We are back! Reminder that there may be OOC situations. Otherwise, enjoy! Again, more info at the bottom.

#5

What's up with this? wondered Touma in bafflement.

He was currently in the completely full nonsmoking area on the second floor of a fast-food restaurant. He was sitting at a four-person table in the corner by the window with Index and Aogami.

Right, I've got that much.

"—I ate too much."

And, for some reason, there was a shrine maiden slumped over the table at this vulgar place, and moreover, she had flung these mysterious words at him…?!

The priestess was around his age. With the standard red-and-white outfit combined with black hair reaching down to her waist, she looked like the mold from which other shrine maidens were created.

"…"

"…"

The air felt odd, like the inside of an elevator. As Kamijou was working out what to do next, he suddenly realized that Index and Aogami were staring at him in unison.

"…Wh-what?"

"…C'mon, Kami-yan. She's talkin' to you, so go ahead and answer her!"

"…That's right, yeah. Touma, it's wrong to judge a book by its cover. 'The hand of God's salvation extends to all humankind,' right? Amen."

"…What, no! That's stupid! This is where we play rock-paper-scissors for it! Wait, Index, you already assumed I'd lose, didn't you? Quit making that docile face and crossing yourself!"

With all this, they decided that whoever lost the game of rock-paper-scissors would be sacrificed.

Rock, rock, then scissors—Touma was the only loser.

In conclusion, Touma Kamijou did indeed have rotten luck.

He held his scissors out there by themselves, still in disbelief. He turned to the shrine maiden, and intended to attempt an "Umm, excuse me?" Before he could though, his mouth took control.

"This meeting truly was A Certain Infinite Possibility, wouldn't you agree?"

"..." The shrine maiden slowly twisted her head to face Touma. "Are you hitting on me?"

He blinked. "W-What? Nonono! my mouth spoke on its own!"

"Kami-yan… you bastard!" Aogami angrily shouted behind him, holding a fist. "Treating this as an opportunity to add to your harem is unforgivable!"

At the same time, the aura around Index grew dark. "Tooooooooouuuuummmmmmaaaaaaa…!"

"O-Oi! Stay back! We still have a plan!"

Unfortunately, Touma's words fell onto deaf ears as he was ruthlessly ambushed.

#6

Touma emphatically grabbed the shoulder of one of the students nearby without thinking.

"—What the hell are you doing?! Call an ambulance, right now—"

His words ceased in the middle of his sentence.

Because in return, Kamijou's arm was pulled away from him really hard.

No.

It wasn't simply being "pulled away." It was as if his hand had caught on a moving dump truck. The impact was on an entirely different level.

"Wha?"

He thought his shoulder would come out of its socket.

But that's not why Kamijou was speechless. The student he grabbed hadn't been holding onto Kamijou's arm or anything. The hand he had placed on the student's shoulder had been pulled, like a balloon caught on a car.

On top of that, the student didn't even seem to notice that Kamijou had put his hand on his shoulder. And it wasn't just him. Nobody in the lobby seemed to hear him, despite yelling so loudly.

Just like the smashed suit of armor in front of him.

"...Was that an Astral Buddy?"

Stiyl, who was standing next to him, stared at Touma weirdly. "I'm sorry, what?"

Touma blinked, before expressing frustration. "Damn it… not again!"

This is the third time that's happened! What are you trying to tell me, Kamijou Touma?!

"...I will assume that you misspoke and meant to say something else. Anyways…"

After the whole event, Touma never figured out what those words meant.

#7

"Vampires. Do you know? What kind of creatures they are?"

Even if asked, Touma didn't know. What came to mind was a mental image of an evil creature that attacks people in picture books, and besides, the word vampire didn't even strike him as real.

"They're not different from us," Himegami said, however. "They're no different. They cry. They laugh. They get angry. They get happy. They smile at others. They can take action for others. They're people like that."

Himegami smiled softly, as if she was remembering something pleasant.

"But," she continued, her smile vanishing instantly. "My blood. It kills them. There's no reason. It's because they're there. Without exception. Without exemption. They cry. They laugh. They get mad. They get happy. They smile for others. They can take action for others. Those people. Without even one exception, it destroys them."

Her words dripped with blood.

It was the voice of someone who had crushed every enjoyable memory before her eyes.

"Academy City is a place to control powers. So I thought they would know the secret behind this power, too. I thought if they knew the secret. Then there would be a way to remove it, too. But I didn't find any of those things," she told him. "I don't want to kill anymore. If I must kill someone. I decided I would kill myself first.

"So it's fine this way," she finished.

The one girl, named Deep Blood, said this all by herself.

"But just because…"

"Please don't say anything. Besides. It's not all bad. Aureolus said he could create a simpler barrier. It's called the Walking Church. It's a barrier in the form of clothing. If I wore that. I could walk through the city without calling them to me anymore."

