Touma felt he was pretty athletic.
It wasn't something worth bragging about. Not in the least. He didn't have time to participate in sports or activities through his school, and he'd missed half the Daihasei events, so it's not like he ever had much a chance to show it off. The only chances he did get to exercise his athleticism was when he was facing down and/or running from an enemy.
Like right now.
Touma leapt over a half-wall, landing squarely on the other side, barely pausing in his sprint. His breathing was starting to get ragged.
"Damn it!" He swore through clenched teeth, stepping sideways and only barely avoiding getting hit by an incoming attack. "Just how far is this guy planning to chase me?!"
He glanced back at his pursuer.
It was definitely a magician, no doubt about it. Even if the guy hadn't been flinging magic-based attacks at him, the cosplay-like outfit was a dead giveaway. Unfortunately, he'd barely had time to register that before the guy had demanded the location of the list of prohibited books. When he'd hesitated, the magician had immediately turned to using force.
He couldn't go back to his apartment, obviously. If this guy was after Index, then getting him as far away from her was his best option. Touma had been leading the magician away for nearly ten minutes now.
"Would you cut it out?!" Touma tried yelling again, canceling out an incoming attack. This magician appeared to use wind-based magic, but he couldn't tell much aside from that. He was only just getting used to it enough to block it. "Why are you after Index, anyways?!"
"I have a need for one of those grimoires, obviously!" The magician hissed back.
"To do what?!" He pressed.
The magician glared. "I'm not explaining myself to the likes of- gegh!"
Touma's eyebrows shot up as the magician's body suddenly jerked oddly, convulsing for a moment before collapsing to the ground in a heap.
"What the–?"
A new voice came from behind him before he could fully form the question.
"What've you gotten caught up in this time?"
Touma turned, a wave of relief washing over him as he realized what'd happened. Collapsing to the ground, he said "Mikoto… Thanks for that."
She walked up to him, waiting quietly for him to catch his breath. Once he'd had a minute to recover, she offered him a hand, and he took it, letting her pull him back up to his feet.
"So?" She gestured with her head to the unconscious magician lying a few meters away. "What's up with that?"
"Not sure." He answered. "He's a magician. Just showed up demanding to know where Index was. When I didn't answer, he started attacking."
"Hmm…" She eyed the collapsed magician, clearly on edge.
Touma pulled out his phone, quickly scrolling through his contacts. "Can you keep an eye on him for me?" He asked. "There's someone I need to call."
"I got it." She assured him.
He shot her a smile, then dialed the one person that might have some answers for him.
"Yo, Kami-yan." Came the merry voice on the other end.
He grimaced. "Tsuchimikado." He started. "Did you know that there's a magician going wild in the city?"
"Ah, we got word that one had managed to sneak in, but they're associated with a small branch of the English Puritans so we're under instructions to watch and see… if you're calling, I'm assuming you came across this person."
"The guy showed up out of nowhere demanding I take him to Index!" Touma complained. "When I didn't answer, he started coming after me, no questions asked!"
Tsuchimikado paused for a moment. "The list of prohibited books, huh…. Might be more trouble than the higher-ups thought. Where are you right now?"
"Uh…" He looked around, but there was no familiar landmark. Turning to his partner, he asked "Mikoto, do you know where we are?"
"Ooh, Kami-yan!" Tsuchimikado's voice echoed through the phone's speaker. "Don't tell me you're alone right now with a girl–!"
Touma pressed his hand against the phone's speaker, cutting off the sound of his friend's voice before he could say something to set Mikoto off.
She narrowed her eyes, but opted to ignore whatever that had been about. "We're in an abandoned factory yard in the southwest corner of district 11." She answered him.
He relayed that information to Tsuchimikado before anything else could be said.
"Keep the magician there, I'll come meet up with you." He instructed. "I'm assuming the list of prohibited books isn't involved in this?"
"She's at home." Touma said. "No point getting her mixed up in this."
"That's fine then. Don't get up to anything naughty before I get there~."
"Oi! What do you–!"
Tsuchimikado hung up.
Touma grit his teeth, then hissed a sigh as he put his phone away. "That guy…" He grumbled.
"Who was that?" Mikoto asked.
"A friend of mine. He works with the science and magic sides. He says he's a spy, but I get the sense he just does what he wants."
"A spy, huh…"
Silence fell over them for a moment.
"How did you find me out here?" Touma asked her suddenly. When he thought about it, it was weird for Mikoto to be out in this area of the city.
She fixed him with a blunt stare. "We were meeting up, idiot. Remember? You ran right by me while you were getting chased. So I followed."
Right, it was a study day. In the chaos of the sudden chase, he'd completely forgotten why he was out in the first place. "Oh yeah… sorry for dragging you into this."
Her expression hardened at the apology. "I'm the one who followed you." She pointed out. "So don't apologize. It ticks me off."
He grinned sheepishly, raising a hand in surrender. "Right."
The two were distracted by a low groan, and they both spun to the magician, who was starting to push himself up.
"Oi!" Touma took a step forward, ready to restrain the guy.
But Mikoto beat him to it. In a flash, the electromaster was behind the struggling magician. She grabbed his wrist, swung his arm around his back, and pushed the guy back down to the ground in the time it took Touma to finish taking his first step. "Try anything, and I'll knock you out again. Understand?" She warned him.
The magician coughed a little, his eyes watering from the painful position. Gritting his teeth, he growled "I got it! Damn it…"
Mikoto let up on her hold just enough for the magician to sit up, but she kept a firm grip on his wrist.
Touma knelt down in front of the guy. "So?" He started. "Feel like explaining what all this is about now?"
The magician scowled, looking away… and then winced as his captor tightened her grip.
Touma tried again. "I'm Kamijou Touma. Mind telling us your name, at least?"
"I know who you are." The guy spit out. "As for who I am… doesn't matter now, does it? I didn't get my hands on the grimoire… it's all over now…" He smiled dryly.
Touma watched the dramatically hollow look overtake this guy for a few seconds.
"In that case, I'll call you Kaz." He decided.
The man's eyes shot up. "Huh?!"
From behind the guy, Mikoto asked "Why Kaz?"
"Because of the wind magic." He smirked proudly.
"That's dumb."
"Well then what would you call him?"
"Mmmm…" Mikoto assessed the sullen magician. "He looks like a Daichi."
"What's with the common as heck name?!"
"It's better than Kaz!"
"If you're gonna shoot down my spark of creativity, at least put some effort into it!"
"That's your creativity? Might as well give up and call him Diogee."
"Diogee?"
The magician slumped, crying "Don't call me a dog!"
Mikoto smirked, and Touma nodded slowly. "I see… D.O.G… 'Diogee'. That's not bad–"
"My name is Reeves! Aiden Reeves!"
Touma and Mikoto exchanged a quick, triumphant look as Reeves hung his head in defeat. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Mikoto said.
"Damn kids." He grumbled.
Touma smiled slightly. This magician was grumpy, sure. He had a sour expression and he clearly had no interest in getting along with a couple of school kids. And obviously, he had a serious problem about jumping straight to violence… but…
There was no malice.
