Alright guys so here's Hamazura's chapter!

I feel that this chapter's pretty late(almost one month!) but I'm glad I finally got this one out. I was writing for my other story and college work has definitely caught up to me.

But on to about the chapter!

I really like Touma's relationships with the other protagonists(I.E. Accelerator and Hamazura) so that's why I thought to write up Hamazura's next. Really the idea for this chapter came pretty easily thanks to NT12. In NT12, you can tell that Hamazura notices that something is very off with Touma, which I thought was pretty cool considering how no one really ever noticed anything different about him after NT10. It was also pretty cool of him to defend Touma from St. Germain's claims about how he was responsible for Frenda's death. And even more than that, Hamazura actually pushes Touma back so that he doesn't try to go off and do he self-sacrificing stuff like he usually does. His line where he says "Then this is a good chance for you to see how it feels for the one being protected." cemented his bro status that volume.

So this chapter is going to be right after NT12. But after this chapter I still kind of want to set the timeline to right around while Touma's still in the hospital after NT10 to see if I can explore any more situations for characters around that time so you can kind of think of this like a 'future' chapter if that makes any sense.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index

Hamazura took a deep breath and stretched his arms out.

They were finally able to defuse the gravity control device situation below the Dianoid and he was finally able to go outside. Hamazura was also finally able to get out of his power lifter as well which was why he was stretching at his newfound freedom.

He sweatdropped as he recalled the reason as to why he wanted to get out of the power lifter in the first place. The A.I. that was installed in his power lifter, Aneri, gave him some trouble that he never expected. Aneri had taken control of the power lifter and tried to mess with and keep his girlfriend Takitsubo away from him. He was still in disbelief at how an A.I. could display feelings of jealousy. On the other side of that, Takitsubo was also getting jealous of the A.I. Her jealousy was something that he had feared. The feelings from both sides had caused an unwarranted catfight over him and he could only just think about how ridiculous it was.

But moving on from that. As he finally finished stretching, Hamazura moved his head and took a look around the area. He was glad to see that the people that were in the Dianoid were alright after the turn of events that took place inside there.

Over in the distance, he saw a familiar spiky-hair sticking out in the crowd. Narrowing his eyes, a little he could see the boy named Kamijou Touma along with the person they had just rescued named Kanou Shinka. It seemed that they were talking with each other and the small boy had pressed Touma with a question. The spiky-haired boy responded and suddenly he saw that the small boy looked taken aback by what he just said.

Hamazura could only smile to himself. He knew that the boy named Kamijou Touma was making another impact on someone in the world. He wasn't a stranger to the boys' actions and so something like that wouldn't have surprised him.

He continued to watch on until the small boy had left and Touma remained standing there seeing him off.

While Hamazura could smile at the outcome of everything that had just happened, he still had a bunch of questions that had formed in his mind during the events that had just happened today.

Even after everything he's been through, the world of magic was still something that was very foreign to him. Through the brief explanation that young, blonde-haired girl had given him in Touma's apartment, he could tell that magic was a complicated topic. He was still in disbelief over how the single, regular magician St. Germain was able to cause this much trouble. He could only shudder at what would have happened against enemies more powerful.

Hamazura looked over at Kamijou Touma. This guy probably goes through events like these very commonly. He knew how involved Touma was in the Magic World. He would never be able to know how that guy was able to put himself through even more tougher situations. There was even a certain event not too long ago that Hamazura was surprised and at the same time not surprised that the boy involved himself in.

After the acts of what the terrorist organization GREMLIN had performed, he remembered hearing about how a coalition had come together to finally stop them. And not too surprisingly, that boy was involved in it. Something like that was expected of him. But the surprising part came to him when he saw the next thing that happened. That boy, after invading Gremlin's base in pursuit of the ringleader of it all, was standing against the world and defending her.

He saw the coverage of it on international news. Not only that, Mugino had told him that Academy City had sent out a message to all Level 5s calling out for the death of that boy. He had became panicked and worried over the information she had just told him and he worked to try to convince her not to go through with it, which, to his surprise, was actually not even that hard. She barely even cared about the situation and Hamazura telling her not to do so had convinced her enough that it wasn't worth the effort to do so.

