Chapter 3

OP Song:

Ivy Levan - Who Can You Trust (From The SPY Soundtrack Album)

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Believe me (ELITE) · Takeshi Abo

It was sometime during the night.

Touma Kamijou did not sleep. Well, he did, but it was only for a few hours at best. Afterward, he would need to get back to writing a few notes from his newly obtained journal that he requested from Heaven Canceller. It was a simple record notebook, hardbound, blue and red, with white stripes, his favorite color. Very convenient, but he won't complain.

He supposed that God was still watching over him after all, even if this was an entirely different universe. His God, Touma would mean, the one that people back in his native universe and one other universe would call The One Above All and The Presence. He actually met The Man once upon a time, though that was one adventure he'd keep a secret. One of the only few who knew of his encounter with Him was Spider-Man who also encountered Him.

Currently, he was alone. For the sake of getting Kamijou to rest, Komoe Tsukuyomi decided to have Index stay in her home for the time being.

...Speaking of the little pink-haired teacher.

"Waaaaaaa! Sensei was so worried for you, Kamijou-chan! Waaaaa!"

...She cried a lot. Not that he could blame her, he got put into the hospital... ...again. He sighed. If there was one thing that he was grateful for, it was that it was only he of all people who ended up reincarnating into Touma Kamijou and nobody else. He would not want to wish this kind of fate upon anyone. Ever.

Touma Kamijou was the type of boy who would get involved in incident after incident after incident. He never almost stops getting involved. And mostly by the end, he would end up getting stuck in the hospital. Something about that didn't sit well with Captain America. Being put into the hospital literally almost every single time was just not normal, never mind the fact that, barring Post-NT 9 era, Touma Kamijou was simply just a young man who forcibly thrust himself into others' problems without a care in the world. A contradictory, seeing as the boy, Touma Kamijou, desired to live only a normal life, not that Captain America could blame such a desire. On some days, he too desired a more peaceful kind of life.

...Though, considering he is literally in enemy territory - Academy City - he supposes that rest may not even be a viable option at times. Not like this was anything new to him since he had been through some sleepless nights during the Second World War.

In his notebook journal, he would note down all of the important details that would occur. Events that happened in the main light novels of Old and New Testaments respectively. Included were many of the side events that he would recall, some of which would intertwine with the main arcs, in the case of Daihaseisai.

While noting things down, his expression would turn grim, because a realization occurred in his mind.

It is possible that someone in Academy City is dying right now, and Touma Kamijou - Captain America cannot do anything about it, not for now at least.

He was thinking about the Sisters Arc most of all, only considered among fans of the franchise to be the arc that sent A Certain Magical Index down several paths, many of which would encapsulate and slowly but fully flesh out the utter grittiness, the morally grey atmosphere behind the cheery sci-fi tone, the subtle but blatant violations of human rights all in the name of science that could get the United Nations fuming, and everything else in Academy City that would make the actual Third Reich look like they were practical jokes. Heck, the experiments were reminding him more and more of what HYDRA had been doing during the War.

Academy City was not just a gathering for all children to learn about the powers of an esper and to use them. Nor was it just a place where it was a gathering of the best scientists and brightest minds. This city was literally the result of what happens when you were to gather a bunch of amoral individuals who care only for their own interests and turn it into a safe haven for them to begin unethical experiments undeterred, the same experiments that would rival even the Nazi Eugenics Programs and the Holocaust.

Academy City, the highly advanced metropolitan independent city-state, is, to put it bluntly, from one viewpoint, a giant concentration camp, and people don't even know it.

A place where the strong thrived while the weak perished unnoticed. A place where it is only the specific few who would be lifted on high and give them the best possible means of reaching their full potential while everyone else was just something to be left out or discarded or used as a stepping tone for the few to reach their goals. A place where the higher levels looked down on the lower levels. Cold, calculating hard and soft numbers are what had mattered in the end instead of actual flesh and blood people.

It was this kind of society, this kind of culture, this kind of world, that he - Captain America - had opposed vehemently with all of his might after all of these years.

He felt very mixed about this place. He supposed that was one particular reason why he couldn't really sleep for very long. Because he knew that on most nights, someone may be dying right now, actual children dying by the hundreds, and Captain America could not save them all.

This city, despite the squeaky-clean advertisements and fantastical utopian ideals, was more of a worldwide scam that served one particular purpose. The eradication of magic itself. And he - as Touma Kamijou - through his Imagine Breaker was one of the main plans of the Beast who revels within his windowless castle, planning indiscriminately for the sake of that one goal, even if it meant innocent people dying.

