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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter3

2022-06-20T13:54:55Z

SandyBoi: Undo revision 576588 by Rxls (talk)

==Chapter 3: Uiharu Kazari Can Do Real Work Too==

===Part 1===

Academy City was an artificially created city.

Some people might find that phrasing unusual. Isn’t every city in the world an artificial creation?

But anyone who set foot in that city would know exactly what it meant.

Academy City had a different vibe from every other city in the world.

It was not a place that had naturally developed over time. Tall walls had been erected around a vast area of land and everything necessary for the city’s functioning had been stuffed inside, creating exactly the metropolis the adults wanted. On a deeper level, Academy City was a giant collection of institutions given shape according to a certain ideal. If a problem cropped up within it and that ideal began to unravel, there was always someone to take the blame.

Thus, in that city of 2.3 million, with 80% of its population being students, there were statistics that were officially gathered but never made public. Because everyone knew their release would make unwanted waves.

For example, the yearly number of suicides in that city of mostly children was never officially released.

===Part 2===

“It is a lab, but I don’t think it’s the one we wanted.”

Misaka Mikoto, a middle school girl with short chestnut hair, sounded bored as she leaned against a metal door.

The space through that door wasn’t much larger than a studio apartment. The oblong room’s walls had as many steel racks bolted to them as would fit and they held computers of all sizes. Something had been partially dismantled using various tools after its cushions had been removed. Was it a massage chair?

“Even cyber attacks are done for profit these days. I guess someone decided to copy that virus everyone is talking about and rewrote it enough to earn them some money. But whether this ransomware targeting public infrastructure is the original or a modification, taking people’s lives is a real crappy thing to do.”

“Onee-sama!!”

A new annoyance had arrived.

The girl with a Judgment armband on her right arm was her underclassman Shirai Kuroko.

“You shouldn’t be doing so much on your own. You aren’t in Judgment, so you need to stay behind me.”

“This isn’t a Judgment job either, is it?”

“Ugh,” groaned the defeated twintailed hero.

Student-run Judgment was only supposed to solve problems occurring within their own school. Criminal investigations out in the city itself were a job for teacher-run Anti-Skill. So as much as Shirai nagged, her pursuit of criminals in the streets was something she had learned from Mikoto.

Still leaning against the door, Mikoto looked back inside the rusty-smelling room.

The lab was actually a smoking room surrounded by frosted glass. Place a “closed for maintenance” sign on the locked door and you had your own private space to use. The cyber attack lab taking people’s lives for profit had been sitting in a corner of District 15, Academy City’s largest shopping district.

A group of small children in yellow hats raised their hands and followed their teacher across a nearby crosswalk. They were probably on a field trip rather than heading home after school. They looked like a bunch of baby ducks following their mama, but it wasn’t a heartwarming sight in this instance. It was awful knowing such a dangerous lab had been so close to them.

“Anyway, now we wait for Uiharu,” said Shirai. “We still haven’t found the original lab, but this place should still be full of valuable information. My guess is we’ll find the original one next time or the time after that.”

“I say this was worthwhile in and of itself.”

Mikoto used her chin to gesture toward the people collapsed next to the lab.

The lab’s technician and a few bodyguards (who were probably mostly meant to keep an eye on the technician and make sure he did his job) were twitching on the ground with a scorched smell coming from their clothing.

“These people were making money using a modified version of that dangerous virus, after all.”

It was said Academy City’s scientific technology was 20 or 30 years ahead of the outside world and illegal programs and tools were a serious problem there. Unfortunately, they were not all key picking software that neutralized an electronic lock’s security, invisibility tools that altered the records of security cameras, or anything else an SF action movie’s protagonist might use. In fact, someone using those tools would still leave microscopic skin fragments and clothing threads behind, so they would only be putting themselves at greater risk. Having your hair or saliva on the floor when the cameras never showed you there would raise some serious red flags.

The students familiar with Academy City science knew real life wasn’t like the movies.

The cyber rumors in this city were of a different variety:

There were rumors of a neutron cyber attack tool that could rewrite the electrical signals in someone’s nerves.

There were rumors of self-teaching VR that could increase your Level but had serious side effects.

There were rumors of a fashion server that could perfectly predict the next big thing.

And there were rumors of the ultimate underground security software that let you download as many sketchy tools and programs as you liked without ever falling victim to any cruel traps.

“The majority are phony. They take their advance payment and then run off with the money. But sometimes a truly dangerous app appears out there.”

This may have been the worst case of that yet.

The initial product description was incomprehensible, but it wasn’t just an online scam. The actual distributed product was having a real effect.

Mikoto looked up into the blue sky.

“ExitApp. ''The perfect suicide tool'' that lets you die without feeling any fear.”

===Part 3===

14 cases were currently known.

The actual number was unknown since anyone who tried it inside their locked room or in a car parked deep in the mountains might not have been discovered yet.

The number of attempted suicides was impossible to know. Especially because ExitApp did things differently from traditional suicide methods.

“ExitApp calls itself ‘the perfect suicide tool’. We still don’t know where it came from, but it seems to have been created based on an existing health management app.”

Mikoto and Shirai had returned to Judgment Branch Office 177 and Uiharu Kazari, a Judgment IT expert, reviewed the information they had.

But part of that was new to Mikoto.

“A health management app?”

“Specifically, the management program included in an IoT massage chair.”

These days, even microwaves and washing machines had USB ports and short-range wireless connectivity to access a computer or the network. And the host that managed all of the devices in a home didn’t have to be a traditional computer. The main health management program could be in a massage chair that connected to the scale, phone, smartwatch, etc.

“There is nothing at all wrong with the massage chair with its normal settings, but if a bit of hacking is done to remove the limits on its movements, it can be transformed into an execution machine that folds people up, snapping all their bones in the process.”

“Ew,” groaned Saten.

She was probably viewing this as a gruesome urban legend instead of a criminal investigation.

It might sound surprising, but there are very few examples of people truly setting out to create something dangerous and succeeding.

Think of kitchen knives.

Think of cars.

Think of cellphones.

In most cases, the dangers were discovered after the thing was created.

Situations would arise that the creator had never even considered.

People would use them in bizarre, unintended ways.

That had happened countless times.

Danger could be found anywhere, like in playground equipment or the lid to a can.

Even with tools meant to keep people alive, like fire extinguishers and life jackets, people had to learn the proper way to use them.

Because they could be dangerous otherwise.

Academy City’s esper powers may have been the same.

Anyway.

For better or for worse, Saten was knowledgeable about rumors, so she crossed her arms and tilted her head in thought.

“Hmm. I have heard a lot of urban legends saying a massage chair could kill you if it malfunctioned, but I thought everyone had concluded it wasn’t actually possible. I heard they could maybe break a bone, but it couldn’t kill you because you would just get out of the chair before it got that far.”

“Yes, the ExitApp and a massage chair on their own wouldn’t be a real problem,” said Uiharu. “The app gives the chair a ‘kill’ setting, but like Saten-san said, people would normally escape the chair once it started hurting them.”

“On their own? I take it there is another piece to the puzzle,” said Shirai with a frustrated sigh.

Uiharu responded with a serious nod.

“The success rate rises dramatically when combined with the consumption of strong alcohol. Obviously people’s tolerance there differs, but there appear to be some videos going around explaining how to efficiently get to sleep by manipulating your circulation through the combination of alcohol and a massage chair.”

“Oh, you mean like how they say drinking after a bath is a bad idea?”

Mikoto sounded skeptical because she was of course not a drinker.

Uiharu sighed softly.

“This is that but with the efficiency boosted by science. Basically, if people would leave the chair because of the pain, you instead get them to pass out drunk inside the execution machine first.”

“So you’re saying an ordinary massage chair really can kill someone?”

“And there is no resisting it. So the app lives up to its claims of being the perfect suicide tool that lets you die in your own home without chickening out at the last second.”

In other words, these weren’t accidental deaths from the machine developing a short and electrocuting its occupant.

This was a hit product ''designed to kill and only kill'' and it was still out there being distributed.

“To start with, it has you enjoy a massage every day as just part of your routine. Once you’re used to using it, you activate the ExitApp, drink some alcohol, and continue with your usual routine one final time.”

The massage chair let people do practice runs of their death any number of times.

And once they decided to go through with it, they had a special tool that would automatically finish the job after they got themselves drunk enough.

Mikoto sighed while considering that setup.

“Could you get the massage chairs removed from store shelves until all this dies down? It’s not fair to the people who worked so hard making them, but what are you gonna do?”

“The entire point is to push the chair past its limits, so it doesn’t actually matter if the software doesn’t match the hardware’s standards. That would work if it was taking advantage of a vulnerability specific to one product, but we don’t have a good enough justification to remove every brand of massage chair from sale, so an industry group would fight back and claim they were being unfairly targeted.”

“An industry group?” asked Saten, blinking in confusion.

Shirai shrugged.

“Massage devices might seem like a niche market, but a lot of major electronics companies are shifting their focus to health devices like scales and air purifiers to make up for the losses caused by the shift away from domestic manufacturing of TVs and LCD monitors. Doing anything that earned their ire would mean picking a fight with a power greater than you can possibly imagine.”

Besides, the very idea of fighting them was taking this in the wrong direction. The companies hadn’t done anything wrong in this case. This perfect suicide tool betrayed the vision of the people who had created the massage chairs. The same was true of alcoholic beverages, even if that was a world middle schoolers like them had no part in.

This tool would appeal to people who really wanted to die, as well as people who simply wanted a thrill. And even if someone only downloaded it as a test of courage, the fear of death would fade as they repeated the initial harmless process, so they might activate the kill mode on a whim at some point.

It was impossible to know just how many people in Academy City truly felt their life had hit rock bottom and wanted to die right away.

But with all the worries over stagnant power development and the stresses of studying for exams, it wasn’t uncommon for people to start saying they wanted to die or they wanted to be reborn and get a fresh start in a new life. Those might be idle complaints at first, but this ruinous tool provided a realistic way of accomplishing it and invited them to do something they could never undo.

In that sense, the number of “attempted suicides” using the app may have been in the thousands or even tens of thousands. Because anyone who wanted to die would use the massage chair on a daily basis, gradually wearing down the fear of death while they continued to live their ordinary lives.

And once they had become numb to the fear, they would activate the kill mode and die without any hesitation.

The deadly trigger in this case was drinking alcohol.

That was readily available on any convenience store’s shelves.

“Oh, here we go. I found the story. But it says that trigger has actually kept the harm from spreading too far,” said Saten.

She was getting this information from the internet on her phone, so its accuracy couldn’t be entirely trusted.

“Alcohol is a hard thing for middle schoolers like us to get our hands on, right? If I brought one of those colorful cans or bottles up to the register, the cashier would definitely stop me. So even if someone has started using a massage chair before bed each day, acquiring the alcohol would be enough of a challenge that they might suddenly realize what they were really doing and stop themselves.”

If the hurdle was a lot lower, the number of deaths may have been a lot higher. Like if the trigger was eating chocolate to relax and that led people to submerge their hairdryer in the water to electrocute themselves.

Drinking alcohol before the age of 20 was considered wrong.

In a city where 80% of the population was students, people were carded much more strictly than in an ordinary city.

