Chapter 14:
Knock knock
"Come in!"
The door opened and a girl that seemed to be in second year appeared.
"Excuse me, Suzumiya san…"
She was blushing slightly and had a box decorated with several hearts and a pink envelope attached to it on her hands, upon seeing this, Haruhi immediately knew what this was about and talked to her like a bored employee of the public administration.
"What is it?"
"I…I heard that you're going to Academy City on Thursday and I was wondering if…"
"Yes, Kyon talked to him already and he says he'll meet us there."
"I see that's wonderful, you see if it's not that much of a…"
"Sure, we can deliver that for you."
"Really thank you, I wanted to send it to him myself, but I was embarrassed because the carrier said they'd have to open the…"
"Don't worry, unless specifically asked by the authorities at the entrance, we won't open, weight or god forbid us… smell any package you send through us."
"Great, then about the cost…"
"It's free, I was stupid enough not to charge the first person that asked us and now my business ethics forbid me from charging anyone else."
"Thank you Suzumiya san, you really are a…"
"Just put the thing in that pile over there please."
The girl reluctantly placed her box on top of a huge mountain with the most varied packages that was near the door and bowed before leaving with a huge smile on her face.
"Sigh… just how many of these are we going to get?"
Koizumi pressed the button on a hand counter he was using.
"Well this was package number 86 and I heard his fan club is well into the three digits, so I guess a lot more."
"Man if this keeps up we're going to carry more of this stuff than our own luggage. Why must Academy City authorities be so paranoid? I mean to think that they require that all the mail must be check by security personnel before delivery, that's ridiculous!"
I don't know, I think our clients' being afraid of their packages being smelled at is even more paranoid… and borderline creepy too, actually is it really safe to carry those things around?
"Either way, we're already stuck with them so it doesn't matter anymore."
There were only a couple of days before the trip and it should be obvious by now that the news spread throughout the entire school and the members of North High's branch of Touma's fan club figured out maybe we could deliver a few packages to him.
Anyway, today we're supposed to meet with the person that'll be our tour guide in Academy City, apparently we need to sign a few papers to get our entry permissions, nothing serious by itself, but there was also something else…
"Man, why is he so late? I wonder if something happened to him."
You see it's really likely this person is an esper, and while according to Koizumi we don't have to worry about him using his ability in here, it'll be a whole different thing once we're in Academy City, so we need to confirm his intentions and according to Kanzaki san it may be needed to 'convince' him that using his ability near Haruhi is a bad idea; yeah apparently we now bully people into doing what we want… god I miss the times when the most dangerous thing we ever did was playing baseball.
"Kyon, go check the school and see if you can find him, maybe he got lost or something."
Ok, not like staying here watching the parade of girls sending love letters to someone else is amusing (ask Kanzaki san and Ichigo san if you don't believe me, they don't look amused in the slightest) so let's go.
…
Well there wasn't anyone suspicious inside the school or in the front yard, so the only place I have left to check is the little back yard right below the club room.
"Could you stop that already, I just want to finish this thing and go back home."
On it there was a beautiful girl with dark orange hair tied in a couple of long twin ponytails, dressed with a dark blue coat over her shoulders, a mini pleated skirt and white stockings for the cold and if you noticed I didn't mention anything about her shirt is because she's not wearing one, instead pink bandages are wrapped around her chest, but still the thing that called my attention the most was this huge flashlight that was hanging on her belt.
"Just give me five more minutes."
And together with her was a young man with dark hair and eyes who was carrying a huge backpack, judging by his looks I'd say he's a university student and he seemed to be looking at our window quite suspiciously.
"Excuse me, can I help you?"
"Huh?"
They were both surprised and quickly turned towards me and after she saw my face, the girl with the bandages seemed to recognize me.
"You are… What was your name again? You are the one they call Kyon right?"
"I guess so… are you by some chance the persons from Academy City that are supposed to be coming here today?"
I thought there was only one, oh well it doesn't matter.
"Yes, I'm Unabara Mitsuki, I'll be the person serving as your guide through the city, nice to meet you."
"And I'm Musujime Awaki, I'll be your guide into the residence of the general director, my pleasure."
They both bowed together.
"Same here."
I made a little bow myself before moving on to what really mattered.
"We should head to the clubroom; everyone is waiting for you guys."
"Sure."
I quickly guided them towards the school building, however before I leave I need to check something… Hmmm, Ichigo san is seating really close to the window today…
Anyway, we quickly made our way towards the clubroom; however just I was going to open the door Musujime san stopped me.
"Before we go inside Kyon kun there's a little something we need to discuss."
"Huh? What could it be?"
Unabara san got in front of me to explain themselves.
"You see our employer told us you knew about us not being regular people by your standards."
"Yeah, I know but..."
"Also he ordered us that under no circumstance we should use or talk about our abilities in front of your leader, not even when we are inside the city."
Well, that was easy.
"Seriously? That's a relief…"
"However!"
Musujime san interrupted me and cleared her throat.
"That it's just us, everything else that happens inside the city is the responsibility of your group! Understood?"
"Yeah sure, no problem."
It's not like we were expecting this to be any other way.
"Perfect, now that's taken care of, let's get on with it."
I opened the door and after a few introductions were done, they finally explained the reason for their visit.
"Everyone, in order to speed up the process this Thursday, we're going to need you to sign a few papers and collect some of your biometrical data."
As he said this Unabara san was pulling out from his backpack a laptop, a camera, a microphone, a fingerprint scanner and a retinal scanner.
"We're going to need a picture, a voice sample, fingerprints from your right and left hand and the retinal patterns of both eyes."
And while he was explaining the process, Musujime san was giving us several paper forms to every one of us.
"That way we can have your temporary ids ready for Thursday and we won't have to waste time at the entrance."
Ok, time to fill up these things I guess, there wasn't anything special about them, just regular stuff like name, address, phone number, nothing you wouldn't expect from this kind of stuff, however there was something that called my attention.
"Why do I have to sign so many of these things?"
