Hello internet! I'm back with a new chapter of A Certain Strange Addition! This time, I'm giving you the first chapter in the the Endymion Arc, covering the events of the Endymion movie. I have been looking forward to this one for a while, as this arc really starts the lay the groundwork for the lore I'm building for Imagine Breaker. Plus, the arc as a whole is also the perfection opertunity to showcase a microcosm of what the Kamijou Faction is going to end up like in the future.
I have an announcement I'd like to make. I meant to make this announcement last update, but it slipped my mind as I was writing the header. I am proud to tell all of you that I am officially a light novel reader! That's right, I have official started putting money in Kamachi's pockets and reading official prints of the light novels. I've read through NT1, picked up my copy of NT2, and have invested in a copy of the Old Testament Omnibus Edition. And you know what that means: going forward, chapters based on content in the original light novels with be written with knowledge from the light novels! No more settling for what managed to get adapted into the anime! Events from the Document of C Arc onward? Pulled from the source rather than the barebones anime adaptation! Can I hear you scream!
Now then, let's respond the the reviews you all left on the last chapter.
Nemonobody001: Glad you liked it. As you can see, we're covering the movie event now as the lore bits introduced here are especially important for my purposes.
Mister Phoenix - Deltora: The story is Kamikoto focused, but there will be harem elements. Basically, other girls are still going to be pining for Touma, but they've got a snowball's chance in hell once he and Mikoto become an official couple. Regarding the timeline, I've basing my story on the timeline constructed by Baka-Tsuki, which places the Dream Racker Arc in no conflict with and Index arcs. The fight with Yumiya overlaps with the events of Avignon, but that doesn't really affect my plans in any meaningful way. Rest assured, I have taken the whole timeline into account when planning my crossover shenanigans.
kuroshiragami0: The Daihasei is actually next arc, but the events of Endymion will help set the foundations for what's to come in the Daihasei.
Isokage: Well, you're going to have to wait on that a little bit. As for your question, Touma and Mikoto would probably be into fighting games. Accelerator would probably be best at JRPGs, specifically systems that don't require good reaction time considering the state of his brain. Shizuri would probably be a fan of shooters. Uiharu would be a fan of base builders. Saten would be a fan of sandboxes. Kuroko would be a fan of VN (specifically eroge). And Index, probably Shmups.
xellos540: Oh, I didn't forget to add that. It's just that the word choice was a callback to when I made the reference previously in the chapter that last chapter was recaping. Thank you for the review, though.
Dasgun: -_-b
DuckBoi: Thank you for the kind words! I've been looking forward to getting Yuri introduced to the class for a long time, especially for the gag involving Komoe. You can bet it's not the only time he's going to be thrown off by how persuasive her brand of emotional manipulation can be (if you remember the first day of the Daihasei, you know what I'm talking about). Honestly, Last Order's new name came to mind on a whim, but I'm glad it came when it did. Now to think of names for all the other Sisters who show up frequently enough to justify it. I think Kuroko is just fine just the way she it. Just enough perviness to be funny, but not so much to be intrusive. Honestly, with how blatantly I've been foreshadowing it, I'm surprised you're the first review to actually recognized that Endymion was next. Hope you enjoy what's to come!
MindreaderMikoto: Your wait is over! Enjoy!
Blankow: The last chapter was really fun to write because of how it was equal parts humor and heart. I personally think those two avenues are among my stronger suits. I think you'll enjoy what's to come.
Sarcasm Sage 626: Last chapter was just a whole pile of shake ups. Once I wrote Accelerator as being Touma's childhood friend, expanding his own circle of friends immediately rose to the top of my wish list for this story, right along side making Kamikoto a couple and expanding on Touma's power and skill set with Imagine Breaker. Introducing him to Touma's class was just the most natural and hilarious avenue to do that, especially with Last Order/Mimi there to force him to be social. I've said for years now, the changes in the timeline, especially early on, are subtle and mroe to do with the characters and their relationships. Touma and Mikoto's greater openness with their friends and each other is a prime example of that. And of course, I've personally never had a problem with ecchi humor, so long as it done in moderation. Thus, I reduce Kuroko's ecchi episodes so the ones that do show up hit much harder, as they should. Glad this particular instance of Kuroko being a pervert went over so well.
Mixmaster226: This is some seriously high praise! It's probably hyperbole, but that you! It's nice to know my work to reimagine a story I love has been so well received. Don't you worry, Mikoto will come clean about the Sisters in time, just not for a while. A long while. Just know it will happen before WWIII kicks off for real.
guest (Guest): I'm just going to assume all three reviews came from the same person consider they all used the same alias. Sorry if this disappoints you, but Hamazura and Takitsubo will not be joining Touma's class. I'm already pushing it with adding Yuri, and I don't want that class to get too hectic. Hamazura and Takitsubo being in that class will interfere with events in NT i'd rather keep unaltered for the time being, at least in the sense that they wouldn't be in the right place at the right time.
Aminadab Brulle: Kamikoto is my favorite ship (obviously) and Kamikuro is such a fun shitpost ship, so naturally bringing them together for comedy was unavoidable and ultra rewarding.
William Advanced: That's right. It's something I noted way back in chapter 70 when the door was first introduced.
Kim454: Count on it. Rather, it will open a potential line of thought for theorizing the true nature of Imagine Breaker prior to the truth being revealed.
mr4168153: Well, you'll be happy to know that those future arc will be writing with light novel knowledge!
azlil7: Glad you liked Kuroko's funny moment. The last chapter was just a warm hug to write. I would have liked to have Shizuri in the chapter, but would have made it feel a bit too bloated, with her being genrally isolated from Touma's circle of friends. The implication was that Touma had a similar discussion with Shizuri as he did with everyone else in the hospital.
