Hey there!
Here we are again. This took longer than expected, but oh well. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index nor any of its characters.
Chapter 3 - Explanations
The interior of the building was different than what Kamijou expected. Looking from outside and considering its great size, he figured that it would be similar to the other grand catholic churches he remembered, with a single great hall divided in smaller sections by use of columns.
He had instead, since entering, been following after Helen and Nora through a stream of small rooms. Each was barely big enough to accommodate the three of them at the same time, and usually had more than two exits, so he felt like he was navigating a labyrinth.
"We're here."
After walking for a few minutes, they arrived to a room that was obviously different compared to all the other ones. It was several times bigger, and it also had almost twice the number of doors, so Kamijou deduced that it was some sort of central area.
Taking a look around, he noticed that the walls, instead of rising vertically, were instead ascending at an angle, colluding in a single point. In other words, the height of the room grew the farthest one was from the origin of the walls, and it reached its peak in the center of the chamber. There was a single shrine exactly under that point, but besides that, the hall was devoid of any furniture. It gave off a solemn and somewhat majestic air.
"Young man, please come stand directly in front of the altar and don't move. Nora, do it again. I want to observe what exactly happens."
"Ok."
"Y-Yes!"
Kamijou did as ordered, walked a bit rigidly towards the shrine, and stood there. Nora approached him and, just as before, reached her hand towards his forehead. He closed her eyes and she chanted. Soon after, the sound of breaking glass resounded and he opened his eyes again.
"Hmm. Let me try."
Helen walked towards him and did the same. Though the chanting was considerably faster, the end result did not change.
"I see."
Apparently satisfied, she backed off a bit and looked at him with an intrigued expression. Kamijou returned the gaze with a stiff smile.
"Um, H-Helen-sama, what happened? Why does the rite not work?"
"I have a few theories about what happened, but first, young man, would you like to explain? It's obvious from your expression that you know something."
"Ah, no, you see, it's my hand, it-"
(Wait. My right hand? If that rite they are talking about is something magical, then it is obvious it would interfere. But this is supposed to be a game. No matter how realistic it is, I should not have this kind of ability... But it is obviously working. Heck, even the sound effect is identical. What's going on here?"
"It's okay, you don't have to tell us if you don't want."
Seeing his hesitant expression, Helen sighed a bit. Kamijou panicked a bit and waved his hands, flustered.
"Ah, no! Sorry, I just realized something and got sidetracked. It's my right hand. It negates magic."
"Your right hand?" Nora tilted her head in wonder, looking at his arm.
"It negates magic? How does that work? Besides, even if you say magic, that's not what we are doing here."
"Eh? Ah, that, I don't know really. I was born with it. And well, it is not so much magic as supernatural phenomena. It can negate even god's miracles."
Kamijou chuckled, but Helen and Nora stiffened. After a few seconds, the priestess leaked out a breath.
"I see, god's miracles. That certainly explains it."
"Huh?"
Seeing Kamijou who was staring in wonder, she laughed a bit.
"Nora. Explain to him about the theory behind the rite." She turned towards the door. "And you, go and bring an unbound card. Also, you'll be punished for skipping on your duty and disobeying instructions."
"Ah..."
"Busted."
"Told you so. I bet we're gonna be in charge of cleaning for a month thanks to someone."
"Isn't it fine? It's totally worth it! That guy just said he can go against the goddess! Do you think Helen-sama would have told us?"
"Well, that's..."
While chatting amongst themselves, three figures appeared from a different corridor that the one Kamijou and the other two had taken to get there. One of them had fiery red hair, another one had twin-tails, and the last one wore a cool and unfriendly atmosphere.
"Uh... If I remember correctly... You were Alex and Lily, right?"
The red-haired one whistled and grinned.
"Wow... You're good. You only heard our name once, and remembered it right away. Nice going, player. I'm Alex. The silver-haired girl who looks like she just swallowed a lemon is Lily. And this one..."
"Yes yes! I'm Kaya!"
Without waiting for Alex to finish talking, the shortest girl with the twin-tails made a twirl while introducing herself and took a cute pose making the peace sign and closing one eye.
"Ah, yes, nice to meet you. I'm Kamijou Touma."
Kamijou introduced himself smiling politely, a bit overwhelmed by the overly-energetic introduction, but did not feel discomfort, as if he already knew someone who liked that kind of shenanigans.
"Oh? Could I be I have not spoken clearly enough? Would you rather be cleaning all year, instead of the three months I had decided on?"
"Geh? N-No! I'll go now! I'll go now so please don't make us clean all year long! We'll seriously die if we have to do it by ourselves!"