Touma had fought enough people to know when true killing intent was being directed at him, and Aiden Reeves had none of that. For all his rash actions, Touma didn't believe he was here to hurt anyone.
So why? Why seek out those volumes, those texts filled with knowledge so dangerous that most people's minds would be destroyed for simply taking it in?
There had to be a reason.
"I don't know what your situation is," Touma started. "But did you really expect me to just hand over Index because a stranger showed up and asked?"
He smirked. "Figured I would ask anyways."
Mikoto narrowed her eyes. "... hey Touma, does this happen a lot?" She pressed. "Do magicians usually come after that sister without a proper plan?"
A chill seeped into his bones.
Now that he had a moment to breathe and really think about it…No. They didn't. At the very least, the act of breaking into Academy City alone required intricate planning. There's no way that anyone capable of accomplishing that would head directly to him and chase after him compulsively.
I know who you are, he'd said.
Of course he would. Anyone from Index's church would know that he was the biggest obstacle standing between Index and anyone targeting her.
"You're just the bait." Touma guessed, jumping to his feet. "You're not alone, are you?!"
He sighed. "... aaaah, that was fast. Was it really that obvious?"
"Damn it!" Touma grit his teeth, turning impulsively and getting ready to break into a run– but a hand on his wrist stopped him.
"Oi! Don't go running off on your own!" Mikoto protested.
"I need to get back to Index!" He insisted.
"If these guys had enough foresight to lure you away like this, then they probably already got to her. They won't just stick around in your apartment waiting for you to get back. How do you plan on finding her?"
He paused. She was right… but he couldn't just stand still.
Mikoto sighed. "Would you stop looking so tortured? I'm telling you to let me help. I can hack into the city's surveillance, you know."
Touma pressed his lips together. He wanted her help. Her ability was invaluable in a situation like this, and he really couldn't afford to run around the city blindly. But he also couldn't leave this magician here alone.
Thankfully, the solution presented itself before he could agonize over it any more.
"Yo, Kami-yan~!"
"Tsuchimikado." He breathed a sigh of relief, turning to the newcomer. "Perfect timing. Can you handle this guy? Turns out he's not alone, we need to get back to Index."
Tsuchimikado smirked. "Always the busybody, Kami-yan. He's not alone, you say?"
"Seems like it."
"We only got word of one intruder… of course he might've just used that as a way to cover up the presence of his partner. Right. I'll take care of this guy." Tsuchimikado tilted his head in Mikoto's direction. "What do you plan to do, Miss Misaka Mikoto? I don't know how much you know, but having espers involved in disputes like this runs the risk of the situation blowing up."
Touma felt a pang of anxiety. He hadn't really considered that part of it. But Mikoto just huffed, saying "I don't care for all that stuff. If I want to help a friend, then I'm going to. And if some suits in an office want to complain about it, so be it. I'll go over there and knock some sense into them myself if I have to."
Tsuchimikado chuckled. "That's a level 5 for you. You two get going, then. I'll call if something new pops up."
"Thanks, Tsuchimikado!" Touma grabbed Mikoto's hand and broke into a sprint, Mikoto yelping a little as she stumbled to adjust.
Touma had intentionally led the magician as far from his apartment as possible… or rather, the magician had chased him as far from it as possible, so getting back would be a trek. He was already hating how little distance they were covering on foot.
"Touma!" Mikoto called from behind him. He glanced back. "It'll take at least ten minutes to get back like this! If I go on ahead, I can check over the cameras before you get there!"
He slowed a bit, letting go of her hand somewhat reluctantly. "Okay." He agreed. "I'll catch up as soon as I can."
The moment she was no longer in contact with his right hand, lightning cackled around her. She leapt, and the blue arcs pulled her forward, toward and onto the buildings- then over them, as she disappeared into the distance ahead of him.
He watched her go in admiration. That girl… she really was impressive when she wanted to be.
Renewing his sprint, he tore after her.
It did end up taking about ten minutes for him to reach the area around his apartment. Even from a distance, he could tell that the door had been blown open.
Mikoto dropped down from a building before he could even reach his dorm, and he tumbled to a quick stop.
"She was taken east." She started. "It doesn't look like she was hurt, but the person had her restrained somehow."
"In a vehicle?"
"No, but they were using some other means of moving around. It looked like she flew off."
He sighed. "That'll make it harder to find them."
"You said magic works with rituals, right?" Mikoto asked. "Does that mean they'll need to set up some sort of ritual space to do whatever they want to do?"
"Maybe, but it doesn't always work like that. Without knowing what they're trying to do, there's really no way to guess."
She pressed her lips together. "Did you try calling her?"
Touma pulled out his phone. In his haste, he'd completely forgotten to try. Index was pretty bad about keeping her phone charged, anyways, so the odds of getting through were never very high… but it was worth a shot.
The phone started to ring, and the two waited with baited breath. He silently prayed that her phone was still set to vibrate.
To his shock, it actually went through.
"Index?!" He said immediately. "You okay?! Where are you?!"
There was no answer, just the muffled sounds of some background noise, and a voice in the distance saying something he couldn't make out.
He grit his teeth. "Damn it, she isn't talking!"
"Give me the phone." Mikoto said, taking it from his hand before he had a chance to actually hand it over. She pulled a device out from her own pocket, plugged it into his phone, and narrowed her eyes as small sparks of electricity lit up around the device for a moment.
"Got it." She declared. "Let's go!"
The only thing Touma could do was follow the girl as she grabbed hold of his hand again and started to run.
Mikoto didn't suggest going ahead of him this time, and he was glad for that. They were facing a magician, after all. He wasn't about to let her face an opponent from the magic side without him.
Touma lost track of time while they were running. Every minute felt like it stretched on for 10. He took some comfort in the fact that Index had clearly been well enough to answer her phone discreetly, but not knowing what the magician planned to do made him feel like he was up against some phantom clock. He couldn't see how much time was left, but he was acutely aware that each second that passed might be a second too late.
Two districts over, they finally reached a building. It was a shopping center about four stories tall. Mikoto stopped in front of it, pausing to look at her device.
"The signal came from here." She told him. "I can't tell if they went up or down, though. They could be on the roof, in the basement, or in some back room anywhere in between."
"My bets are up." He said. He might not know the first thing about the magician they were facing, but a lot of the magicians he'd faced favored outdoor battlefields. Sometimes they needed a direct line to the sky, sometimes it was just a matter of preferring the open space. Either way, Touma was inclined to search the roof before anything else.
So they headed up. A few customers shot them looks of irritation as they rushed past them, but there wasn't even time to apologize. They reached the top level, and Mikoto both manipulated the camera trained on the door to the roof and disabled the door's lock and alarm.
Mikoto opened the door first, running up the stairs and peering slowly around the corner at the top.
She froze, then slowly lowered to one knee, whispering "Looks like you guessed right."
Touma stood behind her as close as he could, trying to peek around the corner to see what she was seeing.
"Do you really think this is your best option?"
The first voice he heard was Index's, sounding calm and composed. This was a relief, but not a surprise. Index was always shockingly level-headed in dangerous situations for someone who couldn't work magic herself.
