Hey everybody thank you for your support and for reading A Certain Scientific Counter. And thank you for leaving a review it really helps me see how I can improve upon my writing. Also Index season 3 is almost over and once it ends we will either get A certain Scientific Railgun or Accelerator both are gonna be great. Also the Start of Summer arc has ended and now it is the start of the Index Arc. Now for Q&A
Whwsms- So you shall see.
Anti-Mage 29- Thank you for the compliment and yes I will be following the official timeline however I will be shifting one event in particular in order to fit the story I'm trying to create. Also long live the Kami-yan disease, well see about how Misaki reacts to Index? And about Touma's memories…..I don't remember.
MarkGib- I have to agree with you there however this was to be expected it's Kamijou we're talking about.
BlueJack22- Don't worry I'll do Deep blood and the Sister's arc in due time.
Awardedall- Thank you for the compliment.
Fortitude501- No Touma meets Index on July 20th he takes refuge at Komoe's place on July 23rd. And I am going to shift up the timeline but not yet.
Nguyen Thanh Long- Don't worry that ship is a sturdy as the Titanic it's unsinkable.
Sergio644- True I also think that Touma should tell her but even in the light novels, he didn't say a word about it to anybody because he doesn't like to have people bare his burdens for him. However, you did give me an idea with the Dorm Manager angle so Thank you.
Rajarshi Sarkar- SNAP. Unabara Mitsuki- Hamazura. I don't feel so good I don't-" Turns to dust.
No but seriously thank you for the ideas, however on the matter of Accelerator I know he has his problem like 10,000 of them and lets never forget about problem 10031 rest in peace. But that's because ever since he was a kid he was made to think that all he was ever good for was his ability, an ability that literally pushed everybody away from him and prevented him from forming any sort of healthy relationship which caused him to have a negative outlook on society as a whole. Also, I finally read A certain powerful level zero and I see where you're coming from.
Savior555- Don't be scared.
Creus- Thank you for the compliment.
The guy- Thank you for the high praise I also read a certain infinite possibility and that along with a certain strange addition helped me write this.
Ghost are You- Poor Touma? Serious I mean really the man has women falling for him and seriously. More like poor Misaki I mean she has to work overtime to make sure nobody tries to steal him away.
Index
July 20
When Touma heard the young girl speak he was shocked, to say the least. Not only because she spoke perfect Japanese but due to the fact that out of all the things she could have said she told him that she was hungry. What kind of person is this girl and how did she get here on his seventh story balcony? However, before Touma could think about it anymore she spoke again.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm hungry?" The silver-haired girl seemed to be upset that Touma was just standing there frozen. "It would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up."
Touma not wanting to deal with this attempted to give a spoiled her a spoiled yakisoba-pan. This strange girl was sure she to run off once she caught a whiff of the sour smell. However, she did not.
"Thank you. And it's time to eat." Her mouth engulfed it, wrapping and all. This also included Touma's hand which caused Touma to scream in pain.
Once Touma managed to get his hand free from the vice grip of a chomp that the little girl had, he decided that it'd be best to give her a proper meal. So using his culinary skills and the non-perishables he had in his shelves, he made the girl a makeshift trail mix that includes assorted nuts dried fruit and honey to appease her. The girl was more than happy to take the offering and proceed to devour the entire thing in less than a second. Once she finished eating they decided to make their introduction.
"Hey my names Kamijou Touma"
"My name is Index."
"What? Are you serious, what kind of name is Index? What is that like a nickname or something?"
"Yes actually it's short for Index Librorum Prohibitorum and my magic name is Dedicatus545."
(Jeez and I thought Misaki's name was a mouthful how many characters are even in that name! Wait did she just say magic?)
"So why were you hanging out to dry on my balcony? And what's this about magic?"
"I fell. I was trying to jump from rooftop to rooftop."
"What are you crazy! One wrong step and you'd be headed straight to hell." Touma reprimanded Index.
"But I had no choice. I had no other way to escape."
