Replies for reviews

Whwsms – Yeah, thanks again, author-san.

Mr. X – 1) I don't know. I'll see. Maybe soon. 2) Only a certain part of Academy City is, not really as a whole. Speaking of propaganda, I personally think that the "work hard to attain high rank" is low-key propaganda in itself with the existence of the Parameter List. Well, that's how I see it. 3) It would have been interesting 4) Hmmm…

JCarrasco – Thanks

Guest00 – To be honest, I didn't intended it to be that way but either way, it turned out surprisingly good

Fortitude501 – Maybe…who knows lol

Fencer29 – A nurse who knows how to hit the critical part. Yes, it would make an interesting sight.

Anon – …And unlikely heroes would emerge


On the same day that a certain Iron Wall Girl had been taken under the wings of a World War II veteran, the operators and officers from both the side of the Japanese Special Forces Group and their Israeli counterparts in the Sayeret Matkal held a series of meeting concerning on how to corner a certain gunrunner that has been making illegal dealings not only in the most volatile parts of the Middle East but also among the Yakuza and other black market dealers in Japan. Kamijou Touma sighed as he faced his counterpart, Team Leader Gilad Cohen, in the table. The Israeli officer removed his dark shades as an indication of respect towards Kamijou, who had Fujima on his side while Cohen brought along a certain ground tactician surnamed Agassi and a rifleman Cohen identified as Yonatan.

"Sir, to tell you frankly, this is the first time since 1948 that we will be bringing in foreign troops although I don't think it should be an issue at this point…" Cohen began to explain as he puts down his IWI Jericho 941 pistol on the table, "But the since you're all from another country's special forces, I suggest that you remove any insignia from your uniforms before you all jump into action."

"We have already taken that into consideration," Fujima sighed, already expecting the issue of foreign presence in a war-torn area like the West Bank to be brought up, "But are we free to use your vehicles since we can't bring in our own armored fighting vehicles and that the latter is under the peacekeeping unit of the JSDF, not ours."

"Yes, you may use our vehicles and that is with the aide of our troops. If you're planning to request it, we'll also allow you to use our training facilities as well as some of our equipment in exchange for the captured man and the materiel that you have surrendered to us," Cohen was pleased to know that he would be working with the commander of a special unit that just captured an vital piece in trying to finally capture an international criminal, "Although it's not yet safe to immediately raid Nablus at this time. We needed to wait for a few more weeks before we go there undetected although we have scouts who are now scouring and are putting the area under recon."

Kamijou snorted at the deadline set by the Israeli commander, "That long? And we're supposed to catch him without any strings attached?"

"Sir, this isn't like the rescue mission that you Japanese SOGs had done. Entering Nablus alone is already a challenging task since that's a territory legally under the Palestinian National Authority, not the Israeli government although it's agreed that the IDF can maintain a presence there but it's only a small force," Cohen explained, not wanting to make it sound like he was pressuring their Japanese counterparts on this mission, "Rest assured, there will be no strings attached on this one. One thing you should know though, this English gunrunner doesn't stay there permanently but is always a regular fixture in the black market of smuggled arms and parts, according to our undercover team. Plus, they are weird. He and his men even wear those strange black stone-like talismans in their necks as protection against bullets."

"It's just a placebo for them to feel safe whenever a gunfire happens," Kamijou sugarcoated his words as he knew what those talismans are capable of based from what Stiyl had told him nights ago, "Plus, the one thing we should fear is their technicals and the ZPU series or even the infantry KPV attached to their trucks."

First entering service as an infantry weapon in 1949, the KPV heavy machine gun is a Soviet-designed 14.5×114mm-caliber heavy machine gun whose infantry version was taken out of production because it was too big and heavy. It was later redesigned for anti-aircraft use, because it showed excellent results as an anti-aircraft gun, with a range of 3,000 meters horizontally and 2,000 meters vertically against low flying planes. It was used in the ZPU series of anti-aircraft guns. Its size and power also made it a useful light anti-armor weapon on the BTR series of vehicles and the BRDM-2 scout car. Meanwhile, the ZPV is a family of towed anti-aircraft gun based on the KPV. The ZPU has seen widespread use by all sides in the Lebanese Civil War, 2011 Libyan civil war and Syrian Civil War, often mounted on pickup-truck technicals with plenty of videos showing the gun engaging different air and ground targets.