Seeing the struggles that that boy had gone through reminded him just how much of a force that boy was. And him surviving after all of that had solidified it.

But the real question to ask after all of that was, why did he suddenly defend the leader of the most infamous terrorist organization? Something was fishy about that but he was confident that he could say that Kamijou Touma probably had a good reason to do so. To be motivated to fight the whole world required a good reason.

Hamazura continued to focus on Kamijou Touma in the distance.

He had known and viewed Kamijou Touma as a hero for a while now. Hamazura understood that the boy was one to save people without needing a reason. It was appalling at the lengths he would go.

But it was those lengths that made him worry for the boy sometimes. Today was one of those times. Hamazura noticed that there was just something off with the boy that he had seen today.

His demeanor and the atmosphere around him had seemed different from the last time he had saw him. But the biggest evidence were the actions of Kamijou Touma today.

One of the pieces of evidence was when he first ran into the boy. Kamijou Touma had run into him all distraught and worried. Hamazura had never seen him be so shaken before when he mentioned about facing a Magic God. But his worry must have been very severe if Touma was really willing to fight him to stop him from confronting the magician. He still couldn't believe they had a fight over that but he just really wanted to protect the people close to him. Kamijou Touma understood that and Hamazura even appreciated the concern that Touma had for him. He wondered though, just how intense were Magic Gods if they pushed him to that point?

Another piece that stuck out to him was the issue involving Frenda and that boy named Kanou Shinka. One of the ways that St. Germain manipulated Kanou Shinka was to direct his anger towards the one responsible for his friend Frenda's death. St. Germain had somehow managed to convince him that Kamijou Touma was the culprit and cause of her death.

Hamazura was infuriated at that thought. There was absolutely no way that they could pin something like that on him. He had nothing to do with any of what had happened in that situation and there was absolutely no way for him to have known. He could not believe why they would pin it on an innocent being like him.

But that wasn't the most perplexing part. The most perplexing part was when Kamijou Touma had accepted that burden. He was willing to take the blame for her death. He was willing to sacrifice himself to that small boy.

Hamazura could have sworn he saw a glint in his eyes when he said that he was willing to do so. It almost seemed like he truly believed that he was responsible for Frenda's death...

Damn it. Hamazura thought to himself. He needed to ask Touma what all of that was about. And now was as good a time as any.

He moved to walk over to the boy who was still in the same spot when he was waving off Kanou Shinka. He stepped up right beside him and they were now side by side as they both looked forward.

"So all's well that ends well huh?" Hamazura piped up next to him.

"Heh, I guess so. I think it all worked out in the end." Touma responded.

Hamazura looked off into the distance at the shrinking figure. "So you think that boy is going to be alright? I wonder how this whole thing would have affected someone like him." He said referring to Kanou Shinka.

"I think he'll be fine. It seems like this whole debacle actually helped him and probably gave him the boost he needed so that he doesn't need to rely on using Aihana Etsu's name anymore."

"I'm glad for that. It's good that he's not going to hide behind the #6's name anymore, I've learned a while ago that levels don't define someone's strength."

"Hmm, that's a nice mindset to have."

Hamazura chuckled. "Hehe, learned it directly from you boss."

Touma smiled at his statement.

"It also seems that he finally found closure with Frenda's death as well." Touma added.

Hamazura's expression kind of dropped at the topic he brought up. Frenda was certainly an important point in what had happened in today's events. He was personally glad that her friend found closure for her death because, in a way, it also gave him relief as well.

But her death was also used for a nefarious deed that infuriated him. Frenda's death was used as a point to hold against Kamijou Touma in order to kill him. He needed to talk to him about that topic.

"Oi! Hamazura!" The pair heard a voice from behind them.

The two boys turned around to see that the rest of ITEM were walking up to them. The voice that they heard earlier came from Mugino.