Variable Zero: Oh no, Yuri's not going to be a coach, he's going to be in the thick of things. You'll see why he would participate in activities a cripple really shouldn't be participating it about halfway through this chapter. Poor Mikoto, poor me! I actually have to come up with those names! Naturally I'm not going to do all 9969, just the ones that show up regularly and have actual screen time, but that's still a lot! In a sense, you could consider it the Kamijou Factions debut, or maybe a microcosm of it. A lot of key players do participate. As you say, Touma's concerns are valid, but let me reassure you in saying that the end result will be much more beneficial than what happened in the Kamijou Arc. Thank you for your support!
Trason9: You and me both. This train ain't stopping!
the42ndtheru: THANK YOU SO MUCH!
And that's all of them!
This time, I want to ask all of you a question and to leave your answer in the reviews, if you chose to leave one. This may be egotistical of me to ask, but am I meme worthy? I've been frequenting r/toarumajutsunoindex (yes, I know Reddit is a cesspool, but I can't help it) and a recent trend there has been making fanfic meme compilations. Pretty much all the top fic got at least one, except this one. In fact, Reddit in general doesn't seem to think too much of this story. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt my pride a little.
Sorry for dumping something stupid like that on you all. Let's just get on to the actually story. You all know the drill from here!
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 78: Can You Hear It?
On a clear Sunday in Academy City, the dynamic duo that was Touma Kamijou and Yuri Suzushina were spending their day off from school simply lounging around on a city bench. They each were holding a can of their favorite black coffee with an earphone in one ear. Having nothing better to do, Touma had taken the opportunity to invite his best friend out for a day on the town and introduce him to the up and coming musical sensation that was Arisa Meigo.
Why was Touma spending his Sunday doing something so mundane?
Simply put, Yuri Suzushina, also known as Accelerator, was a hard-ass to pretty much everyone but his best friend Touma. Worried that his friend would end up a recluse if he kept up his current behavior, Touma decided to introduce Yuri to the latest trend in music in hopes of giving him something to talk to other people about. To the boys' mutual surprise, Yuri had taken to the music very well. Great even.
"I have to admit, this chick's not bad." Yuri complimented as he tapped his to the rhythm, "In fact, she's pretty good."
"I know, right?" Touma agreed as he paused the current song, "I don't know the first thing about music, and even I can tell she's something special."
"No kidding. Hard to believe anyone in this city could be so dedicated to music of all things." Yuri nodded, before noticing that he still heard music. "Hey, I thought you just paused the song."
"Huh? I did." Touma insisted, show his phone screen as proof.
"Then why do I still hear her singing?" Yuri asked, taking his earphone out of his ear.
Following his friend's lead, Touma took his half of the set out his ear and also noticed that he could still hear the song they were just playing on his phone. Following the sound of the singing, the pair of high school boys noticed a large group of people huddled together not too far away from where they were seated.
"No way." Touma gasped as he and Yuri made their way towards the crowd.
"What exactly is a space elevator?"
Index had asked a very simple question. Had the question come from anyone else living anywhere else in the world, most people would not have batted an eye. However, Index was an eidetiker living in Academy City, so naturally the girl's friends would have expected her to have picked up this kind of information on her own at some point.
"Huh? You mean you seriously never noticed?" Saten asked her roommate, baffled.
"Noticed what?" Index asked in reply, tilting her head in confusion.
"That!" Saten clarified, spinning Index on her heels and pointing to a certain structure standing over School District 23 in the distance.
As would be expected of a space elevator, the structure was enormously tall. The base of the tower was conical, consisting of a pure white frame and transparent glass paneling that spiraled as the structure tapered upward, taking the appearance of a drill piercing the heavens. At the very top of that drill was an inconceivably tall tower that extended into the sky well beyond what the naked eye could perceive.
"You see that? That is a space elevator!" Saten declared.
Rubbing her eyes in awe, Index said, "Okay, I see it now! That's strange. Has that always been there?"
"Yes, of course it has!" Kuroko cried out in shock from her wheelchair, "Something like that doesn't just show up overnight like a coffee shop franchise, even with Academy City's advanced technology! It's been under construction since before you showed up on Kamijou's balcony! For the last three years, in fact!"
"That's amazing! I honestly never noticed it before now." Index admitted.
"Science Side stuff really goes over your head, doesn't it?" Mikoto mused, slightly amused by the nun-in-training's characteristic obliviousness and naivete.
"Well, even I can tell it's an impressive piece of machinery. What even is a space elevator anyway?" Index inquired.
"Well, as the name suggests, it's an elevator that carries things into space." Mikoto explained, "What makes it special is that it doesn't require any sort of propulsion, like a rocket or space shuttle. The elevator itself acts as the bridge connecting the surface and outer space."
"Oh, I get it! It's like the Scientific Community's response to the Tower of Babel!" Index concluded.
In many ways, Index was correct. As the story goes, the Tower of Babel was a structure that humanity attempted to build to reach Heaven, but had its construction halted when God made it so people spoke different languages, making collaboration impossible. In the same vein, Endymion was also a tower to the heavens, its completion due in large part to the collaboration between the hundreds of people working on it, united by the Japanese language standardized by Academy City's prominence.
As Index marveled at the structure's beauty, she found herself being drawn in by something else just as beautiful, a song. Following the sound of the music, the quintet of girls noticed a sizable crowd of people gathered around a street performer. To the girls' surprise, among the crowd were Academy City's weakest Level 0 and strongest Level 5.
