Beta creds to JediKage96 as usual. Also, I have slightly edited chapter 1 to reflect that it's an SI fic. Not much, just a couple of lines at the bottom, not particularly important

Insert standard disclaimer

"You have...textbooks as contraband?" Ragni asked as she picked up her teacup again, taking a sip.

I nodded. "I somehow ended up with library copies of a few books"

Her face whipped towards mine. I could feel her interest sharpening, though I couldn't figure out why.

"Which library?" she asked.

"The District 7 public library..."

"How did you manage that?!" she all but demanded.

"What? It's a public library..." I said, confused.

"Yes, it's a public library, but books are tracked. Every library book has a tracker in it that activates when the book leaves the library, unless it has been checked out." she said.

Huh. That's new.

"Umm...Isn't that...expensive?" I asked, confused as to why a public library would go to such lengths to secure their books against theft.

"Maybe so, but it is needed. Library copies are quite sought after, at least on the black market" she said.

My eyebrows climbed up at that. "Why so? They are just textbooks, I am sure that they can be bought in any bookstore." I said.

"Yes, any bookstore- within Academy City. Not outside of it. It is not legal for publishers to print books for selling outside the city unless approved by the Directorate of Dissemination. Any book purchased within the city is registered to its owner, and has a unique identifier that can be tracked. The movement of any and all print and electronic media is strictly monitored throughout the city." she said.

"Okay. Then why library books?" I asked.

"They aren't registered to a person. It belongs to the city, and thus makes the purchase truly anonymous. It is impossible to find an unregistered copy outside of a library. Thus, library books are quite well guarded against theft." she said. "How did you come to possess them?"

"Eh, I have my ways" I said, brushing off the inquiry. "How much are they worth?" I asked

Ragni looked at me intently for a few seconds before replying. "Anywhere between five thousand to twenty thousand yen, depending on the content and year of publication. There are a few restricted books that can go for even higher prices, but those are not stuff you find at a public library"

I ruthlessly tamped down on the shock I was feeling at those figures. It wouldn't do to show these people that I had no idea as to what I had stumbled across.

"Hmm... Interesting..." was all I said in response, though I was hyperventilating on the inside.

Ragni stared at me some more, before shaking her head slightly. "We have gotten off topic though. While I am very interested as to how you liberated books from a library, that was not why I wanted to talk to you alone." she said.

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Why did you want to talk to me alone then?"

"A favor and a warning, Kamijou Touma." she said, instantly putting me on guard. I had never introduced myself, and I doubted the original Touma had gotten himself purposefully involved with the City's underbelly. Though, given his luck, he might've gotten involved by accident.

"Stay away from the organized elements of the City's criminal element. It's something that drags you in the more you interact with it." she said.

I snorted at that. "Given my luck, I will most probably end up in someplace like this anyway. It would probably be better if I got into it in a controlled fashion, instead of suddenly finding myself in the middle of a small war when I go out on some completely unrelated errand." I said. "Come to think of it, that was exactly what happened today as well."

Ragni just sighed at me. "I have given my warning, do what you will with it." she said.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "How did you know my name?" I asked.

"That is for me to know, and for you to find out" she said, amusement leaking through in her tone. "Now, shoo. I have other things to do. You can bring the books here later if you want them to be valued and auctioned. Kaguya here-" she said, motioning in the direction of the dreamy woman, "- will answer many questions you may have."

"Alright then. I shall be visiting again another time then" I said, getting up, tamping down on my curiosity and wariness.

She nodded absently, her attention falling onto a sheaf of papers Kaguya handed her.

I glanced at the HUD clock as I sat at the bus stop waiting for the bus.

"Five to eight...Hmmm..."

Up to this point, this day had been...hell to say the least. I didn't get to read Ninjas of Love, I got picked on by my 'friends' and the sloppily dressed PE teacher, and was forced to participate in a drug drop at gun point.

"Ugh... and I still have to play with the Illusion Barriers...All I have been doing is playing with the ward I set up at home..."

I was a bit leery of playing Illusion Barriers immediately though. According to the description, it attracted negative spirits in various forms, and I didn't want to be caught out without a weapon. Mana was limited after all, and Imagine Breaker was far to close ranged for it to be very useful.

"Hmmm...can I channel it to other parts of my body?" I thought as the bus pulled in to the stop. "An idea worth experimenting with..."