So people who were considered ordinary by the city’s standards would be hesitant to cross that line.

It might seem strange that someone planning to kill themselves would care, but different suicidal people viewed things differently. If they wanted to end their life before they fell even further, it wasn’t unusual for them to avoid any criminal activity and seek out a “clean” death. According to Uiharu’s analysis, the people who didn’t care about anything else as long as they died might opt for a murder suicide of a loved one or random strangers instead of killing themselves all alone. If that was true, then positive thinking wasn’t necessarily enough to help people recover and return to being a healthy member of society. People were complicated.

However…

“But some students really are completing the process.”

“Alcohol is not sold in vending machines, but there are more ways of buying it without directly meeting an adult clerk nowadays. Like online shopping or self-checkout. They may be choosing places like that to reduce the mental barrier.”

“Ugh,” groaned Shirai Kuroko.

She didn’t need to feel any responsibility just because her family ran a nationwide convenience store chain, but the responsible types tended to be hard on themselves.

“Anyway, removing every form of alcohol, including mirin and ethanol disinfectant, from store shelves isn’t realistic. The only way to prevent any further suicides is to track down the developer of ExitApp,” concluded Uiharu.

The perfect suicide tool that used precise equations to fold up its drunk victims had already been distributed to a large number of people, so it was only the purchasers’ relative purity(?) that kept the number of suicides from exploding. They continued to incorporate the app into their everyday routine, but they weren’t willing to go so far outside their idea of ordinary.

If the mysterious developer was captured and made to explain just how dangerous the app was, those users would start to question their use of ExitApp. Because even if they were suicidal, these were still ordinary people who were hesitant to use a fake ID to buy alcohol at their local convenience store.

And once they started questioning it, the thousands or even tens of thousands of suicidal students across Academy City would stop using ExitApp. And they wouldn’t try to use a new perfect suicide tool either.

Uiharu sighed before continuing.

“The key to this case is following the distribution route back to the developer. Since you two took care of all the people selling modified versions, there should just be the one route left. We will reach our target next time. So let’s eradicate ExitApp before it creates any more victims.”

===Part 4===

The tracing investigation had begun.

Out on the main street, Mikoto and Shirai surreptitiously glanced over at the narrow, dimly-lit zone around the corner of a building.

“Why are we waiting here as backup?” complained Academy City’s #3 Level 5.

“I-it’s your own fault,” said Uiharu over the radio. “The underground message boards I follow are on the lookout for you and Shirai-san after you made such a scene destroying those other sellers. I mean, Shirai-san has such a hero complex she walked into the back alleys with her armband still on!”

“A sting operation!?” said Saten, also over the radio. “W-wow, why didn’t you tell me you were doing something so cool, Uiharu! You don’t have the disposition for undercover work, so let this rumor-loving, sexy, and risqué adult take over! Then we’re sure to save the world and the human ra-”

“You stay where you are, you hopeless troublemaker!” shouted the other three in perfect unison.

They must have all imagined the unpleasant future that was liable to lead to. They had needed someone there in order to cover all the exits, but they were worried sick having that girl acting alone after the grief she caused them during the Level Upper and Liberal Arts City incidents.

The adults of Anti-Skill were not just ignoring this problem. They were pursuing the criminal in their own way. It was more accurate to say Mikoto’s group was working on the case without permission.

The hope was they wouldn’t need to send in a Level 4 or a Level 5. That would be as overkill as firing a warship’s guns on the criminal hideout while the criminals were simply worried about a police raid.

Shirai sighed in frustration.

“So what’s this about message boards?”

“The criminal underworld prefers well-established services with simple functionality. Those are a lot safer than a social media group that uses a constantly evolving AI to detect dangerous posts.”

These things could get extremely complicated, but it sounded like the definitions of “safe” and “dangerous” were entirely reversed for ordinary people and criminals.

But whatever the reason, Mikoto and Shirai were currently watching Uiharu Kazari wandering in a dimly-lit part of District 15, Academy City’s largest shopping district. The timid girl looked out of her element in the back alley, but delinquents weren’t the only suckers who fell for criminal scams. Entertainers and athletes were arrested on drug charges all the time, so it obviously wasn’t just the outcasts who broke the law.

“Uiharu, why do they do this face to face instead of online?” asked Saten.

“Because online interactions will leave some kind of record. On the other hand, the buyer will be afraid to meet the mysterious seller in person. Phone cameras are so ubiquitous these days that you never know when someone might snap a photo of you.”

Something flew by over Uiharu’s head.

It was a multicopter drone, which were common enough now that they could easily be bought online.

“So the safest method is to put ExitApp on a thumb drive and piggyback that on the ordinary delivery network. The information I’ve gathered on the dark web says drone deliveries for online shops are constantly flying through District 15. That creates an invisible traffic network. From what I can tell, the seller wears large goggles to hide their face, intercepts the signal providing real-time tracking information for a package, covers the small thumb drive with rubber adhesive, and slingshots it up so it attaches to the bottom of the package.”

“These criminals are clever,” said Mikoto, looking exasperated.

“If only they could put this resourcefulness to better use,” said Shirai, looking the same.

With so many delivery drones flying around, Mikoto could borrow their cameras to keep an eye on things and Shirai could teleport in the instant Uiharu was in danger. The Level 5 and Level 4 were two of the highest ranked students at Tokiwadai Middle School. They never would have placed Uiharu at the vanguard without that kind of backup.

“Anyway, I know the seller with the ExitApp and a slingshot is going to appear here,” said Uiharu. “We can pursue them from here. And by tracing the path back from there, we should eventually – ksh – reach the person who actually created ExitApp – ksh.”

“Hm? Hold on, Uiharu-san. There’s some noise in the signal.”

“I-I’ve found – ksh – them! It has to be – ksh – that person. Wait – kssshhh – Misaka-san, can you – ksh – me? Um – ksshh – see – ksssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Damn. Kuroko!!”

Mikoto quickly slapped her partner’s shoulder, but the girl wobbled weakly. Mikoto looked over in shock to find Shirai wasn’t even looking her way. Her eyes were opened as wide as they would go while she stared into the dark alley. She was frozen in place.

“Sh-she…disappeared.”

“…”

“Uiharu suddenly vanished!! Wait just a second! I can’t teleport after her if I don’t know where she went!”

===Part 5===

The secret behind magic tricks was always quite simple.

And unlike a mystery novel, there was no rule in reality saying all the necessary information to reach the answer had to be provided in advance.

“This way.”

“…”

Uiharu Kazari gulped when an alto girl’s voice called out to her.

The mystery girl gesturing for her to follow turned back to look at her.

“This is something of a main road for the delivery drones because the signal is best here. They check the massive amount of map data in the rooftop relay antenna and learn how to fly to the next base antenna on their own.”

Antennas needed more than just an elevated location. They were only one part of the wired network linked to the thick communication cables, so they required some way of attaching an industrial cable.

In other words, the two girls were underground.

They were in a conduit used by all the thick cables.

Several cables thicker than Uiharu’s arm ran through a concrete space so cramped even someone as short as her had to duck to avoid scraping her flowery head. The conduit may have also been used for the power lines connected to the wind turbines. It felt exceedingly long, but that may have been due to the lack of any light other than the other girl’s phone. She could not see very far down the conduit.

“Are you the seller?”

“What if I am?”

The alto-voiced girl was probably a high schooler.

She had the bleached blonde hair and brown-tanned skin often seen in District 15.

The adults might not see much difference between middle and high schoolers, but that framework created an absolute barrier for Uiharu. If she wasn’t careful, she would forget about the situation she found herself in and let the older girl take command just because she was older.

“You shouldn’t have to meet me directly since the deal is made by piggybacking on the network of drones flying overhead. So why did you come to me?”

“To warn you,” replied Uiharu.

“…”

“If I could reach you, then anyone else could using the same methods. It’s a clever system, but there is no such thing as absolute safety. I recommend you do something about this security hole as soon as possible.”

“Hoping I’ll be grateful enough to reward you in some way?”

“No, hoping you will be impressed enough to pay for my services.”

It all came down to this.

She didn’t need to act tough. She could be her usual earnest self.

“With my help, you can develop a much safer method. I don’t know why you’re selling this perfect suicide tool, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t a nonprofit act of charity. So how about you pay for the extra safety I can provide you?”

“Hm,” groaned the girl as if appraising her.

No.

The high school girl really was eyeing Uiharu from head to toe.

She had taken aim at Uiharu and dragged her down below the surface.

She must have noticed Mikoto and Shirai keeping an eye on things. If not, she could have just spoken to Uiharu in the alley without going to all this trouble.

That meant ''it was working.

The mystery high school girl was elated over outsmarting Mikoto and Shirai, which loosened her lips. It was more of a physical reflex than a psychological thing, similar to the reaction after leaving a dark and spooky tunnel or a haunted house. If Uiharu claimed to have intentionally escaped their surveillance, it would sound a lot more realistic to the seller than if she tried to act like a villain.

Ultimately, the girl started talking on her own.

“So you don’t want to use it?”

“…”

“You aren’t asking for some kind of special deal either. You want to join our group and make a profit off of our perfect suicide tool?”

“I’m not interested in the suicide itself. I wouldn’t have a use for the tool even if I had a copy.”

“How rational of you.” Her alto voice lowered further in tone. “Keep in mind that this isn’t a fraction of users dying after an accident or after overusing the app. We created a tool people buy for no other reason than to die and we sell it, converting lives into money.”

“I am also not interested in ExitApp itself. I will earn my share while handling the security countermeasures one step removed from all of that. You don’t strike me as the kind of person who optimistically believes in heaven. Well, neither am I. I can rationally work the numbers and they tell me I’m better off helping sell this app than using it. You arrived at the same conclusion, didn’t you?”

“Hm,” she said for the second time.

But the nuance was different this time. The scales within her were tilting. Uiharu was not so oblivious that she failed to notice that. And even if Uiharu’s people-reading skills had only been trained in an ordinary classroom, she could tell where this was headed.

In other words…

(I’m in troub-)

“''Hm.''”

A loud thud rang out.

The tanned high school girl had repeated that same sound again.

Uiharu’s vision flashed in and out. It took her a few seconds to realize she had been grabbed by the collar and slammed back first into the wall. Her feet were only still on the ground because the ceiling was so low.

The difference in strength between them was too great.

“Kah, ah!!”

(Oh, no! I failed to earn her trust!)

Uiharu had discovered this security hole before anyone else, so had the girl decided to it would be safer to silence her than hire her?

(Wh-what do I do?)

She had her phone in her skirt pocket. And she had used her handiness to modify the strobe flash into a handmade stun gun. But releasing that high voltage current while this close to the target could end up shocking her as well. It was especially dangerous with the other girl’s arm against her neck and chest. Incapacitating her opponent was meaningless if she stopped her own heart in the process.

But she couldn’t let this girl get away either.

If she allowed her to escape, she would go into hiding and start another job somewhere else.

Then ExitApp would take even more people’s lives. The repeated practice runs would lower the hurdle of suicide and even give that final push to people who hadn’t really intended to die.

(What can I do!?)

But then the girl said something unexpected.

She whispered in her alto voice from directly in front of Uiharu.