Upon noticing the girls, Touma waved them over to join him and Yuri in watching the performance. Seeing that Index was particularly mesmerized, the elder boy gently guided his surrogate little sister to the front of the crowd to get a better view.
At the front of the crowd for all to see was a young girl about Touma and Yuri's age, singing her heart out and playing away on a synthesizer keyboard. She had pink hair and eyes, the former of which was tied back and kept under a light blue newsboy hat with a dove pin. As she sang and played on her synthesizer, her audience could not help but smile and be mesmerized by her performance. Even the ever dismissive Yuri was wearing a small smile.
When the girl finished her song, she was met with thunderous applause before the crowd eventually dispersed. However, one member of the audience kept clapping well after everyone else had left. That audience member was Index, who kept clapping with an innocence and enthusiasm that would put much younger children to shame, much to the amusement of her friends.
"Good to see you doing so well." Mikoto said to the performer.
"Oh, good to see you again, Misaka." the performer greeted in turn.
"Wait, you know her? Like, personally?" Saten inquired, having recognized the performer herself.
"Yes. She actually helped me a while back. I'm Arisa Meigo." the performer introduced herself as she approached the group.
However, as luck would have it, the musician known as Arisa tripped on one of the cords for her set-up, causing her to stumble. Ever the hero, Touma quickly rushed in to catch her. Unfortunately, in doing so, the boy lost his own balance and ended up falling flat on his back with Arisa laying on top of him.
"I'm sorry." Arisa apologized pushing herself up, straddling the boy.
Being a perfectly healthy high school boy, Touma naturally felt aroused to have been in such close contact with a cute girl his age, especially one who was an up-and-coming celebrity. The rest of his friends all took notice of his reaction and each reacted in turn quite differently. Yuri, Uiharu, and Saten all simply shook their heads in quiet acceptance, having come to expect Touma rotten luck to rear its head in erotic ways.
Mikoto was just as quiet, but anyone could hear the crackling lightning she held back as she gave Touma a blank, unamused stare. While she understood why Touma constantly found himself in compromising positions with other girls, that did not mean she was going to be less upset when such incidents did happen. Especially since he was well aware of how she felt about him and that she was doing her damnedest to get him to return those affections.
Kuroko was furiously jealous, grinding her teeth as she silently wished herself and Mikoto were in Arisa's position.
And Index? Index was just plain furious. Having just met Arisa and becoming totally mesmerized by her music, the nun-in-training saw the musician as a pure and brilliant existence. For Touma to taint that that image with a lewd accident was unacceptable. While she knew Touma was not personally at fault for his current position, he could have made a better effort to get out of said compromising position faster rather than lingering in it. Thus, Index retaliated in a manner that only she could.
"Toumaaaa…" Index growled.
CHOMP!
"ROTTEN LUUUUUUCK!"
Touma's screams could be heard for several city blocks as Index started biting.
"Wow, that song was incredible!" Index gushed at Arisa, "You think so too, don't you Touma?"
"Honestly, I don't listen to a lot of music." Touma admitted, covered in bite marks, "But even I could tell your singing is something special, so that's saying something."
"Same for me." Yuri added, "Your music might actually be something worth talking about."
"Well, look at you, being not a complete hard-ass." Mikoto snarked.
"Bite me, third-rate." Accelerator snarked back.
"And he's back." Kuroko sighed.
"Seriously though, your music is out of this word!" Saten complimented, "I've downloaded all of your songs and listened to them all the time!"
"You are truly an artist and master of your craft." Uiharu added.
"Wow, thank you. I'm glad you liked them. I don't know what to say." Arisa admitted, blushing.
"You know, I'm pretty picky when it comes to the stuff I listen to." Index bragged, "And I know your stuff is the real deal. You weren't even casting spells when you were singing, and you were still able to knock everyone's socks off."
"Casting spells?" Arisa asked in confusion.
Thrown into a panic by Index's casual reference to the existence of Magic, Touma immediately clasped his hands over Index's mouth, much to her protests.
"W-what she means to say is that your songs just come along so clearly." Touma explained, doing damage control, "For a second I thought it was telepathy or something, but I guess that's not the case."
As Touma tried to cover up Index's blunder, the nun-in-training did everything she could to break free. Even as Index started whacking at him and even climbing up to bite at his head again, Touma continued talking as if everything was perfectly normal.
"Does she do this all the time?" Yuri asked Saten in a whisper.
"The biting or the blabbing?" Saten asked in return.
Despite Index's continued assault on Touma's head, Arisa continued the conversation without missing a beat.
"Unfortunately, not." Arisa giggled, "As a Level 0, such a feat would be impossible."
"You're a Level 0?" Touma inquired.
"That's right." Arisa confirmed, "Honestly, it used to bother me for a long time. But now? I'm actually grateful for it."
"You're grateful?" Saten asked, her own insecurities regarding her lacking Esper development creeping up in the back of her mind.
"I know it sounds strange, but it's true. If I had an Ability, I have no doubt that that would be what I would be focused on." the singer explained, "If that was the case, that would have been my passion and I never would have started singing."
"Is that so?" Accelerator mused.
Arisa's reasons had everyone floored, so much so that Index paused from digging her teeth into Touma's head. For a student in Academy City to have no regrets regarding their low Esper Level was an oddity. Skill-Out was a gang composed of Level 0 Espers who felt neglected and resentful of Academy City for their lack of powers, the more radical branches of which were prone to gang violence and criminal activity. And yet, here was someone who not only had no regrets over their lack of Esper power, but was grateful for such a fact.
