The List of Prohibited Books

July 21st

"So where is Saten today? Mikoto asked Kazari Uiharu.

"I don't know," Kazari answered. "I haven't seen her since yesterday."

"Hm," Mikoto hmmed. "That's we- whoa," said Mikoto eyes widening at the sight before her. "What happened here?"

"I don't know, Onee-sama," Kuroko replied. "But I can find out," she said, slipping on her Judgement armband and walking towards an Anti-Skill officer.

"It looks like a disaster passed through here," said Mikoto. "Didn't the cameras catch anything?" She asked addressing Kazari.

"I don't think so," she replied. "If they had they would have sent out the footage already but I didn't even get an alert about this."

Kuroko returned a moment later and relayed what she had been told.

"Anti-Skill don't know what happened here either," she told the duo. "Apparently someone with the power to manipulate minds drove everyone into leaving and all of the cameras were shut down."

"Who could have done something like that?" Asked Mikoto.

"And why would they do it?" Continued Kazari.

"We're not sure yet but we think it was just a group of delinquents abusing their powers," said Kuroko.

"Abusing their powers, huh?" Mikoto muttered. "Well, they sure did a number on this place," she said, taking in the no less than six craters dotted around the street, accompanied by four more in the surrounding buildings, two of which being actual holes that went straight through the walls.

"Yeah, but we didn't find any blood samples so we don't think anyone was hurt during the event," Kuroko assured.

"Well that's a relief," Said Kazari, ever the optimist.

The Previous Night

"TOUMA!" Index shrieked, running over to where he had been sent flying. Kneeling beside him, blood staining her habit from where it had begun to pool, she looked over his injuries.

There was a giant cut going from his left hip to his right shoulder and it was bleeding profusely. Index tore off Toumas helmet non-too-gently and proceeded to slap him even less so.

Seeing that he was still unconscious, Index wasn't entirely sure what to do next but inspiration hit her when she heard a ringing sound coming from Touma's ear.

A strange little device was poking out of his ear and Index pulled it out to get a better look at it. Doing this, she accidentally pressed a button on the side that accepted the incoming call and a tinny voice started coming out of its speaker.

"Hey, Kami-yan, I forgot to mention, since you decided to skip out on the first day of remedials, Komoe-sensei decided to double your holiday homework so-"

"Hello? Is someone there? Please, I need your help!" Index yelled into the little device.

"Huh? Who is this?"

"I can't hear you, please speak up!"

"*sigh* PUT. THE. SPEA. KER. TO. YOUR. EAR." Hearing what was being said, Index promptly stuck the little rubbery part, that noise was coming out of, into her ear. "Can you hear me now?"

"Yes! Now, please help me!" Index said, still yelling loud enough to wake the dead.

"Sheesh, yeah, okay, I get it. So I take it you're that girl Kami-yan was showing around today?"

"Yes, that's right."

"And Kami-yan's managed to get himself into another mess, right?"

"He's dying!"

"Does he have his motorcycle?"

"Yes, it's right over there."

"Go to it and check under the seat. Kami-yan usually keeps a first-aid kit in there." Complying with the voice, Index ran over and saw that he was right. Snatching up the little bag, she hurried back to Touma's unmoving body and got to work patching him up.

When she was done she said to the voice, "Okay, he's bandaged up, now what do I do? Call an ambulance?"

"Not yet. Kami-yan hates hospitals. Which is ironic considering how much time spends in them," the voice said, trailing off a little bit.

"Please focus," Index said pleadingly.

"Right, right," the voice said getting back on track. "Are all of his limbs still attached?"

"Y- yes...," Index said slowly, not quite sure if she heard right.

"Are any of them bending in a way they shouldn't be?"

"No."

"Are there any bones sticking out?"

"No."

"Have you stopped the bleeding?"

"Yes."

"Then you're all set. Now you just need to get him somewhere comfortable. Where-"

"You can't be serious! Touma's dying! How can you be so calm?"

"Relax lady," the voice said soothingly. "You know all those things I asked you a moment ago?" A brief murmur of assent from Index, and the voice continued. "Well that was the bare minimum of what it takes to get Kami-yan into a hospital. Anything less and he'll just get mad at you for taking him there and costing him money."