As Helen's voice acquired a dangerous tone, Alex responded while running back towards the entrance.
"Lily, I thought I told you and Alex to explain everything to the ones outside? Why did you follow us?"
"Outside is being taken care of by Retta and Lena, so there's no problem. Kaya insisted on coming and Alex tagged along, so I followed them."
"But! But! It's the first time someone rejected the goddess blessing! That's so interesting! What are you? You said it was your hand, right? A mage? A sage? A follower of another god?"
"Eh... I'm not... Um..."
"K-Kaya! Y-You're troubling Kamijou-san!"
"Oho? Now that's rare. Have you gained a sudden interest in him? Kyaa! Love at first sight! To think our little Nora would grow so fast! It's okay, onee-chan will support y- Ouch! That hurt, Lily!"
"She's older than you."
"Don't retort me with a cool expression! Besides! With the way she acts she seems younger! Not to mention her fetish!"
"Fetish?"
Touma intervened involuntarily in the conversation due to an unexpected term, but Nora's face grew red and she tried to shush the excited girl, who looked at her, then at Touma, then at her again, and grinned.
"She likes to had her head patted! In fact, most of her character was built upon that fact! She's a pat fetishish! A pat-ishist!"
"Don't tell him! Why did you tell him?"
"You're not stuttering anymore."
"It's come again! The cool-faced retort! Anyway! What do you think about it?"
"I told you to shut it!"
After shouting at the bouncing girl, the black-haired novice remembered something and turned around quickly, facing Touma, who was watching their interactions with a befuddled expression, and blushed again.
"Ah... No... This is... I didn't mean..."
"What's wrong?"
"I... Um..."
"Hyahaha! Don't you find it strange? She's older than me, and stills acts like a child to get people to pat her! She probably wanted to use you to satisfy her fantasies!"
She stopped talking for a second and then made a face of realization.
"Huh? Hey hey, Nora-chan. I only just realized, but until now the only ones you tried to pull that off with were Helen-sama and us. I mean, it's not like it worked anyway, your character was demolished in 5 seconds, but whatever. We're already used to it so we don't mind, but this time you're doing it with a man? What's this, what's this? I was joking, but did you really fall for him?"
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"
"You broke you're façade again."
"Ah..."
When the silver-haired girl pointed out, she looked at Kamijou once more and lowered her head, not knowing what to say.
"Are you done with the play?"
A cold voice broke the atmosphere and the three girls stiffened.
"You're troubling our guest. Apologize."
"Eeeeh?"
Kaya was going to protest, but her eyes met Helen's and she swallowed her words. Then she turned towards Touma and started to bow with a resigned expression.
"It's okay, I don't mind it. Don't worry."
Kaya turned to look at Helen once more with a bit of hope, but was met with a glare that could chill the bone and kept bowing. Both Lily and Nora followed suit.
"I have a couple questions, but is that alright?"
Kamijou was troubled as the girls didn't stand from her bowing posture, probably because of the cold glare they could feel coming from the side, so Kamijou tried to change the topic. The head priestess turned to look at him, and he realized that she must had noticed the true intent behind his words, but followed suit nonetheless. The three girls used the chance to stand and take a few steps back. Nora threw a grateful gaze at Touma.
"Don't worry and feel free to ask. The reason why you and your friends were brought here today was not only to receive the cards, but also to give you a basic explanation on how this lands work. It was supposed to be their job to clear any doubts" she stared icily to the three girls "but your case is a bit special, so I'll also help."
"Ok, then. In the first place, what is this rite that we all were supposed to pass?"
"That's a good question, but it will be a bit difficult to answer without explaining about the Titles first. You three, explain it to him. I'll go check what is making Alex take that long."
Hearing her tone of voice, even Touma felt sorry for the missing girl. He watched her disappear through the same passage the red-haired girl took before, before turning to the other three novices.
"Kamijou-san, what do you know about Titles?"
"Not much. I only heard Yomikawa-sensei say that there is something called the "Title System", and that it is very important."
"I don't know what system means, but it is true that Titles are very important for everyone. What do you think is a Title, Kamijou-san?"
Touma fell silent for a bit, and then answered.
"Hmm, something you give to someone who did a great thing? Like The Conqueror, or The Wise King?"
(Or the Fetish King, or the Siscon Sergeant...)
"Not exactly. Titles are a representation through words of all that a person is. For example, a king of a country would have the title [King], while a member of the army could have the titles [Soldier] or [Knight]."
"I see. That makes sense. But, how can you know what Titles do you have? And now that I think about it, how do you obtain titles in the first place?"
"You use this."