Accelerator in particular was taken by Arisa's reasons. His entire life had practically been defined by the fact that he was a powerful Esper. It was the reason he was alienated as a child and only had Touma as a friend. It was the reason he was torn away from his best friend in their youth. It was the reason he got involved in Project Level 6 Shift and took 10031 lives. It was the reason most people only knew him as "Accelerator" instead of "Yuri Suzushina". If he was not an Esper, how different could his life have been?
"That's right." Arisa confirmed, stepping forward to stand before everyone, "I was never very good in school or sports. Singing was the only thing I had any talent for. So, I made up my mind: I would do whatever it took to become a singer! That's my dream, to become a real singer and perform for a huge audience on a grand stage. You could say it's what I want more than anything."
Arisa's hopes and dreams were so honest and pure that she appeared to literally radiate with positivity. So much so that everyone present actually shielded their eyes as to not be blinded by her radiant aura.
"Crap, that's bright!" Accelerator cursed, actually tempted to switch his choker to Esper Mode so he could use his Ability to reflect the light away.
"For once, we agree." Mikoto groaned.
"Well, she certainly has the aura of an idol." Uiharu noted.
"I think my eyeballs are burning." Index whined.
Suddenly, the group's conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Arisa's cellphone. Checking the caller ID, the aspiring singer recognized the number as one of great importance to her. After quickly asking to be excused by the group, who naturally obliged, Arisa turned away from the group and answered the call. She spoke on the phone for barely a minute, during which Index climbed down from Touma's head as she and the rest of the group waited with baited breath for the singer to hang up. When she did, she slowly turned to face the group again.
"…I had an audition…" Arisa revealed, much to the group's surprise, "…and that was them calling… I'm getting my big debut!"
"Congratulations!" Mikoto cheered as Arisa jumped for joy.
"Whoa, does that mean you're going to be on TV?" Touma asked.
"TV? Is that true!?" Index inquired, rushing up to Arisa, "Are you going to go on TV like Kanamin!?"
"Kanamin?" Arisa asked in reply, unfamiliar with the nun-in-training's favorite television show.
"Index, we discussed this." Saten giggled, "Magical Powered Kanamin is a work of fiction. Like the Loch Ness Monster, or North Dakota."
"Saten, pranks like that are why she still has trouble separating truth from fiction." Uiharu reprimanded her friend.
"This calls for a celebration!" Index declared, clasping Arisa's hands, "You should come eat with us! It will be a real feast!"
"O-oh! That's very kind of you to offer. But I couldn't. I wouldn't want to impose." Arisa replied.
"Don't worry about it! Money is no object for us." Index insisted, "Mikoto and Yuri are Level 5s, and Touma gets an allowance from his older sister Shizuri, who is also a Level 5. They can cover the cost easily. Right?"
The young girl in the white and gold habit looked back at her friends with a expectant and gluttonous gleam in her eye.
"Hey! Don't go volunteering me in this!" Accelerator objected.
"While I'm not against celebrating, you really shouldn't volunteer other people's money, Index." Touma gently reprimanded.
"So, you're saying you'll agree to cover the bill?" Index extrapolated.
"That's not the point!" Touma snapped, his tone taking an immediate harsh turn.
"Look, I'm willing to cover the cost for this one, but you really shouldn't decide things for other people, especially when their personal effects are involved." Mikoto cut in to prevent another argument and to keep Touma from acquiring any additional bite marks. "What do you say, Arisa? Care to join us for lunch?"
The spread the group ordered at Joseph's Family Restaurant was a bona fide feast, one that Index happily helped herself to. Given the size of their party, the group had been seated at the largest booth in the restaurant, which subsequently had the largest table and could accommodate all the food they were ordering. As they ate, Arisa shared the details of the gig she had landed. As it turns out, she was set to perform for the grand opening of the Endymion Space Elevator.
Naturally, Uiharu was ecstatic to hear the news, as she herself was a big fan of the space elevator. Ever since it started construction three years ago, she had been closely following its development and was more than happy to recount the structure's history to her friends.
Space elevators as a concept have been theoretically possible for years, but Endymion was the first to be made a reality. Thanks to the advanced science of Academy City, the elevator had been built in a fraction of the time that would have normally been projected. The speed in which it was completed was especially impressive considering the elevator was built in Academy City in Japan as opposed to at the equator, the latter of which was the optimal location to build such a structure.
Endymon's own construction was actually started in response to an event known as the Miracle of the 88. Three years ago, a passenger plane capable of breaching outer space known as the Orion had suffered a major malfunction and crash landed in Academy City. However, when first responders arrived and took a head count of the survivors, they found that all 88 passengers had apparently survived. Given the severity of the crash, such a survival rate could only be described as a miracle.
As the group continued to discuss the events surrounding Arisa's upcoming musical debut, Index continued to gorge herself on restaurant food. As she did so, she racked up a bill that piled so high it started to make the very well off Level 5s start to sweat.
"Do all members of the Magic Side have voracious appetites?" Yuri whispered to his best friend, remembering their previous experience eating out with Esther.
"No, mostly just Index." Touma sighed, starting to regret easing up on his usual restrictions regarding Index's love of food.
By some miracle, Index eventually found herself satisfied with her meal, patting her full belly while everyone waited for the waitress to come back with their final bill.
"Where the hell does all the food go?" Yuri asked in disbelief, his already scrambled brain getting even more scrambled as he tried in vain to wrap his head around how Index remained so tiny after wolfing down several tables' worth of food.