“It’s true I developed the health management software known as ExitApp.”

“?”

(She isn’t just a seller? I found the developer already!?)

That was enough of a surprise.

Uiharu had trouble imagining someone who looked like that wearing a lab coat, but there were science-loving gyarus with bleached hair, tanned skin, gawdy nails, and beads. If first impressions were enough to know who someone truly was, no one would bother developing the AI-linked security camera networks meant for use in airports.

This unnecessary revelation only made Uiharu more of a threat. And with a real criminal, this could be enough of a reason to kill her.

But the girl didn’t stop.

“''I came here because I hate that people are making money off of this. I wanted to take out the people selling it.''”

“?”

Uiharu gasped for a reason separate from the hand on her collar or her back against the wall.

She wasn’t sure what to make of this.

But the high school gyaru looked to the side while keeping Uiharu pressed against the wall. She stared into the deep darkness of the long conduit and spoke in her alto voice.

“They’re here.”

“Wh-who is?”

Uiharu realized what was happening as soon as she asked. She heard footsteps from the darkness. And not just one set. There were several people approaching.

“The customers.” The blonde, tanned high school girl spat the words with her eyes still on the shadows. “I’ve already taken down a few of their sales routes, but they saw me in the area a couple of times. They already know I’m the developer. If they can’t nab me at the storefront, they’ll aim for my workshop.”

“…”

“Come with me.” She let go of Uiharu’s collar. “I’ll show you some mercy. If I left you here, they might rip you to shreds.”

Uiharu choked while she finally searched through her skirt pocket for her modified phone. Whether she was aware of the stun gun feature or not, the high school girl scoffed at Uiharu’s action.

She whispered with the face of a fearless teenager.

“Most of the people who try out ExitApp are suicidal kids who don’t want to break the law. They keep using it as a part of their daily routine, but they abandon it before crossing that line. But that doesn’t apply to this group.”

“(Is she really aware I can do this? Let’s see, I need to start up the default camera mode, wait for the strobe flash’s high-capacity capacitors to fully charge, and then I can switch it on and off with the extra physical switch I added to the side.)”

“They’re willing to attack someone to get their hands on the perfect suicide tool, so these people won’t stop when they have to break the law. …Hm? What are you muttering abou-”

“Yah!”

“Gyahhhh!!!!!!”

When Uiharu squeezed her eyes shut and thrust out the object she held in both hands, the mysterious high school girl was easily brought to the ground. She had set the stun gun to a maximum voltage of nearly 200 thousand volts. Contrary to what dramas and movies would have you believe, stun guns did not usually fully knock people out. The high school girl was lying on her back with her limbs twitching, but she appeared to still be conscious. As a District 15 gyaru in a short skirt, the (surprisingly plain and white) underwear situation made her look especially pitiful. She was unfortunately unable to consciously shut her legs or fix her skirt at the moment.

Mysterious or not, she was still human.

Uiharu wiped the sweat from her brow while looking down at the mystery girl trembling in silence, but she had another issue to focus on.

Several sets of footsteps were still approaching.

She got the impression they would find her and easily capture her if she stayed here.

These people wanted ExitApp even if it meant assaulting someone, so she couldn’t expect much in the way of morality from them. Leaving the developer collapsed on the ground here would end badly and Uiharu was the one who had put her in that position, so she had no choice but to carry the older girl with her.

That meant it was time for a benevolent kidnapping.

The older girl’s curviness against her back irritated Uiharu. Simply put, the high school girl had bigger boobs than a middle schooler like Uiharu.

“Okay, she was putting on this invincible aura that practically dared you to try something and it’s only human nature to want to accept that challenge, right? Still, what was I thinking?”

“Yeah, that’s a really good question!! Pant, gasp. I was holding a peaceful, civilized conversation and then you tased me out of nowhere, you maniac!!”

“Ugh, ugh. Shut up. Why are you so heavy? I should just leave you here.”

“Please, don’t! I’ll tell you everything, so at least take responsibility by carrying me until I can move on my own!!”

===Part 6===

“Judgment? You’re kidding. Then I had this entirely wrong!”

“Who are you?”

“Amahebi Saeka. With my name and appearance, you can look up the rest in the Bank, right?”

“I don’t have a signal underground here.”

The conduit was part of a spiderweb-like network of underground pathways centered on a single main line, but it turned out they couldn’t return to the surface just anywhere.

With so many unexpected turns of event, Uiharu knew she needed to meet up with the more powerful Mikoto and Shirai as soon as she could, but she couldn’t seem to find an exit hatch.

The high school girl slumped limply over her back was heavy.

After the one path branched off into several and the branch they took branched off two or three times further, Uiharu came to a stop and lowered the heavy sack of flesh to the floor.

She looked back but saw no lights violently shining around. The footsteps didn’t seem to be directly pursuing them either.

“It wasn’t a suicide tool,” confessed Amahebi, her butt directly on the floor and her back against the wall. “The software known as ExitApp wasn’t developed as an efficient form of suicide.”

“Then what was it?”

“Using that health management tool causes the massage chair to move beyond its design limits and smash up the victim on the skeletal level.”

Uiharu wanted to say “and?”, but couldn’t get the word out.

The tanned high school girl continued on her own.

“''That result itself was a failure.''”

“Eh?”

“It was supposed to be a type of Testament using the chair’s electrode sleep assistance. But if you think of the Testaments as affecting the ‘software’ that are our memories, ExitApp was supposed to affect the ‘hardware’.”

“You mean the brain itself?”

“The idea was to choose which parts of the brain’s synapse wiring to cut off. Moving more than just the chair’s head was a bug and it was never designed to be used along with strong alcohol.”

“Choosing which parts of the brain’s synapse wiring to cut off? Now I’m even more confused. Why would you want a tool that did that?”

Making an ordinary health management app sounded more profitable than that.

Or an illegal suicide tool for that matter.

But Amahebi Saeka gave a self-deprecating laugh.

“It was supposed to solve a problem any Academy City kid should understand.”

“…”

The blonde, tanned girl could finally move her arm, so she tapped at her temple with a trembling finger.

“Academy City’s esper powers are created in here.”

“You don’t mean…”

“The wiring in your head is highly dependent on inborn talent and the esper development really only expands the traits that are already there. You might be able to remake a fire esper into a smoke esper, but you can’t fundamentally change a fire esper into a water esper. Just like a sunflower seed can’t bloom into a rose. It doesn’t matter how green your thumb is and it doesn’t matter if a selective breeding expert works at it, it isn’t going to happen.”

That was why some Academy City esper powers were rarer than others.

Everyone knew the #3 Level 5 controlled electricity, but that didn’t let you apply that to your own power. There were only 7 Level 5s in the entire city and no amount of hard work was going to make those powers easily mass produced.

It required innate genius.

There was an insurmountable wall in the way.

That “survival of the fittest” hierarchy plainly revealed something as poorly defined as the specs of people’s brains. No one had to explain it because everyone who experienced it instinctually understood how that food chain of predator and prey worked.

“''However.''” Amahebi went on to throw out all those assumptions. “What if you had the ability to freely close off your brain’s synapses wherever you wanted? What if you could alter the color of the synapse lines, including the nerve fibers, to change the conductivity of the electrical signals and redesign the basic structure of your brain’s wiring? Think of it like how a tree frog or chameleon uses its cell coloration to camouflage itself.”

“You could…''change your power after the fact''?”

“My short term research goal was to change the basic type of power, like from fire to water. Once I had done that, my long term research goal was to allow adaptable changes so you could switch between powers on the fly like you were using a multitool. A version of Dual Skill, basically. It really would be like a chameleon’s skin. Unfortunately, it all went wrong on the very first step.”

The experiment in cutting off synapse signals had failed.

An uncontrollable bug had transformed the chair into an execution machine that folded the user up. And when combined with strong alcohol, some people were unable to resist and ended up losing their lives.

“Then why is that failure being distributed? Didn’t you know you had failed!?”

“''Because so many people wanted the failure I had created.''”

Uiharu thought she must have misheard.

If that was true, then the developer herself may have found it even harder to believe than Uiharu.

“I shut down the project as a failure, but the program still leaked out. The people who wanted to die didn’t care if it was a failure. In fact, they were glad it hadn’t succeeded. There is no fully erasing something from the internet, so I uploaded tens of thousands of tools and codes with a similar structure but no actual effect. I also spread lots of false information about needing to consume caffeine or catechin instead of alcohol. But they still searched out the deadly combination from the ocean of misinformation.”

“…”

“Why are they so intent on finding it? That’s obvious. They only want one thing, so the numerical pros and cons are meaningless to them. They want to die. They just want to die. There is no reasoning them out of it when they are so focused on that one thing.”

That was frightening.

Real crimes didn’t always have an answer.

And even if you did track down the right answer, it didn’t guarantee a happy ending. There was nothing to be done if it turned out there was no way to stop the mass suicides.

Uiharu’s lips trembled, but she gathered all of her strength and managed to get her voice out.

“Was the completed tool leaked, or just a portion of the code?”

“?”

“If anyone could create it, no one person could monopolize the production and distribution route the way we’re seeing. The suicidal people are not creating the tool themselves, so does it require some special equipment or development software?”

“I’m not sure why that matters.”

“Amahebi-san! It might seem like ''second nature'' to you since you’re the developer, but not everyone can copy your talent. At the very least, I couldn’t create something like ExitApp. Don’t give up yet!! There’s something you know and I don’t. If we can eliminate that intermediary step, then no one can make ExitApp ever again!!”

The tanned high school girl thought for a moment and then groaned.

“The alcohol.”

“You mean how people need to knock themselves out with strong alcohol or they would leave the massage chair before ExitApp’s kill mode could do its job?” Uiharu frowned. “But I thought that used a video on how to efficiently knock yourself out.”

“It isn’t just a video,” spat the science gyaru. “It uses one, but it’s actually a program installed in the chair itself. It ensures the suicidal people don’t make any mistakes.”

“You mean…?”

“That is part of the current ExitApp. A special program is installed on the chair to manipulate the victim’s circulation and create a rapid intoxication like drinking in the bath. That way the size of your body and your alcohol tolerance don’t matter.”

There might be no eliminating the kill mode from ExitApp.

But what if they removed the part that knocked the victim out with alcohol?

Then everyone would leave the chair due to the pain and it wouldn’t function as a suicide tool.

“But that part will have already been copied countless times online. How could we erase that without a trace?” asked Amahebi.

“That part is distributed online using a video site, isn’t it? It isn’t handed over physically to make it harder to track?”

“Yes, but what does that-”

“''That puts it in my territory.''”

Uiharu didn’t let her finish.

The perfect suicide tool would lose its power if it lost its kill mode or the intoxication function. If the latter only existed online, then Uiharu could hunt it down. Once she was back on the surface and had a signal, she could end it all with her PDA.

And this was the perfect chance since the distributor would have their guard down.

If they switched to an offline exchange where both sides were cautiously hiding their identity, this wouldn’t work anymore.

So she had to delete every single copy before they could attempt a counterattack.

“C-can you really do that?”

“''I can.'' I could explain how, but it would be faster to get to the surface and show you.”

Uiharu Kazari took a breath and switched mental modes.