The trio of Mugino, Takitsubo, and Kinuhata walked up to them. "Now that the whole situation has been resolved, we're heading back. You coming?" Mugino said.

"Errr" Hamazura said as he scratched the back of his head. He turned over to look at Touma. "Actually, I still got something I got to talk to the boss about."

Touma turned his head to Hamazura and raised his eyebrow. The ITEM girls looked surprised as well.

"Alright then, well do what you have to do and then come back to us as soon as you can." Mugino said.

She turned over to look at Touma. "You know, I've heard about you, but I've never had a chance to really meet you or talk to you."

"I uhh, don't believe I've ever gotten a chance to talk to you as well." Touma said. He knew that this girl was one of Hamazura's friends and recognized her from when she barged into his apartment looking for Hamazura that one time. "I'm Kamijou Touma." He said as he held out his hand.

Mugino looked at his hand. "Shizuri Mugino." She said before accepting his gesture. "I was kind of expecting someone more intimidating with your kind of reputation."

"I have a reputation?" Touma asked. He thought back to his first conversation with Kanou Shinka and kind of realized that he was sort of known now.

"Indeed. After all, you're the one that defeated the #1 and #3 right?"

Touma slowly nodded to confirm.

Mugino smirked. "I wonder how my Meltdowner would have stacked against you. After all, I was given an order to kill you a little while back." Mugino said in a dark tone.

Touma tensed at the bluntness of her statement. He also realized that she was talking about the event where the whole world was sent against him during the Othinus incident.

"Mugino..." Hamazura said nervously.

"Buuut, Hamazura here convinced me to not go after you. I didn't think it was worth it anyway." She said as her expression lightened.

She turned and started walking away. The other 2 girls watched and moved to follow behind her as well, with Takitsubo turning back and giving a little wave to Hamazura before they left. "We'll see you later after you finish your business with him." Mugino said as a last word.

The two boys watched as the group of girls disappeared in the distance.

"Well uhh, that was certainly interesting." Touma said as he sweatdropped.

"I'm glad she didn't try to start a fight." Hamazura shuddered. "She's a pretty scary person, I bet you she'd kill me for saying that."

Touma laughed nervously but he agreed with that statement.

"I'm kind of glad too. Also, from what she said, I guess I have you to thank that I didn't have to earlier."

Hamazura scratched the back of his head. "It's no big deal."

Touma smiled. "Hehe, well I guess I hope other people won't try to start a fight with me."

"Don't be like that boss, what about maintaining your reputation?" Hamazura joked.

"I didn't even know I had a reputation!"

Hamazura laughed.

Touma turned his head and looked over to Hamazura.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about anyway?" He said questioningly.

"Well...why don't we find a place to talk about this instead of standing around?"

"Alright, you got any suggestions?"

"Yeah, I got a place."

Hamazura and Touma had arrived at a diner. It seemed appropriate as it was nearing dinner time after the whole series of events that happened today. He had chosen this particular place because it was one of the places that ITEM chose to frequent a lot.

As they walked up to the restaurant, Touma stopped and looked up at it. This was the diner that I saw him at in that other world... Touma thought to himself.

"Hey boss, you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Touma said as he snapped out of his state.

"Alright, well, let's head inside."

Hamazura decided that they would eat first before they walked. It would be a nice change of pace and pretty relaxing after the crazy day that the both of them had gone through. Touma was fretting whether or not he could afford eating out but Hamazura offered to pay for his meal. It was really nice that he had a job now.

He could have sworn he saw Touma bawling when he said that and once more at the sight of food.

"Oh my god, so this is what being able to eat a whole meal without Index stealing it from me feels like." Hamazura heard him comment.

Hamazura was kind of amused at the sight of Touma enjoying himself.

After finishing their meals, Hamazura finally felt like he it was time to ask what he wanted to say. It felt kind of awkward to try to bring it up in this atmosphere but there some things he really wanted to know from the boy.

Hamazura looked over at Touma. "Listen, I know that this might be something out of the blue, but I really wanted to talk to you about a couple of things boss." He said.