Index continued. "You have the knowledge of 103 000 grimoires at your disposal, and all you're seeking is mitigation?"
"Mitigation is all we need."
The second voice clearly belonged to a girl, but beyond that, Touma couldn't discern much. At least she didn't sound particularly worked up.
"I don't believe that. If you went through the trouble of getting here, why only save a few?"
"Potential retaliation, of course. If the curse doesn't accomplish its goal, they'll come back with something else later. Why risk it? I have no reason to stick my neck out to help some people I barely get along with. You reap what you sow. They'll overlook a few survivors... At least this way, I can guarantee our own safety."
Touma couldn't make heads or tails of what the magician was talking about. "They"? And what was that about trying to save someone? He had a feeling this situation might be a bit more complex than it first seemed.
"So you would give up on the many to save a select few?"
"It was never a matter of 'giving up' or not. We were all doomed the moment this curse was placed on us. Trying to save a few is already fighting against fate."
"If you'd asked for help instead of resorting to this, we would've lent a hand. Touma, at least, can't say no when people are in trouble."
He grimaced a little at the note of exasperation in her tone.
"The Imagine Breaker? Not a chance. Things blow up when that person gets involved. We can't risk that level of attention. He was at the center of World War 3, was he not?"
"Maybe so, but Touma always saves whoever grasps his hand. Even if the odds are terrible, even if his body collapses against the weight, he still manages it every time."
"Did you not hear what I said about retaliation? Some people have to die. It's pointless if everyone is saved."
Some people have to die.
The words enraged him immediately. The idea was insane. No one ever has to die. If people in a higher position have decided so, then he would clench his fist and shatter that illusion. He didn't care what this person's situation was- if people were going to die, he would stand in the way of that blade.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
The angry growl came from the girl who was crouching in front of him. He stepped back for a moment to avoid the sparks that were starting to dance in the air around her. "Saying people have to die for anything-!"
He put a hand on her head, canceling out the sparks and cutting her off before she got too loud.
Of course she'd be pissed, he thought to himself. Mikoto fought tooth and nail against an experiment that treated lives in much the same way. She'd nearly given up her own life. Accepting sacrifices was a mindset she, of all people, could never forgive.
They had that much in common.
"I'm gonna go out there." Touma decided.
She looked back at him, his hand moving with her head. "You're just going to barge in without a plan?" She demanded.
"My plans tend to fall apart pretty quickly anyways." He said. Things very rarely worked out the way he wanted them to. Forging onward in the face of all that was practically his brand.
Mikoto grimaced, clearly understanding what he wasn't saying- that she shouldn't join him in that confrontation. "You expect me to stay back while you act like an idiot?"
"Give me a chance to get her to use her magic, at least." He answered. "It's better if she thinks I came alone."
She sighed. "Fine. But I'm stepping in the second it looks like something's going wrong."
"Fair enough."
With that, Touma stepped around her and rushed onto the scene.
Index saw him first, having been sitting at an angle that let her see him emerge from the stairway. "Touma!" She yelled with a smile.
The other person on the roof jerked around, taking a defensive stance automatically with what looked like a rod brandished in her left hand.
The girl couldn't have been much older than him, and was likely just a few inches shorter. She had dark short hair, with bangs partly covering her right eye. Like most female magicians Touma had fought, covering the skin was not a priority- a robe was draped over what looked like little more than a crop top and a short skirt. He wondered impulsively how cold that would be in the November weather.
The magician swore. "What the hell is Aiden doing?!"
"My friend from Necessarius is keeping him company." Touma told her. Addressing his friend sitting behind her, he said "You all right, Index?"
"Mhm."
He sighed in relief. Turning his attention back to the magician, he glared and shouted "What are you planning to do with Index? And who the hell are you guys?!"
The girl's eyes narrowed. "... I needed some instructions in performing a certain ritual." She told him.
"And you decided to attack me and kidnap Index for it?! Why didn't you just ask?!" He demanded.
The magician pressed her lips together.
From behind the magician, Index cut in "Touma, this girl's entire faction is facing a certain punishment. She's planning to use a forbidden ritual to protect herself and a few others from the effects."
"A certain punishment?" Touma pressed.
"A curse." The magician elaborated. "The divine wrath of God- the ten plagues. The leaders got carried away, and now we're all paying the price for it. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna die because those morons screwed up."
"Screwed up…?" Touma was struggling to keep up with this. "You mean this is some sort of sentence? A whole faction has been cursed to die?"
Tsuchimikado had said that the intruder was from a faction under the English Puritans. So had Index's church been the one to deliver this sentence? And just what had these magicians done that would warrant wiping out the entire faction?
Index was the one who answered him. "It isn't a guaranteed death, but it is an option. The divine wrath of God is a curse that derives from the ten plagues of Egypt. The effect is randomly selected from one of those plagues. Among the potential effects, only two can result in death, and only one guarantees it."
"Still…" It seemed excessive. The way this magician talked made it seem like only the leaders of the faction were responsible for what led to this sentence. So what if the leaders came away unscathed, but the underlings were killed? What sort of justice is that? Were the people handing down judgment really okay with this?
"Ridiculous, right?" The magician smirked, seeing his expression falter.
"... so what are you doing about it?" Touma pressed.
"I'm going to save my brothers."
He paused.
He wasn't sure what to do.
It wasn't wrong to want to save someone. It wasn't… but… if there was a way to save a few, shouldn't there be a way to save them all?
But this was too far above him. As much as the English Puritans turned to him for help, he held absolutely no authority. His word meant nothing to the higher-ups. There wasn't anything he could say that would change their minds. If doing so was as simple as pointing out that the punishment wasn't fair, then none of this would be happening to begin with.
"... what's with that pathetic look?"
The magician's words struck right to his core.
The girl had proclaimed that she wouldn't turn to the Imagine Breaker that was at the center of World War 3 to fix this problem. But an undeniable aura of disappointment radiated from her as she narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Aaah, that's to be expected, isn't it? You're with the Puritans yourself, right?"
"I wouldn't say that…" He protested weakly. He wasn't strictly with the English Puritans, but it was Index's church. If circumstances had been different, he might've easily aligned with a different faction, but the reality was that he had a lot of ties with the Puritans.
"You can't go against them, though, can you? It puts you at risk. It puts her at risk." she nodded toward Index. "Yeah. I get it. I never planned to ask anyone for help… someone like you would just be a liability… But still…"
She tightened her grip on her rod, waving it in front of her in a pattern he didn't recognize.
"I was expecting more from the famous Imagine Breaker."
A shape burst out of the rod, swelling and shifting and reforming itself, and barely a second later, Touma was facing an enormous, fully realized lioness.
His heart just about stopped.
"Oh, I didn't introduce myself, did I?" The magician said. "Levka Devin, magician of the order of evangelical covenants. My magic name is Chranitel268. It's a pleasure to meet you, Imagine Breaker."
The lioness bared its teeth, and attacked.
Touma dove sideways, rolling as he landed and spinning around to keep his eyes on the creature. It was a summoned animal, so getting rid of it should be as simple as touching it with his right hand… but this predator was already at least twice the size of a real lioness. One misstep, and he would lose a limb.