"Escape? Were you being chased or someone?"
"Yes but I don't know their name yet. ... They aren't the type to find meaning in names."
"They? Who exactly is chasing you?" Touma was starting to get nervous he had just met this girl less than a few minutes ago and now she told him she was being targeted by an evil organization. What kind of psycho's would do such a thing?
"A magic society or a magic cabal" Index said with a straight face.
"HUH!?" This girl immediately lost all credibility to Touma. To him, it was more likely that she watched too much Magical Powered Super Android Girl Kanamin.
"Okay, does this magic cabal have a name?" Touma was placating her at this point, he knew that there was no such thing in magic, but he still needed to know as much information as he could in order to help her.
"Oh I think it's call- wait a minute are you making fun of me?"
"Whaaaat. Of course not." Touma did not sound convincing, not even one bit.
"You are! Magic exists!"
"Look okay I'm sorry but I'm just having a hard time believing in something so far-fetched. I can believe in the supernatural but only in the sense where it relates back to esper abilities not something like magic."
"But magic exists!" Index sulked as if someone had insulted her.
"Fine if magic exists, prove it. Shoot some fire without going through the power curriculum."
"But. I can't use magic."
"Exactly. Besides, if magic did exist then why aren't we using it today huh. I'd think something as useful as raising the dead with a little MP would be more important in society if it did exist."
"But. Magic does exist" Index was pouting.
"Okay. For argument's sake, let's say magic exists. If so Why are they after you?"
"They are likely after the 103,000 grimoires I have."
"Okay, you lost me."
"Why do you always brush off everything I say!"
"Okay fine then where are these 'grimoires'"
"I have every single one of the 103,000 grimoires with me." Index then pointed at herself.
"Okay, fine don't answer me then." Touma then got up from his chair.
"But I did!"
"Believing in esper powers but not in magic makes no sense," Index was now ready to defend her side.
"No, it does. Esper abilities are rooted in science and can be explained by it, you, however, showed me nothing to make me believe in magic at all. While on the other hand, I have literally an entire city to show for my evidence."
"Hmph. What's so great about people who cast aside their natural side to artificially color themselves huh. I bet they aren't even normal anymore? Hmph." Index spat out like a displeased child.
This didn't sit well with Touma as his girlfriend was one of those espers which she had just insulted.
"Hey, kid you better watch your mouth."
"N-No! B-Besides you haven't shown me any proof that espers are real either, Show me something."
"Huh, We'll give me a second and I'll call-" Touma was going to call Misaki in order to have her come over to show this girl that esper powers were real and have her help him deal with Index.
"No show me right now! If you don't I'll just think it's some kind of trick you're pulling on me!"
"TCH fine. You see my hands here".
"Yeah."
"Well my right hand here can negate any supernatural phenomenon it comes into contact with, doesn't matter if it's a giant electrical spear or even the systems of god. My left hand, however, can counter any supernatural phenomenon it comes into contact with whether it be a tactical rail gun or a giant bomb."
"PFFT" Index then started to laugh. "Ha as if I would fall for that, you're saying that you could negate God's miracles."
"TCH. As if I would care what someone who believes in magic would say."
"Magic really does exist!"
"Then show me something, Magical Powered Kanamin girl!"
"Fine! See these" Index then pulled on her robes.
"Your clothes?"
"Yeah, these are a Walking Church there a pope class item. These things could resist a gunshot point plank. So …. Stab me."
"WHAT! Are you out of your mind!" Touma knew Index had a few screws loose but to actually ask him to stab her.
"GRRR." Index then ran to Touma's kitchen to grab a knife from his cupboards and raced back. "Will you ever stop mocking me!"
Touma immediately jumped back he watched enough anime to know never to mess with a crazy girl with a knife. (Yuno Gasai).
Touma then grabbed the knife out of the petite angry girl's hand and ran back to his kitchen to put it back.
"Are you crazy!"
"Grrr! Magic does exist!"