"We honestly couldn't tell you." Saten replied, shaking her head.
"So, Arisa, your wish is really coming true, huh?" Index deduced, ignoring the comments about her eating habits, "You must be so happy."
"I know it sounds strange, but I've always had good luck like that." Arisa explained with a sad smile, "I know this only happened because I'm a really lucky girl."
"Come on, give yourself some credit." Touma immediately cut in, "Success isn't about luck, at least not entirely. It's all about getting out there and stepping up to the plate, swinging with all you've got and hoping you get a good hit."
"That's right." Mikoto agreed, "You managed to get this gig because you worked hard and earned it, not because you got lucky."
"Sissy and Kamijou understand this better than anyone." Kuroko added, advocating for her idols, "Sissy became a Level 5 all through her hard work, and Kamijou has achieved some downright miraculous things despite his perpetually rotten luck."
"Shirai, I know you're trying to be supportive, but I don't think Kamijou needed you to remind him how bad his luck can be." Uiharu lightly reprimanded, noticing tears forming in the corners of Touma's eyes as he held a pained grin.
"You're all too kind." Arisa said thankfully, blushing slightly, "Thank you."
"Don't thank us yet! This celebration party is far from over!" Saten declared, standing up and flexing a bicep, "There's still plenty of daylight, and all these baseball metaphors have me in the mood for hitting the batting cages! What do you say we keep this party train going?"
As dusk turned to nigh on Academy City, the massive group of students and a nun-in-training winded down at the side of the road. The street lights switched on, illuminating Academy City's streets with soft light.
"I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun. Thanks a lot." Arisa thanked the group, "It was great hanging out with all of you."
"It was our pleasure." Touma replied with a heavy sigh as he and Yuri set down the bags that carried Arisa's music equipment.
"Remind me again why I agreed to help you carry this shit?" Yuri gasped, catching his breath.
"Because it's customary for the men to carry the lady of honor's things during an outing." Uiharu answered.
"That, and Misaka goaded you into helping despite your handicap." Saten added.
"I knew you could be prideful, but I didn't think you could also be stupid." Mikoto snickered.
"Must have acquired that male stupidity from growing up with Kamijou." Kuroko deduced, giggling.
"Screw you!" Accelerator snapped, though this only made the girls laugh more intensely.
"You know, Kamijou and I are Level 0's too." Saten admitted to Arisa, "So it's especially inspiring for me to see someone's dream come true. Granted, Kamijou is a bit of a special case, but my point still stands."
"Come on, you're making me blush." Arisa begged, her cheeks growing pink.
"It's true though, and they're not the only ones." Index added, "I love seeing someone work so hard for their future! It really pumps me up!"
"Same here." Touma agreed, "I'll admit, I never thought too much about my future before, but now I'm really starting to consider the possibilities. Maybe I'll pick up an instrument myself."
"You? Playing music?" Yuri asked his best friend, "What would you even play?"
"I don't know. Guitar, maybe?" Touma suggested, "Who knows, maybe I'll hit it big too and make my own idol debut."
"You as an idol, huh?" Mikoto mused.
Despite herself, Mikoto immediately started imagining Touma as a pop idol. She envisioned him in a stylish, open black jacket with orange and gold accents and a single orange epaulette on his left shoulder over a white shirt and a pair of black, torn jeans. In her mind, he stood on an illuminated stage backed by flame throwers as he shredded a rock song on an electric guitar.
"Hey, Sissy. Are you alright? You're looking awfully red." Kuroko asked, noticing Mikoto's heavy blush.
"H-huh?!" Mikoto snapped out of her fantasy, "O-oh! N-no! I'm fine!"
"Are you sure?" Uiharu asked in concern.
"Oh, I see what's going on here. You just fantasized about Touma being a pop idol." Yuri deduced, hitting the nail on the head, "Damn, you really do have it bad for him."
"N-no! That's not what I was doing at all!" the Electromaster denied unconvincingly.
"You can deny it all you want. No one is going to be convinced." Yuri smirked, "Although, I can't blame you. Even if Touma didn't have a slightest bit of musical talent, he could probably make it as an idol from sheer charisma alone. You definitely wouldn't be his only female fan."
"I'm telling you, it's not like that!"
As Yuri continued to goad Mikoto with his teasing, the rest of the group quickly found themselves caught in their pace trying to deescalate the argument. However, Arisa was not swallowed up in the raging flow of the conversation. Instead, she deescalated the situation in a way that only she could: by singing.
The song she sang was a simple one. It had no lyrics, instead relying solely on Arisa vocalizing the notes one at a time. Despite its simplicity, the melody was mesmerizing, immediately getting the rest of the group to stop arguing and instead listen to her sing. It was so mesmerizing that the group followed Arisa without question as she led them down the road, before finally finishing the song upon arriving at a park with an artificial pond at the top of a hill.
"That was a beautiful melody, Arisa." Index complimented.
"No kidding, that was mesmerizing." Uiharu agreed.
"Hey, I recognized that song. It's one of the songs I downloaded." Touma added, "Does it have any lyrics?"
"No, not yet. I'm still working on them." The singer answered, "Thank you again. I had a wonderful time. I can give you guys a heads-up on when my concert will be, if you'd like to come."
"I mean, if you're offering, who are we to refuse?" Yuri replied, feigning indifference.
"Come on, don't be like that. You know you're super into her music." Saten teased, much to Yuri's chagrin.
"We can't wait to hear you perform." Mikoto replied.