Haruhi had about three times more papers in front of her than the rest of us.
"Suzumiya san, since the purpose of your visit is to decide whether or not you qualify for a scholarship in one of the many schools in Academy City, we need you to fill out a few extra papers also you're going to have to take an aptitude test when you finish with those."
She looked at Unabara san and sighed.
"Oh well, I guess there's no helping it."
When we finished the forms we had to take turns to get our biometrics measured, it was pretty simple: a picture against the wall, a scan of every finger and both eyes, finishing with saying your name in front of the microphone.
"Huh? Is something wrong Kanzaki san?"
Seriously, she was staring at me with her eyes wide open.
"It's nothing Kyon san, it's just that… It's the first time I hear it, your name I mean, it's wonderful …"
Yeah, maybe you people should start using it more often… or at all.
"But… it kind of sounds a little too royal and imposing."
Funny, I remember someone saying something like that before.
"Anyway, now the only thing left to do is Suzumiya san's aptitude test."
As he said this, Unabara san pulled out a stack of papers, a deck of cards and some other items from his backpack.
"I'm going to have to ask the rest of you to please leave the room for about an hour."
"Huh, why?"
"The test involves several advanced techniques developed by Academy City and we can't let anyone not involved on them see them."
I guess that makes sense, still I don't like the idea of leaving Haruhi alone with them.
"I took the test to enter Academy City with Oneesama when we were little… Misaka remember her 'past'."
The guy looked at Ichigo san with a face that read 'So cute!' and nodded.
"Ok, then Ichigo san can stay here and keep Suzumiya san company."
I noticed Musujime san looked at him annoyed but didn't say anything. Oh well I suppose if Ichigo san is with her nothing will happen and worst case scenario, Nagato should be able to tell us if something's wrong.
"Wait for us guys, I'll just finish this test as fast as I can and then we can go home."
"Sure no problem."
Anyway, Musujime san guided us outside before going back to the clubroom, locking the door behind her; once we were alone I figured out it was a good time to explain what they said to me before.
"…So according to them, they won't use their abilities in front of Haruhi, but we have to take care of everything else."
"I see if what they are saying its true then I guess you were right when you said Crowley just wouldn't say the truth to Suzumiya san just like that…"
It was pretty obvious really; I doubt the guy wants Haruhi's imagination running wild in his city… that wouldn't end well.
"Still that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful."
Then Koizumi turned to Nagato.
"Nagato san, about what I asked you before, did you manage to scan them?"
She just looked at him and nodded.
"Great, we'll discuss the results later, speaking about that, I think we should meet in the karaoke bar after this to decide on a course of action for the trip."
That place again? And what's this about a scan? I never noticed Nagato doing anything suspicious.
Anyway, everyone nodded and then we had nothing left to do but to wait for Haruhi to finish and take even more request for deliveries.
...
About 45 minutes later, we heard the door of the clubroom being unlocked.
"You can come in now!"
We entered the room and found that Unabara san had already packed all his stuff.
"Before we leave, I'd like to explain our itinerary for the next few days a little."
"Sure go ahead."
As he got Haruhi's permission, Unabara san quickly got in front of the group.
"We'll start the trip on Thursday, basically we'll take care of all the procedures left to get into the city and once we finish, we'll be attending a special event the general director prepared to welcome you."
How nice of him.
"Then on Friday, we'll make a quick tour through Academy City, the city itself is very big, so it's impossible to see all of it in one day, because of that we'll be focusing on the most important districts."
I'm guessing the ones Ichigo san mentioned the other day.
"On Saturday, we're supposed to meet with the general director, however before the interview, Suzumiya san will have to go through a physical examination and a few other tests that should take most of that day."
Musujime san interrupted her partner.
"I'll be accompanying you on that; I'm the only one of us that is able to guide people inside the residence of the general director."
"I see, well I don't like the idea of wasting an entire day out of three just for that, but I guess there's no helping it."
"Wonderful Suzumiya san, then the only day left is Sunday morning when you'll be free to do whatever you want until noon when we'll escort you back to your home."
"Great!"
"Well then, now that's taken care of, it's time for us to go now."
"Sure, we're on our way out too, let's go together."
We all walked towards the school entrance and that's when we said our goodbyes.
"Suzumiya san, everyone, it was a pleasure to meet you, I'll see you at the train station on Thursday, I should have your ids ready by then."
"Ok, we'll see you then, take care on the way back."
They both bowed and quickly walked away.
"Well, we should head back home now, remember tomorrow is the final day before the trip so take care of everything beforehand."
We parted ways as well; however the day was not over for the rest of us, as we had to meet in about an hour to discuss our plan for the trip.
Awaki and 'Unabara Mitsuki'.
As they were going back home on the train, two members of the recently established organization GROUP were discussing about their newest assignment.
"Man that was surprising, I didn't expect them to be so similar, I still think Misaka san is better obviously but Ichigo san is not bad at all."
"Did you really have to let that Misaka Mikoto look alike witness the entire test? We could get in real trouble for that!"
"Don't worry about it; I don't think that's going to be a problem."
However his calm attitude only got into the nerves of his partner.
"Not to mention you were staring at her for like 20 minutes from below the window… what are you, some kind of stalker or something? Why must I be surrounded by perverts that don't take their jobs seriously?"
"Shut up! At least I didn't give my e-mail and phone number to some random guy just because he looked like a little kid, Ms. Shotacon."
"Hey! That's none of you business."
Awaki whispered something to herself.
"…he was cute…"
And then she cleared her throat.
"Anyway, what about that girl? Is she really so special that we have to do all this?"
"Well, I'm not sure; I wasn't able to detect anything out of the ordinary about her but…"
"But what?"
"I'm not sure about this since I'm not an expert or anything, but aren't aptitude test supposed to tell you the things you're good at and the ones you're not?"
"Yeah, I guess so…"
"Well, I uploaded her results into the computer and it says here that she's good at everything."
"No way!"
Then 'Unabara' turned his laptop around so Awaki could see the screen.