"Hmm, wait if those clothes are supernatural then with my imagine breaker I should be able to destroy them right"
"PFFT. As if your hand could actually destroy my Walking Church."
This infuriated Touma as he did not like to be talked down to. "Fine but don't go crying to me when I break them!" Without a second thought, Touma placed his right hand on Index's shoulder.
(Wait a minute what's gonna happen if they do break?)
Touma's greatest fear was realized as suddenly Index's clothes blew off of her in an instant the only piece of clothing that stayed intact was her nun's hat.
What preceded next was a vicious assault on Touma by Index biting him relentlessly.
The room was filled with an eerie silence as neither Index nor Touma said a word. Index let out an aura of malice and distaste as she was fiddling with something under the covers of Touma's bed. Touma, on the other hand, prayed to god that Misaki would never find out about this. Misaki could forgive a lot of things, him keeping the truth about Zapper for instance, but she would kill Touma if she ever learned of what happened here today.
"Hey uh, Index are you okay?"
Index poked her head out of the covers to glare at Touma like somebody just kicked her pet.
"Got it"
After a while Index finally emerged from the covers and revealed her nun habit which was now being held together by safety pins.
"It looks great" Touma lied. Touma knew enough about women to keep his mouth shut when they asked if they looked good in a certain outfit.
"Really, I think I just might start a fashion trend with this"
"…."
Suddenly Touma's phone started to ring.
"Hey give me a second" Touma then walked to the other side of the room to answer his phone.
"Hello"
"Good Morning my Prince."
"Oh hey Misaki. How's it going."
"Fine although the power did go out yesterday. I meant to call you, but I was a bit preoccupied trying to keep the peace here, how is it over there."
"Well the powers still out and all the perishables in my fridge are ruined so you know the same old same old."
"What, so your power hasn't been turned back on yet?"
"No has yours?"
"Yes after 20 minutes. Blackouts are kind of recurring thing here." (Thanks to that stupid Railgun)
"Well I'm glad you didn't have to rough it like me, you probably wouldn't have made it." Touma was teasing her.
"What's that supposed to mean. I'll have you know that I'm more than capable of…. Hold on give me a second."
"Misaki?"
"Sorry I just got informed that I have a meeting to attend and due to traffic I'll have to go right now in order to make it."
"What's the meeting about?"
"Just about the global political ramifications about something, I'm mostly going there just for show, I called to remind you that you still have to go to your supplementary classes remember."
"Oh, I completely forgot. It's just that some-"
"Touma did you forget the talk we had."
"N-No of course not"
"..."
"..."
"You did. Didn't you."
"Yeah." With everything that has been going on recently, Touma forgot about Misaki's lecture. It wasn't that Touma ignored her when she talked it's just that some words she would throw at him went way over his head it was like she was reading out a thesaurus.
"Well I guess I'll just have to remind you when I see you tomorrow then won't I"
"T-Tomorrow"
"You do know what Tomorrow is right."
"..."
"One of these days I'm gonna buy you a planner. Tomorrow it's the day we decided to go on our date."
"Oh yeah sorry about that it's not that I don't care it's just a lot of stuff has been going on"
"It's okay my Prince I understand with all the changes happening right now it's only natural that you would forget a thing or two. Okay well, I have to get going I'll call you when I finish the meeting. I'll talk to you soon my Prince."
"See you later Golden Girl"
Touma then hung up his phone and walked back towards Index.
"Who's Golden Girl"
"Huh. Well, she's my- wait a minute aren't we getting way off topic here, who was really chasing you?"
"Ugh, I keep on telling you a magician."
"Ugh, I feel like we're just talking in circles here at this point wait here for a sec" Touma then ran to his closet and pulled out a spare key he had on a chain in case his key ever broke. (Touma had several back-up keys since him losing his keys or having them completely destroyed was pretty common.)
"Here, I don't exactly believe in magicians but I do believe you when you say you're in trouble so here take this you can stay as long as you want until we can get this sorted out." Touma then went to hand the keys to Index and right before they were in her hands she pulled back her hands and looked down.