“And just to be safe, let’s make doubly sure. There is one way of ensuring no massage chair can ever kill anyone again, even if they start using offline distribution of the video.”

“How?”

“I take control of the data region used to install ExitApp. If I infect every massage chair in the world with a harmless virus, then there isn’t room for ExitApp anymore. I can do that with your help.”

It was like a bandage. If you covered the wound, the germs couldn’t get into your body. Since it was perfectly harmless, it might be more accurate to call it a security patch, but since she was taking over that memory without permission, it still technically counted as a virus.

“To make sure this works, I would like sample data for the kill mode and the intoxication function. You can get me that, can’t you? Give me that and get me aboveground and I can take care of the rest.”

“B-but the security differs between the manufacturer and model of the massage chairs. How can you possibly infect all of them!?”

“''I will find a way.'' Lives are on the line. If I say I will do it, I swear to you I will do it. So we need to get aboveground!!”

Someone suddenly emerged from the shadows.

And they spoke with a somehow absentminded tone.

“I won’t let you do that.”

The footstep seemed to only come later.

It was like spacetime was being distorted.

This conduit for network cables wasn’t known to the general public, so no one would show up there for no reason.

This only seemed to come out of nowhere to Uiharu because she couldn’t see every part of the incident.

This was probably someone who had been involved with ExitApp longer than her.

The newcomer looked to be college aged.

Her appearance wouldn’t normally have been alarming. Her hair was braided and she wore plain glasses. She wore an ankle-length skirt and a blouse with a cardigan worn over the shoulders, making her look quite guarded. She wore very little makeup for her age and had the looks of the knitter that every class seemed to have. She shouldn’t have made anyone fear for their life. Running into them out on the streets late at night, this braid woman would have seemed more comforting than the blonde, tanned gyaru.

Yet she terrified Uiharu.

It was impossible to predict what she would do next.

There were no hints to be found.

She had the air of unpredictable unexploded ordnance, like she would say hello with a smile and then say good day while stabbing you repeatedly. So Uiharu did not dare take a single step. She couldn’t do anything without thinking it through. The all-purpose spice of a polite smile wasn’t going to work here. One careless move would tread on one of the many landmines and instantly reveal who that woman really was. So Uiharu was trapped. There was nothing she could do.

Why was someone so clearly dangerous free to walk around unmonitored?

How far gone was Academy City if they couldn’t separate out someone like this who radiated thick, invisible walls in all 360 degrees around her!?

The woman smiled while standing off kilter.

“I ordered a guaranteed death with no pain or fear. Everything else is in place, so why has my ExitApp still not arrived!? …Because someone is screwing me over, like usual. All I want is happiness. And this is the only way. The perfect suicide tool is the only way to get Ta-kun to love me again. I don’t care what they say, it isn’t a lost cause.”

A guaranteed death, everything else, ExitApp, screwing me over, love me again.

The tanned high school girl had said there was no reasoning them out of it, but Uiharu made some guesses base on the bits and pieces of information and tried her best to put a stop to it.

She took a step through the minefield.

(Does she want to die to make her ex regret breaking up with her?)

“W-wait! You aren’t going to find happiness that way!”

“Oh, yes I will. I will claim happiness with Ta-kun for myself. As long as I get that woman to use the suicide tool, everyone will conclude she killed herself no matter how unnatural it might look, right?”

“Sh-she’s completely insane…”

The gentle smile split wide across her face.

Her eyes shined bright.

“Insane? You’re offering a tool that makes it look like someone killed themselves. ''How is that not the perfect murder weapon''?”

The woman’s voice seemed to melt from her tongue.

Uiharu had trouble breathing.

She had completely misread the worst possible use of a perfect suicide tool.

With this woman, it was beginning to evolve into ''something more than just a way to kill yourself!

“Ah, ahh, ah.”

Amahebi Saeka’s eyes widened past the limit and her mouth flapped wordlessly.

She must have thought the suicides were as bad as it could get.

She would have convinced herself it couldn’t get any worse.

But there was no bottom to the depths of human desire.

Humans would learn, adapt, and evolve.

The college woman’s voice wavered as she smiled faintly and listed as if drunk. She gave off the bewitching aura of a crazed woman. She possessed an intimidating air that existed beyond science – the same one that ancient artists had carved into their hannya masks.

It existed in a dimension separate from esper powers or talent.

Something unseen bound Uiharu and the high school girl’s souls.

The college woman did not move particularly quickly.

In fact, she moved slowly while lovingly rubbing her hand against her lower stomach.

That seemed to explain everything.

But Uiharu didn’t want accept it.

She didn’t want the venomous jellyfish’s bloody stingers to ensnare her soul any more than they already had.

This explained why she wore such a loose long skirt, it explained why she wore the cardigan for extra protection against the cold, it explained what had happened between her and Ta-kun, and it explained how someone who looked so gentle and harmless had become so thoroughly broken. Instead of a single point to avoid stepping on, this was a network of countless points, too many to keep hidden, and it ran through Uiharu’s mind against her will. It was like the work of malevolent stars – pulsars and quasars that used their unfathomably powerful flashes of electromagnetic waves to send out cosmic signals that destroyed people’s minds.

This destruction had to be something a middle or high school mind was not yet equipped to understand.

“Hee hee hee. So there’s nothing to worry about. Ah ha ha. Eh heh heh. Make sure to wish me happiness.”

Uiharu heard a series of quiet sounds like metal gears turning.

It made her think of a large utility knife used to cut thick cardboard.

But that wasn’t it.

The woman actually pulled out a metal measuring tape. She extended it from her hip like she was slowly drawing a sword from its scabbard.

It was such an unexpected choice, nothing she said seemed to fit together even as this developed into a real crisis, and the metal measuring tape’s edge provided the same fear as an actual blade. Everything about this situation was much too dangerous.

There was a complete lack of mutual understanding, like the crazy woman had forced Uiharu to play a deadly game of rock-paper-scissors where the loser was killed, but revealed three seconds before the game began that there was no such thing as rock, paper, or scissors in the game.

Was this really how it was going to start?

Was there any way to win or lose this!?

“Everything will be fine. Yes, just fine. Ta-kun and I are going to be so happy together. It doesn’t matter what I say here or who hears it because nothing can change how it all ends. Once I have the ExitApp – once I have that tool, I can rid both our lives of that filthy whore and give us a happy ending with smiles all around. So hand over the perfect suicide tool. Hand over my ''key to happinesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss''!!”

Uiharu was overwhelmed.

Her physical abilities didn’t even come into it. She ended up standing perfectly still while she heard something slicing through the air.

===Part 7===

Uiharu couldn’t move in that moment, so it was someone else who pushed her aside and stepped forward.

“Gahh!!”

It was the blonde, tanned high school girl.

She must have recovered from the stun gun, but she couldn’t deflect a blade even in top form.

“!!”

The measuring tape bent like a whip and sliced through the air.

It left a gash on Amahebi Saeka’s cheek, and not a shallow one either.

But Uiharu Kazari’s gasp wasn’t in response to the injury itself.

The liquid dripping from it was colored bright green.

“My power is called Scorpion Tail.”

Maybe this had been the original cause.

She hadn’t been trying to create a perfect suicide tool. She had wanted a device that let her change her power to whatever she wanted.

ExitApp had been her way of physically removing the source of her complex and flying free.

“Yeah, I loathe this power!! ''A power that makes my blood weird colors is just creepy''!! But there’s nothing I can do about it because this is the power I’m stuck with!!”

The drops of blood changed color more vividly than liquid crystals.

From green to blue, from blue to red, and through several other colors before settling on black.

Amahebi herself had already hinted at the true nature of this power with its name: Scorpion Tail.

“Gahh!?”

It only took one drop.

When a single drop of blood took flight and was absorbed by the chest of the woman’s blouse, not even her bare skin, she jumped straight up. She tried to fall back, but her legs got tangled up, and she ended up leaning against the wall to her side.

The drop had landed on her chest, but her lips and eyelids were already swollen.

“Agh, what, huff, iz thad phower!?”

“My power seals my deadly will inside my own blood and transports it to a target. It’s technically classified as reverse psychometry because it forcibly sends the image in my head to the minds of whoever touches the object, but in my case, it only really works with creating poisons out of deadly images. But thanks to that, I can create any existing chemical poison like aconitine, ricin, and maitotoxin, as well as legendary poisons that probably aren’t actually true like the idea that mole, newt, and snake blood can put people to sleep.”

“!!!???”

“But don’t worry. I can recreate the effects of any poison in my rainbow blood. And I can control the toxins I create as easily as my own arms and legs.”

Eliminating the source of a complex was not the only way to overcome it.

She could also change how she used her power to change its definition in her mind.

When a poison was used to protect, it was known as medicine.

“I won’t let this affect anything in your belly. No matter what. The suffering will be entirely contained within your head.”

“Gbhgdhfalkubhbwerbnmnafahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

She wiped the blood from her cheek with her thumb.

The crimson drop shimmered like the surface of a CD and it finally stabilized as a golden liquid.

Launching that through the air with a flicking motion ended the battle.

The drop splashed onto the center of the woman’s forehead.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out. Amahebi gently caught her as she collapsed forward.

Only after flipping the woman onto her back did she notice someone else had collapsed too.

The woman wasn’t the only one with a non-red drop on her skin. Uiharu Kazari was also sprawled out on the hard floor.

Amahebi had poured all of her efforts into saving someone but she had only brought harm to the world.

“Ah, ahh…”

In the end, poison was no more than poison.

Try as she might, Amahebi Saeka could not become a medicine.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

She clawed at her hair and wept.

But she wasn’t even able to approach the person she had harmed.

A single drop of her flowing blood would kill the person she had wanted to protect.

Yet again, her hideous power stood in her way.

“I’ll be…fine.”

Nevertheless, she heard a voice.

“I’ll…be fine.”

“How!? What was I thinking!? I can control the toxins I create as easily as my own arms and legs!? Yeah, right! I haven’t changed at all!! It keeps happening over and over and over! Everything I create only makes the world worse!!”

“That isn’t…true.”

Uiharu was too weak to even get up, but she still smiled.

“Because…you can heal me.”

She took Amahebi’s hand.

She touched the body that could only produce poison.

“Ah.”

“If you can create the effects of any poison, then you can also create any medicine. So I know you can do it. ''You can overcome this.'' You’ve suffered enough already, haven’t you? Then you deserve something good for once.”

Amahebi could not shake off that hand.

It was so very weak, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She could fill the space a poison needed with a harmless poison. That would prevent the harmful poison from getting in, which meant it acted as a medicine. It was the same method Uiharu had hoped to use on the massage chairs.

Amahebi pressed her knees against the floor.

She directly faced the other girl once more.

She told herself now was the time to overcome this by saving the girl.

She held Uiharu’s other hand in her own and pressed her forehead against her as if praying.

A single drop fell from her.

It was colored ruby red.

She chose to believe that any poison could become a medicine if used right.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Railgun_Chapter2|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Railgun_Chapter4}}
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4

2022-06-20T08:51:34Z

SandyBoi: Undo revision 576591 by Rxls (talk)

{{Incomplete|parts=15|tparts=20}}
==Chapter 4: Misaka Mikoto and the Death of Class==

===Part 1===

This was supposed to be Tokiwadai Middle School.