The creature hunched, getting ready to pounce, and Touma clenched his fist. With its claws bared, the animal shot toward him. He twisted his body to avoid the claws, then brought his fist up with all his strength, landing a hit squarely on the jaw.
The animal did not have time to react to the hit. If it had been a real lion, the force of a single human's punch would have had little effect anyways. But this thing had been made with magic, so the sound of the Imagine Breaker activating rang out, and the creature disappeared.
Levka Devin didn't miss a beat. "Open the gates and bring forth the challenger. Call 3."
A lion again, and two tigers. Touma had barely recovered his stance when the three new threats closed in on him.
This is bad.
He realized immediately that he wouldn't be able to destroy all 3 before one of them got in a hit. There wasn't enough room to dodge them either- if he jumped away from the threat, he'd find himself falling four stories to the pavement below.
The boy tensed, instinctively bracing himself for the impact.
But he had nothing to worry about.
After all, he wasn't fighting alone.
A loud boom rang out, accompanied by a blinding flash of light. A burst of wind pushed him back as Touma covered his eyes with his arms.
When the spots cleared, the three animals were gone.
"What–?!"
It took Levka Devin a moment to realize what had happened, and another moment to follow the path of the attack back to its source- a middle-school girl standing with one arm raised, arcs of leftover electricity radiating from her body.
"That's my limit." Mikoto declared. "I'm joining in."
Touma lowered his arms slowly, smiling a little sheepishly, embarrassed that he'd been overwhelmed by the opponent's magic so quickly. "Thanks."
From behind Levka, Index was looking even more shocked by the sudden addition. With a pout that was completely out of place in the current situation, she glared at Touma and shouted "Touma! What's short-hair doing here?!"
"What's it look like I'm doing?!" Mikoto shot back at the nun before Touma could answer.
"Open the gates and bring forth the challenger! Call 4!"
Levka had jumped back from the new threat. Ignoring the two girls, she waved her rod and summoned another group of enemies.
Mikoto barely spared the magician a glance as she flicked three coins into the air, firing her railgun in quick succession. The newly formed animals never had a chance to take a single step.
The single lion that was spared from the electromaster's signature move got ready to pounce, but as the light of the railguns faded away, Touma got behind the last threat and erased the summoned creature.
Levka took another couple steps back, readying her rod again, but Touma had gotten a lot closer to her. Before she could get her chant out, he closed the distance between them, swinging his fist at her and landing a hit on her stomach.
The sound of the Imagine Breaker activating rang out.
The magician flew back, landing harshly, then curled up on the ground and started coughing violently from the impact. He picked up the rod, which had been knocked out of her hand, and the item shattered the moment it contacted his right hand.
Mikoto caught up to the magician first. Much like with her partner Aiden, Levka found herself trapped in a hold and pinned to the ground. Mikoto growled "Try anything, and I'll teach you what 400 000 volts running through your body feels like. Got it?"
Levka went still, gritting her teeth.
Judging that Mikoto had things covered with the magician, Touma ran over to Index and started untying the ropes around her wrists.
Once she was free, she brought her hands forward, reflexively massaging her wrists.
The two went quiet for a moment.
"Index–"
"You want to help them, right?" Index guessed with a sigh. "Touma, you can't cancel out this curse the same way you usually do. The castor isn't here. You can only cancel it out the moment it takes effect by touching the affected person. You can't do that for every member of the order."
"I know." Touma admitted. He'd guessed as much. "But I can't just walk away from this."
"Even though this is punishment for a crime? Even though you might make more enemies?"
He met her gaze firmly.
There was a lot he didn't know about what was going on. For all he knew, lending a hand to this group would make him an enemy of the English Puritans. Worst case, they send someone like Kanzaki after him and he loses Index.
But what did the risk matter? There were people here, people with death looming over them. Even if they were criminals, even if a higher power judged this punishment fit, that wasn't something he could accept.
It wasn't about the pros and cons, or how bad the consequences might be.
There were people before him that needed to be saved.
That was the only reason he'd ever needed.
"Even so." He answered Index. "I want to save them."
Index sighed… then smiled. "Mm. You wouldn't be Touma otherwise." She said. "That's why I've already consulted the grimoires… and this is what I've come up with."
After Index relayed her idea to everyone present, the group started moving to meet up with Tsuchimikado, who had Aiden Reeves at a secondary location.
Index led the way, with Levka Devin following and Touma and Mikoto sticking close behind her. The magician wasn't tied up, but Mikoto was plenty close enough to strike the magician down with lightning before she had a chance to try anything, and the electromaster was watching the girl intently.
Touma's spine prickled with anxiety.
Index's plan hinged on the cooperation of the two magicians. Touma couldn't just cancel out the curse when it activated- if he did, the ones dishing out the punishment would be able to tell that the curse failed. What Index proposed instead was that they divert the curse. Change the target of the spell to an empty receptacle, and the ones doing the casting would be none the wiser. After that, it would just be a matter of getting the planned targets to lay low for a while until things blew over.
It was a simple plan, and Touma could think of a hundred things that could go wrong… but it was the only idea they had.
The problem, of course, was that neither Index, himself, nor Mikoto could perform the magic necessary to create a functioning receptacle. Tsuchimikado technically could, but Touma would rather avoid asking that of him what with of the damage it did to the boy's body, even if he was able to heal from it in the long run.
Which meant their only option was to get Aiden Reeves and Levka Devin to do it.
This was the biggest part of the gamble. Levka had already made it clear that she didn't care to save the people who were responsible for this mess, and they had no way of ensuring that the magicians would perform the steps to protect them properly. Levka had agreed to the plan– albeit somewhat reluctantly– but if she decided to sabotage it, then there was nothing they could do.
Essentially, Touma was powerless.
He hated it.
Mikoto, who'd been partially watching Touma's face cycle through various stages of frustration out of the corner of her eye for the past few minutes, let out a sigh. "Seriously. Do you ever stop torturing yourself?"
"I'm not torturing myself." He answered reflexively. "I just… wish there was something more I could do."
"I'm pretty sure wishing for things you know you can't have counts as torturing yourself." She told him. "You trust that nun, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
"Right. It's these guys you don't trust." She gestured toward the magician in front of them.
He frowned. It's true that he couldn't bring himself to completely believe in these magicians, these two who seemed to care so little about the group as a whole. But… "That's not it. I just…" He sighed.
Mikoto glanced over at him for a moment. "You're trying too hard to solve other people's problems." She told him. "This is a problem that their group is responsible for, so it's only right for them to fix it themselves."
"Like you tried to do with the sisters?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Like you at the end of World War 3." She shot back.
"That was different."
"You're right. At least these guys are accepting help."
Touma pressed his lips together. Her tone was sharp, but not in the way he was used to hearing. It wasn't Mikoto getting annoyed, or angry, as she often did. This sharpness was bitterly tinted with hurt.
He could do angry. But he hadn't been ready to handle hurt.