"See, she passed every single test with a near perfect score."
"But that makes no sense; when I took them I was told those tests are made so a high score on one should mean a low score in another one."
"And if you remember she didn't seem like she was trying too hard."
They looked at each other in disbelief.
"How about the tests that were supposed to measure her psychic capabilities?"
"Well…"
"What?"
"Remember the one that was disguised as a memory game?"
"You mean the one we lay down some cards on the table facing down and she has find the pairs but calling the figure on the card before turning it, yeah she got through it fairly easy, but that's not unusual; it's actually the standard for anyone considered for these kinds of test."
"That's not the problem; you couldn't have noticed since I was the one handling the cards, but the thing is that this test had a trick, there were a few figures on the box that weren't on the cards."
"But we gave her the box to see the figures and I don't remember she ever called one that wasn't on the table at the end."
"She didn't, the cards that were on the box somehow appeared on the table, and not only that, but there was a figure that was kind of ambiguous, the one on the box looked like a kitty and while I was shuffling the cards I noticed that up close it was more of a lion… she called it as a tiger and got it right."
"What? That makes no sense! It's like making the Schrödinger cat experiment and instead of guessing if the cat is dead or alive she pulls out a freaking dog out of the box."
"Yeah, I'm not an expert in the way esper abilities work, but I was told you guys could manipulate reality in a sense, however the way I see it, this girl takes that idea a step further and just rewrites it as she sees fit… and from what I could tell, she didn't seem to be aware of this."
There was a moment of silence were nobody said a thing.
"Just who is that girl?"
"I don't know, but I'll guess we'll find out soon enough."
Back to the SOS Brigade:
About an hour after we left the school, I went to that karaoke bar Koizumi is so attached to, when I arrived the waitress quickly recognized me and took me to the same cabin we always go to; inside everyone was already waiting for me.
"Well, now that we're complete we should begin with the meeting."
"What are we going to talk about this time Koizumi?"
"Well first I'd like to talk about our 'guides', I mentioned this afternoon that I asked Nagato san to scan them and see if we could get any useful information out of them."
He looked at Nagato and she nodded.
"The results of the analysis of subject Musujime Awaki reveal that she emits a considerable amount of AIM, taking into consideration the quantity and quality of the field, it seems to indicate that she's a strong level 4 esper... Nagato states the results of the scan."
"AIM… what?"
"It refers to An Involuntary Movement; it's an energy field we espers produce unconsciously… Misaka explain the basis of ESP."
"I see…"
"Any idea of what's her ability Nagato san?"
Nagato just shook her head without answering.
"I… I was thinking that maybe she's a teleporter."
"Why's that Asahina san?"
She looked rather nervous and was even fidgeting with her finger a little.
"Well, remember that girl that was with Mikoto san the other day, Shirai san, well since Kyon kun told us that she was a teleporter and I noticed that she and Musujime san both have similar hairstyles I figured out that maybe…"
She stopped talking as she noticed that we weren't quite buying her theory.
"…But I guess it can't be that easy... right?"
Koizumi looked at her and got his hand near his chin.
"Well while I don't agree with the methods, I do believe that your conclusion is correct Asahina san."
"…It is?"
"Remember she mentioned she was the only one of them allowed to guide people into the home of the general director, well I once heard from Motoharu that his residence is special in the sense that it's impossible to go inside without a guide and Ichigo san mentioned the other day it was called the 'windowless building', if you think about it, if it has no windows then the only way to get in without having to destroy it would be to be teleported inside."
What if you use the door? Then again if it has no windows, I suppose it doesn't have doors either.
"But if they have to teleport people inside, how are they planning to get Haruhi in there without her noticing something's fishy?"
There was a small moment of silence to show no one had an idea of how they were planning to do that.
"What about the guy that was with her?"
"The results of the analysis of subject Unabara Mitsuki show that he doesn't emit any form of AIM whatsoever, this seems to indicate that he's a regular human... Nagato states the results of the other scan"
"I guess that if Crowley doesn't want Suzumiya san to notice espers exists, it makes sense to sense to send a non esper as her guide, but…"
"But when he told me about them not using their special abilities, he was talking in plural, obviously including himself."
"He's probably a magician then."
Kanzaki san interrupted us and we all turned to see her.
"But I thought magicians didn't get along with the science side Kanzaki san."
"That's true Koizumi san, but still that doesn't mean we can't cooperate if need arises, for an example I've heard our Archbishop maintains strict diplomatic negotiations with the leader of Academy City and they even have a few treaties going on between them… doesn't mean that they get along. "
Kanzaki san took a little break to think about something before continuing.
"Also I don't think his real name is the one he told us… and call it a hunch but I don't think his appearance it's his own either."
"Why?"
"Because he looks and acts like a normal student from Academy City, but there's only one documented case of a student there being a magician and it's not him, so I think it makes sense to think that he just stole someone else appearance and it's posing like that person to avoid suspicion."
"Well I did notice there was something weird about him, but that was mainly the way he kept stealing glances at Ichigo san the whole time."
As I said that everyone nodded, thank god I wasn't the only one that noticed that.
"But thanks to that, Misaka was able to exploit his weakness and stay in the room when the aptitude test was applied… Misaka says mockingly."
You mean that was on purpose? Well done Ichigo san!
"Speaking about that Ichigo san, could you please tell us about the aptitude test?"
"Yes, unfortunately I wasn't allowed to see the questions for the written tests, however for the more practical ones I noticed they were just the standard tests used to measure one psychic prowess, but disguised as games or other common activities… Misaka remembers what she saw."
"I see, I figured it was something like that, Crowley seems very eager to investigate her, so I guess the sooner the better; the physical examination they mentioned is probably an extension of this."
That makes sense.
"Well I think that's all the information we can gather from our guests today, now about the trip, did you people managed to contact your organizations for assistance? Unfortunately mine is not in good terms with Academy City and our influence there is pretty much zero, still I talked to a couple of members and they told me they'll see what they could do."
"Speaking about that Koizumi, remember what I mentioned the other day?"