Helen's voice interrupted from the side, cutting the dialogue between Kamijou and an oddly motivated Nora whom, he noted, seemed much more confident than before.
The priestess entered the room followed by Alex.
"I found her on her way back. This is a card."
She handed him a thin plate of metal, but he did not make any sign of taking it.
"Is it okay? If it's magical, I might destroy it..."
"So your ability also works in objects? Well, it's fine. Take it. There's no problem."
"I understand."
Touma took it in his hand. The plate vibrated for a split second, but nothing else happened. Helen, who was watching it closely, gave a sight of relief.
"It seems it was successfully bound. That's good."
"Bound?"
"You asked how does someone know what Titles does one have, right? We use these." She pointed to the metal sheet Kamijou had in his hands. "They don't really have a name, but most people call them cards or plates for simplicity's sake."
"Hmm..."
He looked it carefully. It was a simple sheet of metal at first glance, grey in color and with nothing special about it. He gave quick check to its backside, but didn't discover anything new. Touma raised his head and asked with interest.
"How do you use these?"
"That's easy."
The one who answered was not Helen, but Nora, who was again in high spirits. It seemed she liked to explain. It reminded him of a certain miniature-sized goddess. Kamijou had played games before, so he wondered if every temple also had an explanation character or it was just coincidence.
"Everybody is provided one when they are children by the local temple. For foreign people like yourself, we give them when you visit us for the first time. I guess you didn't see, but we had a bag full of those prepared near the entrance for your friends, too. When a person who doesn't have one touches it, they bond and it becomes theirs. Adversely, if the person already possess a card or the card itself is already bonded to someone else, nothing will happen."
"So it's one per person, then?"
"Right. Then, once it has successfully bonded, the titles will just be displayed there."
Kamijou stared at the utterly plain grey-colored plate.
"...I can't see mine, though?"
"That's because you need to activate it first. It's really easy, just concentrate on the card."
(Is this like what we did before in class to enter the game?)
Touma concentrated and, almost immediately, several rows of some kind of runes or illegible letters appeared on the surface of the plate.
"Ah, it really came out."
"Good. Can you read it?"
"I can't."
"Well, as expected."
Helen asked with a hint of eagerness in her voice, but after hearing his answer, shook her head regretfully.
"Umm... I'm sorry, but you lost me."
"Kamijou-san, do you know why the first thing we do with anyone who comes to get their card is perform the rite?"
Nora jumped at the chance to explain something, and Touma lost himself in thought for a bit thinking about it.
"Can it have something to do with the language of this cards?"
"That's right! These things are not something which can be manufactured. Every temple has a special sacred chamber where this appear spontaneously whenever they are needed. In other words, they are a gift from the gods. Naturally, the language by which these work is not used by any of the human kingdoms or empires. During the rite, we call the blessings of the Goddess upon the people so that they can understand it."
"Oh, I see. That's why you said that what you were doing was not exactly magic."
Kamijou frowned upon realizing something.
"But wait... if I can't read it, what's the point in you giving me this? Wouldn't it be a waste?"
"Of course not. I told you, right? We receive cards in the measure we need them. If a person comes, we get one. If two come, two. And besides, bounding is the first act by which someone obtains Titles. If you didn't have it, you would face a lot of problems later on. Showing it is necessary to obtain almost any kind of work, and also works as proof of allegiance in case you want to join certain organizations."
(It works as an identity document, then. Hmm?)
"You mean, even if I can't read it, other people can?"
"Yes and no. I can't read directly from your card, but..."
Nora took a card from within her tunic. Since it did not have visible pockets, healthy teenager Kamijou made an effort not to guess where it had come from.
"...I can use mine to read your Titles. Everybody can only read through their own card. Look."
She showed it to him, who noticed that there were the same kind of incomprehensible symbols in it than in his own card.
"You're right... I have absolutely no idea what could that mean. There's not much difference with mine."
He lowered his head and looked at his own card.
"Hehe."
A sudden laughter rang out in the corner. Over there, Kaya, who had stayed silent together with Alex and Lily during the explanation, was shaking and releasing weird chuckles.
"Hahahahahahaha! It's time for the main event now! I'm sick and tired of the study session, so let's put an end to it and go straight to the exciting part! Now! Let's see what Titles exactly do you have there!"
With eyes brimming with excitement, she took out her card and pointed it at Kamijou.
However, her arm was stopped by Lily, who frowned.
"Kaya. That's bad manners."
"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you don't have even a bit of curiosity to know what kind of Title a guy who rejected the Goddess blessing would have!"
"That..."
Seeing the silver-haired beauty hesitate, the twin-tailed character pressed further.
"And besides! He doesn't mind! You don't, right?"