"Huh?" Index asked, thoroughly confused.

"Yeah, Kami-yan's an odd one but there's two ways about it. He's a survivor, he'll tough it out."

"If- if you're sure…" Index said.

"Positive. Now, where did you say you were again?"

"We're right next to the eastern gate."

"Eastern gate, huh? Kami-yan trying to sneak out again? On second thought don't answer that. Three left turns from the gate, there should be a little side street, do you see it?"

"Uh-huh," Index answered with a nod he couldn't see.

"Follow that street for a couple hundred meters or so and you'll come across a place called 'The Too True Love Hotel'. The people there know Kami-yan, they'll let you in."

"The Too True Love Hotel," Index repeated. "Got it. But how will I get him there?"

"You said he has his motorcycle right? You can use that."

"Right," Index said, dragging Touma to his motorcycle by his armpits. While she was struggling to get it back on its wheels a voice spoke up. But it was not the helpful voice from the strange little device. It was the voice of the lady that did this to Touma.

"Index," she said, still lying on her side. "Please. Wait."

"What do you want?" Index said, eyes narrowing and suspicion, if not outright hostility, dripping from her voice.

"You… You know, don't you? How we-"

"Used to be close?" Index said, cutting her off. "Yeah. I heard you mention it."

"Then, please," Kaori said. "Please come with us. We don't want to hurt you. We want to help you," Kaori implored.

"But then, who will help Touma?"

"Stiyl is unconscious," she said. "The people clearing field will fail any minute. Someone else can help him. Right now, you're all that concerns me."

Index was ashamed to admit that she had to think about it. She thought that, if she was telling the truth, now could be her only chance of getting out of Academy City. And it wasn't the thought that Touma needed her help that kept her from leaving. It was the uncertainty of what she would do after she left.

Then she realised that it didn't matter. She couldn't just leave this stupid, idiotic, brave, selfless boy lying alone and unconscious in the middle of the streets at the dead of night. Not after all he had done for her.

"No. Touma needs my help and after all he's done for me I can't repay him by just leaving him here," she said, a new determination lacing her voice as she resumed struggling to get the motorcycle back on its wheels.

Meanwhile, a couple of kilometres away, a certain blue haired boy just sighed to himself as he shook his head and smiled. '*sigh* The Kami-yan disease strikes again. How do you keep doing it Kami-yan?' Knowing that Kami-yan was in safe hands he hung up his phone and returned to his morally questionable internet browsing.

"He really means that much to you?" Asked Kaori.

Index looked at the unconscious boy, unconscious because of the injuries he sustained for her sake, and she knew. "More than you could ever know," she said smiling fondly, mirroring what Kaori said about her only a few minutes ago.

"I see…" Kaori said, making her choice. With a heave of effort she pushed herself to her feet and walked over to Index.

"What are you doing?" Index asked, tensing her legs, ready to run.

"What I said I would," Kaori replied, clutching a hand to her stomach. "I'm helping you." With that she lifted the motorcycle up to its wheels, propped it up with the kickstand and placed Touma onto the seat. All with one hand. The other was staunching the blood flowing from her stomach.

"*gasp* you're bleeding," Index observed, concerned.

"Heh, it is sweet of you to worry but don't," Kaori told her. "I'm sure you've realised it by now but I am a saint. We're made of sterner stuff than regular humans. That boys lucky shot won't be enough to kill me."

"If you're sure," Index said.

"I'm sure," Kaori assured her. "Now, where are we taking him?" She asked, putting one hand on the handle across from her on the motorcycle in order to keep it steady and keeping her other hand on her stomach.

"There's a hotel a little ways down that way," index said, pointing to where the helpful voice indicated earlier. "The people there know Touma so they'll help him."

"Understood." Kicking up the kickstand Kaori started wheeling the motorcycle to the aforementioned hotel and Index ran back to get Touma's helmet.

And as they silently made their way to the hotel, a troop of cleaning robots, unbeknownst to them, started cleaning up the more telling evidence that they had left behind.

July 21st

"What's the current situation?" Stiyl asked.