"Yeah, I must admit I'm not particularly thrilled by the idea, but there's just not helping it this time, I told them to go to that theater tomorrow."
"I talked to the people at my church and they agreed to send some of my former comrades to help."
"You mean the Amakusa Catholics Kanzaki san."
"Yeah, our church is an expert in hiding our beliefs and magic into everyday items, so I don't think there's anyone better for this mission."
Funny, she looked rather gloomy on Sunday when they talked to her, but right now she's saying those words filled with pride and you can see she's really fond of them; not really honest with yourself aren't you Kanzaki san?
"I asked my superiors, but as you know my organization doesn't believe we should interfere with the past in any way, so…"
So, as usual Asahina san (older) doesn't tell herself anything.
"It's ok Asahina san, we understand, please don't worry about it."
She looked down on the floor with a really sad face.
"Thank you, Kyon kun."
There was a little silence after that before Ichigo san continued with the discussion.
"I talked with the system administrator and she agreed to let several SISTERS go back into Academy City for this mission, unfortunately since it happened on such a short notice, the number of Misakas participating on it will only be of a few dozen; still two of them should be going to the theater tomorrow … Misaka informs about the backup she got."
I like how she says that as if a few dozen was a small number.
"Also, I need to tell you something, during the trip I might be absent for a day since I need to go to the hospital for a medical checkup… Misaka states a problem."
"Why? Are you sick Ichigo san?"
"No, it's just that due to some circumstances, Misaka needs to be in constant medical treatment to improve her life span, unfortunately this town doesn't have the proper infrastructure for them and since we're going to Academy City, Misaka thought she could make use of this to visit a famous doctor that lives there… Misaka explains her situation."
Well to be honest since Nagato is really attached to her and Haruhi likes her as well, I doubt her life span is going to run out anytime soon thanks to her being in good terms with the right people, still it's always better to be safe than sorry, so there's no way I'm objecting to this.
"Please don't worry about this, I talked with the system administrator and she authorized another Misaka to take my place on that day, so you shouldn't notice any difference… Misaka says encouraging."
I'd like to think that we would, but what do I know?
"Ok, what about you Nagato?"
"Currently the Integrated Data Sentient Entity is interested in observing subject Kamijou Touma and his data destroying capabilities, so a humanoid interface currently assigned to observe Suzumiya san is going to be relocated for that purpose, she also has another humanoid interface far more suited for combat that was to be decommissioned under her command… Nagato states the help she managed to get."
Well, that's great I guess.
"But if you're going to observe Touma, aren't you afraid he might accidentally erase them from existence."
"No, in order to prevent those kind of accidents, they'll have to periodically back up all of their data whenever they're near him, using these backups it's possible to completely reconstruct them from zero if needed… Nagato states the backup plan."
If that's true then why were you so afraid when… forget it, I understand, even if it's an identical backup, it just wouldn't be the same, right Nagato?
"Great, so the only one left is you Kyon kun."
"Well I already told you I called Touma and he and Mikoto san are willing to help… and yes I talked with her too and her group is also willing to help us."
"Who's her Kyon kun?"
Great, why must Asahina san ask the question I don't want to answer?
"You see Asahina san… Remember the girl that attacked us the other day, well… for some reasons I managed to get a hold of her phone number and Koizumi told me I had to call her for help."
There was silence after I said that and for some reason I could feel some faint murderous auras in the air.
"That woman… are you sure it was a good idea to call her Koizumi kun."
"Yeah, no offence but she almost destroyed the universe a couple of weeks ago."
Koizumi however had no trouble smiling despite Asahina san and Kanzaki san objections.
"Exactly, think about it, despite being outnumbered and outgunned her group managed to outperformed us and succeed, I don't like saying this, but the only reason the universe is safe and Suzumiya san didn't found out about everything was because of dumb luck."
Can't say anything against that, he's right.
"Not to mention it's pretty obvious that their leader got really attached to Kyon kun for some reason…"
Stop chuckling you…!
"And since they already beat us here and we're now heading into their home turf, I figured out we shouldn't take the risk and use our advantage to get their help, or at the very least for them to remain neutral and not on the opposite side."
Then Koizumi's expression changed to his serious one.
"Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of asking for her help either, but I'm not willing to take any risks with this trip and if we have the means to make things easier for us then I see no reason for us not to take advantage of them."
Thank you Koizumi, I'm happy to be your sacrificial lamb; still I can see why he's so anxious, if Haruhi finds out about Academy City's secret then Koizumi's esper kind might be the one in most danger, either because she gets bored of espers altogether or because she embraces the A.C.'s variant so much that other types become unneeded.
"I hate to admit it but Koizumi's right, Shizuri told me that she was hired to kidnap Haruhi this weekend."
"She told you that and you still asked for her help? Kyon san, that's not…"
"Actually she told me that after I asked and she also told me she was planning on canceling that mission anyway, according to her the whole thing is just a trap set up for them to distract us while someone else kidnapped her."
"Someone else?"
"I don't know the details, I mean she mentioned something about a school but I couldn't follow what she was saying, the only thing I know is that whoever he is she doesn't seem too fond of him, I mean she kept calling him a bastard and told me that as a special service for me, she would spy on him and betray him when the time comes… I don't think she was lying about that, she sounded way too eager to backstab the guy."
Of course, I skipped the part about her requiring a reward for her services, the murderous auras I talked about before haven't disappeared completely and I don't think they would appreciate that information.
"I suppose something like that is to be expected, if someone as important as Suzumiya san is going to Academy City then the people Ichigo san was talking about the other day are bound to make their move."
"It's possible that the information about her leaked somehow and if that's the case I doubt that this is the only attempt at a kidnapping or worse that's in motion right now… Misaka states the worst case scenario."
"Yeah, Shizuri also mentioned something like that."
Kanzaki san made a little 'tsk' sound annoyed.
"Damn it! And to think we aren't going to be able to fight this time!"
"Why is that Kanzaki san?"