"Eh? No, um... Uh?"
"See! He said it didn't matter! There's no problem! Not problem at all!"
She pointed at him with the plate again. Kamijou's instincts, cultivated over several life-threatening situations, kicked in and warned him that the seemingly innocent girl with the over-energetic attribute and the maniacal glint in her eyes was dangerous, so he moved behind Nora and called for help.
"Sensei! That person is scary! I have no idea what's going on, but I have the feeling that if I don't hide I will lose something very precious!"
"Ah! Kamijou-san! Close! You're too close! And what do you mean with sensei!"
"Tch! Don't hide behind another person! You have to be in a direct line for this thing to work! Don't worry, it won't hurt!"
"This person's lines have somehow become dangerous all of a sudden! Nora-sensei! I would like an explanation now please! And maybe some saving as well!"
"Ah, geez! Kaya-chan, stop! It's rude to read another person card without permission!"
"Indeed. I thought a year of cleaning duties would be enough, but it seems it was not. Shall we make it three years?"
Helen's voice had the effect of cold water being poured over Kaya, who stopped in her tracks and lowered the card reluctantly. She threw a last sulking gaze at Kamijou and sat on the ground crossing her arms.
Touma stared in fear at the pouting girl, still hiding behind the other girl back. Nora sighed and patted his shoulder to indicate him that the danger had passed.
"To see another persons Titles, you have to point toward them with your own card and concentrate like you would do to see yours. However, it is bad manners to check on others' without their permission. That's because, since the Titles someone has represent most of that person's life, it is akin to an invasion of privacy."
As she talked, she glared at Kaya, who turned her head and refused to make eye contact. Sighing, she continued.
"Of course, there are times when you will be required to show them. In order to join some associations, they will check, to confirm that you are not a spy."
Kamijou stared thoughtfully at the plate in his hands, and raised a hand to his chin.
"But then, it is useless to me anyway, right? Since I can't read it at all."
"About that..."
Nora hesitated, and then Helen intervened.
"You'll have to learn how to read the runes for yourself. Although nobody has attempted to do so before, it doesn't mean it is impossible. Besides that, I don't see any other solution to your issue."
"You could ask someone you trust to do the reading for you."
"I see." Touma nodded and smiled to the emotionless girl who made the suggestion. "Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll do that."
She nodded in response and he faced Nora again.
"Now then, sensei. Anything else I should know?"
"Don't call me sensei! It makes me feel older!"
"How about sensei-chan then?"
"That's even worse! A-Anyway, I think I already covered the most important points, so you shouldn't have any problems. By the way, what do you plan to do? Most people try to find a job, but there are various options."
"From now on, is it... I haven't thought about it. I think I'll just go with the flow for the moment and go with my friends for a while."
"If that is so, you should hurry."
Lily pointed with her chin to the door.
"They're back."
From there, the last two girls who had helped the students from the school came walking. One of them had long, black hair, refined features and an elegant bearing, and the other one had blond hair with drills and walked with her head high and exuding a proud aura.
"Good job. How did it go?"
"Yes. We did not have any problem and were able to give the explanations to everyone. It's just..."
Helen greeted them, and the black-haired girl looked over at Kamijou with an uneasy expression.
"Most of the boys were complaining about only him getting preferential treatment, and asked to be brought inside too. Of course, we said that it was not possible and that he had special circumstances, and then they started making a ruckus... In particular, there was a blue-haired man who always had his eyes closed and a blond one who wore glasses who were particularly noisy, they did not stop shouting things about some kind of disease and saying that we had all been infected..."
"Were you able to deal with it?"
"Yes, there was no problem. Both the adults and the girls seemed to be used to the situation and dragged them away with them when they left."
"W-Wait a second. I just noticed, but when I came here, it took at least fifteen minutes! And you said that they just left like that? It must be a joke. There's no way that they..."
At that moment, Kamijou experienced a vision of Yomikawa laughing and Oyafune glaring at him.
"They would! Crap! I gotta go! Thank you for everything!"
After bowing politely to each of the girls in turn, he took off running towards the entrance.
"Ah! Kamijou-san, wait! That's the wrong way! You'll get lost if you're not familiar with the layout of the chambers, so I'll guide you to the exit."
"Ok, thanks, Nora-chan! Let's hurry! Goodbye, everyone!"
Kamijou bolted towards the door, followed closely by Nora.
"Ah-ahhh... he left. And I really wanted to check his Titles myself..."
Still in the floor, Kaya sighed dejectedly. Alex shrugged her shoulders.
"How did it go with that gentleman? Did you discover what was the reason the blessing of the Goddess did not work on him?"