How many times had he turned her down? He didn't ask for her help during the invasion on September 30th- she just inserted herself into the situation before he could protest. He brushed her aside when he went to confront Acqua. Then she shows up in Russia, ready to pull him out of the crashing Star of Bethlehem, having gone through an actual warzone just to get there, and he forces her to leave him behind. He'd… never really stopped to think about it before.
Mikoto found the Gekota strap in the wreckage out at sea. He'd taken it back with a simple 'thanks' when they met up again in the city, but how did she find it in the first place? How long did she sift through that wreckage, looking for any sign of him? Did finding that strap give her hope that he'd survived, or did she come home convinced that he had died?
What if their roles had been reversed?
He knew. If he'd been the one who had failed to rescue her, if he'd been the one searching through the wreckage, thinking she'd lost her life because he'd let her talk him down… the guilt would've broken him.
Is that what she went through?
"I… never really did apologize, did I?" He said slowly.
"No. You didn't."
He flinched. She was rarely ever this transparent about her feelings. He could only imagine how much it had been bothering her for it to still sound so fresh a few weeks after the fact.
Slowly, carefully, he reached out, catching hold of her hand in a light, hesitant grip. Having her on his left meant she could zap him away if she wanted to, so he only took partial hold of her hand, using the hesitancy to silently ask for permission.
She jumped a little at the contact, eyes widening and cheeks flushing, but once she realized what it was he was asking for, she timidly reciprocated, rearranging the hold and lightly grasping his hand.
"I'm sorry." He told her. "I really didn't mean to leave you hanging like that."
"I thought you'd died." She said quietly.
His heart sunk. He squeezed her hand briefly, not sure if there was anything else he could say. He repeated "I'm sorry."
"Mm." She answered him with a small smile. "Try not to do it again, idiot."
He smiled back. It wasn't a promise he could make out loud... but silently, to himself, he swore never to put her through something like that again.
"You pick now to make up with your girlfriend?"
The voice of the magician hit them both like a bucket of ice.
The two couldn't have shot away from each other faster than if Mikoto had actually shocked them. Waving her arms in front of her, Mikoto stuttered "I-I'm not–! W-w-w-we're not like that!"
Levka Devin fixed them with a blunt look that clearly said she wasn't buying it. "Yeah, sure. Okay."
Index had turned back at the sound of the commotion. Narrowing her eyes, she said "Touma! Are you doing inappropriate things with girls while I'm not looking again?!"
Mikoto sparked, fixing him with a piercing glare. "Again?"
He stepped back instinctively, shouting at his silver-haired problem of a roommate. "Oi! Watch the phrasing! What's with this sudden misunderstanding?!"
Not at all helping the situation, Levka Devin cut in "I've heard tell that the Imagine Breaker is always accompanied by a female. And that it's a different one every time. That red-haired Necessarius magician called it something…. I think the word was harem?"
"Damn you, Stiyl!"
"A harem, huh?"
Touma could practically feel the thinly veiled anger in Mikoto's voice drilling into him. Raising his hands in surrender, he quickly said "It's propaganda!" He wasn't entirely sure who had coined the term 'harem' as a way to describe his chronic misfortune with girls– if it had been Stiyl or someone before him– but whoever it was, he was going to get revenge for it some day. "I don't have a harem! As if any girl would fall for a guy like me."
For some reason, the weight of Mikoto's and Index's gazes were suddenly bearing down on him like an anvil.
"... umm… Mikoto-san? Index-san?"
Silence.
The boy started to sweat. Nothing was more intimidating to him than the combined forces of Misaka Mikoto's and Index's anger. This sort of force was liable to kill him if it boiled over.
"... thick-headed to the end, huh."
"Touma is Touma, after all."
The girls appeared to have come to some sort of agreement. But even though he escaped punishment, he couldn't help but feel like he'd lost.
Tsuchimikado was waiting for them just outside a large abandoned factory. Seeing them approach, he pushed himself off the wall and said "Yo, Kami-yan! Why do you look like someone who just lost a high-stakes poker match?"
He ignored the uncomfortably accurate assessment of his sense of defeat.
"So? Where's Reeves?"
Tsuchimikado gestured behind him. "Already working inside. I don't know what instructions you gave him, but he's been in a frenzy since your call."
Touma frowned. "Hey, Index, are we working on some sort of time limit here?"
"We have several hours left, but yes, we'll need to finish before the end of the day."
"Do you really think it's going to take that long?"
"If the method I laid out is followed, it should only take an hour." Index fixed a hard look on the magician as she said it. Levka Devin looked away.
Mikoto sighed. "Give me a minute… I need to warn Kuroko that she might need to cover for me."
"Sorry." Touma apologized reflexively– then winced as she brought a chop down on his head.
"Don't apologize." She reminded him.
"Don't I at least get three strikes?"
"Consider that your third."
"When was the second?!"
Mikoto ignored him, pulling out her phone. "I'll meet you inside in a minute."
"Mm." Turning back to Index and the magician, he said. "Let's get started."
Tsuchimikado stayed outside the building on watch, while Touma and Index went inside with Levka. The space was an open warehouse, and Reeves was easy to spot– standing at the center of the empty space surrounded by several miscellaneous thin sheets of wood. Touma had no idea how he got a hold of the tools he needed so fast and could only assume that Tsuchimikado had something to do with it.
The other magician didn't even see them approach, absorbed as he was in his task. It was only when Levka knelt in front of him that he finally noticed that he wasn't alone.
"Levka…" He started. "Good. I need you to start carving out these figures."
She paused, taken aback.
"... That's it?"
He tilted his head at her. "What's it?"
She pressed. "You're just gonna save them all? Just like that? Even after everything they did?"
Reeves met her gaze calmly. "Yes. I am."
She shook her head, sitting down on the floor. "I… don't understand you."
From behind her, Touma interjected "If you have the option to save everyone, then there's no reason not to take it, right?"
"They deserve it." She hissed. "You know what they did? Those guys at the head of our division? They stole a grimoire from the archives, just so they could get an edge over a rival group. There was no reason to fight that group to begin with, and stealing the grimoire got us the attention of the entire English Puritan faction. They put us through hell just to keep the group hidden. Spells, charms… we were stretched to our limit, avoiding the Puritans. And, as if that wasn't enough, they started forcing us to read the grimoire. One by one. Just to find someone who could take it in without losing it." Levka grit her teeth, practically spitting out the words. "When we realized we'd been cursed, I thought it was pretty fitting that they would punish us with a spell from the very grimoire we stole… but it's not like we were all onboard. If those bastards had just listened to us, then none of this would've happened!"
"Levka…"
"So let them die!" She cried, gripping her partner by the shirt. "Let them suffer! Let them feel even an inch of what Chris felt when they forced him to read that godforsaken thing!"
Reeves gripped her hands gently, slowly pulling her off of him.
"I know." He told her gently. "I know, Levka. I hate what they did to Chris. Fiana, Elli, Ty… too many people suffered. And for what? You think I don't know how you feel? Of course I know."
"Then–!"
"But I don't want them to die."
Her face fell, but Reeves stayed firm.
"They can't die. They just can't. Not after what happened. They owe us, Lev. They owe Chris, and they owe the others. So I'm gonna save them. And I'm gonna hold that over them until they pay back what they owe a hundredfold."