"Think about it Kyon san, if it's a tour the most natural thing would be for us to stay together at all times and if Suzumiya san is with us then if we fight she'll see us."
"It's actually more like: if we have to fight then we already lost."
"Exactly Koizumi san!"
"Then I guess we have no choice but to trust on the people supporting us."
Everyone looked at me as I said those words and nodded.
Preparations for the invisible war.
Wednesday, Hakumeiza (Twilight Theater):
It was already quite late when Kamijou Touma got inside the abandoned theater; last time he was here was because of that incident with Orsola Aquinas.
"Seems like I'm the first one…"
He got inside and noticed there were several chairs carefully arranged in a circle on the middle of the room and there were also several cards carefully placed on the wall and on the ceiling, he tried to touch one of them but was stopped by a familiar voice.
"Don't touch them!"
He turned around to find someone he knew.
"Stiyl?"
"Kamijou Touma! Why am I not surprised to see you here?"
He chuckled.
"What about you? Are you here for Suzumiya san too?"
"Of course, the Church of England is very interested in that girl and protecting her comes as our first priority… by the way what about the person you're supposed to protect? I thought she was coming with you."
"Index is in the house right now, I figured out she was better off not getting involved in this."
"Still playing hero behind her back I see."
The red haired magician took a little sip at his cigarette annoyed before making a 'tsk' sound.
"Whatever! As long as she's fine I guess its ok."
There was a little moment of silence before Touma made the question he wanted to ask since the beginning.
"Stiyl tell me just who is that girl?"
The red haired magician took a long sip of his cigarette before answering.
"Beats me! The only thing I can tell you about her it's the official position of the Church of England and that is that she's a manifestation of God's holy will here on earth."
"I see."
"You don't seem surprised."
"I asked Index about her and she told me that among the 103.000 grimoires the only entities that resembled her was God and something called ´La Persona superiore a Dio´, I supposed you guys would get to a similar conclusion as well."
Then he let out a yawn and stretched himself.
"But at least I thought you would have some better explanations about her."
"There are at least a dozen theories around the world that try to explain her powers; the one that's more accepted right now is that her beliefs define what is real."
"What do you mean?"
"You know there are some people who believe God didn't create humans, but rather it's the other way around and it's the beliefs of humans the power that gave birth to God and keeps him alive."
"I think I heard something about that before…"
"Of course as a member of the British Church I find that to be nonsense, but if you apply that concept to her, you could say that her beliefs are the power that defines the way the world should be."
"I don't think I'm following you."
Stiyl sighed.
"Remember that alchemist we fought once, Aureolus Izzard."
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Think about his Ars Magna for a second; that was a form of alchemy that allowed him to make his thoughts a reality."
"So she's similar to that?"
"Kind of, but far more powerful, for an example Aureolus Izzard couldn't make a vampire appear in front of him because he had never seen one, he had an idea, but the lack of a clear image on his head made him unable to do it… our girl however would only need to have a desire to see a vampire and an idea of how they're like and one would appear in front her just like she imagined it."
Kamijou swallowed.
"It's not that simple though, there's also the part about her common sense telling her that those things aren't real and it's because of that internal conflict she has that we're unable to reveal ourselves to her; still the point remains that she doesn't need to understand the concept, but rather her beliefs define what the concept should be."
"So basically the world is the way she believes it should be?"
"Exactly, for an example if you think about it something as big as Academy City doesn't need to hide, actually it would make more sense if the city advertised itself as it would be easier to get talent for esper development that way."
"But since Suzumiya san likes conspiracy theories, she believes that these kind organizations should remain hidden."
"Which causes certain conditions to appear that force them to remain like that; it's as simple as that."
Touma sweat dropped a little and scratched the back of his head.
"Man she really is kind of scary.
Another sip at this cigarette later, Stiyl chuckled.
"The worst part is that she isn't even aware of it."
He chuckled some more but stopped completely.
"Seems like we have company."
Then from the entrance of the building two figures appeared, one was a girl in a middle school uniform with short brown hair…
"It's that you Biri Biri?"
The other one was of a nun dressed in white robes kept together by safety pins.
"Index…? What are you doing here?"
And once the lighting made possible to see their faces it was obvious they were really pissed.
"Touma~! Why do you an appointment with Short Hair in the middle of the night?"
"You~! Could explain to me what was she doing in your apartment?"
Touma took a step backwards and sweat dropped.
"Well I… I mean… I can explain…"
"Touma~!"
"You~!"
Index immediately jumped at Touma and bit him in the head, a pain he was unfortunately getting used to, but his misfortune actually saved his life, as thanks to it, he could concentrate enough to block the lightning bolts coming at him.
"How come you only stop me…?"
Luckily for Touma, she got distracted by the red haired man that was right beside him, who looked at her with a face that showed exactly how he felt, amused by the situation but in no way wanting to get involved with it.
"Oh, please pay no attention to the man in the black robes… go on… just make sure to only hurt the guy."
As he spoke, Index recognized his voice and let Touma go.
"What are you doing here…?"
Then her expression changed for her serious one.
"Are you trying to get Touma involved in something dangerous again?"
"You could say that, but is for a good cause this time; 'that person' is coming to Academy City."
"You mean Haruhi san?"
But before he could answer her, they were interrupted by the girl they had ignored.
"That person? What are you people…?"
Mikoto stopped talking as he noticed the red haired man made a sign for them to be quiet; they remained in silence for a while as they heard footsteps and some people talking in the background.
"I don't get it, why do I have to escort you here? First you made drive you around that town, I even had to spend an entire week moving stuff in that building and now this, I'm not your lackey damn it!"
"You're escorting us because your girlfriend needed to go out the city through district 10 and of course you wouldn't let her alone in such a dangerous place."
"Leave him Frenda, he's just pissed because we didn't invite him to the hot springs the other day… sorry Hamazura, I'm sure you were looking forward to bathing with Takitsubo, but the baths weren't mixed anyway."
"That's not…"
And once they were closer Touma noticed it was the girl that attacked him the other day and three other girls together with a young man with bleached hair.