"As long as we take them out by our anti-armor team, then they're not a threat to us," Cohen assured Kamijou as the Israeli then takes interest at his sidearm, "You Japanese guys still use the M1911?"

"In an official capacity, no," Kamijou shook his head as he takes out his own M1911 pistol to compare it with the Jericho pistol, "The regular JSDF opted to use the lighter 9mm Parabellum as it is actually lighter than the .46 ACP but in terms of special ops, we actually find the latter round better because it had the stopping power that we favor over lightness and magazine output."

"We Israelis have a much more different approach, though," Cohen chuckled as he grabs his dark shades back, "Since this is urban warfare, our doctrine involves us to run from one direction to another and that means constant moving. Therefore, a lighter load is a must for us and that's why most of our imported firearms, especially the M4 carbine, are being modified such as barrels being cut down, rifle stocks being replaced with smaller ones, and Trijicon reflex sights are being attached instead of the standard iron sights."

"We used both the ACOG and the reflex sights, depending on the mission," Kamijou shrugged, "But often times, we use the iron sights simply because they're much simpler and they don't give away our positions unlike the red-dot ACOG scopes."

Cohen waved off Kamijou's statement, "Nah, it still depends on who uses it, though. By the way, I believe that our official business should have been done some few minutes ago but hopefully, we can give you some updates on the recon in Nablus. Tomorrow, a few Sayeret Matkal officers would be coming here to train with you in preparation for the upcoming raid." He then stood up and offered his right hand to Kamijou, who took it as a sign of diplomacy.

"Yeah, thank you, Sir Cohen," Kamijou shook hands with the Israeli officer before the three men left, with Fujima opening the door for them. As the three Israelis and Fujima had finally left, Kamijou then frowned as he then called out to a certain someone that is busy listening to their conversation.

"Oi, Misaka…Index…you two brats may come out now…"

"Wh-Who are you calling a brat?!" Misaka, who emerged from behind an emergency exit door, angrily retorted, "And it seems that you and those guys have an interesting talk."

"Yeah. Interesting that it's dangerous," Kamijou snorted as he diverted his sight away from both Misaka and Index, "Either way, tomorrow will be another interesting day but that was because there are certain interesting people that will appear in tomorrow's joint training…" Or in reality, I would be able to see lots of Israeli girls with large boobs and as a healthy young man, I can't help but have me boner rise up. Was left unsaid by the SFG team leader but he just clamped down his mouth.

But even so, Misaka seemed to have read his mind perfectly.

"Oh and who are those people?" The Railgun looked pissed off as she's ready to use her own Esper powers, "I don't think they're related to those guys, knowing it's you…"

"Oh please, it's been years since we last saw each other as students in Academy City, Misaka…" Kamijou rolled his eyes as he had become good in not exposing his nervousness through the years, "A lot of things can change in four to seven years. And I think you should change to, Index. You still think like your fifteen-year old self…"

"Touma! That's so mean of you!" Index whined as she stomps her feet, "You're still mean!"

"Well…that's kind of true…" Misaka hesitated in her speech as she crosses her arms, "I mean, you don't have to rely on your right hand which is your source of power and you became a bit ungrateful of Academy City and you were a bit hypocritical and…"

"Oh, that's so nice of you," Kamijou shrugged his shoulders in a sarcastic response, "Although the only regret I'm probably going to have in changing wholly as a person is that I have to kill and, for the records, I have already taken away one life. But on the other side, I just console myself with the fact that I got no choice but to shoot at them if they have no plans to give up or surrender and thus, they would endanger the lives of the other innocent people."

"But Touma…remember this…it's a sin to kill," Index acted like a mother lecturing her son as she even puts up her pointing finger, "So you should always act in constraint…"

"First of all Index, I always act in constraint which is why I didn't even shoot at Misaka when she started attacking here the moment you all came," Kamijou argued back, ignoring the Railgun's protests, "Second, you're free to say that when no one's pointing an AK-47 on YOUR head…"

Index huffed as she just looked away in frustration.