"Huh, what are you doing? Come on just take it I don't have forever you know I gotta get going soon."
Index simply looked up and solemnly smiled.
"That's okay, I'll leave." Index then stood up and walked pass Touma to the door not noticing that she left her hood behind.
"Wait, what, you just said that."
"If I stay here they'll likely come after me."
"Look Index I know you're scared of but-" Touma walked towards index but right when he took one step he stubbed his toe on the table then tripped over himself and fell down to the ground. "Oww. Such Misfortune."
Index then let out a small smile "Actually if what you say about Imagine Breaker is true then your right hand is most likely erasing all your good luck, giving you Misfortune."
This stunned Touma for a moment (No way luck is just statistics and probability there's no way that something like that is actually happening) Touma then started to get up from off the ground.
Crack
Touma looked down and saw that he had just stepped on his phone completely breaking it.
"AHH! NO, IT'S TRUE!"
Index simply stood there smiling even more profoundly than before, however after a second she started to walk back to leave Touma's Dorm.
"Wait a second. If you're leaving do you have somewhere to go? You could always just stay here I'm sure they won't find you here if you just lie low."
"That's not it. If I stay here then the enemies will come here" Index then tugged on her robes. "The Walking Church is powered by mana and that's how they're able to track me."
"Wait a minute my Imagine breaker negated your robes so doesn't that mean that they won't be able to track you anymore?"
Index shook her head. "It's not that simple The Walking Church was a Pope class item used for defense. If I were the enemy then I would attack the moment I learned that the defense was gone."
"That's all the more reason I can't let you go. If someones after you then I can't just leave you."
Index then looked at Touma and smiled "Then will you follow me to the depths of hell?" (Please do not come with me.)
The look on Index's face showed Touma that she wasn't joking with him nor was she even misleading him. The face she made reflected the heartbreak that this poor girl had to suffer. With all this information being clarified Touma paused for a moment to process everything.
"Don't worry. I am not alone. If I can escape to the church, they will shelter me."
Touma then snapped out of the daze he was in earlier. " A church? I think that there a few in the city but I can't-"
"It's alright all I have to do is find a church of England and I'll be fine."
"Church of England?" Index flinched slightly at this.
Index knew that if she clarified then she would have no hope in stopping this boy from following her. In truth, she had to find a British style church in specific which was very rare, if it was any other type then they would turn her away.
"... A-Any type of church would do, it's just that I prefer the cooking that they have in British style churches".
"... Do you just think with your stomach or something? Alright then. I'll take you there."
"B-But"
"Look the longer we argue about this the longer it's gonna take for me to get you there come on." Touma then extended his hand towards Index.
Index let out a soft smile as she held onto Touma's hand.
When the pair left Touma's apartment Index immediately started to freak out as she had just seen a cleaning robot.
"T-Touma something weird just appeared!"
"Huh. That's just a cleaning robot. They're basically harmless."
"Oh I knew Japan had impressive technology but I never would have expected them to have mechanized Agathions"
"Agathions?"
"Huh An Agathion is a familiar spirit which appears only at midday in the shape of a human or an animal, don't tell they didn't teach you this stuff in school."
"Of course not!"
"By the way, Touma, where were going before you, decided to take me to the church."
"Oh, I had to go to school." Index then stopped walking.
"... Wait a minute I thought in Japan summer break started today."
"... No, it doesn't" Touma lied he didn't want to admit to Index that he failed the semester and had to take supplementary classes just to pass.
"No, I remember seeing it on a flyer when I was walking around yesterday. The start of summer break party July 20th"
"You're probably just remembering it wrong." Touma's eyes then began to drift away from Index.
"No, I never forget."
"Huh"
"I have perfect recollect, so I never forget." Index then started to glare at Touma
Touma began to sweat "Uhhhhh…"
"Touma." Index then began to reveal her fangs.
"Wait a minute. You got it all wrong. I do have to go to school its just…. For supplementary classes."