"Ah! It's you!"
When they heard Mikoto's voice the group was startled and noticed the people in front of them, then Mugino took place in front of her coworkers.
"I'm assuming you're the people we're supposed to cooperate with."
She talked to Stiyl completely ignoring anyone else.
"Yes, you must be the underground organization ITEM right?"
"Correct, I'm Mugino Shizuri and these are my partners, Kinuhata Saiai, Takitsubo Rikou, Frenda and our lackey Hamazura Shiage."
"I said I'm not your lackey damn it!"
Mugino rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh.
"Ok ok, our 'assistant' Hamazura Shiage."
"I see, I'm afraid I must ask your 'assistant' to wait outside please."
Mugino made a sign to Hamazura, who just nodded and raised his shoulders before leaving.
"Well…"
"What are you doing here?"
She was interrupted by Mikoto who was looking at her annoyed; as the number 3 and 4 espers of the city there was quite a rivalry between them (most of it was just Mugino being jealous of her though).
"What do you mean? We were hired specifically for this mission…"
Then Mugino sighed and raised her shoulders.
"But nobody told me I had to work with a little kid, oh well I guess there's no helping it."
Mikoto sparked a little.
"Ha! I could say the same thing about working with an old woman."
"What did you…?"
Yet before Mugino could snap at her, proving once again that he has no common sense Touma got in between them to try to stop them.
"Oioi, calm down we're all in the same side here."
"Shut up!"/"That's none of your…"
And once Mugino recognized him she slapped him on the face as hard as she could, he even fell to the floor.
"What was that for?"
"For insinuating I had 'loose morals' the other day, just so you know I only need one man in my life."
Once she realized what she said she blushed a little, while Frenda frowned and Saiai chuckled.
"But I was talking about… "
As he lamented his misfortune and rubbed his cheek Touma noticed a hand extended towards him, he gladly took it to help himself.
"Thank you."
Once he stood up he noticed it belonged to the double eyelids girl from the Amakusa Catholics that helped him during the incident in Italy and not only her, but several of her partners and even their leader Tatemiya Saiji was in the theater.
"No, it's my pleasure."
She quickly moved away looking embarrassed and as she did Touma could feel two horrible auras of death aiming at him.
"Touma~!"/"You~!"
But before he could react he felt both of his arms being pulled and later being pressed towards the bodies of the persons hugging him.
"It's been a long time… Misaka says as she greets her savior."
"Nice to meet you, it is this Misaka first time interacting with her savior, I'm Misaka 19090… Misaka says overjoyed."
As it should be obvious by now there wasn't one but two Misakas hugging him… needless to say that made the two auras of death even bigger.
"Itsuwa, what are you doing? Go get him!"
"Yeah, they got the arms already so go for the neck or the chest."
"Aw man there's even more of them… and they're triplets."
"And to think we believed that with the supreme pontiff being with the Goddess, it would be easier for her."
"We're rooting for you Itsuwa!"
As the double eyelids girl blushed, her partners laughed and everyone else tried not to get involved, one unlucky boy could only say:
"Such misfortune!"
And desperately try to survive.
"Are you supposed to be the people we have to work with?"
But fortunately for him, someone spoke and made everyone stop to look at her; she was an office lady with brown hair and eyes, accompanied by a middle age man in a suit who looked just like any butler in an American movie.
"I'm guessing you come from that organization."
Stiyl blew some smoke and looked at them almost like he was expecting them, actually so far he had been completely unsurprised by everything, it was like he knew in advance who was going to come.
"Yes, I'm Sonou Mori and this is one my associates Arakawa san."
"Nice to meet you everyone."
They bowed and took seat in two of the chairs that were prepared on the room.
"Shall we start yet?"
Mori san smiled in a calm yet terrifying way that made everyone listen to her, this was enough to completely stop the circus that was going on and made everyone take their seats in silence.
"Not yet, I was informed we had two more guests today."
"Two? Judging by the remaining chairs I thought it would be just one."
A good observation since when everyone took seat only two chairs remained free.
"No, there are two; I won't take a seat myself."
He smiled at her but was interrupted by a voice coming from the entrance.
"I believe the last guest should be just me."
The last person to arrive on the room was a girl with green hair and a soft smile; she was wearing a school uniform that Touma quickly recognized as it belonged to the school he attended in the town he lived for the past month.
"You must be the homunculus sent from that thing; I thought the other one said there were two of you coming?"
The girl bowed smiling.
"Yes, I'm Kimidori Emiri, you're correct about the numbers, but unfortunately the other one can only be summoned in case of emergencies."
"I see, oh well then I guess we're complete now… and it doesn't seem like there're rats around either."
He urged her to take her seat and then moved to the back of the room to place a card on it.
T-P-I-M-I-M-S-P-F-T
"That should prevent anyone else from entering."
Then he stood up on the center of the group and chanted a quick spell that made a spot on the ceiling right on top of him shine and little after that a voice could be heard from there.
"Good night everyone, I'm happy that you could come here tonight."
The voice was female and quite beautiful, for some reason it remind Touma of the girl that was with Kanzaki the other day, Asahina san was her name he believed; however it couldn't be her as this voice had a certain maturity to it; to be honest he really liked it and to someone like Kamijou Touma whose type were women who were "Oneesamas", a grown up and more mature Asahina san would be quite near to how he imagine his ideal woman to be… unfortunately for him, sometimes the worst misfortunes are the ones we never knew they happened.
"What the hell is that?"
Mikoto spoke and her words also reflected the thoughts of several of the occupants of the room such as her SISTERS or ITEM.
Stiyl looked at her and blew some smoke.
"Just a little magic trick."
"What the…"
However the voice in the ceiling interrupted her.
"I'm sorry Mikoto san, there will be time to explain everything later on, however first there're other things we have to attend to."
The voice made a little chuckled and continued.
"Anyway, nice to meet you everyone, I'm the person in charge of this operation, I'm confident that the people that sent you here told you all you need to know about me, so I'll skip the introductions and go straight to the point; Stiyl if you would be so kind please?."