"Besides, shouldn't you two be in the clinic of the medical staff, especially you, Misaka?" Kamijou was baffled to see the two of them spying out his conversation with the Israelis rather than to help and learn something from the nurses that were supposed to handle her and a certain Mental Out, "I mean, you could have at least made your time more productive by being their assistant or even learning on how to cure people. That's your career, isn't it?"

Well, yeah but I only chose it because I thought you went for nursing too. Misaka wanted to say it but she chickened out, realizing she would lose a lot of Kamijou points if she were to do so, "Well, it's a bit boring in the clinic lately since what they're doing are some things I have already learned in class. Plus, it's more interesting to be in your own place although I'm not saying that I like the JSDF as a whole. I still stand on my old opinion…"

"Well, that's your opinion and now that I began to think of it, Kurata and Fujima themselves didn't really care much about what protesters or anti-JSDF guys in general say about the our organization," Kamijou breathed some life into his sad feelings, "I wished I had that kind of enthusiasm…"

"Kamijou…."

The three heard a familiar voice calling out to the spiky haired young man and they turned to see Kurata running towards their position, "Yo, team cappy!" The young man waved his hands and saluted his batch mate once he got closer to them, "We've got some interesting stuff to do for this day. Our Filipino brothers needs some help."

"Help? Why? What happened?" Immediately, adrenaline shot up into the nerves of Kamijou as he looked battle-alert.

"Nothing serious, Kamijou. Don't worry," Kurata sweatdropped when he noticed the eyes of the young man quickly goes scary in a 190 degree personality change, "It's just that, they are having their own drills and they have encountered some problems along the way so some of the JGSDF observers immediately recommended your name…"

"What the…such misfortune…" Kamijou's head went down low, realizing that he still had a lot of jobs to do for this day, "Well…then lead the way, Kurata…" The two then began to walk but they weren't even a minute from walking when the Imagine Breaker stopped and suddenly barked, "Seriously, don't you two have any plans to just go and relax in Academy City's quarters? Trust me, this military stuff is something you two won't really understand much and it could bore you two out…"

"Oh really? Then try me…" Misaka flashed a challenging grin, not really wanting to get the young man out of her sights.

"Neh, Touma, it's been a while since we had some fun. So don't even try to put me away or I'll gladly punish you…" Index flashed her fangs.

Kamijou grimaced as he decided to give in for now, "Okay, fine but stay on the sidelines. I don't exactly need the two of you to get involved in something that purely concerns us." The two girls agreed and they both continued walking. While walking, Kurata was busy chatting with Kamijou about what the latter had talked with the IDF officers and once answers and inquiries was filled on, Kurata was glad that they have a reliable ally to aid them as he himself was excited to work with the Sayeret soon. As they were about to head to the heavily-guarded gate leading to the outside of the walled base, there were dozens of armored personnel carriers and military trucks, some towing M101 howitzers, and all of them in a Philippine Army camouflage paint drab, coincidentally entering and parking on a shed near them. Once the dust settled, a battalion of Filipinos, in their combat gear and boonie hats, began to alight from their vehicles while the others began to bring out the crates of what looked to be government-issued explosives.

"Oi, Kurata, what is the meaning of this?" Kamijou wasn't notified of their arrival so he was naturally surprised.

"Oh yeah…I figured out you wouldn't know since the notification was only sent to the JGSDF peacekeeping unit here this morning but this is a normal procedure when the UN officials felt the need to put in a much stronger presence in critical areas and those Filipinos were sent here to reinforce Rapisura's unit," Kurata explained as he watched a guy began to attach a grenade launcher to his M16A2 assault rifle, "I heard Irish and Austrian troops did the same thing in Syria when they had to increase their numbers out of necessity to provide double security for the camp that they are jointly patrolling and in Iraq, it was the US and UK who did that thing. In our case, this armed base and refugee camp was jointly patrolled by both Japan and the Philippines and because this place is one of the largest that it certainly can become a self-sustaining community with the right tools, more men are needed."

