Sorry it took so long, but I needed to focus on more important things.
Expect updates to be sporadic, as we are starting to diverge from Canon starting here.
Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 8: July 20th Part 3.
Necessarius
Kanzaki Kaori waited silently atop the roof of a nearby building as she watched the last of the fire-trucks and ambulances pack it up, having discerned that there was nothing that required their further attention that evening that couldn't be handled better come the dawn.
Not for the first time, she cursed whoever it was placed such a heavy burden on Index. If only the poor girl hadn't been selected for her perfect recall, she could have lived an ordinary life without fear, and none of this suffering would have had to be endured.
But none of that mattered right now. Right now all she cared about was retrieving her friends and getting out of Academy City before the local authorities dispatched whatever abominations they'd been growing in vats to either apprehend or dispose of them.
However, with that being said, the former head of the Amakusa couldn't help but feel wary given the current situation, for as disconcerting as the fire-alarms being activated was, the reasoning behind their activation were what concerned her most.
Put simply, contrary to his appearance, Stiyl wasn't the kind to showboat. Oh sure, he'd use Magic to intimidate someone if he felt the need, but not before ensuring the coast was clear, and certainly never to the extent it would draw the attention of the local authorities.
With that in mind, for Stiyl to have not only done just that, but to have actually been pushed into employing Innocentius of all things, raised all sorts of flags in Kanzaki's mind, and none of them boded well for either the redhead or Index.
'I should have been there to back him up.' She chastised herself, gripping the sheath of her sword as she watched the last of the onlookers disperse, her concern for her friend warring with the guilt that had forced her to leave things to him in the first place 'Damn it, why does it have to be like this?'
The plan had been simple enough, watch over Index from the shadows as she wandered around Japan, Kanzaki having proposed bringing their friend here after her memories were reset both to protect her from Magicians seeking to abuse her knowledge and to ensure the next reset wouldn't be as painful.
Of course it hurt her to not be there for the girl, how could it not after everything they had gone through together? But it was for that very reason she and Stiyl couldn't bring themselves to get close to Index again, as neither of them believed they could bear the pain of losing her again.
Why on earth Index had chosen to flee to the one place completely beyond the influence of any religion escaped her, as unlike Kanzaki, who was at least aware of the basics due to its placement in her homeland, Index lacked fore-knowledge of Academy City, having been raised entirely in the Magic-Side.
As it was, they were simply lucky to have had a man on the inside who had managed to not only ensure Index's arrival went unnoticed, but also provided them with the means of legally entering the city, though he warned them against 'showing off' due to guests being monitored 24/7 until they left.
Normally she'd have taken anything Tsuchimikado said with a pinch of salt, given his penchant for pranks, but considering the covert nature of their assignment, and the fact he was all-too-familiar with their situation, Kanzaki was prepared to give the Spy the benefit of the doubt, for now.
After all, even with the limitations on what methods they could employ, Kanzaki and Stiyl had been confident enough that they could drive Index from the city, or at least corner her somewhere remote so they could initiate the memory wipe before her condition deteriorated beyond the point of no return.
That confidence had gone right out the window, however, the moment Kanzaki witnessed her attack, an attack that had been repelled countless times before by the Walking Church, suddenly cleave through that protection as if it weren't there, staining the once pristine robes white with her friend's blood.
Now Kanzaki was no stranger to blood, even before she joined up with Necessarius she'd been forced to take many a life in order to protect her comrades in the Amakusa, so normally the sight of it as a result of her attacks wouldn't have made her so much as pause.
However, this wasn't some heretical mage or religious zealot that she had just cut down, this was Index, the self-same friend she had vowed to protect from a distance, in order to spare them both the heart-ache that would surely follow once the time came to 'reset' her memories once more.
Needless to say, when Stiyl suggested she sit back and allow him to retrieve Index on his own, Kanzaki hadn't protested, to overcome with guilt to even consider refusing, instead opting to hang back and meditate in order to reign her control over emotions.