"Supplementary classes? Wait are you dumb or something" Index's head then tilted.
"What!? Of course, I'm not dumb it's just that I always get a 50 on my tests because-"
"So you are dumb."
"I'm not dumb!"
"This explains a lot actually."
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
Index then began to laugh.
The Church by Misawa Cram School.
After Index finished laughing at Touma the two of them finally made it to a church by Misawa Cram school.
When Index first saw the church she immediately started to give off a small smile, she knew that it was not a church of England, in fact, it wasn't even a Catholic church it was a Protestant one but the fact that this boy would go this far for her made her smile.
"Thank you, Touma."
"Huh. Don't worry about it. I know it isn't a church of England but I'm sure that they have good food in there too."
Index then started to walk towards the church knowing full well that they would turn her away but, she had to if she didn't then this boy would keep following her, and he would get dragged into her problems.
"Touma…." Index then turned around to look at Touma one last time.
"Index if you ever find yourself in any trouble just come back and find me I'm sure I'll be able to help you more."
Index then let out a smile.
"Thank you, Touma, for everything." Index then opened the doors to the church and stepped inside before the doors fully closed she saw Touma wave her off.
(I'm sorry, but I can't let them hurt you too) Index waved back to Touma while smiling at the new friend that she had just made.
Once the doors to the church closed Touma turned around to head off to his supplementary classes.
"I wish I could've done more. I should swing back here with Misaki when she comes back."
Touma then left the church grounds only looking back once before walking towards his school.
A Certain School.
Touma arrived late to his first day of Supplementary classes by an hour and made an unceremonious entrance into the class by trying to sneak in only to have the whole class turn around the second he opened the door. Needless to say, Touma was punished by having to do twice as much homework then everybody else to make up for the time he had lost. After all, was said and done the supplementary class went on as usual.
"Psst Kami" Aogami whispered to Touma who tried his best to ignore it.
"Psst Kami" At this point Touma turned his head towards the window.
"If your gonna ignore me, be prepared for me to tell everybody about your-" Aogami mouth was quickly covered by Touma's hand as he knew what he was about to say.
"What. What could you possibly want to talk to me about?"
"Calm down Kami. I just wanted to know if the rumors were true?"
"What rumors?"
"You know about the graviton bombing?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Huh. You don't know, apparently, someone posted online in a forum that the Railgun wasn't the one who stopped the bombing, it said someone else did it. Someone with the ability to negate things." Touma was momentarily stunned.
(What who the hell would write that)
Aogami took Touma's pause as proof that he was the one responsible for it.
"Look Kami let me give you a bit of advice don't tell anybody you did it."
"Huh"
"Trust me. That'll start something that…. Just trust me." Aogami knew that if people ever found out about Touma's actions then every girl in Academy city would immediately fall under the Kami-yan disease and it would be the beginning of the end of mankind.
Touma then looked over at Aogami who had his head laid flat on his desk.
"What the hell are you thinking."
Touma then started to stare aimlessly out of the window trying to make sense of what he had just learned.
(So magic does exist or at least something close enough to make my Imagine breaker go off.)
(And what was she talking about when she said she had all those books? I didn't see a single one. Wait a minute didn't she say something about having perfect recollect. Does that mean)
Aogami then raised his hand "Sensei? Kamijou-kun is staring out the window at the girls' tennis team."
This immediately caught Touma off guard as he suddenly realized that he was actually staring at them but not on purpose. "WHA no you got the-"
Touma's pleas fell on deaf ears as Komoe-sensei started to sniffle at the womanizer student that she had failed to teach.
What followed was the entire class giving a stare of hostile intent at Touma for making their teacher cry.
When the supplementary classes finally ended Touma realized that they were released at the same time that they would have been if it was a regular school day. Touma instinctively went for his phone to call Misaki when he realized that he had broken it earlier in the day when he met Index.
"I should probably go check up on her to see if she's alright."
Touma then started to walk in the direction of the church only to hear a familiar voice from behind him.