Something like that did not really sit right with Captain America. You could not write a wrong with yet another wrong. That's not how it works. All it does is create more suffering, until eventually, say one succeeds, but at what cost? Surely there may be other ways to solve this magic problem compared to this?

While Captain America understood the motivations and reasons, generally speaking, he also could not accept some of the methods used to acquire that end if it meant innocent people dying.

The dark side of this city is something that he truly hates on a fundamental level because the worst of humanity thrives in such a place and he believes it to be a problem that truly needs to be dealt with. Many of the story arcs that he had watched or read in his second life, as much as he could recall them, had covered the atrocities and ambiguities of the dark side, therefore he knew the major players in general, but the real question is, how does one deal with all of these things and make sure that everyone comes out alive?

That was why he needed to establish a few strategic connections, making contact with some people who knew the dark side on a more intimate level, even seeing it with their own eyes, even making some contingencies. Seria Kumokawa is probably one of them. She is in fact currently under the direct employ of one of twelve members of Academy City's governing Board of Directors, acting as the advisor, so she was in a position where she would know plenty of darker secrets that lay underneath the city's belly, even if they were merely just speculations or rumors that are unconfirmed but would not be surprising.

...But aside from needing her help in dealing with the Sisters, and of course, asking her help to find the girl he failed to save - Ayu Mitsuari, there was one personal request that he would like to make.

Misaki Shokuhou.

Making connections aside, Captain America - as Touma Kamijou - would not like that young woman to keep waiting for the day when he gets to regain his memories of her. In actuality, she doesn't have to. He can already do that. He can now make memories with her. Whatever was blocking him had cleared off somehow when his first and second life's memories poured out.

Though he was still concerned as to how he was still able to recall Shokuhou right now. Was it because of some kind of division between memories? The fact that these memories came from two different bodies? Some metaphysical property that he was not aware of?

He'd probably try to consult Dr. Strange about these divisions of memory from three different lives.

At some point, he would look at the clock that was nearby, pasted on the wall. It was currently 3:00 a.m. He still had plenty of time to think over the other points, especially ones that concerned the magic side.

"Need a penny for your thoughts, Captain Rogers."

"...!"

A soft female voice would catch him by surprise. He turns to his right to find... ...a beautiful young woman. Black hair and brown eyes. Simple clothing consisting of a light-orange colored shirt with a light pink cardigan on top. A pair of peach-colored jeans that reaches down to about her shin bone with a brown belt and a pair of yellow-colored heels. There was a silver necklace seen around her neck, with a star in the middle.

Strangely, Rogers didn't sense any danger from this woman. If anything, he felt a kind of calming smooth, refreshing, and invigorating. This was... This was very familiar. The thing about Captain America was that he had met various gods and god-like beings over the years. Over time, he had learned to distinguish a kind of... ..."sense"... if you will when it came to them, commonly termed "cosmics". It seems that this sense had never left him even as Touma Kamijou.

The question was... ...which cosmic was she? When it came to someone like say, Galactus, he remembered feeling a kind of dread that seem to indicate to indicate that the end was nigh and at the same time, a profound respect and a sense of his utter insignificance in the face of a being that was unfathomable and incomprehensible to describe. When it came to someone like say Lady Death, he remembered feeling a kind of dread that reached his very bones, as if they ran dry, fearful to even touch her lest he perished like ashes.

...He wondered just who was she? Who was this strange ordinary-looking woman who appeared before him?

He did not need to ask how did she know his name. If she was a cosmic, she would already know him, so he was not surprised by it. Few things surprised Steve Rogers at this point.

He noted that this woman, while smiling, carried a wrapped-around white blanket that contained a circular object. His eyes drew towards the object and made him scrunch his eyebrows. What was that she was carrying?

"You would not mind if I give this object to you?" she would ask politely as she indicated the object that she carried with her own two hands, her smile turning a little contrite and yet carrying a solemnity outmatched.

"...Sure," Touma spoke softly, looking a little unsure and kept observing the movements of this woman.

"...Thank you," the mysterious woman replied.

And she would draw near to his bedside and would begin to place it towards his lap.

Insert Song: End

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Captain America Soundtrack - 16 Triumphant Return

"...!"

Touma would slowly widen his eyes as he noted the heaviness of the circular object. Instinctively, he would raise his right hand and place it on the wrapped-up object. He would slowly remove the blanket, slowly revealing... ...an old friend.