It was the most prestigious of the five fancy schools in the School Garden.

But Misaka Mikoto looked grim as she spied on the schoolyard from behind cover.

She had lost track of how many times she had repeated the same phrase today.

“Well, this sucks.”

“How about we take a vote? Who thinks Akazame-sensei is guilty?”

“Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!”

The stadium-level roar was horrifying.

Those were cheers. All those voices were joined in anticipation and celebration.

The person using the megaphone used an old-fashioned dialect, but she was in fact a young girl. And the person about to be physically yanked from the ground by the neck was a female teacher.

No men were allowed in the School Garden, so the angry mob surrounding them was also entirely female.

“Do they really expect us to accept these new school rule proposals!? What right do they have to ban us from wearing silk or synthetic underwear!? What right do they have to demand we only wear cotton underwearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!?”

Shouts of support.

“What right do they have to ban the use of deodorant spray!? What right do they have to insist we only use certain brands of soap or shampoo!? There’s no rhyme or reason to it, so I can only imagine it’s based on some sick desires held by one of the grownups!! Find the sicko dictating our private lives while hiding behind the rest of the faculty!! Drag them out here so we can string them uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!!”

More shouts of support.

“They claim to have created the perfect environment to prepare us for life, but that was nothing but a lie! They don’t even see us as human! This place is a love doll factory where they transform us to cater to all their perverted ideals!! Death to all the teachers using the rules as an excuse to sexually harass us alllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!”

Thunderous shouts of support.

The shouting group was not some mob that had broken in. It was made of all the same girls who normally lived such pleasant lives in the School Garden.

Mikoto couldn’t bear to watch.

She agreed the new school rule proposals were awful, but they were just that: proposals. They would probably be rejected even if the students didn’t lift a finger.

“Yet they’re doing all this.”

Mikoto’s gaze focused on something that was perfectly innocent. You could find one at most any school. She didn’t know the technical term for it, but it was the metal pole used when raising a flag. It even had a device at the bottom that let you turn a crank to raise the flag.

But no one gathered around it had a flag with them.

The end of the thick wire was tied into a loop.

It went without saying that was meant to go around someone’s neck.

The meaning was clear. That shape itself was a well-known symbol.

(We haven’t even had dinner ''since that happened'', and they’re already doing this? A sanitized upbringing is a scary thing.)

It was absurd to think the upper classes never caused trouble. Did they never explode no matter what happened to them? Quite the opposite. Just look at all the wars and revolutions that had been fought around the world. No matter how graceful, refined, and ladylike the girl, she would still shout “kill” if the conditions were right.

This kind of thing was common in the west and these girls did love copying western culture.

(It doesn’t help they never learned how to vent their anger.)

Maybe some blame lay with the teachers for raising them that way. The students at a school like this probably questioned things less often than average. They weren’t used to feeling malice and they were easily influenced, so when it started to set in, it spread shockingly fast.

The girls raised here according to the adults’ wishes had completely derailed from those wishes and started rioting. It was like a failed attempt at winemaking that left the barrel full of mold.

People who tried to live pure lives without ever considering what that meant were easily shaken when the rules themselves came into question.

Pure crystals were fragile to external shocks.

Maybe Mikoto hadn’t been affected because she had exposed herself to enough impurities while wandering the streets on a daily basis.

(Even Shokuhou’s brainwashed world is better than this. In fact, where is that she-fox right now? That schemer must have taken in far more impurities than me.)

The megaphone voice continued to agitate the mob of girls.

If Mikoto didn’t intervene soon, the teacher standing up on the “gallows” would end up dangling from her neck like a mascot phone strap, but if she rushed in without a plan, she would end up ''like that'' as well. She was at the top of the ranks when it came to her power as an individual, but a battle against hundreds of high-level espers at once was something else entirely. Plus, even Academy City’s #3 had to worry about compatibility issues with a potential opponent.

Not to mention that she had to worry about keeping her friends Shirai, Uiharu, and Saten safe.

But more than any of that, no one won if a deadly fight broke out within Tokiwadai or the School Garden. They would only be pitting allies against each other.

Mikoto’s only enemy here was the agitator using the abnormal situation to transform the crowd of girls into an angry mob.

(On the other hand…)

She looked to the side.

When things got this bad, it was probably best to call in Anti-Skill from outside the School Garden, but that wasn’t an option this time and the reason why was right in front of her.

It was only three steps away.

The megafloat lightweight aluminum alloy used to build floating airports had been used to swiftly and secretly fortify the ground, but it hadn’t been perfect. Some squares of ground several meters long were just ''missing''.

Yes.

The blue of the open sky spread out before her.

The School Garden was currently floating at an altitude of 5000m.

She heard a deep thrumming.

The sound was even heavier than a chainsaw’s roar. It reminded her of a military transport plane’s engine, but the principle behind it probably wasn’t related to aircraft.

It was more like a flying car.

Or the coaxial rotors used for aerial photography drones.

(Geez. If all these cubes of earth crumbled, how many rotors the size of circular fields would we find inside? I’m sure they’re linked in parallel using a grid pattern, so shutting down individual ones would only imbalance the entire structure and send us crashing to the surface.)

That was why the ordinary laws and Academy City’s unique rules did not apply here.

She had a very physical reason she could not expect support from the adults. The entire area had been cut away before declaring its independence. No one could escape the aerial cage. Anyone who carelessly let it slip that they disagreed with the central agitator would be snitched on and ''end up like that''.

Misaka Mikoto’s exhalations were white.

How had this even happened?

She once repeated the same phrase she had used so many times today she had lost count.

“Well, this sucks.”

===Part 2===

The School Garden had not, of course, always been airborne.

It had been attached to the ground like normal until earlier that day.

===Part 3===

“Oh, wow. We’re actually inside the School Garden,” said Saten Ruiko.

She looked around the Western-style street, spread her arms horizontally like airplane wings, and flapped them up and own.

“Is it true Tokiwadai sometimes has real princesses come for the entrance exam? And they ignore all the diplomatic pressure, so they fail the princess if she isn’t up to snuff? Coming here just for fun makes me feel like a socialite☆”

She was even more excited than if she were going on a European vacation. Her step was so light it felt like someone needed to grab a hold of her before she floated away like a balloon.

Mikoto, who had come to meet her, smiled bitterly.

“You’ve been here before, remember? And there really isn’t anything here worth all the fuss. Right, Uiharu-sa-”

“Dwo ho ho ho!! Since they’re banning all photography to help protect their secrets, we have only once choice here: deep breaths! Take deep breaths, Saten-san! Inhale as many high society particles as you can so we can smuggle them home with us in our lungs and upgrade the rank of our souls!! Ohhhh ho ho ho ho! I-it actually came out right? The legendary ‘oh ho ho’ laugh comes so naturally to me here, Saten-san! I feel just like Cinderella. My soul has shed the dried husk of its skin to reveal its shining true form!! Now I can boldly use the all-purpose incantation that works for everything from ‘good morning’ to ‘goodbye’: good day to you alllll!!!! Yahoo!!”

(O-oh, no. Her dopamine levels are higher than Kuroko’s right now.)

Mikoto gulped and took a step back.

She always forgot how Uiharu Kazari was normally shy and sensible but had a weird obsession with high society girls. Make the wrong move with her and you could find yourself faced with a worldview disturbing for reasons entirely different from Shirai Kuroko’s. It was like seeing someone in a cult.

But Uiharu’s ‘oh ho ho’ laughter was not cult brainwashing. It was the same principle as the Osaka dialect imprinting on the language center of the brain after only about three days in Kansai.

In fact…

“Ohhhh ho ho ho!! Once I start assisting father in managing Kongou Airlines, we will build up a global flight network and even expand into the civilian spaceflight industry!!”

“My, that sounds wonderful, Kongou-san. It is always good to have realistic dreams.”

“The final frontiers are space, the deep sea, and I suppose the human mind. With your spirit, Kongou-sama, I imagine you will conquer all three. Hee hee.”

Yeah, most of the girls walking around here talked like they were at an opera or a masquerade, so it wasn’t surprising people who hadn’t built up a tolerance would be influenced. Just like people taking a Kansai vacation, they would probably go back to their usual way of talking after returning to their normal Academy City lives.

Anyway.

“This place isn’t as great as you think it is.” Mikoto had to smile bitterly since she knew the truth. “The teachers are always busy tacking on more incomprehensible rules. That hasn’t developed into a major issue yet since the student councils of the five schools always reject them, but it sounds like the teachers are even trying to determine what material of underwear we can wear.”

“But we’re barely ever allowed in here. What was it Tokiwadai is doing again? An interview entrance exam for recommended applicants? Whatever it was, I love that they’ve opened the place up for it.”

“It isn’t that simple,” sighed Shirai Kuroko who was feeling blue.

Since she had her armband on her right shoulder, her Judgment side was showing more than her Tokiwadai student side.

“When they open up the School Garden, people who normally can’t get in will sneak inside. We have to be ready for problems. Agh, needing to suspect anyone and everyone you see is so stressful. Just let me trust in the goodness of humanity!”

“Why would anyone cause trouble? The people coming in from outside are taking their entrance exam. And these are the ones who have a recommendation vouching for them, so I can’t imagine why they would cause trouble at the school they’re trying to get into.”

Saten wasn’t convinced, but Shirai shrugged.

“If any of them compare their academic abilities, academic record, and esper level to their rivals and conclude they can’t win, they might skip out on the interview and try to memorize as much as they can about Tokiwadai’s secret esper development tech. The past records show several cases of weirdly pessimistic yet optimistic people who are so convinced they’re going to fail they focus on gathering up as many ‘souvenirs’ as they can find.”

“Eh? But Tokiwadai is a middle school, so aren’t we talking about elementary schoolers? A-are there really people so jaded at that age that they’ll give up on getting into their dream school and work as an industrial spy for some bad grownups?”

“Sateeen. When you see those child actors turning on the waterworks in front of the camera, it isn’t because something sad happened to them. And I’m sorry to say there will always be a segment of the population who are talented but refuse to use that talent responsibly.”

Saten Ruiko herself had been in elementary school less than a year ago. And her skill at deception and cunning hadn’t popped into her head the instant she moved up to middle school.

The belief that all children were pure and innocent never survived long while working in law enforcement.

If it was true that no one could change who they were deep down, then the villains were already villains as children.

A thought that did the opposite of relieve the stress of Shirai’s job here.

“Fortunately, the struggle for one of the recommended spots has nothing at all to do with extreme commoners like us. Being heiress to a giant IT company or princess to an entire country isn’t enough to get through those super strict interviews, right? I’m never going to be a part of that world, so let’s go make the most of this School Garden visit in our own commoner way!!”

“(My point was to watch out for people resorting to crime because their ‘super strict interview; didn’t go so hot.)”

Mikoto and Shirai were out and about on a weekday morning because their classes were canceled for the day thanks to the entrance exam interviews. It seemed unlikely Uiharu and Saten’s school would be out too, so Mikoto was honestly worried they were skipping class for this.

“Please follow me, everyone. My name is Akazame-sensei. Now, when we turn this corner here, you will see the next landmark: Tokiwadai Middle School’s School Garden Dorm.”