"Index is eating in her room and the boy is still comatose," Kaori replied, still looking through the binoculars.

"I meant our situation," Stiyl said. "Are we still going after Index or what?"

"She has found a partner," Kaori stated matter-of-factly. "You know what that means." Index would stick by her partner's side until they accomplished what no one else had or until her memories were erased. Hopefully the former but Kaori wouldn't get her hopes up.

"*sigh* at this rate, he's not going to wake up in time to so much as comfort her let alone help her."

"He has done what he can and should he wake up before her time I am sure he will continue do so."

"Tch. I guess there's no arguing with that," Stiyl conceded, putting a cigarette between his teeth and lighting it. "After all, it's not every day some high school student takes down both a saint and Innocentius."

"No, it is not," Kaori said, finally putting away the binoculars and looking at Stiyl. "But if you think that boy is just 'some high school student' you are sorely mistaken."

"I agree with you on that," Stiyl acknowledged. "But that just begs the question. Who, or what, is he? We've checked every source we have and nothing indicates that he's anything other than ordinary student."

"I suppose that's just another mystery to chalk up to 'One who Purifies God and Slays Demons'," Kaori replied, once again bringing the binoculars up to her eyes.

July 23rd

*brriing**brriing*

"Ugh," Touma groaned as the sound of his alarm hit him like a freight train. "What time is it?" He asked aloud, bringing his arm up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. After doing that he tried to raise his arms to stretch the kinks out of them but realised that there was something wrong with that plan.

There was something holding down his left arm.

'Welp. I guess I'm not the checking that any time soon, heh heh. Godammit Yang,'

Getting over the disappointment he felt in himself, he quickly checked to see just what was pinning his arm to the bed and saw-

'A nun!'

Panicking slightly, it wasn't long before Touma recalled the events of the night before and gently tried to lift Index off of his arm without waking her.

"Mmm," Index murmured through the flannel collar she was chewing on.

'Wait. Flannel collar?'

Touma quickly realised that the flannel collar she was chewing on was his collar. Except there was one problem.

He didn't own flannel pyjamas.

"Fukoda. I'm here again," he muttered under his breath.

"Hmm? Touma?" Index bleared sleepily.

"Oh, sorry Index. Did I wake you?"

"Touma. You're awake!" Index cheered, wrapping Touma in a hug that damn near crushed his already injured bones.

"Agh! Yeah, I am but I won't be for much longer if you keep that up," he said gently prying Index off of him.

"Sorry," Index said, not sounding particularly sorry at all. "It's just that, after two days of sleeping, I didn't know if you'd be waking up today."

"Oh ye of lit- Wait. Did you say two days?"

"Mm-hm," Index nodded.

"Gah! What the hell!?" Touma suddenly exclaimed, leaping out of bed and looking for some clothes to throw on. "Those damn magicians, they're ruining my attendance. I'll have to attend more remedials because of this!"

"Hey, Touma? What do you mean, remedials?"

"Huh? Oh, never mind that, we still have to get you someplace safe." Touma's search for an appropriate outfit suddenly stopped. "Have you thought of where that could be yet?"

"…"

"Oh. Well, don't worry about it," Touma said. "The problem is the fact that something in your brain causes you to collapse on the verge of death once every year, right?"

"So they say."

"Well, now that I know what's wrong, I think I have a solution."

"Oh? And what's that?" Index asked inquisitively.

"I have… a friend. She might be able to help. She's a professional. I'll call her after breakfast."

After breakfast, during which Index filled Touma in on what happened after he blacked out, Touma walked out to the front of the hotel to make his call.

"Hey Kyarakuta," Touma called, greeting the desk manager as he walked past.

"Oh? The conquering hero returns from yet another conquest?" Kyarakuta taunted back.

"If I were the 'conquering hero', would I have shown up beaten, bloody and bruised?" Touma asked rhetorically.

"That's not really what I meant."

"Whatever," Touma said, rolling his eyes. "I told Index to help herself to your kitchen by the way. I'll pay you back later."

"Sure thing. By the way, you also have to pay me back for the past two days."

"No problem." After that Touma went out to the front of the hotel and made his call.