"There you are!"
Touma turned around only to find that he was tracked down by Misaka once again.
"Oh, it's you again Zapper." Touma then started to walk away not wanting to deal with her again.
"Don't just brush me off!" Misaka then stomped the ground releasing electricity.
This immediately shocked Touma in both ways since he actually got shocked by the electricity, and he didn't realize she would be so dumb as to release a current into the ground when they were in the streets.
"Ha! Did that shake the-" Misaka quickly found her mouth covered by Touma's right hand. Unknown to Touma however him doing this was making it very hard to breathe for Misaka who was struggling to push Touma's hand off.
"Idiot look around you, You just zapped every gadget on the block. You'll have to pay for all of them, so keep quiet."
Touma then heard the siren of a police bot that was also caught in the electrical discharge.
Error system malfunction possible cyber attack calling backup".
"Such Misfortune"
Touma immediately let go of Misaka and made a run for it he wasn't about to be blamed for this too. Once Misaka caught her breath she ran after Touma.
Misawa Cram School.
Once Touma lost the sounds of police bot sirens he decided to catch his breath at the entrance of Misawa Cram School. This brief respite was cut short however by Misaka finally catching up with his.
"Oh come on! Is this really all you do."
"What's that supposed to mean."
"It means I've literally never seen you do anything else but chase me."
"TCH! That's because you keep running away and dodging my questions! It's your fault!"
"What do you mean my fault! Every time I do stop and talk to you always flip out and try to electrocute me".
"That's because you always spit out some lie. Like the one about you being a level 0"
"Okay like I told you before, I wasn't lying I had no idea that they changed that."
"Okay, then what about the part where you said that you didn't deflect my railgun last year."
"I-... I'm sorry".
"Hm," Misaka looked surprised.
"I'm sorry that I did that really. I don't exactly remember doing that but, from what you told me it had to be me. I don't know why I did it or how I even got there in the first place but, I'm sorry."
Misaka simply looked at him as if trying to see if he was lying or not. When she figured out that he wasn't lying Misaka face let out an annoyed expression.
"Hmph. Fine if you really want to make it up to me then come with me."
"Uhh, can I ask where we're going."
"Back to the Judgement office."
"Huh, but didn't you already get cleared of your crimes the last time we went there?"
"That's not why we went there last time!" Misaka face was now red after remembering what happened to the last time they went to the Judgement office.
"Really? Then why did we go there".
"Isn't obvious. So you could get the credit for the graviton bombings."
"Huh but why? You're the one who-"
"NO, I WASN'T! You were! That's what ticks me off about you!"
"What are you talking about I don't need any-"
"I don't care if you don't want the credit you're getting it. I even had Saten help me make a forum about how you were the one who actually stopped the bombing."
"That was you, but-"
"It didn't work. Not a single person believed it. Everybody just disregarded it and those who didn't just claim to be the ones who actually stopped the bombing. It just pisses me off, so I went back to Judgement and asked that they update the report on the graviton bombing."
"Why?"
"6 hours."
"Huh"
"It took everybody in the office I included that long to file all the necessary paperwork in order to change the report. The last thing we need in order to finalize the report was the person who actually stopped the bombings' statement."
"Why does this mean so much to you?" Touma was curious as to why Misaka would go this far just to give him the credit.
"I have my own reasons. Now come on let's go" Misaka then grabbed Touma and began to pull him in the direction of the judgment offices.
"Hold on a second." Touma then motioned for Misaka to stop pulling him.
"What is it now."
"Before we go can I go the church over there." Touma then pointed at the church.
"Huh? You're a Christian."
"No, it's nothing like that I just have to check in with somebody who I left there earlier."
"You left somebody at the church."
"Yeah, a kid. She said that she was being chased by somebody, and she said that she'd be safe at the-"
Touma was immediately punched in the arm by Misaka "Are you an idiot! Why didn't you just take her to a judgment agent or leave her at an Anti skill facility." Touma actually felt like an idiot because that never even crossed his mind.