A circular platform, with a five-pointed white star design in its center, within blue, red, and white concentric circles. The same disc-shaped shield that had proved mighty in the face of evil and tyranny. A bringer of hope and a rallying point for all, including him, to follow.

Memories of battles that waged in the gritty marches of the Second World War would come back to his mind. He recalled the natural flow that he had with the shield, as if it was an extension of his being. He remembers the constant throws, the raising defense, the steadfast posture, the impossible and mind boggling feats, all of it.

Composed of the most powerful metals: steel alloy - a type of steel alloyed with several elements, used to increase strength, hardness, wear resistance, and toughness; Vibranium - a rare metallic ore with energy-manipulating properties; and Proto-Adamantium which is the most indestructible metal in all of existence, created by the late Dr. Myron Maclain, a scientist that had been trying to develop super-strong metals for the US Government since the beginning of the Second World War.

It was his shield, the same one that brought hope to his world and many others.

He had questions. Many, many questions. He would turn around to find... ...that the woman was no longer there.

He looked back to the shield that was placed before him. Instinctively, he got up a little from his bed, moving the heavy object a little. He would wrap his left hand towards the metal strap and grip it. He raised himself up as he carried the shield. It was heavy, yet also light. It took effort, but it was bittersweet.

While he may not have the same original body that had the super soldier serum embedded within him, he can still somehow lift the shield just fine, though again, it took a little bit of effort, so not as casual as before. He would need to find ways to get his body under peak conditions as much as it can, though at least his intelligence is more or less intact. He did promise his mama long ago. Fight smarter, not harder.

He smiled a little. "You and me... ...together again, old friend... like we always have been."

He did not know who that mysterious woman from earlier was, but he was very grateful for what she brought him, more precious than most things. Of course, this seems too convenient. He was smart enough to note that whatever the reasons why he got his shield back to him was not something to be taken lightly. For someone to deliver this shield personally, a cosmic at that, would make him understand one thing.

War is coming. What kind of war, he did not know. But what he does know is that he - Captain America - would need his shield when that time becomes more and more clear.

Seria Kumokawa was... ...well, she supposed that she felt a little giddy lately, while at the same time was rather irritated.

She was irritated because her dear kouhai, Touma Kamijou, got sent to the hospital again. Probably due to some incident that she doesn't know. She unfortunately cannot always be around him all of the time to check on him and help him with his problems due to many reasons surrounding her work as an advisor as well as the fact that it is because of her current status that she deems fit to not get too close to her kouhai.

It is because, at the very least, she wants her kouhai to live a life as far away from the darker side of this city as it is possible. Knowing him, she thought, if he found out just what was actually going on, would definitely try to just charge in and put a stop to it. But the dark side is, well, big to put it frankly. Sure, he could stop one or two incidents here, but he's only one boy going up against an entire conspiracy that had plagued this entire city ever since its earlier days.

But, right now, Kumokawa was feeling giddy, because her dear kouhai had seemed to be calling for her, based on what that frog-faced doctor had told her from her terminal.

Walking through the hallway, she eventually stopped at the familiar hospital room. She mused a little.

"So you decided to call me out of the blue, hmm, boy? I wonder what kind of adventure would await me this time."

And so, she would slide open the door with tact...

"...!"

Kumokawa noticed something. Her kouhai... ...he wasn't in his usual place. He was not in the hospital bed, looking surprised to see her. Rather, she sees something else.

She sees him standing, all dressed up in his normal high school uniform. Glancing around, she would see a star-spangled shield of white, blue, and red placed somewhere near the wall. His back was turned, looking out into the window. His posture looked solemn, with his hands behind his back.

Something about this seemed fishy to Kumokawa. "Boy...?"

The boy turned around, and upon looking at his face, Kumokawa could... ...not get a read on. His expression was blank and... almost professional-like. No, that's not how her kouhai acts. He would act more surprised or stumble if anything - maybe even speak a very out-of-place line - maybe a sense of misfortune, but she did not see that. All she was her kouhai - the boy that she knew - staring at her with an indecipherable expression.

Eventually, he sported a contrite smile. "I'm sorry for troubling you, Kumokawa-senpai, but..." his expression would turn blank again. "You and I would have a lot to talk about, so I suggest you should close the door while you come inside. I don't think anyone needs to hear what both of us have to say."

Kumokawa became a little cautious and curious as she closed the door behind her.

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ED Song:

Tomorrow Never Dies · Sheryl Crow