The blond girl heard them and came to ask, looking interested. Her partner also approached, her curiosity piqued. Kaya bounced back up and her eyes shined.
"Listen to this, listen! According to him, he can negate gods miracles!"
"WHA-?!" "What?!"
"Yes... that's what we thought too. I don't really believe it, but..."
Alex smiled wryly seeing the dumfounded faces of the two latecomers.
"I believe in him."
"Oh? Even Lily is saying something like that? That young man must be quite the charmer. I saw the way Nora was acting when she left with him. It was my first time seeing her like this. And for the aloof Lily to say such a bold line... Ufufufu..."
"That's not true. My wording was wrong. Don't tease me, Lena."
"Yes, yes."
"That face says you're not listening to me at all."
Lily blushed slightly while Lena laughed happily.
"It looks like I missed something important. For a man to pick Lily's attention... He must be quite the remarkable individual."
"He didn't give that impression at all, though. Anyway, it seems our little Nora-chan will have unexpected competency. I hope you don't stop being friends in the future."
"Hahahaha! I didn't notice at all! So we're going to have a love triangle now? This is exciting!"
At one side, the blond girl with drills, Alex and Kaya commented while watcing the antics of the other two girls. At that moment, the priestess approached them.
"Henrietta."
"Yes."
"We'll have to trouble your father. Please go ask him to prepare messengers."
"Understood. How many?"
"We need to send it to all of the neighboring churches, so I guess about fifty would suffice."
"And the message?"
"Confidential."
"Yes. I will depart now."
She walked resolutely toward another entrance. Helen saw her off, then turned toward the other girls, who had stopped bickering and were waiting in silence.
"You'll write the messages. They're confidential, so we will have to write every single one of them by hand."
"We understand."
"The contents?"
At this point, Helen stopped talking and took a deep breath.
"If an individual named Kamijou Touma appears in any of the churches, he has to receive full support and maximum priority has to be given to any of his requests, no matter how extravagant or unusual."
"What."
"Haaaa?!"
"Seriously?!"
"Helen-sama! Are you sure? It is true that he was able to reject a blessing, and he himself didn't seem like a bad person, but isn't that going too far? We don't even know if his ability can really go against god or not, not to mention that we can't be sure if he lied about anything! We haven't known him for even an hour! If you give maximum priority to any of his requests, that basically means you're giving him the right to order everyone around! What if he learns about it and decides to take advantage of it? What's more, if he were to..."
"Are you done?"
Helen looked coldly at the red-haired girl who could not contain herself. Realizing that she was being rude, she opened her eyes wide, and then lowered her head, ashamed.
"Did you believe I haven't thought about any of that? That I wouldn't consider the risks before giving that kind of order? ...Well, it's fine. You said all of that out of worry for the church. And it is true that such order will affect you as well, so you deserve an explanation. Listen well, all of you. Do you know what a prophecy is?"
"Yes. It is when the Goddess tells us what is going to happen so we can be ready for it, right? Like with the arrival of the foreigners."
The one who answered was Lena. Helen nodded towards her and continued.
"That is right. It is basically the method a god uses to communicate with a human. Then, do you know about the specifics of such a method?"
The five novices looked one another and shook their heads.
"It's this."
Helen took her card out.
"Plates are presents from the gods. Therefore, it is only natural that they can use it as well. The prophecy that I mentioned before was a simple message that appeared by itself on the plates of a number of high priests of our church one day. I received one as well."
"Excuse me, Helen-sama, but... How does relate with the order?"
"Before that young man left, I tried to check his Titles."
"Uh... Helen-sama, that..."
"I know it was disrespectful of me. And more after I stopped you from doing the same."
She looked at Kaya, who stuck her tongue, and her gaze softened.
"However, I had to ascertain with more security the nature of that individual. We don't know if it was a trick or not, but it is true that he did reject the Goddess power repeatedly. I wasn't sure what to think, since it didn't seem like he was lying. Therefore, even if it was impolite, I decided that I had to ascertain what kind of person he really was. This is what appeared."
She offered her card to the others.
The novices all crowded around her and looked curiously at their mentor's plaque. They had told Kamijou that it was impossible to read another person's, but there was an exception. When two or more people were together for a long period of time, they naturally became able to read them. That was so because Titles were a representation of what a person is and, since they already knew everything about each other, there was nothing to hide.
They focuse their gaze on the dull surface. After a few seconds, they paled.
There was a single Title there. It read:
[Goddess' favorite]
Explanation chapter! Hope it did not become boring midway. But what did you expect? This is supposed to be a game, so the first thing you do is the tutorial.
See ya!