Touma looked inquisitively at him. "Sure, that's fine. What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well it's more like a bunch of questions I have. Most of them concerning what happened today" Hamazura said as he looked over at Touma.

Touma raised his eyebrow.

"Alright, go ahead." He said as he nodded in confirmation.

"Alright, well..." Where do I begin? Hamazura tried to recall his thoughts that he had earlier that day.

"I guess the first thing I really want to know is, what are Magic Gods? When you ran into me today, you were-"

*Clunk!*

"Huh? Boss?!" Hamazura exclaimed in surprise.

At the mention of the words 'Magic Gods', the trauma instilled into Touma from the Omega World had surfaced yet again. He grasped his head with both hands and had crashed on top of the table.

"Oh god! The memories of that world!"

"Boss?! Are you okay?!"

"Ahhh!" Kamijou Touma was now squirming on top of the table.

Hamazura stood up from his chair in panic and moved over to him. When he looked down at the boy, he could see the look on Touma's face. It was one of panic and distress. A sense of worry washed over Hamazura as soon as he saw it.

While Hamazura motioned to help Touma, the commotion was being noticed by other people around the diner. They were looking over to see what was the source of the ruckus going on.

Hamazura looked around and notice the the stares as well. Crap, I gotta get him outta here and calm him down somehow.

"Come on, let's go outside and get some fresh air." Hamazura grabbed him by the shoulders. He lifted him up and wrapped one of Touma's arms around his neck while Touma's other arm was still clutching his head.

"Ugghh, I'm sorry Hamazura."

"It's fine boss."

Hamazura was still holding Touma's arm around his neck as they walked down a sidewalk in Academy City's 7th district. They didn't say much more while they were walking. Hamazura told him that they were going to get some fresh air and so made way for one of the parks.

They made their way into the park and Hamazura unwrapped his arm around him to let him sit.

As soon as Hamazura sat him down, Touma's body crashed all the way backwards onto the bench.

"I'm sorry about all of that." Touma said as he looked up to Hamazura.

"I already told you it's fine. There's nothing you have to apologize for." Hamazura said as he also took a seat right besides Touma.

"If anything, it's me that has to apologize."

"What for?"

"What I said was the cause of that wasn't it?"

"..."

Hamazura took his silence of confirmation.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then you don't need to. Forget I asked."

"No...It's all right. It's just..."

He let out a long sigh.

"Magic Gods are infinitely more scary than anything else that I've ever faced." Touma started off with. His face getting contorted as he spoke. "Their power is just so immense and way more powerful than what the world could comprehend. It's not something to brush off, I experienced first hand their power. That's why I didn't want you running straight into St. Germain if we didn't know whether he was one or not."

They even have the power to make the world perfect. Touma thought.

"I get it now boss. You don't need to say any more. If anything, I have give you my thanks for looking out for me."

Hamazura listened closely to his answer. Magic Gods must be serious business if it's sent someone like Kamijou Touma into distress. Touma had just told him that he experienced facing a Magic God firsthand. But Hamazura wanted to know what had happened. Something happened to him that caused a huge change in him. The Kamijou Touma in front of him felt different from the last time had met him. Which lead him to his next question...

"But moving away from that topic, there's also something also I want to talk to you about."

Maybe asking him this would reveal just what happened to him and what caused that change in him was what Hamazura thought.

"Back in the Dianoid, when we were in Frenda's room, we overheard St. Germain and how she was trying to direct Kanou Shinka's anger towards you by saying you were the cause of her death. I know we went over this, but I have to discuss this with you in-depth again. Why did you take the blame for Frenda's death?"

"Hmm? I thought we both settled that issue. I know it my idea was kind of crazy-"

"It was more than crazy. Why would you willingly take the blame for something you didn't do."

"I told you, I was just being selfish-"

"You say that but how does being selfish equate to sacrificing yourself?! Listen boss, I think of you as a hero, but there's just something wrong with that thought." Something has changed in you. "So I ask again, why did you take the blame for Frenda's death? You've seemed different than the last time I saw you."

