I. Artificial summer.
The city has always been crowded enough for odd characters to mix, however this time her appearance wasn't as odd as other intruders, her looks also helped, a 15 year old inside a city of students didn't seem off. Most importantly everyone was so busy on their own business they missed the green haired girl walking amazed by the streets of the Academy City. She enjoyed the sudden and unexpected summer that made most of people forget about the cold of the past days, something most people did not.
She kept twirling her umbrella passing by the crowd of students, the heat of the afternoon mixed with the sweat of all the people formed a stinky humidity she was trying to get out of. On top of everything she was hungry, she hadn't eaten anything since she got there last night. The smell was spoiling her appetite. She wouldn't have eaten a thing if it wasn't for the sweet smell coming from the nearby stands, she was used to eat sugar outside of her own home. She was quite fond on honey and royal jelly but she rarely saw sugars of such high purity. She was amazed as how much the inhabitants of the only city capable of rivaling the moon capital ate sugar as pure as she was used to, her body produced some glucose on its own but she liked to indulge herself with a bit more of it.
She managed to dodge the sea of people and walk near a crepe stand, the smells of honey and jellies attracted her senses. She walked straight to the counter and searched in the bag of her skirt to find a small light pink bag. She untied a ribbon on top of it and got a small yellow coin out of it. She placed it on the counter. –Is this enough to get something to eat in this place? –She didn't know how much gold was valued for humans, she ignored that in fact they wouldn't be able to give her enough food to cover the cost of the token she had just placed on the counter. The surprise was such that the attendant forgot about the line and attended the girl wearing the red dress.
–Anything you want honey! –The attendant wanted to end the transaction before the wealthy buyer backed off. However the next in line wasn't someone who would let her turn to food pass. The red dressed girl turned her head to the sound of the complain of the white dressed girl who was waiting for the next turn. –You can't cut in line like that! You have to wait until your turn comes and bribing the employees is considered a sin! –I'm sorry, please ask for your food, I'll pay for it to make it up to you for my wrong doing –the nun was not quite pleased hearing those words –You can't bribe me either, you have to get in the line and wait for your turn. –Don't worry I will do so… But please accept my apology. – She was sweet and calm at saying those words, she left the coin on the counter and walked to the end of the line, in fact the green haired didn't even notice the line until that point, anyone even dared to ask why she'd cut in a line. Others would even leave the establishment the moment she went in, there was no way she would know one had to wait in line because she never had to. She didn't know many social rules as anyone would tell her off. Even those whose job was to tell what was considered morally right were not capable of enforcing such feats. She did whatever she wanted, not because she considered everyone else inferior but because no-one ever told her what was considered wrong. The thing few people knew was that if they asked her to do something reasonable she would probably listen.
– They say you can still order anything you want –The white clad nun said holding the most expensive item on the menu, a natural maple syrup crepe. –Aren't they way too kind? Them apologizing for skipping your turn. It was all my mistake. –the people in the line started to wonder what was with that girl who payed with gold and didn't know she could have payed for the food of every client that day. What tipped them off the most was the nun's answer –They have repented of their sins because of the good will you had –Nice meeting you, my name is Yuuka –Likewise I'm Index –It was impressive to see one character who didn't know nor cared for the value of gold, but two meeting was a rarer coincidence than winning the lottery.
When the line finally ended for her she asked for a chocolate and strawberry crepe, strictly fruits and seeds, never things that formed part of the plant itself. The nun was nice enough to stick to her and talk the conversation because of the subjects sounded like it came out of one of those European dramas set centuries ago. Then the red clad girl received her food and opened her umbrella to walk back into the crowd –Where did you get that? Who are you? –the green haired answered with a broad smile –What do you mean this is a simple umbrella –Yuuka was hoping that the religious girl would go with the lie and forget about it –Don't try to fool me, that's a walking church. You are a magician, I demand to know your details, ID number and codename
–Yuuka had remembered about those pesky details humans created for their magicians years ago, Sanae had explained them to her, in fact they had assigned her a number so she went with it –Aestas 060 the Four Season Master… I carry this just because I am required to –And which organization you work for? –Hakurei, we specialize on exorcizing monsters who cause great disasters in the world –It wasn't a full lie, it wasn't fully true either. She indeed had helped on solving some incidents. Yuuka rarely said the truth directly but she hid it in riddles when speaking. Unfortunately Yuuka never thought such a little girl was capable of solving them.
Index realized, this girl was hiding her mana flow through the artificial summer hitting the city. For the trained eye she wasn't human, at least not anymore.