A good thing too, as if she'd been as unsettled as she'd been after…unintentionally wounding Index, she'd probably have charged in without a second thought the moment she lost contact with Stiyl. As it were, she had managed to regain enough control to allow her to proceed with caution.
'From what I can see, it doesn't look like anyone has been arrested for the fire.' She noted, having eavesdropped on the investigators earlier 'The tracker on Index's hood is still in place, but it hasn't moved from where we left it…'
At first they'd suspected Index had somehow managed to detect the tracking spell and had left the Hood behind to confuse them. While a valid stratagem, it still begged the question of why she had opted to return, if not to reclaim it?
'She was probably banking on the protections in the hood remaining intact.' Kanzaki deduced, grimacing as she forcibly suppressed the memory of her attack landing 'Either that, or she simply didn't notice she'd lost it till she'd already left.'
In all honesty the answer was probably both, for as much as Kanzaki loved the little nun, she would freely admit that Index could be quite the scatterbrain, especially if she was distracted by food or some wonder of the modern world.
Speaking of modern wonders, the Sword-Saint blinked as her phone went off, releasing a sigh of relief as she recognized Stiyl's number from the Caller ID, ready to rip into the redhead for worrying her so "Stiyl! Are you alright?"
"Well he's still breathing if that's any comfort to you." A decidedly unfamiliar voice confessed, "Might have a few busted ribs and he'll definitely be pissing red for a while, but I'd say he got off easy, considering he tried to burn my house down."
"Who is this?" Kanzaki demanded coldly, all traces of concern vanishing in an instant, the saint's tone taking on all the sharpness of the sword she gripped in her free hand "What have you done to Stiyl?"
"All I did was reprimand him for his lack of fire safety awareness." The voice assured her nonchalantly, seemingly unintimidated or unable to detect the very real threat in her tone "You're his partner, Kanzaki, right? You any good at patching up wounds? Cause something tells me neither of you want Index showing up on a Hospital Record."
At the mention of Index, more accurately, the reminder that her friend had been wounded, and most, but not all, of the tension vanished from her body. Oh make no mistake, she had every intention of killing this bastard if he harmed a hair on either of her friends' heads, but right now her concern for their safety was paramount.
"Where are you?"
Casa Del Itsuki...
"She's on her way." I reported, placing the redhead's, Stiyl apparently, phone on the counter before him as Touma finished tightening the bandages to bind the priest's battered ribs "You take tea or coffee? I got Twining's if the former but only got the instant stuff if the latter."
"Coffee, black." Stiyl managed to grit out as he pulled his shirt back on, waving off Touma's half-hearted attempts to help out of pride "If you've got any green tea, Kanzaki'll have that."
"She doesn't have a problem with the bagged stuff, right?" I pressed, only to shrug at Stiyl's dismissive wave of his hand "So you wanna wait for her to show up to do the voodoo to patch the kid up, or you good to go yourself?"
"Healing isn't my specialty." Stiyl confessed with a grunt, glancing over to my bed, where the prone form of the little nun, Index, was currently resting "I can do basic first aid but Kanzaki's a lot better and I'd rather there be no mistakes."
"At least you were able to stop the bleeding." Touma remined the redhead, his relief almost palpable as he glanced between the nun and Stiyl "That's more than we could do aside from supply the bandages and disinfectant."
'Understatement of the century.' I mused, shivering at the memory of Index's wound slowly sealing itself while Stiyl chanted something in what was probably Latin, hands clasped together as if in prayer. That being said, as unnerving as the sight of the little nun's skin stitching itself back together had been, however, it paled in comparison to the effect the ritual had on the overall atmosphere of the room.
Even now, I could still feel the weight of countless eyes judging me from every direction, could still feel the remnants of some alien presence that made seemed to alter the very feel of the air itself to the point it reminded me of the time I fell into a bog during a field trip.