"That doesn't explain why they have those," Misaka rudely pointed to a certain 105mm howitzer now being towed outside by hand.

Kurata smirked, "If Academy City's Anti-Skill basically let a Level 5 run around here on a basis of helping out, I don't see why the Filipinos wouldn't bring their big guns here," he enjoyed the reaction of Misaka, who simply sulked after hearing what the batch mate of Kamijou said, "Besides, after an incident four years back when lightly-armed infantry was constantly harassed, they decided not to take any chances anymore and they're forced to bring in heavy artillery as well."

"Okay, I get it so shut up…" Misaka grumbled underneath her breath.

"Besides," Kamijou noticed an infantryman with a civet cat patch in his camouflage uniform, "I didn't expect that this second batch would have the Scout Rangers and elements of the Light Reaction Regiment having their presence felt here…"

In the Philippines, the presence of both the communist guerillas, the longest Maoist-linked rebellion at present, and Islamist fighters had caused some far-flung provinces to remain under conflict. Due to that, the Philippine government had formed the 1st Scout Ranger Regiment in the 50s to combat the first generation of leftist guerillas. Known as the Scout Rangers, it is a Philippine Army special forces unit specializing in anti-guerrilla jungle warfare, raids, ambushes, close quarters combat, urban warfare and sabotage. It is said that in the whole of Asia, they're currently the best anti-guerilla unit. On the other hand, the Light Reaction Regiment is the premier counter-terrorist unit of the Philippine Army. Due to its specialization in counter-terrorism operations and its formation with the assistance of American advisers, the Light Reaction Regiment has been sometimes referred to as the Philippines' Delta Force.

"The SFG of Japan is like the in-between of the Scout Rangers and the LRR," Kurata scratched his head as he watched another Scout Ranger began to load his M14 battle rifle with cartridges from the crates, "By the way, have you met one during your brief tenure as an exchange student in the Philippine Military Academy? I heard from Rapisura that their superintendent is a former Scout Ranger himself "

But just before Kamijou can reply, somebody else just beat him to it.

"HEH…HEEH…HEEEEEEH?!" Misaka grew hysterical as she holds her own head with her two hands, "It can't be! Tell me it's not true! Not only is this idiot as special forces team leader and a military academy valedictorian but also an exchange student is too good to be true!"

Kurata can only chuckle as Kamijou can only look at the Level 5 incredulously, "Well excuse me. It wasn't exactly something I sought off but due to my usual misfortune, that one guy that was supposed to go to Philippines and Vietnam had an injury and they decided to ship me out for two separate weeks instead."

"Wait…two countries…that means…" Misaka realized this she didn't even yet know what wholly transpired during the four-year military academy days of the young man.

"Yeah. He became an exchange student. Although I do sympathize with him at the fact that it's quite a hassle when you have to juggle your duties at your own academy," Kurata sighed, remembering those good old days, "But going back, he did become a week-long observer at both the Philippine Military Academy and the Lê Quý Đôn Technical University. It was supposed to be three weeks since it's the latter that the NDA had some close cooperation in terms of training and research. But…well…after Kamijou accidentally fired an RPG into a nearby bust of Ho Chi Minh, he was already given the boot…"

"That was because the rocket propellant misfired so I didn't have time to react immediately when the rocket started flying," Kamijou was basically blaming his misfortune again for a certain incident that he felt it wasn't that important to be talked about right now, "Besides, it's not like I want to go to an overseas program abroad…"

"But at least, you learned something," Kurata yapped, not really liking their team leader's complaints, "It's not every that we can go abroad for free…"

While they were all walking and chatting, Misaka can only laugh in a rather maniacal way as she wanted to tune out of what the two SFG operators are talking about. "Please…somebody tell me it's a prank…." It was beginning to scare Index, who compared the face of the Level 5 Railgun to a she-demon ready to devour any men that her earthly desires crave for.

"Neh, short hair…" The silver haired nun began to speak.

"Yes?" Suddenly, Misaka perked up her head, hoping that finally, someone can finally tell her that everything has been nothing but an illusion meant to make her suffer, "So it has been a joke, silver sister?"