"I am forgetting something..." I thought as I swiped my ID card on the scanner, and taking a seat on the bus. Over the past couple of days, I found out that my ID card was pretty much all that I needed to get around the city. I didn't even need a PIN for the ATM, it accepted my ID along with a finger print. Far more secure, frankly, and very convenient too.

"Hmmm...what next...?"

I got in touch with the underground, so I assumed that the quest would update once I actually sold the books I didn't want to the Ragni's organization. I also needed to decide one way or another about Sakura, and I needed to call Misaka. I also needed to figure out why Ragni was interested in me specifically. She called me out to give me a warning to not get involved with the underground, but at the same time, did nothing to actually enforce the warning, even subtly encouraging me to get rid of the books through her.

I sighed, and then discreetly brought my phone out of inventory. I then proceeded to dial Misaka's number.

She picked up a couple of rings later. "Hello?"

"Hello? Misaka-san?"

"Kamijou-kun! You actually called?!"

"What's with the tone of surprise?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"Uhhhh..." she said, struggling to answer. However, before she could do anything, another indistinct voice came over in the background.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"That is my new roommate..." she said, an odd mixture of exasperation and fondness in her voice.

Before she could say anymore, there was a sound of a small scuffle.

"KUROKOOO!"

There was a rush of static, and then the beeping of a disconnected call.

I looked at the phone for a second, before snorting in amusement. "Looks like Kuroko is here"

I dismissed the quest completion notification I got for completing the trust issues quest, and sighed again.

"What now..."

After reaching home, I dug into one of the bowls of instant ramen that Touma had stocked, and crashed. The next day, thankfully, was a holiday, so I disabled the alarms, intending to sleep in.

I woke up the next morning to be greeted by a new update notification.

[The Gamer V1.02]

[1. Party System Enabled! You can now create Parties using the Gamer.

2. Telecommunication Integration System Enabled! This feature can be accessed through the Inventory.

3. Save Files are now enabled! You can view currently saved files through the Settings menu! The sytem will autosave at 00:00 hours every day!]

"Saved files?!"

Still lying on the bed, I brought up the settings menu. There were two new options; one for party and the other labeled as Saved Data. Tapping it resulted in a new screen popping up.

[Saved Data]

[Slot 1: T̷̻̟͙͚̗͎̥̭̽ͮ͐͛͐̾̆oͦ̊ͤ̽̅ͧ̆ͬ͂͋̃ͨ̒̈͐́̒̔͐҉͏̞̭͔̹u̙͖͕̥̪̩̔͑͊ͭ͂̅͆̄͗ͩ̓ͫ̿ͥ͠ŕ̋͗ͯ́ͪ͏̸̷̷̲̘̼̤͠a̸̾͆̆̎̄̿͐̊̍̓ͣͬ͗̚͢͏̡̬̼̣̠̫̣̘͕̺̲m̡̨̜̳̫̪̙̬̹ͬ͂̈́ͧͪ̉̔ͭͣã̶̵͉̘͖̘̞͎̳͓̪̺̜͖ͧ͆̂ͪ͒͐͛ͮ̕ͅͅ ̷̴͚̻̺̜͎͈͈̆ͯ̉̓͐͊̈̃̇ͪ̚͝K̺̩͍͇͇̯͕̫̝̺̮̬͋ͨͭ̃̆̊ͮ̏̿ͨ̇̿̅̉ͭ͐̊̑̀͜͢ͅh̴̘̝̣͉͙̩͔͚̲͖̮̠̩̻̄ͮ̀̎̏͌ͨ̌̂̕ͅa̢̨̜̜̙̝̟͕̻ͨ́́ŗ̵͓͎̗͉̙̱̞̞̙͙̜͈̙̟̝͖͒́͆ͧ̎̎m̢̓ͣͩͣ̈́̿ͦͮ̾̈́ͮ҉̢̺̟͍͓͞͡i͓͕̣͇̹͍̟͙̰͙͙̥͇̬̘̙̙̼̼ͬͩ͒̇ͤ͋̌̓ͨͣͩ̒̀͢͡͞j͎̳̬̲̺̙̞̮̲̯̗̆ͪͣ͂̾ͤͫ̽̑̕͟ͅo̗͙̝̳ͧ͌̇̏͌ͤͦ̋̾̿͂͐̏ͬͪ̓͒ͨ̀u̧̦̘̜̯͙̠̫͎̱̗͎̼̱̜ͥͨͧ͂̉̐ͬ̾̂ͭ̊̑ͣͨ̈́͊̚͠͡ͅ.