Still, whatever it was, it was pretty damn effective, as at the very least Index wasn't in any danger of bleeding out before Kanzaki could arrive, which considering the state she was in when I found her was nothing short of a miracle.
"I gotta admit, for students you're awfully well prepared for handling injuries." Stiyl opined, snapping me out of my musings as he nodded towards the medical kit Touma was returning the wrappings and surgical spirit to "Does Academy City teach all it's students basic First Aid?"
"There are optional courses yeah." I confirmed with a shrug, after all, in a city full of Espers it was only common sense for those without power to learn how to at least patch themselves up "I figured it'd be a useful skill to learn considering I'm friends with the living embodiment of Murphy's Law."
"Saved me a bunch on hospital bills." Touma shamelessly confessed with a small smile, though it didn't truly reach his eyes, which kept glancing back at the slumbering form of the nun on the bed "She's going to be okay, right?"
"Just so long as you keep that right hand away from her." Stiyl reminded him with a glare, eyeing the limb warily lest it get too close to the patient "I don't need you undoing my work and letting her bleed out before Kanzaki gets here."
Touma grimaced but said nothing, the Spiky-haired teen torn between glaring at his offending limb and glancing worriedly at the nun, the soft sound of her breathing the only indication she hadn't passed away due to blood loss. "I'm going to wait outside…" he grumbled at last, nodding to Itsuki in passing "If nothing else, it'll help this Kanzaki find the place faster."
"If you need to get some air, think you can dash down to the store and grab some snacks?" I asked, more to give Touma something to do than anything else, the distraught Kamijou assenting with a wave as he trudged out into the cool night air "If I were you, Dumbledore, I'd avoid antagonizing the only person in the room who cares if you die."
"You quit with the Harry Potter references and I'll consider cutting the kid a break." Stiyl conceded with a grimace, reaching for his smokes only to scowl at my warning look "He's only got himself to blame. If he hadn't destroyed the Walking Church, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"By that logic, she wouldn't have been hurt at all if you hadn't decided to chase her all over Academy City like she was the [Golden Snitch ]." I quipped, raising a hand to assure the annoyed redhead that it was my last one "Still drawing a blank on that by the way. You guys are all from that Necessary place right? Why'd you feel the need to chase her all over town?"
"[Necessarius]." Stiyl corrected with just a hint of petulance, apparently used to people making that mistake "As for why…it's complicated. Suffice to say she doesn't remember that we're comrades."
"And you couldn't have just pulled out an ID card or done some secret handshake to let her know you were legit?" I pressed, refusing to believe it was something so simple as a case of 'amnesia' "I mean, you've gotta have ways of identifying friendlies in the field, right?"
"Of course we do, but that's for field agents only." Stiyl dismissed with a wave of his hand "Normally Index wouldn't be allowed near field operations without an escort, and even when she is deployed it's her caretakers' duty to keep her away from 'undesirables'."
"Caretakers meaning you and this Kanzaki lady." I deduced, earning a non-committal shrug from the redhead as he reclined against the wall "Still doesn't explain why she's running around Academy City. I mean, if she's that important why not just keep her in a nunnery or something?"
"Oh trust me, if it weren't for Kanzaki and I they'd have done just that…" Stiyl confessed with a smile that didn't even come close to reaching his eyes, the revulsion in those crimson orbs sending shivers down my spine "If those bastards had their way, she'd never walk beneath the sun so long as she lived."
It was clear from his expression that there was more to this story he wasn't in the mood to share, which suited me just fine, as in all honesty I really didn't care to learn more. Life in Academy City was hectic enough without willingly stepping into the proverbial minefield that Religion and Politics represented.
And that was just my past life's personal experience with the mundane side of things, I could only imagine how cancerous they could become when mixed with all this 'Moonlit World' bullshit if some of the more mature light novels I'd read were even halfway accurate.