Slowly, the tension started to leave Levka's shoulders.
"You'll get them… to pay us back?"
"I swear. We aren't saving them so they can get off easy. We're saving them so that they don't."
Levka considered it. Quietly. Deeply. And slowly, ever so slowly, she accepted the words of her friend.
"All right. I'll do it. Let's get this done."
And like that, with Index giving them instructions, the two magicians got to work.
A couple minutes later, Mikoto joined them, taking a seat on the concrete floor next to him a stone's throw away from where the others were working.
"You're not helping?" She started.
"Can't." He admitted begrudgingly. "Index says the whole process is imbued with magic. Even getting too close runs the risk of my right hand canceling it all out."
"Anything I can do?" She asked.
He shook his head. "Better not risk it. If you end up working magic, even by accident, you'll get hurt."
"Right… incompatibility. I wonder why that is."
"Beats me." He said with a shrug. It was, when he thought about it, odd that esper abilities and magic were fundamentally different enough to be completely incompatible and yet similar enough that his Imagine Breaker would treat them the same way. He was sure there must be principles behind it… but sorting through that kind of thing was beyond him.
"So there's basically nothing for us to do, huh?"
"Pretty much."
Slowly, a grin came over her, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "In that case," She started. "We have some time to do what we planned to do before all this, right?"
It took him a moment to remember that this evening had started with a planned study session.
He sighed. "Just my luck."
"Oi." She nudged him a little harshly. "No–"
"-slacking under Mikoto-sensei, I know."
When Touma had agreed to let her tutor him, he honestly hadn't been ready for just how much effort she would put into it. Their casual study sessions in the park had nothing on the rigorous methods she'd prepare for him during their meetups.
It was rough… but it was effective. They'd been at it for a little over a week, and Touma was finding he could answer the questions Komoe-sensei threw his way most of the time, whether he was paying attention to the lecture or not.
Mikoto's lessons mainly involved quizzing him. She had a series of questions related to various topics. She always started by going through them all, and once he was done she would circle back around to the questions he couldn't answer or got wrong and explained the concept. Then he would redo her quiz at the end… and hopefully get everything right, because the look she gave him when he failed on the second round always made him want to bow in apology.
All of this usually only took about a half hour. When he'd asked her why she kept it so short, she'd told him that she didn't expect his attention span to hold out longer than that (that one stung a little) and that it keeps the odds of them being interrupted to a minimum.
Incidentally, these meetups had been lasting at least a couple hours.
The questions she had for him that day were mostly psychology-based. The psychology of esper abilities and the level-based power system in the city was a unit covered in the ability development curriculum, and Touma was actually enjoying it a little, mostly because his first-hand experience dealing with various espers and their many struggles gave him an advantage.
Still, he was a little surprised by the content Mikoto was covering- Theories and analysis on how different personalities adapt to esper powers and different complexes that can arise from it. It seems like Tokiwadai's curriculum had it down to what types of crimes specific personalities were at risk of falling into.
"For a Middle School with high-level espers, Tokiwadai really isn't shy about diving into the potential problems with esper abilities." He noted.
"It goes beyond not being shy." Mikoto told him. "Tokiwadai has a zero-tolerance policy for criminal activity. They drill into us early what kind of behaviors to watch out for and how to manage them. They don't want to risk tarnishing their reputation by having students going around abusing their powers."
He smirked. "Says the level 5 Ace of Tokiwadai, whose list of crimes include attacking people with her power–"
"Only in self-defense!"
"Vandalizing city property–"
"That vending machine deserves it!"
"And committing acts of destruction against research facilities–"
"Aah, I get it!" She yelled, shoving his arm lightly. He smirked, and she lowered her head, her cheeks glowing. "I'm not exactly a model student." She dropped her arms slowly. "So what?"
His smirk softened at the girl's grumbled expression. Leaning back on his hands, he told her. "I'm glad you're not a model student. The image of a perfect, high-class lady… it doesn't suit you at all."
"But the image of a casual criminal does?" She shot back.
"That's not what I meant." He continued. "I just figure that if you were the type of proper high-class lady who was into flower arrangements and tea ceremonies and never stepped out of line, then we probably would never have gotten close."
Misaka Mikoto was special in many ways- a powerful esper with herculean persistence, with a strong sense of justice and a big heart. But in just as many ways, she was an average girl. A girl who liked going to the arcade with friends, who got starry-eyed over a kids mascot, who got into fights when people ticked her off. And that was something about her that he honestly, really liked.
"'Close', huh?..."
He raised an eyebrow at her. She'd looked away from him, but he thought he saw her smile for a second.
"Touma!" Index called, running over to them. "The preparations are done, so you need to leave!"
"...Eh?" He looked at the girl blankly as she grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.
"The inside of this building is about to become a ritual site, so you need to leave." She insisted.
"But–"
"Ah, short-hair can stay." Index added, glancing at the esper. "Standing within the site should be safe."
He got kicked out.
Mikoto opted to stay inside and watch the magicians, so it was just him and Tsuchimikado outside the building while the guys inside did what they had to do.
It was weird. Anxiety prickled at his skin, and he kept glancing back at the door, expecting to hear something– a crash, an explosion, Mikoto's railgun… anything to tip him off that something had gone wrong.
It was never this easy.
"Nervous, Kami-yan?"
Touma looked over at Tsuchimikado, who was standing with his arms crossed and his back against the building.
"Since when do things go as planned around me?" He pointed out. "Devin and Reeves complying so easily… having Index's plan go off without a hitch… it doesn't feel right."
"You're seeing this as more than it is." He answered. "Those two weren't here to cause any sort of major incident. They just needed information, and they chose a poor way to seek it."
"Still…"
Tsuchimikado continued. "On the other hand, the thing that brought them here might be a bigger problem."
"What do you mean?"
"A vague curse like the ten plagues… I can't see those guys at the top relying on something like that. If they decided to kill someone, then they'd do it, and they'd do it without warning. This isn't their style."
"You don't think the top brass are the ones casting the curse." He deduced.
"It isn't likely." Tsuchimikado admitted. "More than that, think about it: if someone had judged these people worthy of a death sentence, why pick this method?"
"It does seem weird…" Touma thought about it, thinking back to what he'd been told. "You think maybe the curse isn't supposed to kill them?"
"I can think of a few options. But the most viable one is that they're trying to flush them out."
"Flush them out?"
"The report I got was that there was a single intruder in Academy City. And my instructions were to stand down. In other words, not only did my superiors not know that there were two, they didn't want me getting involved, even though the list of prohibited books was targeted."
It was odd.
Why didn't Tsuchimikado know that there were two? It didn't really make sense for them to be tracking one but not the other. Devin and Reeves were from the same organization. They were under the same curse. And if either of them had been using magic to hide themselves from surveillance, Touma would've canceled it out when he was facing them...
Wait.
Didn't something happen when he faced Levka...?
"Are they tracking them using the curse?" He asked.
"No. Casting the curse doesn't require the recipient's location, and being marked by it doesn't give you away. The only way a person could use this curse as a tracking method would be to wait for the curse to hit, then track down the unique signature of the magic activating."