“It’s called a crepe. You can eat one for a snack or as a meal. For a meal, you can put tuna, lettuce, and crushed-up potatoes inside. I personally recommend adding some homemade mayonnaise to make it extra delicious.”

“Onee-chaaan, where are youuu?”

There was a lot of chatter.

Supposedly, the crowds during this event were large enough to cause nearby seismographs to malfunction. That apparently caused disaster warning apps to send unnecessary alerts.

Maybe it was practice for the open campus being held later on or maybe it was meant to help the applicants judge what life here would be like, but a teacher was waving a small flag like a tour guide. A lot of food trucks were parked alongside the sidewalks and streets. And on closer inspection, there were a lot of small children not wearing uniforms. There was even a sparkly new flying car being shown off as a demonstration for something or other. It was basically just a bigger version of an aerial photography drone.

Mikoto stared off into the distance.

It wasn’t often you got to see Tokiwadai’s Ace indulge in schadenfreude.

“Poor Shokuhou. People come gawk at her dorm as a landmark now. Heh heh heh.”

“Misaka-san, your dorm has it way worse since it isn’t even inside the off-limits School Garden. People can stop by to take a look or even stake out the place any time of the year. Ah ha ha. Check the map on any urban legend site and your dorm’s location always has a pin in it. If anything, yours is the bigger landmark.”

Saten’s tone was light, but Mikoto was thoroughly petrified.

Meanwhile, Shirai’s focus was somewhere else entirely. She lightly tapped on Uiharu’s shoulder to gather the attention of the other girl wearing the same armband.

“That girl has called for her sister three times now. Outsiders aren’t allowed to take videos inside the School Garden, so I doubt this is a prank video meant to see how ordinary people react. It’s safe to assume she’s lost and I would put the risk level at low. Let’s go help her.”

“Fine, but…wait. Am I even allowed to do Judgment work in the School Garden?”

Technically speaking, all law enforcement work outdoors was Anti-Skill work.

But once those two switched to work mode, they were Judgment through and through. They eliminated their own inexperienced and unreliable side as soon as they spotted a small child crying on the side of the road. They were aware the best way to make someone feel safe was to avoid showing them the ordinary weakness everyone had.

The girl had shoulder length flaxen hair. Her bangs were cut along a perfect horizontal line, which added a touch of Japanese aesthetic. She was even shorter than relatively small Shirai, but she was wearing a suit. She may have been one of the applicants here for the entrance exam interview, but she looked more like she was dressed up for Shichi-Go-San.

“We are with Judgment. I am Shirai and this is Uiharu. Is something wrong, young lady?”

“Wow, look at Shirai-san. I never imagined that pervert could sound like the host of an educational program.”

Shirai felt like murdering Saten for that, but she did her best not to let it show on her face. They taught you how to speak to small children in Judgment, but of course an outsider wouldn’t know that.

“Be nice, Saten-san. She might be a pervert, but she’s the kind of pervert who can set her perversions aside when there’s work to be done.”

“Uiharu!? You’re not even an outsider, so maybe I really should murder you!”

She heard some quiet laughter.

It came from the girl. She had been tearfully calling for her sister before, but now she was laughing. Talk about a stroke of good luck. Shirai suddenly recalled a busty track suit teacher from some joint training they did with Anti-Skill saying you could help bridge the emotional gap between yourself and someone in need of help by acting silly and pretending to make harmless mistakes.

Whatever the case, the girl was willing to open up to them now.

“My sister isn’t here.”

“Oh, so you really are lost. What’s her name? Do you have a photo? In your phone’s photo album, maybe?”

“I don’t mean it like that.”

Uiharu was better at dealing with lost children than Shirai. She crouched down to the girl’s eye level and tried to get the information they needed to search out her sister, but the girl stopped her.

The record needle hit a small scratch and popped out of the expected groove.

It flew far off course.

“''My sister has gone missing.''”

===Part 4===

“Sigh. I haven’t been at this branch in forever.”

“But Branch 003 is the Tokiwadai branch, Shirai-san. It’s the one you actually belong to, for crying out loud. You shouldn’t spend so much time at Branch 177.”

“Come to think of it, doesn’t Shirai-san’s favorite teacup live over at Branch 177 nowadays?”

They complained while Shirai unlocked the door and they all walked in. The lost girl was among them.

The small girl’s name was Yugure Tsumebakei.

She wasn’t wearing a uniform and she was only 12. That meant she was in the 6th grade, which made it obvious what she was doing at the School Garden today. She was here for an exam interview at Tokiwadai.

Even though the School Garden was about the safest place someone could be, the children showing up for their crucial exam would normally be accompanied by a female family member like a mother or sister or some private bodyguards hired by their family. Bringing family was apparently popular because they were so rarely allowed inside Academy City. Tsumebakei was supposed to have had her sister Yugure Kanaria looking after her since she was a 2nd year at Tokiwadai.

“Oh, hey. So you’re Canary-chan’s sister, Yugure-san?”

Mikoto realized she recognized those flaxen bangs cut straight across like that. But Kanaria had long hair that fell to her hips.

“You are in the second year too, aren’t you, Misaka-san?” said Uiharu. “So is that sister a friend of yours?”

“A classmate. You do not want to mess with her.”

Her stupid mouth let that slip with a smile.

Just as the younger girl’s face had lit up at finding a friend of her lost family member – and one who knew her well enough to call her by a nickname – she was hit by that harsh comment. Clear drops were growing in the 12-year-old’s eyes.

Shirai Kuroko was in justice mode right now, so she shouted in a way that made one imagine a pair of horns growing from her forehead.

“Ugh, Onee-sama!!”

“Eh? Oh, I didn’t mean it like that! I meant you wouldn’t want to fight her because of her power, but she’s a nice person so it’s not like that would ever happen!!”

Mikoto quickly retracted her statement while pulling out her phone and trying to contact the girl in question. But she didn’t receive a response. Saying things looked bad would only have made the younger sister cry, so Mikoto made eye contact with Saten instead.

She couldn’t reach her classmate’s phone.

That meant it was either turned off or deep underground. But in Academy City, it was actually hard to find places that didn’t get a signal.

Saten took the hint and casually changed the subject.

“But you’re #3 in the entire city, Misaka-san. What kind of power makes you not want to fight her? Tokiwadai is crawling with monsters, isn’t it?”

“Micro Dying,” said Mikoto with a fair amount of exasperation in her voice. “Basically, Canary-chan’s power lets her kill all microscopic microbes with a touch. She’s ranked at Level 3, but she’s definitely stronger than that. You realllly don’t want to fight her.”

Yugure Tsumebakei fidgeted on the sofa, unsure how to react to this. She could tell this was meant as a compliment of her beloved big sister, but she clearly didn’t like how Mikoto’s compliments were so focused on fighting.

“Huh? But, Misaka-san, how is that any different from medicinal soap?”

Saten sounded confused by the explanation, so Mikoto smiled and clarified.

“Because she can rub her palm against your belly and wipe out all of your intestinal bacteria, both the good and the bad. We can only stay healthy because of the barrier of microbes protecting us. What do you think would happen to us if all of those microbes were suddenly taken from us? To be blunt, we would start growing mold inside our bodies and then it’s game over. We’d even have mold all over our skin and in our mouths.”

“Ew,” groaned Saten.

That girl could eliminate microbes at a touch, so she wouldn’t need a hazmat suit or a mask to protect against germs. She could even suicidally scatter all kinds of killer viruses around while remaining entirely unharmed herself. If she put her mind to it, she could become an assassin or cause devastation on an international scale. Mikoto honestly thought that power was more dangerous than her own Railgun if you looked just at how deadly it was.

''Yugure Kanaria’s power could be unimaginably dangerous when combined with the right kind of cunning, but the girl herself was peaceful and afflicted with a super slow-motion curse, so none of those possibilities had ever occurred to her.

Saten tilted her head.

“So, um, Tsumebakei-san was it?” asked Shirai. “Do you have a similar power?”

“No.”

Yugure Tsumebakei wasn’t obligated to answer since it wouldn’t help find her sister, but she must have been the trusting type. She answered the casual question with a shake of her head and went on to explain.

“My power is Macro Dying. It’s very different from my sister’s.”

“Macro?”

“I can pull the data from the Bank.” Uiharu looked like she was unsure if she should, but she had already completed the search. “Macro Dying. Level 4. She can increase the size of and control the red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, plasma, macrophages, cholesterol, amino acids, and other components in her blood. For example, she can cause a white blood cell to grow to 2m across and have it swallow and digest an attacker nearly instantly. Huh, that is an extremely rare type of power. Even more so than Shirai-san’s Teleportation.”

Even Mikoto couldn’t believe her ears.

How many of those components were in a single drop of blood? She was pretty sure there were 5 to 10 thousand of the white blood cells that fought foreign invaders. If that explanation was accurate, then she was the type of high-level esper who could basically command an army. That contrasted Mikoto or Shirai whose strengths were as an individual. It was certainly a different category from her sister Kanaria, but it was similarly difficult to rank on the Level scale. Mikoto could think of a number of clever ways to make use of that power. One idea even made her hold a hand to her forehead. If that power still applied with transfusions and dialysis, couldn’t that girl basically bring about the end of the world?

Saten, being Saten, was focused squarely on the Level system.

“So this cute little thing is secretly a monster on the inside? Ugh, and she’s a Level 4 at her age? It feels like I’m in a bicycle race and someone just passed me using a rocket engine. But I guess she is the kind of genius girl who gets recommended to apply to Tokiwadai.”

“I really don’t like my power.”

“Why not? It’s Level 4!”

“I don’t like needles, but I have to extract some of my blood every time I use my power.”

Come to think of it, she would need to do that, wouldn’t she?

In that sense, her power required a lot of setup in a way Mikoto’s didn’t.

Shirai Kuroko started to recommend the girl converted to the Church of Onee-sama so she could trigger a nosebleed at will using her fantasies, but Mikoto smiled and shut her up with a solid punch.

“So what makes you say Canary-chan has ''gone missing''?”

It was finally time to get down to business.

When they had first approached Yugure Tsumebakei, she had said her sister had “gone missing”. It didn’t sound like she had just been waiting at the wrong time or location or they had gotten separated in a crowd.

“My sister is missing,” said Yugure Tsumebakei with her small fists clenched in her lap. “We were supposed to meet up right away, but she called to say she was searching for something. She said she couldn’t let someone find out she was searching for whatever it was, but she promised to come meet me as soon as she was done. I waited and waited, but she never showed up.”

That meant the girl was ''up to something'' during the entrance exams.

Mikoto and Shirai exchanged a glance and Shirai formed an X with her index fingers in front of her lips. The look in her eyes said, “I know, but don’t you dare say anything that would worry her.” Very forcefully said it, at that.

There were three general possibilities here.

1. Kanaria’s disappearance had nothing to do with the suspicious circumstances. For example, she had made a quick detour for a snack and forgotten all about her promise to meet with her sister, or she couldn’t answer her phone or meet her sister because a teacher was getting after her over some minor infraction. There were any number of peaceful possibilities like that.

2. Kanaria’s disappearance had everything to do with the suspicious circumstances. For example, she had tried to reveal some of the data theft common during entrance exam season and got herself into trouble.