With the sun having given way to nightfall, the group decided it was time to pack it up for the day. As Touma and Yuri returned Arisa's bags to her, the group was so caught up in their conversation that they failed to notice the water in the artificial pond start to swirl, nor the blond girl in the black, wide brimmed, pointed hat that emerged from the water.
"I call on undine, by the symbol of the chalice, that which is distilled from all things!" the strange girl chanted, a cat charm on her broom glowing a brilliant blue light.
In response to her words, water in the pond surged, erupting upwards into a violent geyser. The blatant display of supernatural power immediately caught everyone's attention, leaving them all completely confused as to what was going on.
"What is that?!" Arisa cried in surprise.
The geyser of water started to flex and pulse, almost like a tentacle. As such, it redirected its flow to mimic such an appendage, aiming directly at Arisa.
"Get down!" Touma screamed as he tackled Arisa to the ground.
Following the Level 0's warning, the group barely managing to dive out of the way of the water tentacle.
"What's happening?!" Touma yelled as he shielded Arisa.
"Be careful Touma!" Index warned, "That's a spell that's used to call upon a water element!"
Having failed the initial attack, the pillar of water dispersed, revealing the girl in the pointed hat and presumed caster of the spell standing on the pond's surface. The water that remained in the air coalesced into spears, ready to be thrown. On the blond girl's right, a pillar of stone erupted from the pavement on the shore of the pond. The pillar subsequently broke apart, revealing a brunette girl in a bowler hat.
"Which means we're dealing with Magicians here!" Touma concluded, standing up as he slipped on his nanomachine helmet apparatus.
Suddenly, the group found themselves overcome with a powerful gust of wind. Looking up and to their right, the group found a third girl, this one with green hair peeking out from under a hood with cat ears.
"Yuri! Mikoto! Stay back and keep everyone else safe! Help Index provide support where you can!" Touma ordered, deploying his helmet.
"Fuck off! Like hell I'll leave you fighting these three bitches on your own!" Yuri cried out as he was ready to switch Mode before Saten grabbed Yuri's arm.
"He kind of has to." Saten grimaced, pulling at Yuri's hand away from the choker, "Supernatural world politics. We'll explain later."
"Believe me, we don't like it any more than you do." Mikoto said through grit teeth as she helped Arisa up and guided her to safety further down the steps leading down the hill.
With his friends now clear of the ensuing battle field, Touma charged forward, a fist clenched in his right hand and his ODD in his left.
"You're up, Mallybeth! Slow him down for me" the blond Magician, Marie, called out as she launched her water spears forward at Touma.
With his superior reflexes, Touma managed to dodge and weave through the initial wave of spears while maintaining his charge. However, he quickly found himself stopped in his tracks when his left foot was encased in stone, courtesy of the Magician in the bowler hat evidently named Mallybeth.
"Jane, now!" Mallybeth called out to her companion.
With a swing of her fan, the final Magician Jane redirected the wind, causing Marie's previously thrown water spears to reverse direction straight at Touma. However, the two Level 5s on site were not about to let their mutual friend come to harm.
Switching his choker to Esper Mode, Accelerator stomped on the ground and released a small shockwave. The vibrations of that stomp were then redirected and focused around the pile of stone keeping Touma pinned, freeing him. At the same time, Mikoto fired a wave of electricity at the returning water spears, causing a majority of them to electrolyze into hydrogen and oxygen. With his foot free and the number of water spears substantially reduced, Touma was able to use Imagine Breaker to catch the few remaining spears and negate them.
"What do you want from us?! Who are you people?!" Touma demanded with a roar.
Not caring to answer, Marie held her broom forward and began preparations for another attack. However, for reasons she did not understand, the water under her feet gave way, causing her to fall into the pond. The cause of the disruption in Marie's spell was Index's Spell Intercept, having had the opportunity to analyze the spell and subsequently interfere with it from the sidelines.
Capitalizing on the momentary distraction, Touma noticed that the earth that had previously encased his left foot had left a trail that led straight back to Mallybeth. Taking a chance on a gut feeling, Touma reached down and touched the earth trail with Imagine Breaker, negating the traces of the previous spell. The result was a chain reaction akin to a lit fuse leading to a stick of dynamite. A series of earthy explosions snaked down the path of the spell before finally reaching Mallybeth herself, engulfing her in a dust cloud.
Ready to continue the fight, Touma began to charge towards Mallybeth, only to be cut off by a torrent of flames. A massive fire tornado formed over the center of the pond, illuminating the entire park.
"Wait, is that…?" Touma gasped, recognizing the style of Magic.
Looking further down the shore, Touma confirmed his suspicions. Kneeling next to one of the park's many pillars with a shaken Marie and Mallybeth slung over his shoulders was Stiyl Magnus, a Magician of Necessarius.
"Thank you, master." Marie coughed.
"Why did you act on your own? I told you to wait for my order, didn't I?" Stiyl reprimanded his students.
Ashamed for their mistake, Marie remained silent.
"It is you!" Touma called out, running up to the familiar Magician, "What the hell, Stiyl?!"
"Move it, kid. Fortis 531!"
"Your Magic Name?!" Touma screamed in outrage.
Touma was all too familiar with the concept of Magic Names. Stiyl himself had explained the concept to Kamijou when they first met. While Touma himself did not remember the encounter due to suffering total amnesia a few days later, he was aware that declaring one's Magic Names was essentially a death threat. The fact that Stiyl has declared his own Magic Name at Touma on more than one occasion could be considered both lucky and unlucky.