A chill ran down his spine. He pulled out his phone and checked the time.
8:30. Plenty of time left… at least, until the curse was supposed to hit. Index had started her ritual, and that was only ten minutes away from completion.
"Why would they use the curse that way?" Touma asked. "There's lots of tracking spells, right? Why not use those?"
"There's just as many ways to hide from a tracking spell as there is to cast one. A curse has two advantages- the first is that it slips past most cloaking spells that guard against tracking. The second is that it incapacitates the target."
"So if someone was using the curse to flush out the members of this group, then wouldn't they want to stop us from transferring the curse?"
Theoretically, no one should know what they were up to. If the curse was really meant to track down the members of the group, then they wouldn't know that Devin and Reeves were here.
But what if they had guessed that someone would come looking for Index? What if someone was already in the city lying in wait?
Levka Devin said that they'd been stretched to the limit avoiding the Puritans. There were spells and charms in place keeping them hidden. Or at least, there was supposed to be.
What had he canceled out when his fist made contact with Devin earlier?
CRASH
Not an explosion, or a railgun, but most definitely the sound of something going wrong. Touma was rushing back into the building before Tsuchimikado could move.
Devin and Reeves hadn't been trackable when they infiltrated the city. The person Tsuchimikado had gotten a notice for wasn't either of them.
But the moment he knocked Levka down with his fist, she'd become a sitting duck.
When he came into the building, it was immediately obvious what the sound had been. A hole had been blown open on the other side of the room. Dust rained down, and Touma squinted, trying to make out the shape of the person stepping through the newly made entrance.
"Not exactly who we were looking for, but it'll have to do." A bell-like voice declared.
A gust of wind tore a line through the dust. By the time he realized that it had been caused by someone moving, the newcomer had grabbed hold of Levka Devin and pulled her away from the group.
"Lev!" Reeves cried, and started to run after them.
"If any of you take another step, I will break this girl's arm." The newcomer threatened.
Everyone froze.
The newcomer smiled slowly. "Good. A reasonable group. That makes things easier." The girl looked down at her captive. "Levka Devin, I presume?"
She glared, staying silent.
"I'll take that as a yes. And I suppose that one over there is with you." She nodded toward Aiden. "Young adult male, sandy-brown hair… Cade, perhaps? Or would you be Reeves?"
Reeves twitched at the sound of his name, and the magician smirked.
"Right. All things considered, we're running pretty short on time, so I'll make this brief." the magician said. "Where is the stolen grimoire?"
Levka froze. Reeve's expression went blank.
While the magicians spoke, Touma had been inching his way close to Mikoto and Index, who were standing behind Reeves. Mikoto had a hand in her pocket, no doubt ready with an arcade coin, and Index was watching the magician with calm, calculative eyes.
The magician's expression began to sour at the silence. "Come on." She tightened her grip on Levka, and she let out a brief, involuntary cry. "I'm not going to let you divert the curse, but if you give up the grimoire, then we can call the whole thing off before anyone gets hurt."
"Call it off?" Levka repeated through clenched teeth. "The hell do you mean? I thought this curse was our punishment!"
The magician sighed. "Punishment? What kind of washed out punishment would the ten plagues be? You think your little group of thieves warranted enough attention for a sentence with this? What happens to you people is of little consequence. The retrieval of the grimoire, however, is absolutely vital."
"... I don't understand…"
Touma explained to the confused Reeves and Devin "The curse wasn't meant to be a punishment. It was a last-ditch effort to track down the members of your group."
Levka's face went blank.
"... the book?" Reeves' voice trembled, his tone dropping to a quiet rage as he finally glimpsed the full picture of the situation. "You people curse us… condemn people who were nothing but victims in this… just to find us and get back your damn book?!"
Levka let out an angry shout, then swung her head back and knocked the magician directly between the eyes. Naturally, her hold loosened at the impact, and Levka tore herself free, jumping away from the enemy just as Reeves launched an attack.
Wind blades, barely visible with the dust still hanging in the air, converged on the dazed magician in the space of a second. But something odd happened right before they hit– as if being pulled by a string, the wind blades angled away from the intended target and landed instead on a spot a few paces behind her.
The commotion gave him the time he needed to reach the group.
"You two okay?" He asked them quietly.
They both nodded, keeping their eyes trained on the enemy.
Reeves launched another flurry of wind blades at the opponent, and Levka ran back to them, clenching the arm that the magician had been holding.
"Index, how are we doing on the ritual?" Touma said.
She shook her head gravely. "It was interrupted when this person broke in."
"Can we salvage it?" Levka asked in a strained voice.
"Potentially. But there's a better option."
Touma perked up. "What do you mean?"
Index nodded toward the magician. "That person is the source of the curse."
He glanced at the two engaged in a fight. He clarified "Then I just need to beat her, right?"
"There should be an artifact somewhere on her person bearing the names of the intended targets. You have to destroy it." she explained.
He clenched his fist.
"You can't." Levka warned him. "You won't be able to get close. Aren't you watching her? It's like she's teleporting. Or redirecting attacks." She growled in frustration. "I don't recognize the magic!"
"This form doesn't match my knowledge either." Index added. "It's very similar to a few types, but some aspects are unfamiliar to me."
Touma was watching the fight, and Levka was right. No matter what Reeves threw at her, nothing was coming close to hitting. Either the attacks diverted at a weird angle, or she would step back and reappear several feet away.
"That isn't teleportation."
Everyone turned to Mikoto, who was watching the fight with narrow eyes. "Redirecting enemy attacks…. Looking like they're teleporting… this looks like optical manipulation."
Index and Levka stared at her blankly, but Touma recognized the term. "You mean she's bending light."
Index's eyes widened in understanding. "Manipulation of light… so she's adjusted the spell to work on a more scientific basis using conflicting forms."
"Hey, silver sister–"
"Ah! Short-hair gave me a mean nickname!" Index cried.
"What exactly do you call that nickname you gave me?!" She shot back immediately. "Never mind that! Do you need this building intact?"
"Not if Touma can cancel out the curse." She answered.
Mikoto gave him a questioning look.
"I've got it." He promised.
She warned him. "If this doesn't work, we won't have anything to fall back on."
"Then we just need to make it work."
Mikoto sighed. "... okay. I'm going to cut off her movements. It'll be up to you to get in close and do what you need to do. Remember, don't rely on your eyes."
"Right."
"The rest of you should stand back."
Heeding the electromaster's warning, Index and Levka both backed away in a hurry, while Touma ran to the side.
Electricity started cackling in the air around the girl, and Mikoto raised her hand.
The next moment, the ear-piercing sound of metal bending and shifting tore through the large space. The two fighting magician's flinched, pausing to look back, but there was no time for them to react. The air was suddenly filled with large pieces of metal, torn from the structure of the building itself. The pieces rained down on the magicians and wedged into the concrete.
In a matter of seconds, Mikoto had created a metal cage.
Reeves stumbled back, face white from the unexpected attack and now cut off from his opponent. Levka ran in and grabbed his hand, pulling him away.