Hamazura crossed his arms and looked intently at him.

Touma stayed silent for a while.

"...Maybe...maybe because I actually do believe I caused Frenda's death."

"I already told you that there's no way you could have done anything about it."

"No...not in the way you think Hamazura..."

"What?"

Hamazura was confused. Not in the way he thought? What other way was there?

"Remember how I said I experienced the firsthand what a Magic God can do?"

Hamazura nodded.

"Well, one of the things a Magic God can do is that they can change this world completely. You have no idea at what they could control. I was sent through many of these different worlds that a Magic God created."

"Many different worlds?"

Touma sighed and frowned as he recalled that other world. "Yes, different worlds. And one of the worlds that I was sent to was the perfect world."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just that, it was absolutely perfect. One where all conflicts were resolved. Everyone over there was happy and they all held a smile on their faces. It was just so perfect that it'd be something you couldn't believe, but it was there."

"So you're telling me you saw kind of Utopia? So then what does this have to do with Frenda's death?"

Touma turned his head to him.

"Hamazura, back in that other world, I saw Frenda. She was alive over in that world."

Hamazura's eyes widened. He sat in silence for a few moments to take in what he just said.

"No...that can't be possible. That world couldn't possibly be real if she was alive."

"It was real. Everything about that world was all real." Touma said with a downtrodden face. "And I was the one that took it all away."

"Took it away?"

"To get back to this world, I had to destroy the other world in order to return. That means I destroyed that world where she was alive. So in a way, I really am responsible for her death."

"That...that's just stupid!" Hamazura exclaimed. "Can't you see that something like that is too good to be true? There's no possible way she could be alive after what happened to her! Did you consider the possibility that what you saw was just an illusion?"

"That's just the power of a Magic God." Touma frowned. "Even if it was an illusion, it's fitting that I'm called the illusion killer." Touma laughed sadly.

"Boss..."

"There was another thing I need to mention. A certain condition in that world. If I wanted to preserve everyone's happiness, I had to kill myself so I wouldn't have ruined that world."

At that statement, Hamazura was absolutely shocked.

"I weighed my own happiness against the happiness of 6 billion. That's why I believe I'm selfish. After all, I'm not really worth much compared to everyone's happiness that was over there."

"Hey! Don't you think about yourself like that!" Hamazura said as he suddenly grabbed Touma's shoulders. He couldn't believe what Touma was saying. Had he really valued himself so little?

"Listen boss, There's no way that something as miraculous as that could happen. I don't think that anyone would truly blame you for doing what you did."

Touma frowned and then turned lifted his head to look at Hamazura. "Are you sure?"

Hamazura nodded.

"Then what about you? I saw you over in that world as well Hamazura." Touma looked at him. "That means I took away your happiness as well."

Hamazura let go of Touma's shoulders and moved back on the bench to listen to what he had to say.

Touma recalled the scene in his head when he had seen Hamazura in the Omega World. "That diner we went to today, I remember a nice scene in there. You were in that diner we went with all of your friends, including Frenda and her little sister. It was a happy picture and all of you held smiles on your faces." Touma said downcast.

Hamazura listened closely. It looked like Touma had even more to say.

"I even saw two other people with you not from your current group, I overheard that their names were Komaba and Hanzou."

Hamazura tensed up as he heard those names.

Touma had noticed his tension "I can only assume that they were very close friends of yours?"

Hamazura didn't know what to say but he slowly nodded.

"That's what I thought." Touma frowned.

Hamazura had specifically been taken aback at the mention of Komaba's name. The former beloved leader of Skill-Out was alive in that world as well?

"So in destroying that world, your happiness was gone as well. I don't think I could expect you to forgive me for taking all of that away from you."

Hamazura gritted his teeth.

"Why would I blame you for something like that? I don't believe that you're at fault for taking something away that never even existed. I'd be no better than St. Germain if I did that."

"Wha-?"

"Is it really that surprising boss?"

"But...your friends were over in that world."

