Chapter 1: Academy City

"You must be hungry. Did you eat on the train?"

I nodded. "Mmph! Oka-san packed me a lunch for the trip."

"That great!" Oni-chan beamed, "By now, it's already near dinner time, though. So we'll eat together before going to my dorm, okay?"

"Hai!"

"I've already booked a table at Julian's. Hopefully, Index managed book our reservation," he laughed darkly, "Hopefully, she hasn't started eating yet."

"Index?" I said, "Who is that?"

"Oh, she's a friend of mine," Oni-chan said, "She is that white with haired nun, remember?"

My mind went back to that summer day. To tell the truth, I hardly remembered anyone besides Oni-chan. Everything else was just a blur of frenzy activities. Although, I recall waking up one night and saw some eerily bright lines in the sky.

I shook my head. "No, I don't remember."

"Is that so?" Oni-chan sighed, "Then I'll have to reintroduce you to her, later."

"Huh." I sat back down in the Taxi as it creeped along through the city gate. Here, twin tunnels penetrated the earthen wall. To either side, I could see steel blast doors embedded in the tunnel walls. All the cars were funneled through gated checkpoints. As we approached the guard house, Oni-chan spoke into my ear.

"Do you have your student pass?"

"It's in my bag." I said, "I put it in the trunk."

"Fuku-da!" Oni-chan cursed. "Taxi, would please stop for a second."

"We're basically, parked right now," the driver responded. "If you hurry, perhaps you can get it before we have to move."

Oni-chan sighed. Without warning, he opened the door, and stepped out into the middle of traffic.

"Wait!" I cried, "Isn't this really dangerous?"

"Don't worry," Onichan smiled, "I've been through a lot worse than this."

He closed the door and went around to the back. At the same time, the taxi driver pulled a lever next to his seat, and the trunk opened. I watched anxiously, as Oni-chan opened the lid, pulled out my bag, and came around to my door.

"Here you go," he said as soon as he opened it, "See if you can find your tag."

But then the driver told him that he had left the trunk lid open. Cursing, Touma went back out and closed the trunk. The whole time, all the other cars were honking at him. I looked sheepishly at him, knowing that this was all my fault. Meanwhile, there were so many guards patrolling the lanes, armed with semiautomatic rifles.

Wen he climbed back inside, I gave the special school tag to Oni-chan. He gave it to the driver, who tagged the electronic card reader when we got to the guard house. Here again, there were so many armed men patrolling about.

"It's strange isn't it?" I asked as the gates lifted away, "For a city to be so guarded."

Oni-chan laughed in a wry tone, "You would be surprised what can slip through. It's not as secure as you think."

I looked at him with surprise. "Surely nobody could possibly break through these defenses. Right?"

He laughed again. "Certainly, if this was any other place, I would be inclined to agree with you, but this is Academy city we are talking about."

"When you've lived here as long as I have, you will understand."

…

Between the lines 1: Asgard is a people

When Othinus lost her power, she hid herself in Midgard in a fortress of science. Yet, her scent had drawn him to the city, for he was Fenrisúlfr, the black wolf and first-born son of Loki. Wintering in Niflheimr, he had slept through the GREMLIN attack and was therefore maligned. For his crimes, the Aesir, those who remained loyal to GREMLIN, punished him, and so Jörmungandr fashioned Gleipnir to bind him, and had Mjölnir guarded him day and night. Her watch was a cruel and unrelenting, and he endured her electrocutions.

But now he was free. Who freed him and how, he knew not. Nor did he care. Three months of confinement had driven him mad with hunger.

Now, he was out for blood!

Her scent was calling to him. They drew him to the artificial world tree, a cheap imitation built my mere mortals. He would devour her, come Hel or high water!