The red haired mage sighed.
"Sure…"
He pulled out several laminated talismans from his robe and gave them to everyone but Touma.
"How come I don't get one?"
"You do, but you have to pick it up with your left and be extremely careful with it."
He immediately understood and did as he was told.
"Ok."
"What's this?"
The members of the science side looked at the paper with curiosity, while the ones from the magic side already knew what they were.
"Everyone, we're going to be using those cards to communicate, I'll be telling you what you should do through them; Misaka Imouto san I wasn't sure how many of you were going to participate, so I'll give you those two and you'll have to relay the information to the rest."
"Yes, that won't be a problem… Misaka says confident."
"And Emiri san, please give the other card you have to your partner."
"With pleasure."
Mikoto however was unconvinced.
"Are you kidding me? How can a little piece of paper…"
And once again the voice interrupted her, this time however it came out from the talisman she was holding.
"Mikoto san, you should know there are things in this world that go beyond your comprehension and sometimes it's just better to not know and just use them."
That scared her and almost made her drop the talisman, once she saw that Mugino let out a chuckle.
"I don't really care what this is; we have a job to do and that's all it matters, the tools we use are irrelevant."
The girls of ITEM nodded, they've already seen a few things that were beyond their comprehension during their stay in that town the other day and one more wouldn't hurt.
"We're pros after all… not like the little kids that should just leave us alone and go back home to play with their dolls."
Mikoto looked at her ready to pick a fight, but she was interrupted by Index.
"But, these aren't only for communication right?"
Stiyl smiled a little.
"I should've known you'd notice, you're correct, these also have the function to keep track of the person holding them and maintain a log of every conversation that goes through them."
Then Mori san let out a small a chuckle.
"That explains everything, no wonder I thought this was fishy."
The voice went back to the ceiling.
"Yes, I need to keep a record of this entire operation and this is the easier way to accomplish that… Anyway, now that settled there's a few things we need to discuss."
Then it moved to the talisman Mugino was holding.
"Mugino san, I was informed that you were originally hired to kidnap Suzumiya san and that you were willing to betray your employer and partners in that mission, am I correct?"
"That's true."
"Are you sure you are going to be ok?"
"Yep, since we took the mission that involved that noisy girl from unofficial channels, no one should know we've meet her, I made sure we weren't being followed and we got out of the city through district 10; you see thanks to the Skill Out guys breaking all the cameras and robots; nobody should know we left the city."
"Good, Have you met with your partners already?"
"No, the meeting with the bastard is tomorrow morning; we're supposed to decide on a course of action then."
"Great, please take your cards to the meeting, they also work as listening devices so we can keep track of everything."
"Sure, don't worry, you can listen to everything and make sure we don't betray you too."
"Nah, I'm pretty sure 'Mugi chan' has a pretty good reason to be a good girl, so she won' betray us or someone won't like her."
Mugino jumped back at Mikoto's comment and became a little nervous, while Frenda got a frown on her face and Saiai chuckled.
"What… what are you talking about?"
Mikoto talked to her mockingly as she knew why was Mugino doing this, or rather who was she doing it for; thanks to Koizumi san's explanations the other day she knew about her becoming attached to a certain someone, she didn't knew why, but she didn't care either.
"I wonder… but aren't you a little too old for…"
"Mikoto san, please don't start a fight right now, you can tease Mugino san about the reasons she's doing this later."
And after this Mugino could confirm something about the person the voice belong to, she didn't like her.
"Anyway Mugino san, about the person you're working with…?"
Mugino cleared her throat and recovered her composure.
"It's not just one person, but rather a group of losers led by the biggest narcissist bastard in the world, they call themselves SCHOOL."
Index tilted his head sideways a little.
"Huh? A school… which one?"
Mugino and her partners chuckled.
"No, not a school, I mean SCHOOL, an underground organization just like our own that belongs to that bastard Kakine Teitoku."
"But that shouldn't be a problem, I'm the 3rd strongest and you're the 4th right? If they're espers we can probably beat them just the two of us."
Once again Mugino rolled her eyes.
"You're too cocky kid, even if he's not the number one; there's still another number above you and it would be unwise to take the second place lightly, his unknown matter is not something we can beat so easily, even if we work together."
Mugino almost fell like throwing up, this was the first time in her life she gave that bastard any credit, but the kid was right, she needed this mission to be perfect and if that meant she had to waste a chance to take the second spot from him then so be it, the reward her Kyon promised takes priority over everything.
"Number 2? So that's his name… well it doesn't matter, if we really can't beat him then we'll just leave him to the level 0 that beat the strongest."
Mikoto said this with extreme confidence while Touma sweat dropped and the girls of ITEM minus Rikou reacted with curiosity.
"You mean that wasn't just a rumor?"
"Nope, I saw it with my own eyes, it wasn't without help, but this idiot did beat the Accelerator."
She pointed at Touma.
"Oioi Mi…"
"So you're saying it was him?"
Mugino laughed out loud.
"Hey it's the truth!"
Mugino was going to say something; however she was stopped by the sound of the voice in the ceiling clearing her throat.
"Anyway, thank you for the information Mugino san, please be really careful on the meeting tomorrow."
Mugino moved her hand through her hair confident.
"Of course."
"Anyway besides them, there are several other organizations after Suzumiya san, not to mention there's also the factor of esper powers being a common occurrence on Academy City, this is an extremely difficult mission, so I need you to do as I say exactly as I say or…"
She interrupted by a 'tsk' sound that came from Mori san.
"We understand, basically if we want this to be perfect we have to be your puppets, no problem, as long as the status quo is preserved my organization will be happy… hope you enjoy commanding enough firepower to take on a small country."
The voice on the ceiling chuckled a little.
"Ok Mori san, then if you all understand this I believe we can end this meeting, just remember to keep your schedule free for anything I might need you to do, ok?"
Everyone nodded some of them reluctantly, but they did it none the less.
