee and bowed her head.
It was Kuruwa.
"Kamijou-sama, you are injured." She said, looking up at him. "I knew that I should have accompanied you."
"It's fine." Kamijou said. "I'll explain things back at the apartment."
"Um… who is that?" Misaki asked.
Kuruwa stood and bowed.
"My name is Kuruwa. I'm a ninja assigned to protect Kamijou-sama."
"Aren't you supposed to keep that a secret or something?" The boy asked.
"I heard you explaining everything to her, so I figured that it would not hurt to tell her who I am. Would you prefer that I had not? My deepest apologies, Kamijou-sama."
"It's fine." Kamijou said. "You're right. It really didn't hurt to tell her, anyways."
The girl sighed in relief.
"To think you're involved in something like this." Misaki said, shaking her head.
Kamijou didn't know how to respond to that.
"How is Othinus doing?" Kamijou asked. "Was she fine today?"
"Yes. We did not run into any trouble."
"Good. Let's get home."
Kamijou opened his door, deactivating the magic circle that prevented others from entering. The two girls walked in and he closed the door, reactivating the spell.
"I'm home." He said.
"Excuse the intrusion." Misaki said, looking around. It was her first time being inside the boy's apartment.
They walked into the living room where Othinus sat on the couch. She looked as they walked in.
"Welcome home, Touma." She said, standing up and smiling. "Welcome home, Kuruwa-chan." She looked at Misaki, confused.
"This is Misaki, a friend of mine." Kamijou said. "Misaki, this is Othinus."
"Nice to meet you." Othinus said.
"Nice to meet you too." Misaki said.
"Anyways," Kamijou said. "Misaki now knows the situation we're in." He sat down on the couch and Othinus sat next to him. The other two girls took seats at the table.
Othinus looked worried when he said that. The boy knew that she wasn't worried about her own safety, but the safety of the girl who had found out about her.
Kamijou put a hand on the girl's head and she looked up in surprise. He gave her a comforting smile. She looked down and smiled, a blush coming on her face.
"Still…" Kuruwa said. "I respect your decision, but I would advise you against involving too many people in this matter, Kamijou-sama."
He sighed.
"True enough." Then he took a glance around. "Index."
The girl appeared next to him.
"Yes, Master?"
"Where is Frenda?"
"Resting in your bed."
"That's good. Go check on her to make sure she isn't hurt or anything."
Index walked into the room, closing the door behind her to avoid disturbing the people who were sitting in the living room.
"You brought someone home?" Kuruwa asked.
"I figured it was better than letting the police arrest her."
Misaki sighed.
"You're just too nice of a guy, aren't you?"
Kamijou smiled.
"Not really. I doubt I was like this before I lost my memories."
They all remained silent for a bit.
"I wanted to ask…" Misaki said, breaking the silence. "What did you do to Shizuri?"
"Oh. I just teleported her away. Teleportation magic is hard to use quickly like that, but since I was using blood as opposed to traditional elements, I was able to work quicker."
"Blood…?" There was worry in Othinus's voice as she asked that.
"Don't worry." He said. "I'm fine."
The girl laid down, pulling her legs in to fit and resting her head on the boy's lap.
"You better be." She mumbled.
Index suddenly appeared in front of Kamijou.
"Master, the girl has a-" She was cut off as the door to the bedroom opened.
Frenda walked out, a confused look on her face.
"Where the hell am I?" She asked. Then she saw Kamijou. "It's you! And you!" She said, glancing between him and Misaki.
"You're awake. That's good." Kamijou said.
"Where the hell are we?" She asked.
"My apartment."
"Why?"
"It was either bring you here or hand you over to the police. I think you should be thanking me."
She sighed.
"Idiot." She looked away. "T-Thanks. Hmph."
"You're welcome." Kamijou said. "Anyways, you have two choices." He said, smiling.
"What are you talking about?"
"You can go back. I won't stop you. Of course, I won't give you Othinus or by any means let you achieve your goal."
"…"
"Or you can join our side."
"Wha-!?"
"If you join us, you might have to fight your friends, though. You'll probably have a better chance with us though. The problem with you guys is that you keep coming to us. I can prepare a spell in seconds and use them immediately. I'll use that to push back anybody who comes at us. And if they still insist on going through with their plan, I'll use this-" He held up his right hand. "-to crush their illusions."
Frenda sighed.
"You're an idiot." She said. "You're asking me to betray everybody that I've been working with for the past two years to work with you against them?"
"I'm not asking." Kamijou corrected. "I'm giving you an option, something I'm sure you're not used to."
She thoughts about that for a second.
"I suppose it's true that I've never really had an option in Clarity."
"Clarity?" The boy asked curiously.
"We're a special division of Sorcery made for the purpose of acts of terrorism and other dirty jobs."
"I see. Well, you're not likely to be committing anymore acts of terrorism if you join us and well… if we're forced to do something besides defend ourselves, I suppose that everything will be a dirty job."
"What? Have you formed your own faction or something?"
Kamijou smiled.
"I suppose so."
"We're Myth." Othinus said with a smile. She seemed more childish at that moment to the boy, but he laughed then looked at Frenda.
"You heard her. We're Myth."
Frenda laughed at that, but not a harsh laugh.
"Very well, Kamijou Touma." Frenda said. "I'll join you."
As always, thank you for reading.
If you have any questions, leave a review or PM me.
Also, this chapter felt a little short. The next one will be longer. Thank you.
Be seeing you.