'Clearly we're leaning more towards Butcher than Rowling here…' I deduced, shivering in apprehension as I pondered the likelihood and possibilities of my acquiring firearms for the immediate future, only to blink as the door to the apartment opened, admitting a nervous Touma and a tall woman who I could only assume was Kanzaki.
"How is she?" said swordswoman demanded of Stiyl, completely ignoring me in favour of striding over to the bed to kneel beside Index's slumbering form to better check her injuries.
"She's stable for now, I applied basic first aid." The redhead supplied dutifully as he turned to face her with a grunt "I managed to close the wound, but I figured I'd leave the rest of it to you."
"You gonna need some catalysts or something?" I asked, shivering as I unwittingly drew Kanzaki's attention to me "Because I gotta warn you, the closest thing I got to an apothecary is my spice rack."
"A bowl of water shall suffice." Kanzaki responded stiffly, though not discourteously, making it abundantly clear that while she was willing to tolerate our presence for Index's sake, she didn't completely trust us.
Which was honestly fair enough in my opinion. After all, if I was being brutally honest I'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop as well.
Several minutes later...
To say that Kanzaki Kaori was surprised by the current turn of events would be an understatement.
She had fully expected, upon arriving at the location of her friends' captors, to be forced to cut down everything and everyone that stood between them and safety, even if it meant making an enemy out of the science side, she was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her friends.
Imagine her relief, therefore, when instead of an enemy magus, or worse, one of the infamous Kihara's who were rumoured to run Academy City's Dark Side, she found herself greeted by one Kamijou Touma, a fellow countryman who clearly watched too much anime if his hairstyle was any indication.
Unusual taste in hairstyles aside, after the teen had nervously confirmed her identity, no doubt thrown off by the presence of her sword, he'd proceeded to lead her to their safehouse without her even having to threaten him into compliance, even going so far as to voice his relief.
It was a sobering moment, if Kanzaki was being truly honest with herself, to find someone who, despite only knowing Index for less than a day, had come to care for her wellbeing so intensely. Nor could she sense any ulterior motives from the urchin-headed teen, a rarity even amongst fellow members of Necessarius.
The same could not be said for the teen's accomplice, whose very presence seemed tailor-made to unnerve the former leader of the Amakusa, as if he was somehow constantly watching her even when his attention was occupied by someone else.
Not that she could truly blame the teen for his wariness, given Stiyl's earlier actions, but it spoke volumes of the difference between the two teens that Touma would greet her without fear while Itsuki refused to reveal his full name, having 'read enough about magic' to know that was a 'bad idea'.
It certainly didn't help their case that the teen wasn't entirely wrong either, though in their defense practitioners of those particular schools of Thaumaturgy were either on Necessarius' Black List, and thus hunted down with extreme prejudice, or worked to preserve the secrecy of the Magic-Side.
Mutual suspicions aside, it was clear to her now that neither teen were a threat to Index, nor had they sought her out to make use of her 103,000 grimoires. Indeed, Itsuki seemed more than ready to wash his entire hands of the ordeal once she had finished healing her friend, but Touma wished to clarify what had driven them to assault her in the first place.
And so, for the first time in years, Kaori lowered her walls and allowed the boys to know of her and Stiyl's past with Index. How they had marvelled at her Perfect Memory and endeavoured to make as many good memories as possible together.
She told them of the heartbreak they felt upon learning of her condition and the feelings of helplessness that had festered within them over the course of three years as they were forced to sit back and watch as their friend forgot them time and time again.
"You gotta be kidding me…" Kamijou Touma exclaimed, the urchin-head collapsing on a chair in disbelief, the same look of helplessness that Kaori saw every time she glanced at Stiyl l or looked in a mirror adorning his features
"The capacity of the human brain is surprisingly small." Kanzaki elaborated, reciting the words she'd been taught by the Bishop to explain Index's condition "But by forgetting unnecessary memories, we are able to subconsciously keep our brains from overloading."