With his Magic Name declared, Stiyl made an extremely aggressive offensive push on Touma, much more so than any of their previous encounters. Flames were thrown from every directions as Touma was kept on the back foot, desperately trying to dodge and negate every attack thrown his way. As the battle raged on, the park was quickly overcome with flames, much to the horror of the innocent Arisa.
"What are you three waiting for?! Get the girl!" Stiyl ordered his students.
"Arisa!" Touma called out as the three Magician girls
"Honestly, with this guy!" Kuroko growled, cursing her injured state, "You work with him one week and the next he's trying to kill you!"
"No way in hell I'm letting this bastard get away with that!" Accelerator declared, ready to enter the fray.
"Right there with you!" Mikoto yelled in agreement.
"I think we have more pressing matters on our hands!" Saten cried, pointing to the approaching trio of Magicians.
With so many largely defenseless friends behind them, Mikoto and Accelerator were forced to stand their ground, leaving Touma at Stiyl's mercy. Unfortunately, Stiyl had Touma exactly where he wanted him.
With his constant onslaught of flames, Stiyl was able to force Touma under one of the several concrete structures surrounding the pond. In addition, the intense heat of the flames had weakened the integrity of many of the structures. All it would take was one good hit, and the whole thing would collapse.
"Your right hand is powerful, but it can't destroy matter!" Stiyl boasted as his flames cut through the stone hanging over Touma's head.
"Look out Touma!" Index yelled in warning.
But it was too late. By the time everyone noticed, the concrete overhang had been cut free from its support pillars and was set to crush Touma flat. Touma could not be teleported by Kuroko even if she reached him in time. Any magnetic pull Mikoto exerted on bits of metal he wore strong enough to move him out of the way in time would be more likely to pull those bits of metal off. Yuri failed to notice the danger in time. Index had no active spells she could manipulate that could stop the falling stone. Uiharu and Saten both lacked sufficient power to do anything. None of Touma's friends had the power to help him. All they could do was wish against all hope that Touma would come out okay and hang on to that wish.
However, a wish was all Arisa needed. Her friend was in danger and she wanted him not to be. She wanted him to somehow, someway, survive unscathed. In that very moment, her whole heart and all her desires were focused on that single wish.
"Stop this… NOOOOOOO!" Arisa cried out in a desperate plea.
Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind blew through the park. In an instant, all of the flames were extinguished and the slab of stone about to fall on Touma split in two. The twin slabs fell on either side of the Level 0, leaving him completely unscathed. By some miracle, Touma survived, leaving everyone present completely stunned.
"… What just happened?" Index voiced the question on everyone's mind.
Unfortunately, neither party would get the opportunity to address that question for the time being. Immediately after Touma was miraculously saved, Arisa slipped into unconsciousness and collapsed, much to the concern of her friends. Meanwhile, Stiyl's group had their attention stolen by a third party when eight cords tips with large needles appeared from what looked like thin air and tried to attack Stiyl like a set of scorpion stingers.
"What the hell?!" Stiyl yelled as he barely dodged the attack and threw a large torrent of flames at his attacker.
The flames struck something large perched on top of the concrete structure surrounding the pond. When the flames subsided, the thing in question revealed itself to be a Powered Suit that stood on eight, wheel tipped legs and evidently had cloaking capabilities.
With a third party joining the fray, the first two parties regrouped. Marie, Mallybeth, and Jane circled up alongside Stiyl, while Touma rejoined his friends at the top of the stairs leading up to the park. When he got there, Uiharu and Kuroko had taken out their own ODDs and were running a biometric scan on Arisa.
"What happened?" Touma asked in concern, retracting his helmet.
"We're not sure yet." Uiharu replied, "She just collapsed all of a sudden. Haven't found anything wrong that could have caused it."
"Hang on! We got more company incoming!" Mikoto cried out.
As a powerful Electromaster, Mikoto could perceive her surroundings with a sort of radar. As such, she was able to detect the quick approach of three additional Powered Suits that employed the same cloaking technology as the large one currently engaging with Stiyl's party. These three new Powered Suits had a similar body shape to the first, but fewer and smaller legs, making them resemble motorcycles when their legs were collapsed.
Upon their arrival, the three smaller Powered Suits scattered a large array of discs around the park. Once in place, the larger Powered Suit fired each of its stinger-like cords at one of the discs.
"Go!" Stiyl ordered as he and his students fled.
As soon as the cords struck the discs, each disc went off in a massive explosion. Had Touma's group not been further down the steps leading to the park, they would have been caught in the explosion as well.
This was the work of the pilot of the larger Powered Suit, Shutaura Sequenzia. She was a Level 4 Esper with the Ability Earth Palette. This Ability allowed her to store and release energy within rare earth elements. By preparing discs of rare earth elements and loading them with an explosive amount of energy, she can use a wire to create a physical link and release the stored energy all at once, resulting in a brilliant explosion.
Having made this connection between the discs and the resulting explosions, Stiyl and his students fled down the stairs , burning any scattered discs that followed them down before Shutaura could detonate them.
"Attention! We are the Civil Conflict and Resolution Relief Patrol. We are authorized by the city's governing board." Shutaura announced over her Powered Suit's loud speaker, "Be advised, this is a special intervention."
Having stated her reason for intervening, Shutaura and her team moved to pursue the Magicians. Not about to go down without a fight, Marie used her Magic to draw upon the water flowing through Academy City's fire hydrant system. She attempted to skew Shutaura machine with a barrage of water spears, but the Powered Suit was far too nimble to land a good hit, especially for its size. In response, Shutaura deployed several more rare earth element discs around the Magicians before quickly detonating them.