Updated: June 17, 20:18

Inactive]

[Slot 2: T̶̺̙͙̯̩͓̼͓̦̋̄̄͐̾ͦ͊͢͞͝͡a̓̈́͐͆͛̿̊̅ͬͤͩ̒̍͐̚͡҉̘͔̬͔ń͊̓͗͛̋̑ͥͪ͗̊͋̃̋̓̌ͫͥ͘͝͏̪̣͚̦͖̳̲̳͈̜̻̜̯͖͞ͅm̨͓̺̗̹͈̝͕̲̝͇̓̉ͩͮͪ̓̌͗̄̽̂̀͘͟͡ͅa̴̡̡̢̪̞̺͉͍̭̮̲̺̘̘͚̋̽̊͗̿͌̑̉ͤͭͅy̢ͧ̓ͩ͒̆̒ͭ̈́͌̊̑ͪ̔̽̄ͣ̌͏̣̘̹̯̳̗ ̊ͣ̔͋̍̽҉̭͍̮̬̘̝Kͭͭ̎̓͛̓͊͑͒ͦ̒̍̿̊̚҉̶̠̺͈̝̭̠̰͖̥̮̟͉̥̥͎̹̯̤͟͞h̷̷̡̡̧͍͚͕͙͙̟ͫ̂̉̓͊ͧͮ̈͆͛̌āͣ͌̄ͩ̍͑̅̾̄̏͂̔ͩͬ̊͆͂̚҉̢͖͕̻̭̪̪́̀͝rͧͤͩͦͫ̽̐͆̏҉̵͔̠̼̬͕eͬͫ͐̑͌͗̀̀҉̯̻̜̪̭̮̝̣

Updated: ?

Inactive]

[Slot 3: Touma Kamijou

Updated: June 20, 00:00

Active]

The remaining slots were empty.

I assumed that the one labeled as active was the current me, and of the remaining two, the first was the original Touma, and the second the old me, given that the date was a series of question marks. I wasn't able to read either name.

Frowning, I clicked on the first file, and immediately got a notification.

[This file is corrupted! Would you like to attempt to repair this file?]

My eyebrows went up at that, and I clicked on yes. If it worked, it would be incredibly useful. While I wasn't sure what would happen if I activated it, I would still (hopefully) get some data from it that wasn't imported skills.

Upon clicking yes, a progress bar lit up at the bottom of the save slot, showing the debugging progress.

Clicking on the second slot gave the same message, and I started debugging on that one too. I wasn't sure what would happen, but ehh, what harm could there be in trying?

I picked up my phone from the table I had set it on for the night, given that I wasn't sure how it would work from the Inventory, and didn't want to miss a call because of that.

Upon putting it into Inventory, I got a notification.

[A Cellular Phone has been added to the Inventory. Do you wish to integrate its functions?]

I clicked on yes, and the phone disappeared from its slot in the inventory. Instead, a new button appeared below the minimap, displaying a scaled model of my phone.

[The MD-4761 Basic has been Integrated into the inventory. You can now access all of its functions through the Integrated Communications button below the minimap. Integrating better phones leads to unlocking of better features]

I grinned at that. The Gamer is Awesome!

[By acknowledging the greatness of The Gamer, your WIS has gone up by 1!]

" Annnd back to the crappy humor..." I thought to myself.

I went back to the settings, and clicked on the "Party" option.

Opening the Party menu gave me a slew of options. According to it, Party was a verbal command, and sending an invite required me to give the recipients' name. The option to change the party leader was greyed out, but there other options for roles, each customizable.

I hummed as I scrolled through the options. I wondered how much a party member would be able to do, how much of the Gamer's abilities they would be able to access, and more importantly, how much information I could access as the default party leader. "Hmmm...I need to have another meetup with Misaka then, given that she is the only one who knows about the Gamer..."

Closing the Party menu, I got myself out of bed, idly noting that it was around half past ten in the morning.

Suddenly, there was ringtone blaring right in my ear.

I jumped at that, then glared at the screen which was telling me to pick up or reject a call."I need to reduce its volume." I thought as I accepted the call.