"But in Index's case, she can't just 'forget'." Stiyl added from the side-lines, the redhead looking just as uncomfortable recounting this information as she was "Doesn't matter if it's the number of leaves on the tree-lined street, the faces of a crowd during rush hour or the shape of each and every raindrop, all of those trivial memories fill up her head in no time."
"Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but only having 15% of her brain to store and process those memories means it doesn't take long for her to reach her limit." Kaori elaborated solemnly "As such, our only option to ensure her survival was to erase her memories for her."
"…How long?" Kamijou asked, his voice trembling as he clenched his right fist, prompting Stiyl and herself to stiffen warily, the redhead having filled her in on just what it was capable of earlier "How long does she have until her brain bursts?"
"Her memories are erased at precise one year intervals." Stiyl explained with a sigh, honestly glad to see the boy was willing to listen to reason "Any sooner or later and we cannot perform the ritual at all."
"The limit is currently one week from today." Kanzaki elaborated, her features softening as she glanced down at the slumbering form of her friend "Fortunately, it doesn't appear she's been suffering from the headaches that precede it."
"So, now that you understand the whole story, are you going to stand aside?" Stiyl demanded, fixing the distraught Kamijou with a stern glare "Neither Kaori or I wish to harm her. Hell, we're the only ones who can save her. As distasteful as it is, we've been doing it for over three years now."
'Dammit Stiyl…' Kaori sighed, knowing full well the redhead wasn't purposefully trying to be an ass…ok maybe he was, but it was for the purpose of sheltering the teen from suffering the same pain they had been forced to endure for three years.
It was also entirely possible that he was still salty about being taken down by a couple of 'Ordinary Teens', as despite working hard to achieve his current rank within Necessarius, there was no getting around the fact that, at the end of the day, impressive height aside, Stiyl was only 14 years old.
Before she could intervene to keep Touma from rising to Stiyl's provocations, however, the sound of slow, mocking laughter drew their attention to the owner of the domicile, who was looking decidedly amused as he leant with his back against the far wall, one hand covering his face.
Shitstorm in 5, 4...
"Wow…I heard that magicians tend to be virtual luddites when it came to modern advancements, but I didn't think it was this bad." I scoffed, "Tell me, do you still use Owls to send messages or have you discovered the wonders of the smartphone yet?
"O-oi, Itsuki…" Touma stammered, the unfortunate Kamijou's earlier vitriol towards Stiyl's provocations apparently forgotten as he gaped at me in confusion "What's gotten into you man?"
"Just basking in the joy of having been allowed to live my life free from the restrictions of the Church." I chuckled, earning a confused frown from the Necessarius members "Seriously, you guys make Rowling's Wizards look like bloody M.E.N.S.A. I haven't seen a cover-job this blatant since the Dark Ages."
"What are you talking about?" Kaori demanded, the stern faced young woman raising a hand to silence Stiyl, her other gripping her odachi warningly "Explain yourself, right now."
"Before I do, let me ask you something:" I proposed, holding up a hand for emphasis "When you learnt about the girl's condition, did you bother reading further into it yourselves? Or did you simply take the Church's word as Gospel, pun intended, and leave it at that?"
"…There was no reason for us to look into it further." Kaori confessed after a moment of uncomfortable silence "Index's condition had been well documented ever since she first memorized the 103,000 Grimoires."
"Documented by whom?" I pressed "Was it a credited Neurosurgeon? Hell was it some back-alley organ harvester? Or did you just take the word of some pompous Priest that probably invites choirboys into his private chambers for 'confessionals'?"
"We heard it directly from the Head of Necessarius," Stiyl cut in with a heated glare "And she is also the current Archbishop of the Anglican Church." He added as an afterthought, as if that meant anything.
Spoilers: It didn't.