It quickly dawned on Stiyl that as the initial aggressor in this confrontation and the leader of his party, he was Shutaura's primary target. As such, for the safety of his students, he broke away from them, drawing his enemy's attention away from them and towards himself.
Meanwhile the trio of Magician girls did everything in their power to slow their enemy down. Jane conjured a wall of wind that briefly halted Shutaura's charge, while Mallybeth manipulated the ground to catch the machine's legs and keep it pinned. Unfortunately, Shutaura's team quickly came to her aid, breaking away the stone binding and allowing her to continue her pursuit of Stiyl.
With their superior mobility, the Powered Suits were able to quickly catch up to Stiyl and surround him even as he fled. One of the smaller machines launched a pair of discs at the Magician at such speed that they would have cut him to ribbons had he not managed to dodge between them as the flew by. Unfortunately for Stiyl, Shutaura had one more opening.
In a final bit to apprehend him, she launched two of her stinger cords at the previously deployed discs. As things stood, Stiyl would not be able to avoid the blast radius of the resulting explosion should she manage to detonate her weapons. Anticipating this, the Magician readied his flames to knock away the cords, but someone beat him to it. The metal wires were intercepted by a web of even thinner wires, so thin that they were practically invisible. This was the work of Kaori Kanzaki, who was currently positioned on a rooftop nearby.
"Come on, Stiyl!" Kanzaki called out urgently, "We need to get a handle on the situation quickly, or there'll be trouble."
Seeing how out of hand everything had gotten, Stiyl recognized that the most prudent decision would be to make a tactical retreat.
"Alright, you heard what she said, ladies!" Stiyl ordered his students, "Move out now!"
"Right!" the trio responded, quickly regrouping with their master as they fled the scene.
Having found a new target and identified her as the biggest threat, Shutaura turned her attention to Kanzaki. The Powered Suit leapt high into the air, meeting the Saint at eye level. In response, Kanzaki rearranged her seven wires to form a three dimensional Magic Circle for a light producing spell. This spell acted as a flash bang grenade, temporarily blindsiding Shutaura as she landed on the rooftop. With her aim disoriented, Shutaura was unable to properly aim her own wires, allowing Kanzaki ample opportunity to flee the roof and join Stiyl's group on the ground as they made their escape. However, a certain trio was not about to let them leave so easily.
"Hey, hold on!" Touma yelled as he arrived on the scene, flanked by Mikoto and Yuri, "Why are you after Arisa?!"
Upon hearing Touma's demands, Stiyl stopped in his tracks and turned to face the trio, letting his companions run ahead.
"Seriously! You extort Touma for help one week and try to kill him the next! What's the big deal?!" Mikoto demanded.
"I don't know who the hell you are, but I don't appreciate you trying to kill my best friend! So you better start talking before I decide to leave you as a stain on the street!" Accelerator barked threateningly.
"… She's more important than you know." Stiyl explained cryptically, "The girl could start a war between the Scientific and Magical Communities."
"A war?" Touma gasped in confusion, looking back to where the rest of his friends were tending to the passed out Arisa.
"Between Science and Magic?" Mikoto added, following Touma's gaze.
"The idol?" Accelerator asked, befuddled.
"Care to explain?" Touma inquired in turn to face Stiyl again, only to see that the Magician was nowhere to be found.
"Where did he go?!" Mikoto yelped in surprise.
"Damnit! I can't believe we fell for that!" Accelerator screamed in frustration.
Unfortunately, the trio were unable to stew on the slip up for long. With the Magicians having escaped, Shutaura's Powered Suit descended from the rooftop, stopping just in front of the trio. Shutaura then opened the cockpit of her machine, revealing her face to the students.
"… Forehead girl?" Yuri cocked an eyebrow, confused by the pilot's extreme resemblance to Touma and his classmate.
"What do you want?! Who are you?!" Touma demanded defensively.
"As I was trying to tell you before, we are a specialized task force charged with maintaining order in Academy City." Shutaura explained.
'How many security organizations are in this city?' Mikoto thought to herself incredulously, having learned of a third organization outside of Judgement and Anti-Skill in the last three months, unaware of two others that Touma and Yuri encountered while she was in Liberal Arts City.
"That doesn't answer my question!" Touma yelled, clearly frustrated, "Are you trying to hurt that girl over there, or are you on her side?!"
"The combat we just underwent was part of our commissioned duty as Civil Conflict and Resolution Relief members."
"Stop dodging the question!" Touma screamed, his patience running thin.
"… I'm warning you now, do not become involved with her." Shutaura warned, "Because chances are, if you do, you will die."
"Is that supposed to be a threat?!" Accelerator asked dangerously.
Having nothing left to say, Shutaura returned inside her Powered Suit and drove away, leaving the trio alone in the empty street.
Special End Card Segment: Animan Temple
At the top of a hill surrounded by dense forest was a simple Shinto temple. Suddenly, the floorboards of the temple's interior burst upward as the man simply know as Animan von Elysium X errupted from the resulting crater.
"Hot damn it's been a while since we did one of these!" Animan laughed hartily.
"Indeed," Priestess Number 1 Aisa Himegami said as she climbed out of the crater, "Why the special occasion?"
"Isn't it obvious? Because we're covering the movie!" Animan answered, "Why wouldn't we celebrate?"
"A movie in which I get nothing but a bit line." Himegami sulked.
"Wait, no! Priestess Number 1! Don't go into the darkness!" the master of the temple cried as his assistant fell into a deep depression.