Touma followed the path created by the debris. He couldn't see the opponent, but Mikoto had left a clear path for him, and he trusted that she would lead him to where he needed to be.
The path ended in a square cage, and Touma finally saw his opponent– standing in the back left corner of the space.
A beam of light shot at him, and he raised his hand automatically, canceling it out.
He grinned.
That attack hadn't come from the corner the magician was standing in.
As if to confirm his thought, more pieces of metal rained down from above, one of them landing squarely where the magician was supposedly standing. The image of the magician flickered, and disappeared, reappearing closer to the center.
Touma dashed forward and aimed for that one– and landed a hit on something.
The sound of imagine breaker echoed, and the magician's form shimmered, as if lifting a mirage. Now that he was able to see where she really was, he ran forward, aiming straight for the scroll-like artifact hanging partially out of her pocket. The magician tried to roll away, but doing so caused the item to fall out completely, and before she could recover and nab the item, Touma reached it.
The scroll immediately cracked– then dissolved.
The magician and Touma froze, assessing each other.
"... how did you know to go for the scroll?" The magician asked tensely.
Touma didn't answer, wearily taking a defensive stance.
"The list of prohibited books…?" She guessed. The magician slumped, let out a long, deep sigh, then lay back down on the ground. "I'm gonna get in so much trouble for not retrieving the grimoire." She said dejectedly.
Touma started to ease up. "Why resort to a curse?" Touma demanded. "There must have been any number of things you could've done. Why this? These people could've died!"
"The hope was that the threat would get them to slip up." The magician explained. "That book must be retrieved. We tried negotiating for it over a dozen times, but those leaders kept stalling, and stalling… and eventually they fell off the grid entirely. The archbishop gave us a time limit." The magician pushed herself back up onto her elbows. "We couldn't waste any more time playing nice. My people are at risk too."
"So it still comes back to Jordan and Sierra."
Touma and the magician both looked over at the newcomer– Reeves, who had just entered the caged off space with Levka close behind. "Those two are putting us all at risk just to keep that stolen book." He spat.
"A book that no one has managed to use yet." Levka growled.
A new voice cut into the conversation, one that made Touma roll his eyes a little in annoyance. Where the hell had that guy been five minutes ago when they were fighting?!
"In that case," Tsuchimikado started with a smile as he appeared around the metal debris. The magicians all turned to him. "Might I suggest a compromise?"
Tsuchimikado took over from there.
Reeves, Devin, and the third magician (who'd introduced herself as Vivian Alcrow) quickly negotiated a ceasefire. Reeves and Devin had no desire to hold onto the grimoire, and if the people they cared for would be spared by handing it over, then they were happy to do so.
"Well, it's not like we know exactly where Jordan and Sierra are…" Levka explained. "But Aiden and I both put a lot of work into those concealment charms. Undoing them shouldn't be too hard. As long as Chris and the others are guaranteed safety, I don't mind giving away our positions."
Alcrow made the promise to leave the rest of the group alone easily.
"We only need the grimoire." She explained. "If we can minimize the number of casualties, all the better."
All in all, things weren't fully resolved, but the curse was gone, and no one was going to die. Devin and Reeves would be okay. The people who were innocent in this weren't going to face any further punishment. Whatever happened from hereon was out of his hands.
"Still," Touma grumbled a little as Tsuchimikado made arrangements with the three magicians to get them out of the city. "Something about this feels unsatisfying."
Immediately, he was knocked down by the two girls who had whacked his head in sync.
"Are you not satisfied unless you're in the middle of every conflict?!" Mikoto growled.
"Touma, you're not going with them!" Index warned.
"I wasn't planning to!" He said quickly, bringing a hand up to the spot on his head they'd hit reflexively. "I'm just saying this feels anti-climactic!"
Mikoto sparked. "Were you hoping to end up in the hospital? We could still arrange for that."
"Never mind! This is fine! It's fine!" He raised his arms in surrender, backing away from the glaring girls.
Index huffed a little, and Mikoto sighed.
"Hey, Kami-yan."
Touma turned to his friend, a little relieved by the interruption. "What is it?"
He gestured toward the magicians behind him. "I'm getting them out of here now."
He smiled at the magicians, who weren't quite meeting his eye. "Right."
"I suppose a thanks are in order." Reeves said. "This did end up being a better outcome than anything we could've achieved on our own."
"Maybe next time, just ask." Touma smirked.
"Hmph."
Levka looked toward Index. "Sorry about all of this."
Index smiled. "It's okay. Everything worked out."
"Everything will work out." She corrected, her expression firm. "We'll make sure of it."
The three of them waved the magicians off as Tsuchimikado led them away.
"Touma," Index started the moment the other group disappeared. "I'm hungry."
He sighed. "I guess we did miss supper."
"I want to visit a buffet!" She declared excitedly.
"Show some sympathy for Kamijou's wallet!" He cried.
Mikoto pulled out her phone. "There's a pretty cheap all-you-can-eat nearby." She told them.
Index turned to the esper with stars in her eyes "all-you-can-eat?!"
Touma narrowed his eyes wearily. "...Are you sure you know what cheap means– ow!"
Mikoto sent a shock right into his arm. "Of course I do!" She offered him the phone with a miffed look. "Check it out for yourself."
Touma quickly scrolled through the restaurant's menu. It wasn't the absolutely cheapest… but it probably wouldn't break his wallet. "... fine. This one works."
Index cheered, and he handed Mikoto back her phone, which she took with a satisfied smirk.
"Are you coming?" Touma asked her.
She considered it for a moment. "Yeah, sure. I'm already past curfew, Kuroko can cover for me for another hour."
"Still Tokiwadai's problem child." He teased.
She nudged him lightly. "Says the guy who invited me out." She shot back.
'Invited her out'.
Like a date.
Which it was not. Obviously. Index would be there. And it was impromptu. Just a spur-of-the-moment decision. There was nothing about it that could possibly be considered a date.
So why was his face suddenly burning?
"Touma!" Index took hold of his wrist. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
"Right, right." He started to move, and Index let go when she was assured that he was following. He glanced back at Mikoto with an expectant look.
With a small smile, she followed.
[Author Notes]
Writing this thing was a trip and I need to talk about it.
So when I started, I had a vague concept with just one villain, right? Aiden came in flinging spells. Then Touma confronted him and guessed that he wasn't alone and Aiden was like "aaah, was it that obvious?"
And I went "WHAT?"
Cuz, like, I hadn't planned for Aiden to have a partner.
So Levka invented herself. And then again, later, when Touma was chatting with Tsuchimikado, he clued in that the person who Tsuchimikado had gotten a notice for was someone else entirely. A person I hadn't planned for at all. So Vivian invented herself too.
In the end, this chapter flew wildly out of control and ended up twice as long as I thought it would be. This chapter was pretty much the definition of 'a story writing itself'. I felt like my writing skills were being held hostage.
I doubt chapters are gonna regularly get this long.
Next time, we'll be returning to something more casual. I won't dive into a lot of conflicts like this one. The plan is to stick to more laid-back situations. But I do plan for at least two more incidents, so I hope I did alright and please let me know if there's something I can improve on for the future conflicts!