"But she said that magicians were after her and-"
Misaka's face turned from annoyed to pissed. "You have to be the biggest idiot I've ever met!" Misaka then ran past Touma and headed towards the church to help the poor child who was in the care of this idiot.
"B-But, wait for me!"
After Touma finally caught up with Misaka he saw her speaking to the priest in charge. When she was finished speaking she turned to Touma and glared.
"So what did the priest say," Touma asked as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Was the kid you were talking about wearing a white nun's habit held together by safety pins."
"Yeah, she was."
"Well, he said one of the workers here saw someone like that come in here and wait for 5 minutes before heading off again."
"Wait, so she's not here" Touma's face turned to one of worry. He knew that somebody was after Index and that they were dangerous enough to make her jump from a rooftop to avoid them.
"Do you have any idea where she could've gone."
"No. All she said was that she was looking for a church for sanctuary, why would she leave."
"Did she specify a church in specific?"
"She did she mentioned something about a church of England, but she said that-' (She lied, why would she lie) Touma then remembered what Index had told him earlier
'Will you follow me to the depths of hell'
(Because of me. I never answered her. I hesitated. It's all my fault.) Touma stood there mentally kicking himself for what he did.
"Hey, Idiot snap out of it!"
"We have to find her."
"I know that's why we have to find a security terminal we can use my power to track her using the camera's around Academy city."
"You can do that?"
"Yeah, but we have to hurry the longer we wait, the more security footage I'll have to rummage through before I can find her."
"Thank you."
Misaka didn't say a word but instead started to run to the nearest security terminal.
Finding a security terminal was easy enough, looking through the countless amount of video feeds and backtracking them was the hard part and since Misaka was the only person who could actually do it all Touma could do was wait there until she found something.
"Hey are-"
"If you say are you done," Misaka said while glaring at Touma "I'm going to hit you."
"Sorry, it's just that… I could've stopped her and now she could be" Misaka stopped glaring at Touma now knowing the reason why he was in a rush.
"Hey save you wallowing for later we're going to find her." The look on Misaka's face spoke confidence in her abilities as she didn't have a doubt in her mind that she could find Index.
"Hey so does this mysterious nun have a name?" Misaka was trying to get Touma's mind off of thinking of the worst case scenario.
"Oh her name is Index."
"Index? You mean like the back of the book?"
"Uh yeah but that's her nickname her full name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum"
"Okay well, now I see why she goes by Index. How did the two of you meet?"
"Oh well remember the blackout from yesterday" Misaka's face then turned red out of embarrassment.
"T-That wasn't my fault."
"I didn't say it was." Touma then raised his hands defensively. "But because of the Blackout, yesterday Index lost her footing and missed the landing when she was jumping rooftops."
"This kid was jumping from rooftops! Is she insane!?"
"No, she was scared. The people who were after her were chasing her and it was the only way to get away from them."
"Those bastards what kind of person does that to a kid."
"I know but it's my fault too I didn't believe her completely at first. That's probably the reason why she left the church."
"Why didn't you believe her?' Misaka then turned to Touma with a look of confusion on her face she would've thought that he was the type of person to believe anything if somebody was in trouble.
"It wasn't that I didn't believe her when she said she was being chased it was just about the people who were chasing her."
Misaka's mind finally made the connection to what Touma said earlier.
"Magicians? She told you magicians were after her?"
"Yeah at first I thought that she was just confused, but then she showed me proof."
"Proof? What she'd do pull a rabbit out of her hat."
"No, it was." Touma then remembered what happened and thought it best that he didn't tell Misaka about how he learned about the existence of magic. "No, but she showed me a magical item that cleared away any doubts I had in my mind."
"Uh- okay"
"Hey, shouldn't we be calling judgment or something?"
"I already shot Kuroko a text about the situation. She's currently teleporting from church to church around district 7 trying to find anybody matching Index description."
"So what's gonna happen to Index once we find her?"