3. Yugure Kanaria herself was stealing secret information.

Mikoto sighed.

“It doesn’t prove much of anything, but Canary-chan is in the newspaper club. And for how easygoing she is, she’s a stickler for keeping promises and has a strong sense of justice.”

“Oh? If she has an overabundance of justice, she should come join us in Judgment.”

“She’s afflicted with a super slow-motion curse, so apparently she failed the physical exam when she tried to join.”

“She fai- she couldn’t get past that? I-I thought it was just for show. I mean, it’s so insultingly easy even ''Uiharu'' passed.”

“Shirai-san…” groaned Uiharu, but everyone ignored her.

Shirai had avoided using the word “fail” after remembering Yugure Tsumebakei was here for an exam.

Mikoto sighed.

“She apparently joined the newspaper club to help create a civilian group that could increase transparency by keeping an eye on both Anti-Skill and Judgement. So I’m guessing this is option number 2.”

But that wasn’t enough to put her sister at ease. Even if Kanaria was innocent of all wrongdoing, they still couldn’t get in touch with her. The presence of a separate villain removed all suspicion from her, but it did nothing to guarantee her safety.

What had she found and who had she been pursuing?

If she had been so busy she had left her little sister all alone, she must have been approaching the climax of whatever story she was pursuing for the newspaper. But then someone had gotten in her way and now she had gone missing.

Mikoto concluded that learning what story she was working on would be the fastest way to figure out how to help her.

“But, Misaka-san.”

They weren’t in the familiar Branch 177, but Saten had already figured out how to use the kitchenette and had made herself some cocoa with warm milk. But after some thought, she passed it to young Tsumebakei instead of drinking it herself.

“This is the School Garden. It’s the ultimate educational environment funded by Tokiwadai and four other fancy schools. Is there even crime here? And we’re talking about an entire person disappearing without a trace.”

Saten would be aware that, if you wanted to keep a worried witness’s trust, you could never bluntly reject what they told you, no matter how absurd it might sound.

So her question was meant to lead into a response from an expert.

She had stepped on the landmine herself by immediately rejecting the idea and saying it wasn’t possible because she hoped to ease some of lonely Yugure Tsumebakei’s worries.

So she started sweating when Mikoto didn’t immediately respond.

The look on her face said she really wanted someone to follow up on her question.

“Um, uh, Misaka-san? Shirai-san? Hello?”

She tried to get an answer out of them again, but both the Tokiwadai students were reluctant to speak.

Mikoto looked to Shirai.

“What do you think, Kuroko?”

“I have my doubts about those stories, but I suppose it is a possibility.”

===Part 5===

To start with, they made sure 12-year-old Yugure Tsumebakei could focus on her exam interview. Having a recommendation gave her better odds than if not, but it was still crucial she performed well. Even if she was trying to find her sister, screwing this up really could influence the rest of her life.

“Don’t worry.”

When they parted ways, Mikoto exchanged numbers with her, held out her little finger, and made a promise.

“Canary-chan is my classmate. I promise you I’ll find her, so you relax and go to your exam.”

“Okay…”

“I promise you there’s nothing to worry about. Now, get going. Akazame-sensei is calling.”

Mikoto kept a smile until the small girl had disappeared around the hallway corner.

And then…

“If a serious crime has occurred in the School Garden, it must be in one of the ''Lost Pieces''.”

Whether or not they were familiar with that term was plain to see on their faces.

There was suspicion of industrial spies trying to use the entrance exam season to sneak in and steal data, but this was still the untouchable School Garden. The security there wasn’t so lax that an entire person could just disappear. All the likely places were patrolled by Judgment or security robots and none of the security cameras at the limited gates out had shown Yugure Kanaria.

That meant she was inside the School Garden but in some unique cranny none of the five schools could touch. There was no way for her to disappear otherwise.

Mikoto and Shirai were familiar with the term. Uiharu and Saten were not.

Uiharu hesitantly asked about it.

“What are the Lost Pieces?”

“Do you remember what Saten-san said about the School Garden being the ultimate educational environment funded by the five schools here? She wasn’t wrong about that.” Mikoto pointed her thumb toward the entrance. “But to put it another way, the School Garden looks peaceful at first glance, but it’s actually locked in a constant struggle for power between the five schools. There are invisible lines dividing the ‘turfs’ of each school’s students. They’re like national borders. But there are some dangerous disputed zones that every school claims are theirs, causing tensions to grow.”

“Those are called the Lost Pieces,” said Kuroko. “Because they’re like missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle forming the School Garden. Since everyone claims them, no one can manage them properly. So those are the only areas not patrolled by security robots or monitored by security cameras. Not even the teachers can agree on which school is in charge of security there.”

And a lack of surveillance created a blind spot where unspeakable desires could be released. They might only look like an abandoned construction site or an artificial forest, but they meant so much more to the right people.

Humans were human. Mikoto knew better than anyone that the pure girls here were not saints. In fact, all the studying and perfect etiquette the adults forced onto them at all times could cause stress to build up until it exploded out in one of those unmonitored areas.

Bluish-white sparks crackled from Mikoto’s bangs.

“Honestly, finding this is the work of a secret delinquent from one of the schools is probably the best case scenario.”

“Yes, this is such an irritating time what with the industrial spies trying to sneak in during the entrance exams. Combine that with a justice-minded girl afflicted with a super slow-motion curse and I have a very bad feeling about this.”

The four of them rushed out of the school building.

The inorganic stone buildings along the European-style streets felt so much different now that they knew someone had gone missing here. And none of the people living in that peaceful world were aware of it. It felt like the part of a dystopian SF movie where the big corporation insists their new technology is perfectly safe. With the streets without a speck of litter and the smiling employees at the polished cafés, there was no darker side to be found, which only made the girls more suspicious of everything.

“What standards should we really be striving toward!? Is unquestioningly obeying the adults really the key to improving ourselves!?”

“Wow.”

But Saten reacted a little too sensitively to what she heard coming from the LCD ads on the decorative pillars.

“We have no intention of stopping with Tokiwadai! We intend to provide greater autonomy to every student in the School Garden and through that ensure we can all take responsibility in our own actions!! None of us should simply follow the rules the adults have set for us! Only by thinking through the reasons behind the rules we should follow can we find true consideration for each other!”

Did it really matter if they were testing replacing the wind turbines with solar panels? But Saten tapped Mikoto on the shoulder.

“Misaka-san, what is that?”

“A debate being held between the schools, I think. Like I said, as peaceful as things look here, the five schools are having constant turf wars. The adults think healthy competition provides fuel to increase our powers, so the adults never intervene to stop it.”

“Um, but that person is acting like a representative of Tokiwadai on TV,” said Uiharu.

“She can claim whatever she wants,” bluntly stated Mikoto. “I don’t know who ''that redhead'' is, but she’s not even part of the student council. Besides, Tokiwadai is focused more on individual esper powers and the conflicts between our cliques, so I don’t see what a debate like this can really accomplish. I can’t speak for the other four schools, but for us, this at most lets you advertise your club or clique. It isn’t popular enough for anyone to compete for the spot and no one will feel jealous seeing someone else calling themselves our representative.”

An eloquent speech with no group backing it wasn’t enough to solve anything in the real world. When there were problems between the students, it was simpler to either fight it out with their esper powers or have their cliques apply pressure to each other. And that didn’t just apply to Tokiwadai. The girls here still clung to the outdated traditions of the nobility, so they seemed to like the sound of the word “duel”. Otherwise, they wouldn’t praise Mikoto as the Ace for being the strongest individual or Shokuhou as the Queen for leading the strongest group.

Mikoto understood finding everything suspicious right now, but there was no point in wasting their time with the debate playing on TV. They had a much more real problem to face.

What had Tokiwadai 2nd Year Yugure Kanaria seen in a Lost Piece, who had made her vanish, and where had she ended up?

“Is that all?” complained Saten Ruko after taking a peek past the tall metal wall and into the abandoned construction site that was one of the Lost Pieces. “But it’s so normal. You described this as a lawless zone, so I was expecting to find every wall to be covered in post-apocalyptic graffiti.”

“Keep in mind this is still inside the School Garden.” Mikoto shrugged. “The official story is that construction of the building was protested in the name of scenery preservation, but I have my doubts. I think the real reason is an 8-story building here would have obstructed the phone signal at Shidarezakura. Does that sound like too modern a reason for a traditional girl’s school? No matter how much history or tradition a school has, all the students and teachers are constantly on their phones.”

While it was a construction site, there weren’t rough piles of pipes stacked up on the bare dirt. A building that looked an awful lot like a Greek temple had been abandoned half built. The plan had been for it to be a recreation facility including a gym and a bath, but those plans had been canceled and now it sat here unfinished.

There weren’t any signs as obvious as cigarette butts on the ground, but there were a few footprints. That meant there were some girls who found this place comfortable enough to visit.

“Uiharu,” said Shirai.

“Yes, yes. According to her Bank data, Yugure Kanaria’s shoe size is 22cm. Let’s see…I can use my PDA’s camera as an electronic ruler, but it looks like none of these were her.”

Photography was banned all across the School Garden and not just in Tokiwadai. Any function that used the camera would be deactivated without a Judgment device.

If Kanaria had come here and seen something she shouldn’t have, her footprints would be here. Since the whole point was for her to have been disappeared in one of the Lost Pieces, she wouldn’t have been knocked out elsewhere and carried here. Then the crime would have been noticed.

They concluded this Lost Piece wasn’t the one they wanted and moved to the next one.

Saten spoke up on the way there.

“Hey, wait. Judgment can access data on all our measurements?”

“Sex, age, height, and weight are the basic pieces of data needed to identify a suspicious figure seen on a security camera. And the more data we have, the better.”

“Weight too!? Please don’t tell me you have our body fat ratio!”

Saten felt like this should be a crisis for any girl, but Uiharu didn’t seem to care. Was it like how doctors were professionals and thus didn’t get flustered about seeing a patient naked?

All the LCD ads around were playing that debate from earlier. But Mikoto had missed the topic of debate, so she wasn’t entirely sure what the 5 schools were trying to say.

“Clean energy is not enough for us. I demand safe energy as well. We must do more than enjoy ourselves in the present. This is the first step toward being adults aware of our responsibility to the future. The wind turbines used across Academy City have received some criticism over the low frequency waves produced by the friction as they turn, so I suggest replacing them with silent solar energy.”

“Flying cars have already reached the practical stage of development. But can we really allow them to be managed by the existing driver’s license system? Should they require a pilot’s license, which is even more difficult to obtain? I say no. Why not create a new system that instead lowers the barrier to entry? As long as we can learn how to operate them safely, why can’t middle school students like ourselves use these flying cars?”

“Independence! We demand independence!! Leaving your parents and setting out on your own is a crucial step toward obtaining your own identity.”

Saten looked bored. A lot of people disliked that any voices at all were coming from the streetside LCD ads, so what they were saying didn’t matter.

“What the heck are they talking about?”

“They’re taking it in some confusing directions, but I think they might be debating on the general category of what it means to be an adult.”

At any rate, Mikoto guided them to some woods that seemed out of place among the stone buildings.