"There's one thing wrong with that argument boss. If you had gone through with that condition, I would have lost something in that world."

"What do you mean?" Touma said confused.

"I consider you as one of my friends." Hamazura said firmly.

"Huh?"

"I think you're my friend too. I don't know why you chose to argue using the reason of having all of my friends over in that world when that condition you mentioned meant losing one of them."

"But I...Could I really be included in the category of close bonds that you share with others?"

"You don't need to feel ostracized and think you're excluded from the bonds of friendship people have. I don't know why you choose to exclude yourself from that grouping and then use it as a reason to try to get me to hate you."

"Hamazura..."

"Listen, Mugino killed Frenda and almost killed me and Takitsubo. And yet, here we are now. She's one of my closest friends."

Touma listened but he was confused as to what Hamazura was getting at.

"And you, well...You've done more for me than you probably realize." In fact, I think you've done a lot for people that you don't even realize.

"I can safely say that I'm currently happy with my life. I don't know how it would compare to that other world but I'm pretty damn happy. I've got my girlfriend, a nice job, and my friends with me. But the reason I'm at this happy point in my life is because of you. You were the one that got me started on the path that lead me here. If I had never met you, I would have never learned about how what I was doing in Skill-Out was wrong and that I fucked up. You were the one that knocked some sense into me. If that never happened, I would have never met ITEM and I'd probably be stuck in Skill-Out still just amounting to nothing more than a thug. Your lesson about Level 0s was what motivated me to save my girlfriend. And not just that, weren't you also the one that protected the last link connected to Frenda? You were the one that saved her little sister Fremea from Umidori. So if the world lost someone like you, I truly believe that the world wouldn't be as happy as you think it would be."

Touma looked at Hamazura with a neutral expression, almost looking like his mouth was about to turn with a frown. He could not find anything to say so he turned back forward and looked down. He did not say anything and remained silent for a while.

Hamazura looked at him. He had said what he wanted to say and what he said were his true feelings. Thinking over everything they had just talked about, he truly realized what had changed in Kamijou Touma. Hamazura saw the boy as a hero. He knew that Kamijou Touma was a hero. But that boy was a hero to the point where he placed other people's well-beings and happiness above his own. That person had just told him about destroying a whole world of happiness and he realized that, with someone like him, him putting his own desires over others was something contradictory to his character. The guilt of his actions was eating him up. That was what was wrong with the boy that he had seen today.

Touma let out a sigh after a while. "Well then I guess that's one person crossed off the list that doesn't hate me." Add another to the counter Will. "But what about the other 6 billion people in the world?"

Hamazura couldn't find an answer to that. "Well you'll just have to ask them yourselves boss."

*Ring**Ring*

Hamazura and Touma jumped up at the sudden noise.

They noticed source of the sound was coming from Hamazura's pants. Hamazura reached into his pockets and found it was his phone that was ringing, the caller ID saying that Mugino was calling him.

"Hello-"

"Oi Hamazura! Why aren't you back yet? You just said that you were going to have a quick talk with that spiky-haired boy and it's been a few hours. Where are you now?!"

"I uhh, we had a lot to talk about eheheh."

"Hmm, well you better hurry up already." Mugino said in a dark tone.

"Yes, will do." Hamazura said before he hung up abruptly. He knew he had to get back before Mugino got too angry.

"*Sigh* Guess I have to go now." Hamazura said.

He stood up from the bench and took a step forward. He turned around to look at Kamijou Touma who was still sitting on the bench.

"Listen boss, you're definitely not hated as much as you think you are. I'm sure there are other people that hold you dear and cherish their bond with you."

Touma lifted his head up and looked at him.

"But remember this, you are one of my friends. And I fight to protect my friends." Hamazura smiled at him. He turned around. "I'll see you around boss." He said as he walked off and waved goodbye.

Touma watched as Hamazura disappeared off in the distance.

He remained sitting on that bench for a while. His mind echoing everything that Hamazura told him. One of his friends huh?

A small smile popped up on his melancholic face.

Next Chapter: Tsuchimikado Motoharu