"So your only source of information on the kid's condition comes from the one person most likely to straight up lie to your face in order to preserve their control over her?" I ruthlessly pressed, effectively knocking all the wind out of Stiyl's sails "Alright then, can you at least tell me this Archbishop has a degree in neuroscience? Hell do they possess any form of accredited qualification?"
Stiyl grimaced but said nothing, prompting an uncomfortable looking Kaori to speak up after a moment's hesitation. "…while I am unaware of the extent of her education, I can assure you she isn't someone you can underestimate."
"Don't fuck with the Archbishop, gotcha." I acknowledged, earning a derisive snort from Stiyl and a sigh of exasperation from Touma "Continuing where we left off, I'm going to assume you at least tried to find solutions on your end?"
"It's as I explained earlier: Nothing can be done about this with magic." Kaori reminded me with a frown "Believe me, if Stiyl or I could have done something about it, we would have done so long before it came to this."
"Yeah, about that…you mentioned that in order to prevent the kid from going AWOL, the Church put some sort of 'collar' on her, right?" I asked, only continuing at Kanzaki's nod of confirmation "Did you ever stop to think that her affliction might be a part of the collar's effect?"
Apparently they hadn't, if the concussed goldfish-like expression adorning their features was any indication, the two of them turning to look at one another in mounting disbelief, as if they couldn't believe they hadn't considered something so blatantly obvious.
"See, here's the thing about Memory Loss." I pressed on, pulling out my phone to reveal a text file I'd pulled up "It isn't something so simple as 'deleting' or 'throwing away' a memory you don't need. There are an entire host of attributing factors to consider."
"Oh yeah, Komoe-sensei mentioned that in class a while back." Touma concurred, perking up slightly as he pulled up a similar text document on his slightly more battered looking phone "Let's see, there's aging…short-term and long-term amnesia brought on by the consumption of alcohol & certain recreational drugs…"
"And that's not even factoring in the side-effects of general anaesthetics." I concluded, holding out the device for Kanzaki to read the contents while Touma did the same for Stiyl "Put simply, if I wanted to erase those Grimoires from her memories, there are countless ways to do so without having to resort to magic."
"And that's just for the rest of the world." Touma added, his confidence returning as he gestured to the outside window "This is Academy City; there are plenty of Espers out there with powers that affect the mind. Hell, there's a Level 5 at Tokiwadai who can remove people's memories without even touching them."
"And even if that weren't the case, there's never been a documented case of Perfect Memory killing someone." I dropped the bomb on the startled pair "Sure they may experience some difficulties, but for the most part they're able to live their lives without issue."
"But those cases aren't limited to just 15% of their normal memory capacity!" Stiyl pressed, the redhead clearly unable to accept the possibility of hope after so long despite his eyes revealing how desperately her wanted to reach out and grasp it with both hands.
"Yeah about that…just how fragile do you think the human brain really is?" I asked the man "It's not just a sack of water and muscle that can be 'filled' like a bottle. It's more akin to a Digital Library that compartmentalizes everything, which is why she retains her language and motor skills instead of regressing to an infant every time you erase her memories."
"I…think I understand…" Kaori confessed, her expression torn between hopeful and disbelieving as she slowly processed the crash-course in basic neurology I dropped on her "So…if what you're saying is true…"
"Then it doesn't matter how many books Index reads." Touma supplied dutifully, his own excitement apparent as he spied the light at the end of the tunnel "She could memorize an entire library and it still wouldn't affect her memories!"
"Got it in one." I confirmed, opening up another document on my smartphone for Kanzaki to read as I elaborated "Knowledge obtained from books falls under [Semantic Memory]. According to recent studies, it is absolutely impossible for that to overwhelm the person's [Episodic Memory]."
And with that, we have officially taken the first steps to diverging from canon.
Not a lot of action in this chapter, but that's the price we pay for enlightening luddites with glorious SCIENCE!
Next time, we catch up with our favourite stripper.