"Great, then I'll be contacting you later, bye!"
The shine on the ceiling disappeared and the talismans that were on the building fell off and burned out.
"She didn't even tell us who she was."
Touma scratched the back of his head.
After that, the people on the theater made a quick introduction among themselves and left, there was no reason for them to stay in there anyway; a few minutes later, only Touma, Stiyl and Emiri remained in the building, luckily for the boy with the spiky hair, the heroines from each side seemed to be distracted by what just happened and forgot about his punishment… actually they were just waiting for him to come out the building for it though.
"Excuse me, Kamijou san?"
While he was wondering about what he should do, he noticed Emiri had gotten closer to him with a smile on her face.
"Can I help you with something… Kimidori san, right?"
"Kamijou san, I represent an entity that is interested in observing your right hand; so as part of the agreement to cooperate on this mission it's required for me to keep an eye you, any objections?."
He tried to answer but before he could speak, Stiyl did.
"He accepts."
He was going to protest, but it was Emiri who stopped him this time.
"Great, then I'll be living and staying near you from now on, I hope you don't mind if I move to your apartment right now."
"But…"
She looked at him with a smile that showed no malice whatsoever, for some reason this remind Stiyl of someone he knew.
"Also, I ask of you to please refrain from touching me with your right hand, any other part of your body is ok though."
Touma took a step backwards; somehow he knew he'll be seeing the auras of death again.
"Such misfortune!"
Then the girl in front of him made a bow.
"I might be inexperienced, but please take care of me."
Prelude to an invisible war IV (End)
Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica.
In the main headquarters of the Roman Catholics, an old man and a rather 'exquisite' woman were discussing something of utmost importance.
"It seems Acqua meet with that girl last Sunday."
"And? What happened?"
"According to him while they aren't undistinguishable from each other, it seems they are fundamentally the same."
"But that's impossible!"
"I know, but he's the only one of us that can see their aura, so if he says so then we have no choice but to believe him."
"Just what in God's name does this even mean?"
"I don't know, but the way things are right now we can't let this be known to the public… you know what that means don't you?"
The old man looked down on his desk and checked the document the woman just brought; it was rather familiar as he had to sign a similar one not so long ago.
"You didn't even carry out the last one and you're asking me to sign another one of these?"
The woman snapped back at him.
"Shut up! I would have done it already but I was called back when she appeared! Not to mention this is far more important than that little kid."
The old man sighed and sulked.
"Are you sure there's no other way?"
"There's not, it's only a matter of time before hell literally break loose over this, we must act now!"
"What about the other Churches? This could become an international incident if we act carelessly."
"The English Anglicans already acknowledged that one; fortunately for us they're keeping it a secret from everyone but the people directly associated with them and since she's not officially a part of their religion nor can they force her to be, they can't whine about anything we do to her. The other churches such as the Russian Orthodox and the like don't seem to know a thing… no matter how you see it this is the perfect time for us to make our move."
"What about the science side?"
"There are tons organizations after her, but I couldn't care any less about them!"
The woman slammed her hand against the table.
"Listen, I know you don't like that she's just some pagan girl that doesn't suspect a thing, but it should be obvious by now that we can't let her existence be known otherwise not only us, but every single religion on earth is finished."
The old man was a little shaken by her words.
"I guess you're right…"
Then he reluctantly signed the paper on his desk.
'Haruhi Suzumiya'.
'Si prega di indagare con urgenza e se lei dimostra di essere un nemico di Dio, disporre di lei immediatamente.'
It meant: 'Please investigate urgently and if she proves to be an enemy of God, dispose of her immediately.' basically it was just an assassination's order.
"Great, you know don't feel bad about this, it's a fact that there's only one God in this world… I'm just getting rid of the 'Mistake'."
Author's note: The Italian phrase on this chapter was created by passing the English meaning through Google translator, which means it's probably not completely right or maybe it doesn't even make sense, unfortunately I don't know the language so I can't tell and I'd really appreciate if anyone who knows Italian could confirm if the phrase is correct or help me fix it if it isn't.
Omake
An (un)fateful meeting:
It was already evening when Misaka Mikoto was standing in front of a door, but this wasn't any door mind you, this was 'his' door.
"I suppose I should knock."
He had recently asked for her help in something important and it was needed for them to meet on an abandoned theater in eastern Tokyo to work on the details, so she thought they could walk there together… I mean she didn't know the exact location and it was obvious that if he wanted her help, he could at least guide her to the place… and maybe hold her hand so she wouldn't get lost...
Knock knock
"Now that I think about it, how am I going to explain him that I know where his apartment is?"
She blushed.
"If I tell him that I hacked the city network he's going to think I'm a stalker or something."
She blushed a lot more.
"But I already told him that's how I got his address on that town so… maybe he thinks I am one already? But that's just a misunderstanding…"
The door opened and she was so embarrassed that she could only close her eyes and blurt out the first thing on her mind.
"I'm not a stalker! I just wanted to…"
"What are you doing here Short Hair?"
She opened her eyes surprised and found a petite nun looking at her.
"Did I get the wrong apartment? He did say you were neighbors so maybe..."
She whispered a few things to herself while the nun just watched with curiosity.
"If you're looking for Touma he said he was going to get groceries, so he should be back any minute now."
"Ehhh? But we were supposed to meet in the Hakumeiza later on!"
"What… did you say?"
Suddenly the air around the nun changed completely, it was so bad that even the third ranked esper in the world backed out a little.
"Well… he called me and told me to meet him on that place tonight so we could…"
"TOUMA~!"
That scared her and made her jumped back a little; the nun got outside the house shutting the door behind her and then marched out of the building looking like an awoken demon, once she was out of sight Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief.
"What was her prob…?"
Then her face changed to something that resembled the nun's when she noticed something she hadn't seen before… the nameplate besides the door the nun came out… the one with his name on it.
"THAT IDIOT~!"
She quickly got out of the building and joined the nun on her march, they didn't shared one word in the entire way, but they both agreed on one thing… someone owed them a few explanations.