*Riiing*

"Touma! How are you? Where have you been? Are you doing well?"

"Alive, around and no. Listen, can I ask you for a favour?"

"Of course, but you know what the cost for one of those is."

"Yeah, I know. Meet me in the Too True Love Hotel in District 6, I'll explain there. And bring protection."

"Okay. Is that all?"

"Should be," Touma said. "Actually one more thing. Thank you. I can always count on you."

"Of course. I will always be here to help you, My Prince."

"Hey Kyarakuta, Misaki will be dropping by soon, can you give her a key to my room?"

"Two girls at the same time? It's not even afternoon yet," Kyarakuta replied, fulfilling his favourite pastime of ribbing Touma about his stream of girls.

"Har Har. Can you please just do it?"

"Maybe if you share with me your secrets."

"Aren't you married?" Touma asked, quirking an eyebrow and skirting the subject.

"Heh heh heh," Kyarakuta nervously chuckled, tugging on his collar and looking away. "It's just for research purposes. You know. For science."

"Riiight," Touma drawled. "Just give her the key, would you?"

"Sure, sure." And with that Touma walked up the stairs to his room and opened the door. Seeing Index scooping ice-cream into her mouth, Touma called out to her.

"Bit early for ice-cream isn't it?"

"It's never too early for something so delicious," Index said sagely, through a mouthful of ice-cream.

"Just be sure to brush your teeth afterwards," Touma lectured.

"Mm-kay." Knowing that he would likely have to force her to do it later and resolving to do so, Touma went to the bed and meditated.

Every Hunters Aura was capable of involuntarily accelerating their healing factor and minor wounds disappeared almost instantaneously. Greater wounds took a little longer but even then they would heal faster thanks to Aura.

A practiced Hunter could focus their Aura into further accelerating Aura's healing capability through concentration and meditation. Touma's Aura, on the other hand, was capable of healing such severe wounds all on its own.

And when he meditated that healing accelerated exponentially, to the point that broken bones reset and severed veins and arteries re-joined. Unfortunately it still took time, time Touma didn't generally have in the middle of a fight.

But In the calm that comes afterwards, Touma could spend an hour or so meditating and he could walk away in almost tip-top shape. However, it still took some Aura so Touma looked at his Scroll to measure how much Aura he would be willing to expend versus how much he would actually need to.

Seeing that he was at yellow he figured he had some Aura he was willing to use to get the ache out of his ribs, spine and hips, the areas he had been most injured during his fight with Stiyl and Kaori.

Closing his eyes and concentrating, Touma allowed his Aura to flow through his body focusing mostly in his torso and immediately he felt the pain and soreness fade away. He also felt it somewhere inside, the manifestation of his soul that strangely felt like a separate entity yet felt as familiar to him as his arms or legs.

His Semblance.

Touma believed it to be the reason his Aura was better at healing his injuries than most others' but it wasn't exactly like he could Wikipedia that shit. All he had was a handful of theories and estimated guesses.

But Touma tried not to dwell on that, instead turning, once again, to mending his body in preparation for the inevitable fight that he knew was bound to come. It was why he had told Misaki to bring protection after all.

And speaking of Misaki, it sounded like she was on her way up. Those footsteps were too light to be Kyarakutas and he didn't think anyone else would be using a hotel like this, this early in the day.

So, reluctantly, Touma opened his eyes and stretched his muscles before opening the door just as a gloved hand reached for the doorknob on the other side.

"Oh, Touma! You scared me," said Misaki, putting the aforementioned gloved hand to her considerably large chest. "My heart is racing," she continued before smirking slyly, a mischievous twinkle in her already starry eyes. "Would you like to feel it?"

"Are you sure it wasn't just the three flights of stairs you had to walk up?"

"Touma," Misaki whined. "My athletic ability isn't that low."

"Right, right, of course. My apologies princess," Touma said jokingly, bowing at the waist.

"I will forgive you this once My Prince, but in return you must treat me to a parfait."

"Your wish is my command," Touma said, rising from his bow. "But before that, my request?"