"Actually…" Index looked happy, "I remember Touma taking me to downtown Hanoi before he went to study. I remember the Banh Mi that I tasted. It was super delicious!"

All the reaction she got from the brunette was a loud thud accompanied by a soul coming being filtered out of the nose of the stunned Railgun.


After walking for nearly ten minutes, the quartet is finally outside of the walled compound and throngs of M113 APCs and lined 105mm howitzers is what greeted the eyes of the spiky haired young man as the four of them reached a makeshift command post consisting of a simply long table littered with laptops, electronic devises, as well as equipment used by artillery observers. Kamijou even noticed a Philippine Army M113 APC carrying peacekeepers on top of the vehicle.

"Tank desant, huh? I didn't even know they use that tactic," Kamijou was genuinely surprised as he watches the Blue Helmets disembark from the armored vehicles, "It's a tactic I only read from the Soviet books…"

Tank desant is a military combined arms tactic, where infantry soldiers ride into an attack on tanks, then dismount to fight on foot in the final phase of the assault. This differs from infantry troops merely riding on tanks as a form of ad-hoc transportation. Desant is also a Russian general term for airborne or parachute drops and naval infantry amphibious landing operations.

"It's also used by the US although it's very rare," Kurata pointed out, "For quick extractions, some soldiers really prefer to stay outside of an APC rather than inside because they wanted to move away from their vehicles quickly in case an ambush happens. Unless you're fighting a guerilla force that doesn't use RPGs or landmines, then it's somehow justified although it isn't normally done during training days. And the fact that this is only a peacekeeping mission makes themselves feel secured."

"Secured behind artillery, yeah right…" Kamijou felt like it was paradoxical as the first 105mm round was heard being lobbed into the target and seconds later, it had impacted on the ground, "By the way, the M101 howitzer and the M113 APCs are two icons from the Vietnam war, right? I guessed that showed how reliable those systems are…"

"The 105 mike-mike is still good enough for small-scale targets like urban siege. The ACAV is still being used although currently, they're being replaced by heavier and better-armored APCs," Kurata explained then motioned to the one being used by their Filipino counterparts, "That particular bush taxi is A1 variant, the same one commonly used during the Vietnam War."

"Actually, only a few knows this but currently, all the ex-ARVN M113s are being used by the present People's Army of Vietnam," Kamijou added.

"What? Are you sure about that?"

"I've seen one myself in Cao Bằng during a field demonstration," the spiky haired young man began to recall one APC perfectly running in condition despite the age, "I'm surprised that despite the long arms sanctions, they managed to maintain it very well, considering the they're the ones they captured from the South Vietnamese Army. What I have seen is an amalgam of Eastern and Western bloc system; they replaced the Ma Deuce with the DShK and they installed an SPG-9 on the rear side. I heard they there are even a few PAVN M113s that are converted into mortar carriers. A good cheap vehicle for fire support and bunker-busting assault…"

I hope the day comes when I finally began to understand all the military references of this idiot. Misaka was feeling both out-of-place and silently awkward as she can only listen to them in pure exasperation.

"Oh, you both have reached here…"

"Tanaka, you're here too?" Kamijou spotted Tanaka Daiki sitting in one of the sides of the command table as he seemed to be pretty much trying to make sense of everything that is happening around here, "But I thought there's a problem…"

"Well, not really a problem but it's more like they wanted to see how our skills can get us far enough," Tanaka chuckled as he then points to an anti-aircraft gun now sitting idly among the bigger guns available, "The thing is, no one is using that Bofors despite bringing it in and we don't know if it still in working condition."

The Bofors 40 mm gun, often referred to simply as the Bofors gun, is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. It was one of the most popular medium-weight anti-aircraft systems during World War II, used by most of the western Allies as well some captured systems being used by the Axis powers. A small number of these weapon systems remain in service to this day, and saw action as late as the Persian Gulf War.