"…"

"I have my goal. And Aureolus has his. We can't accomplish our goals. Without each other. So I'm okay. Aureolus cannot do me harm. As long as Aureolus wants to grant his own wish. If you want to leave this battlefield by yourself. I'll lend you my aid. I'll explain to Aureolus."

Touma could not say anything anymore.

He didn't understand what suffering this girl was going through. He didn't understand how to save her. He didn't know what he was supposed to do.

At least, that was what was supposed to happen. Instead, Touma's brain had something in mind.

"...So your story is Misfortune That No One Sees, Until Now?"

Silence.

Himegami stared at Touma with confusion. "Are you trying to joke around?"

He finally registered his words. "DAMN IT! WHY CAN'T I JUST SHUT UPPPPPPPP?!"

The girl was taken aback by his shouting. "...Are you okay?"

"...I just wanna go home…" Touma whimpered out.

"Like I just told you, I can help with that."

The boy glanced upwards at the girl. Despite everything that had happened, he wasn't ready to leave yet.

"…Just…tell me one thing." He didn't know, so he asked her. "When we first met, if you didn't want to call vampires, why did you leave here and binge eat?"

#8

"Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

At that moment, Aureolus involuntarily took a step back at the unforeseen event.

He'd cut off the boy's right arm, and yet he was laughing.

He thought for a moment that he'd gone mad from intense pain and fear, but no. This was no more than normal laughter, made in sureness of victory.

But what was truly strange was the fact that he could stay normal in this extreme situation at all.

What…is that?

The first thing Aureolus felt was not fear but discomfort. I know not what that boy is thinking, but this duel was over long ago. Therefore, any further discomfort is unnecessary. I shall kill him quickly. With a tinge of irritation, he tossed the needle in his neck aside.

Right before he could use Ares Magna to create a gun, however, Touma spoke out a sentence in between his laughter.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! This must be what it's like to be A Certain Scientific Accelerator! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Elsewhere, a white haired level 5 felt a tinge of irritation. "Hah? Now I'm pissed for some reason…"

Back at the battlefield, Aureolus paused with confusion. "...Er, excuse me?" He shook his head. "This is no time for nonsense! Disguised gun, to my hands! Load out: magic bullets. Quantity: One is more than enough."

He waved his right hand. In reply, a rapier with a flintlock gun hidden inside materialized out of thin air. Satisfied with his own perfect technique, he continued to give orders.

"Usage: crushing. In accordance with the original objective of a single bullet, fire and crush my prey's skull."

Aureolus pulled the trigger on the gun. Instead of impacting his skull, however, the bullet somehow passed by Touma's face and struck the wall behind him.

Did I judge the distance wrongly? No…

He declared an order once again.

"Copy previous action. Usage: blind fire. Ten disguised guns firing at once."

Aureolus pulled ten of the camouflaged guns out of nothing, and bullets flew from their barrels that looked like a bouquet of flowers.

None of them struck their intended target.

A misfire?! Impossible…!

Over the next minute or so, Aureolus attempted several methods to kill him. However, every one of them failed.

Suddenly, Touma was under his nose.

"Hey."

Aureolus' shoulders flinched at the voice.

"You bastard. You weren't thinking that you could crush my Imagine Breaker just by cutting off my right arm, did you?"

He bared his teeth, his eyes with such a glint that they might have fired red light from them.

The boy spoke, sincerely delighted.

"This is certainly a Twist of Fate, wouldn't you say?!"

A dragon emerged from Touma's missing right arm. Soon after, it devoured the alchemist from the head down.

#9

Touma sat in a hospital bed. He had gone there after the mayhem at the Misawa Cram School. Stiyl had visited him to discuss what really happened at the school.

After discussing what happened to Aureolus, Stiyl spoke up again. "Say, there was something I was curious about."

"Hm? Go ahead."

"What did you mean when you compared yourself to 'A Certain Scientific Accelerator'?"

"...I don't wanna talk about it…"

Touma's mood took a nosedive, and Stiyl was able to sense it. "I'll be sure to stay far away from that topic."

Touma sighed in relief. "Heh, thanks Stiyl. Like I said, you're a good person."

Right after that, Index barged into the hospital room.

After Index had left and Touma was once again alone, he recalled the cursed words.

A Certain Scientific Accelerator? I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like a warning. More so than the other cryptic words I've been saying. I really wish I could get to the bottom of this.

And that's OT2.

One thing I will note: In the future, I may move away from strictly titles, as there's a limited amount of them. We'll see how that goes.

When will next chapter come? Idk lol. I hope to start having longer chapters, but don't expect it. Anyways, see ya next time!