"Well most likely she'll be taken into protective custody by Judgement or Anti Skill until we can-" Misaka's eyes then suddenly widen. "I think I found something"
"Really what is it?"
"Well, apparently a security camera caught her entering a student dormitory" Misaka then handed her phone over to Touma.
"Wait a minute this is my dormitory. She must have come back, we gotta get going." Touma then ran out of the security terminal and headed straight for his dorm.
"Hey wait for me!" Misaka then shot a text to her friends that they found Index at Touma's dorm. However, this message would never make it out as it was intercepted by somebody who didn't want anyone else interfering with the situation.
A Certain Dormitory
Once Touma and Misaka arrived at Touma's dorm they quickly realized that the entire place was deserted. Everybody was probably out at the start of summer party so that didn't surprise Touma that much however Misaka was a bit more on edge. However, even with all of Misaka's reservations, she couldn't stop Touma from running off in front of her.
"Hey wait up!" Touma didn't even turn around. He was determined to find Index as quickly as possible.
Once Touma made it to the elevator he pressed the button to head up to his floor. That would be the place that Index would have most likely gone first.
As Touma waited for the elevator to close Misaka arrived and jumped in at the last minute.
"What the hell!"
"I'm sorry. I just want to find Index as quickly as possible before anything bad happens."
Misaka let out a sigh. "You can't keep running off on your own you know. What happens if Index already left huh. Then what, how would you find her?"
"Well, I-"
"Exactly. You have to start asking for help that's why we're in this mess, to begin with."
Touma was silent. He knew that what she was saying was true. He was so used to dealing with his problems on his own that he never even once stopped and thought to ask for help. That's why it never occurred to him to call Judgement or even Anti Skill.
"Thanks"
Misaka then started to blush slightly. And before she could say a word the doors to the elevator opened.
Both Touma and Misaka rushed out the door to Touma's apartment to see Index lying on the ground being surrounded by cleaning robots.
Touma sighed in relief as he had finally found Index. This relief quickly turned into terror as he stepped closer to find that Index was lying in a pool of her own blood.
Both Misaka's and Touma's first reaction to this sight was disbelief. They couldn't fully process what they were seeing at first as their minds tried to tell them that it was some sort of trick.
Touma was the first one to snap out of it and quickly ran over to Index with Misaka not falling too far behind.
Misaka then used her electrical abilities to blast the cleaning robots away that were surrounding Index in order to clean up her pool of blood.
"What the hell happened!? God dammit! Who the hell did this to you!?"
Suddenly a strange voice appeared out of nowhere "Hm? That would be us, magicians." Misaka and Touma then jumped away from Index's body.
Both Misaka and Touma turned around to see a tall man with long red hair that was obviously dyed that was smoking a cigarette he wore black priest robe and had a silver ring on each of his ten fingers along with earrings on both ears, and most notably a barcode tattoo under his right eye.
The man then stood over Index facing the two of them. "Sorry didn't expect this big of a crowd" The man then took out the cigarette that was in his mouth. " My magic name is Fortis931" He then threw the cigarette in the direction of Misaka and Touma and suddenly a giant explosion of fire came cascading at them.
Author's Notes
The main reason Judgement wasn't able to find Index faster was because most of the churches don't have a camera installed into them for religious purposes. `However, Academy City does have secret cameras placed into them however that is not public knowledge'
Uiharu wasn't able to help as well as she was currently in route to the Gemstone facility in order to deliver her apology letter.
The Meeting that Misaki was attending was about the Global ramifications on Cybersecurity and how it affects Academy city as well as the rest of the world since they have some of the most important scientific breakthroughs.
Along with the message somebody intercepted they also cut off the live feed from Touma's dorm and played it on a loop.
Also, the reason Stiyl attacked first was that Touma wasn't alone. He doesn't know who Misaka is but he does know that a majority of the population in Academy city have esper abilities and doesn't want to take any chances in case Index getting hurt.
Tune in next time for
Magic vs Science