"As of the moment, urban warfare between a mixed forced of ISIL and moderate Syrian rebels and the SAA is still ongoing but today, some of the peacekeepers from the other bases are reportedly experiencing from mortar attacks and machine gun fire coming from the warring sides and well…we're not taking any chances since this place is only hours away from Lebanon and Syria."

"Ah…so they brought this whole thing here…wait, what are we supposed to do, then?" Kamijou asked as he noticed Tanaka sit on one of the two seats of the Bofors.

"What else? We're going to try to fire this thing…"

"That's it?"

"Yeah, so you try to fire the gun, Kamijou. I'll be the reloader," Kurata then began to pick up some ammunition on the clip and began to press it down. Sighing, Kamijou then sat down on the other seat, which was intended for moving the barrel up and down as well as the firing position. Misaka and Index can only watch with weird expressions as Kamijou began to use the hand wheels to control the elevation of the Bofors.

Since they were going to use a Bofors, a number of Filipino infantrymen, some of them wearing the signature UN blue helmet, began to gather around them as one Filipino officer talked to Kurata, who nodded and pointed towards a flying drone flying overhead. As soon as Tanaka was able to swing the whole system to the right, Kamijou began to step on the foot trigger. The loud crackle was heard spewing out of the barrel as instantly, a line of what looked like lightning shot out but it barely missed the drone, which was flying over their heads. The sound, though, was very loud that both Misaka and Index had to cover their ears since they weren't used to this kind of sound.

"I really never fired this kind of weapon before," Kamijou muttered as Kurata was reloading the clips, "Well, I did try the Type 91 MANPAD back at Camp Narashino but this one's different…I do hope nothing bad will happen…"

Suddenly, as he stepped on the foot trigger, the ejection port didn't even budge as nothing came out from the firing. Then suddenly, the barrel violently began to shake.

Luckily, Kamijou and Tanaka were both able to get off their seats in time as the violent shaking didn't last and it was replaced by a loud, thunderous explosion that sent everyone dropping to the ground.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Such misfortune. Kamijou muttered to himself as he watched the Bofors now began to explode further on the inside as the ammunition clip was disintegrating with it shells that were popping like firecrackers.


Somewhere on the northern part of the world, a woman with a slender figure and clothed in denim jacket, shirt, and ripped jeans has been busy standing somewhere on a hill dotted with green patches of grasses. For some time now, this woman has been busy meditating in silence as she sat down on the smooth flooring of the hill and she began to close her eyes and let her mind drift among the chirping of the wind made bigger by the surrounding environment that is very peaceful, both literally and figuratively.

As she sat there in silence, she began to comtemplate on a few topics she would rather not discuss it with others. It's been some years, huh? It's been some years since I last saw him… She breathed in and out as she didn't let all the negatives things that happened in her past affect her. She then decided to enjoy the fresh air entering through her nostrils as she lets out a genuine smile. As she was doing so, she puts down her own katana and sat down like a child waiting for her playmate in a park.

It was only through a sudden ring in her own device that she suddenly snapped out of her stupor and it was a bit of a bad timing since it nearly made the slim lady nearly cut down her phone as it disturbed what was supposed to be her time to take a rest.

"What is it?" Her cool anger didn't do anything to abate her foul mood.

"I just wanted you to know…we have found the traitor…"

The woman suddenly stopped her underneath grumblings as she then turned serious with a hint of curiosity, "How so? He's very hard and tricky to track down. Plus, it would be best if this would be done in a clean manner."

"Don't worry…" The man on the other line replied, brimming with gruff confidence, "Me and Kamijou Touma will take care of this…"

"Kamijou…Touma…that boy…" She didn't know what to think of this.

"Easy there. He's not any more the boy of high school age or thinking although the latter's still arguable but he's in a career that even you wouldn't expect from him," the man replied coolly, "But with that being said, you don't need to send the whole Amakusa Church or the agents of Necesarius. Just you and Itsuwa, just in case anything fails."

The woman blinked before she nodded.

"I see. Anything else?"

There was a dead silent moment before the man replied again, "Just be careful. There are also Academy City elements here. As for the other details, I'll speak to you when you get here…"

The call ended and the woman peacefully folded it back.

This would be another interesting encounter.