"Moshi moshi? Kamijou-kun?" A high pitched voice came across the phone.

"Yes?" I replied.

"This is Komoe-sensei here. I called to remind you that you have remedial classes from eleven thirty today."

"Umm...what?"

"Kamijou-san! I will not accept any excuses! You will be present today for the class, or else...or else...ummm...I will hand you over to Yomikawa-sensei!" she said, in what I assumed was a threatening voice. Not that it sounded like one.

I sighed. "Yes Ma'am. I will be there"

There was an approving hum from the other end of the line before the call ended. I dismissed the notification which gave the call duration, and forced myself out of bed.

Yawning, and I walked to the small balcony that was attached to my room, and froze at the sight in front of me.

There was a girl with silver hair and green eyes, wearing a white nun's habit hanging of the railing of my balcony.

Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Lv 38

"This is bad...this is very, very bad" I thought as Index demolished a significant part of the supplies I had intended for me to last the rest of the week. "Things are going to heat up, very literally, and I am nowhere near prepared to handle it. I figured that I had a couple of weeks more before Index dropped in!"

Thing was, my memories were still vague. I could remember vague snippets and certain people, but not much else.

But one thing I remembered vividly was Stiyl and Innocentius.

"I going to have to fight a frikkin fire demon tonight, and I have no idea how! The only things I have are Basic mana manipulation and Imagine Breaker." I thought as I desperately tried to figure out what I needed to do.

I also couldn't let anyone find out that I knew of events to come, however vague the recollection, nor did I want people to find out about Imagine Breaker. According to what I remembered, It was Touma's involvement with Index that brought him to the notice of both the Church and the City as the wielder of Imagine Breaker, and leading to half of the complications after.

I took a deep breath, calming myself down. I then looked at the still-feasting Index.

"Who are you and why were you on my balcony?" I asked, even though I knew, thanks to both the Gamer and my vague foreknowledge, useless as it was.

"Ah. My name is Index, and I was jumping across the roofs." she said calmly between mouthfuls, causing my eyebrow to twitch.

"And why were you jumping between roofs? These buildings are eight stories high!"

"I was running away from the magicians chasing me" she replied.

[A quest has been created!]

[A Nun Indeed is a Nun in Need]

[A (apparently) ten year old nun has landed on your balcony, and is being chased by magicians for unknown purposes. Protect Index from the various people who are after her virtues (who knows of which type?)]

[Rewards: 20000 EXP, increased closeness to Index, increased closeness to ?, increased closeness to ?, +1 companion. Failure: Decreased closeness to Index, Death by Burning or painful dismemberment]

I dismissed the notifications, and addressed Index. "And why are magicians chasing you?" I asked, for appearances sake.

"They are after the 103,000 forbidden Grimoires that I possess" she said.

"Magical Grimoires" I said in a flat tone.

"Magical Grimoires" she agreed, happily munching through her second helping of cup ramen.

I put a hand on my face, and slowly dragged it down across it.

"Mendoksai ne!"

Having no idea what to do with Index, I let her go, figuring that she would end up at my doorstep later when she felt hungry.

I spent the rest of the day in a state of nervous anticipation, trying to figure out ways to defeat Stiyl and Innocentius without Imagine Breaker. I was so distracted, I accidentally ignored Komoe when she asking me a question, which ended up in her giving another one of her heart-wrenching looks.

A endured the next few hours of classes, and dashed out of the classroom the moment the bell rand, ignoring the voices of Motoharu and Peirce. I needed solitude to think things through before I got back home.

as I slowly walked towards my home, trying to avoid the inevitable, a voice out called my name.

"Kamijou-kun!"

I turned in the direction of the voice, and I had a brainwave. I knew what I had to do.

"There you are." a panting Misaka Mikoto said, hands on her knees. "I have been trying to get a hold of you all day!"

And that's a wrap.

Something I would like to say. I will NOT be writing lemons, not unless the feelings of one or more of the participants during the act is of particular importance to the story. Given that this is not a romance, it is highly unlikely that something like that will happen. I don't have anything against the idea, but lemons just for the heck of it is stupid. This isn't a porno, it's a story, and I have no interest in writing in explicit detail about casual sexual encounters, especially since they are completely irrelevant to the plot.

Once again, thanks to JediKage96 for betaing the chapter.