"Of course. Like you instructed I brought protection," Misaki said, reaching into her handbag. "However, I couldn't tell which kind you meant so I brought some bodyguards as well as some con-"

"Okay! That's great! There is no need to finish that sentence!" Touma said, grasping her shoulders and dragging her out of the doorway and into the hallway, slamming the door shut behind him to ensure Index was out of sight lest she see Misaki pull out one of the two versions of protection she had brought along.

And something told him she wasn't carrying bodyguards in her handbag.

"Hmm? Okay," Misaki said, pulling her hand out of her handbag, thankfully without any protection greater than the elbow-length, silk gloves she always wore. "So why did you call me here?"

"I met a girl a couple of days ago-"

"Another girl?" Misaki complained, pouting.

"Yeah, why?" Touma said, picking up on the displeasure in her voice but not quite understanding why it was there.

"Never mind," Misaki sighed. "So what does she need?"

"She's having brain problems," Touma explained. "I think that she has some sort of physical defect that causes her to enter a coma every year. If the coma goes untreated she would die but her treatment causes her memories to be erased."

"I've never heard of anything like that," Misaki said, putting a finger to her chin.

"Neither have I. That's why I want you to give her a brain scan, but purely physical. I don't want you entering her thoughts or memories, okay?"

"Oh? Do you have something to hide?" Misaki said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but she does and I want you to respect that, are we clear?" Receiving a nod as confirmation Touma turned back to the door and opened. "Good. Now let's get started."

"Index?" Touma called out.

"Hmm? What is it, Touma?" Index had apparently finished eating her ice-cream and was now staring intently at the TV, which was playing Magical Powered Kanamin.

"This is my friend Shokuhou Misaki," Touma said. "She's the one I was talking about earlier, remember? The one who can help you." Index looked Misaki up and down, trying to get a read on her.

"And how do you figure that?" She asked.

"She's a professional, just leave it to her, okay?"

"Okay." With that Misaki approached Index and crouched down to be eye-level with her.

"Now, Index was it?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Okay. I want you to close your eyes and empty your mind. Can you do that?"

"Sure." Index proceeded to comply with the blonde girl.

"Good." Seeing that her eyes were indeed closed, Misaki reached into her handbag and pulled out a remote control. Pointing it at Index's head she pressed a button on it and the results of her scan came back. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

"That's it?"

"That's it. Now, I need to talk to Touma about this, so just keep watching TV, okay?"

"Alright then." With that Index did as she was told and Misaki walked over to Touma, who had stayed standing by the door during the whole exchange.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked.

"Perfectly," she answered succinctly.

"Perfectly how?"

"Perfectly as in there's nothing wrong with her," she elaborated.

"How can that be? We were told-"

*riiing**riiing*

Cut off by the ringtone Touma pressed the side of his earpiece to accept the call. "Sorry Misaki, one second," he said, turning away.

"Yes, who-"

*BRRAAKKA**BRRAAKKA*

"Kamijou! Please, *BRRAAKKA**BRRAAKKA*, we need your help!"

"Huh? McGuffin? What is it? *BRRAAKKA**BRRAAKKA* Where are you? What do you need?"

*BRRAAKKA**BRRAAKKA*

"Esper! Powerful! Nuclear facility! HELP!" And on that cheerful note the call ended leaving Touma in a state of suspense.

"Well, shit. That sounds important. Sorry Misaki, I have to go, someone needs my help."

"It's not another girl is it?" Misaki asked, putting her hands on her hips and raising a brow at him.

"Funny you should ask. It's not."

"Then you have my blessing."

"Thanks, I guess," Touma said, snatching up his helmet and sprinting out of his room and down the stairs.

"Kamijou? What's-"

"Sorry Kyarakuta, no time, gotta go." With that Touma rushed out of the front doors and onto his motorcycle which had been parked at the front of the hotel. After pulling on his helmet he brought his arm up to look at his Scroll.

'Just less than quarter-past yellow.' His meditation had apparently taken almost quarter out of the yellow zone. Apparently he had been more injured than he'd thought and required more healing than he would have liked. It meant he would be charging headfirst with less Aura than he would prefer but hopefully it would be enough.

Stowing his scroll, Touma put his hand on the handlebar and gunned the engine, tearing off down the street to help Anti-Skill.

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