An unnatural thicket of conifer trees grew in between the buildings. It didn’t look like a well-maintained park.

“This artificial forest is next. The only other ones I’m familiar with are the subway station remains, the abandoned bell tower, and the server center that has never been run despite its ridiculous communications capacity.”

“Why would prestigious schools be fighting over those places? No, wait, forget I asked. I don’t want to get roped into any trouble for knowing the truth of this fancy place.”

Rumor-loving Saten actually opted out of learning some new rumors.

However…

“Onee-sama, I can’t help but wonder why you are familiar with so many different Lost Pieces. I am especially curious why you seemed to be checking a map on your phone while leading us here.”

Mikoto coughed and refused to look Shirai in the eye.

The position of Academy City’s #3 came with its own pressures, so sometimes she wanted to step away from all of that. She didn’t know for sure, but she guessed the #5 was also familiar with the Lost Pieces.

Uiharu viewed the area through her PDA and then shouted excitedly.

“Oh, a match! Official Tokiwadai loafers, 22cm. Of course, that isn’t enough to guarantee it’s her.”

“It’s still better than what we found at the constructions site. Let’s take a closer look.”

Mikoto’s group stepped into the artificial forest growing in a gap within the city.

However, the forest didn’t have anything going for it aside from the lack of surveillance. The conifer trees didn’t grow any fruit like apples or peaches and there weren’t any rhino beetles around during this season, so there was nothing exciting to find. They couldn’t even sit down on the ground without getting the dark soil on their uniforms. The artificial conifer forest was nothing more than a pollen factory.

Saten lost interest really fast.

“Huh. So when the girls here know no one is watching, the best they can come up with is go forest bathing? High society delinquents are lame.”

“Saten.”

“Shirai-san, I can understand getting together with your friends at that construction site,” said Uiharu. “But wouldn’t you just get swarmed by mosquitos if you came here during the summer?”

That was when Mikoto tilted her head with electricity crackling from her bangs.

“There’s something further in.”

“What is it, Onee-sama?”

“The microwaves I’m sending out are getting a weird reaction from the ground. This isn’t anything natural, like a rock or a fallen tree. It’s more artificial…square shaped even. Could it be a metal cover on the ground? But it doesn’t seem like a manhole cover. It’s too big. The reaction I’m getting is 2m across.”

“Wait, Misaka-san! There is no such thing as a square manhole. As a square, you could tilt it along the diagonal like this and the heavy lid would fall right in the hole, so they’re specifically designed to prevent that! All the manholes covers you see on the road are circles so they won’t fall through no matter how they’re situated on top!!”

All four of them exchanged a glance.

If Saten was right, then this metal cover wasn’t to a manhole. Then what was it? What other metal covers did you find on the ground?

Yugure Kanaria had gone missing after discovering something.

They may have been approaching whatever it was. Uiharu walked further into the woods with Mikoto and Shirai.

“Why is your head so full of useless trivia, Saten-san?”

“Because, Uiharu, manholes are a treasure trove of urban legends. Some say they’re holes meant to drop bodies in and others say there are bizarre monsters living below. The sewers they connect to are even said to be home to ''white alligators''.”

Uiharu wasn’t sure what to say when Saten looked so proud of herself for this. Had her friend failed to notice the “useless” qualifier she had used?

Mikoto came to a stop after reaching the point indicated by her microwaves.

“It’s here.”

“It looks like ordinary soil to me.”

“But look at my PDA, Shirai-san. Those 22cm footprints walk right up to this spot and then vanish.”

“What does that mean?” asked Saten.

Mikoto answered her by casually raising her right hand.

She was using her magnetic control.

The dark soil on top was blown away and a metal cover 2m long, 2m wide, and more than 3cm thick rose into Mikoto’s palm.

The square hole below revealed sturdy-looking stainless steel stairs leading down. Mikoto tossed the metal cover aside and aimed her phone’s LED light inside, but she still couldn’t see the bottom.

“I’ve heard they sell simple tornado shelters in America for people to bury in their yard, but I don’t think that’s what this is. I’m pretty sure those are more like burying a small storage shed, but this just keeps going deeper.”

“Wow! It’s like an evil secret base, Uiharu.”

“It couldn’t possibly be evil. This is the School Garden funded by those five super classy schools, remember?”

Uiharu’s comment put some very uncomfortable looks on Mikoto and Shirai’s faces.

This was far too largescale to be the work of an individual. It was probably one of those five schools that had built this underground facility.

And those same schools were fighting over who owned this artificial forest.

“What did you see, Canary-chan? This is starting to look really dangerous.”

“The footprints end here, so we have to go down these stairs to figure out what that person saw, don’t we? Don’t we!?”

Saten’s love of urban legends had her giddy with excitement at the prospect of pursuing this new mystery.

But had she really thought this through?

It was true Yugure Kanaria had probably descended these stairs since her footprints ended here, but the entrance had been sealed by that heavy metal cover and soil had been placed on top to hide it.

Kanaria couldn’t have done that from the inside. Not physically and not with her esper power, Micro Dying. They also hadn’t seen any of her footprints leading back out of the woods. Didn’t that mean something had had happened to her down those stairs and then someone else had shut the heavy metal cover from the outside and covered it with soil to delay anyone from discovering her?

===Part 6===

Without anyone to stop her, Saten Ruiko likely would have rushed into the mysterious underground space to solve the mystery on her own. As can be seen from her stance on pursuing urban legends, she preferred to solve mysteries herself when she encountered them. And while this may be a rude and baseless prediction, it seemed likely she would have ended up in serious trouble and gotten beaten up.

But Shirai Kuroko and Uiharu Kazari were different.

Even without directly finding an assailant or victim, the evidence and situation they found told them a survivor had likely been sealed in by a third party. A 2m square of metal more than 3cm thick was too heavy for a 2nd year in middle school to lift, so closing that cover from outside was enough to charge the third party with at least abduction or confinement. In the worst case, their intent may have been to let her starve to death down there. It could be hard to tell without a single drop of blood to be found, but this was a legitimate(?) crime that could have taken a life.

And when faced with something like that, the correct course of action was to call Anti-Skill and get the adults’ help. There was no reason to rush in and act like this was a single player game. If Mikoto’s group got wiped out without letting anyone know, then no one would be able to rescue Yugure Kanaria from that underground space.

Saten complained, but then something occurred to her.

“Hold on, Shirai-san. Didn’t you say these Lost Pieces are unmonitored areas that none of the schools can touch? Will Anti-Skill even show up?”

“Even if no one is monitoring the area, a report of a kidnapping or murder is enough justification to raid the place. We’re not talking about a foreign embassy here.”

Shirai was exactly right.

A total of 20 or 30 people were sent in as reinforcements. That seemed like a lot. If you reported a purse snatching or an attempted convenience store robbery, there was no way that many would show up. So that number meant Anti-Skill was already considering the possibility this was a murder case. The normal crime scene preservation measures would require placing blue tarps over any doors and windows, stringing police tape around the area, and keeping away the press showing up with large cameras, so 20 or 30 was probably about right. Which made their presence all the more disturbing.

The ones carrying bulky silver cases around were probably the crime scene investigators. They didn’t only work murder cases, but knowing they had been called in for a case relating to a classmate was still worrying.

The adults in Anti-Skill allowed the children from Judgment join the investigation, which may have shown they understood the complicated status of the Lost Pieces.

Anti-Skill and Judgment ended up speaking at the same time.

“Understood. We will let Anti-Skill handle the rest.”

“No, hold on. We want all of you Judgment girls to help us search inside.”

Did they have to argue like that? Hadn’t they ever heard of teamwork? Mikoto’s group only wanted to find out if Yugure Kanaria was safe.

And whichever side of the argument they were on, Mikoto’s group only had one real option here. If they were going to confirm Kanaria was safe, everyone needed to pool their information and they needed as many people searching as they could get. Plus, none of them were the type who could sit around waiting for the result. They preferred to take action and actually do something.

Since the people in charge apparently saw them as a group working for Shirai Kuroko, Mikoto placed a hand on the center of her chest and spoke up.

“Very well. I am more than willing to help, Miss Judgment. Show us how the experts do it.”

“Okay, just follow me. You aren’t going to find unexplored underground spaces on your map app, so we need to be thorough. First of all, this is a special pen that shines in response to UV light. The UV light itself is built into the back end. I will teach you a few signs, so make sure to mark off all the rooms and pathways we have already checked. Since we don’t have a map, we’ll have to make one ourselves. If we run into something and have to run away, make sure to follow the path we took coming in. Ready, everyone? Here we go☆”

They descended the stainless steel stairs as a group.

But they ran into something unexpected almost immediately. It was deep. They had known their phone lights weren’t enough to see all the way down, but the stairs still seemed to continue on and on forever.

They had to have descended at least 100 steps. And without any landings or reversals along the way. They had to have already left the Lost Piece artificial forest.

They heard a deep groaning sound.

It was much too loud to be caused by their feet on the metal stairs.

Saten pointed her phone around nervously.

“Wh-what is this sound?”

“Is it an earthquake?”

Saten normally ran headlong into danger, so it was strange to see her clinging to Uiharu’s arm here.

Mikoto placed her hand on the smooth wall.

“For that matter…”

Where were they underground right now?

Was anyone really allowed to dig so much beneath the School Garden where the five schools competed so fiercely over their turf?

The shiny silver walls and floor looked even cheaper than the stairs. They may have been a lightweight aluminum alloy.

“Cool. This is practically a dungeon now,” said Saten Ruiko, sounding carefree.

There was an intersection up ahead and another a bit past that one, so this may have been a vast web of underground pathways.

There was no point in sticking together as a single group, so despite their disagreements, the Anti-Skill and Judgment members exchanged a nod and spread out across different pathways.

Mikoto’s group decided to stick together.

“So what is this place anyway?”

“Uuuiiihaaaruuu.”

“N-not now, Saten-san! Why would you even think of flipping my skirt with all this going on?”

“Oh, I already did it before we went down here. It just isn’t a proper Uiharu panty viewing if isn’t out in the sunlight.”

Uiharu Kazari shrieked and held down her skirt with both hands.

Meanwhile, Mikoto let some bluish-white sparks crackle from her bangs and rapped the back of her hand against the aluminum wall.

“That’s pretty thick, but it’s hollow inside. And based on the evenly spaced lines on the passageway’s walls, floor, and ceiling, could this be made from the metal cubes used for the foundation of a megafloat?”

“That’s ridiculous. Creating an underground wall out of those would requires so much extra digging,” said Shirai. “Burying a hollow cube is so much more work than just a flat wall.”

And the more digging required, the more money required. That was why the tunnels built through mountains generally took the shortest possible route and some would reduce the number of lanes or lower the ceiling to cut costs. Keeping the width and height the same from beginning to end for no real reason could lead to unbelievable costs in the end.

In the same way, a thick cube would cost so much more than a flat wall. When a width of 2m was enough for people to pass through, no one would dig a tunnel 6m wide for three times the cost and then fill in either side with cubes, leaving only the original 2m width.

However…

(Costly cubic walls, a megafloat foundation, and a network of underground passageways. And all of it was built in secret so no one in the School Garden would notice?)

Mikoto’s thoughts were cut off by an ear-splitting noise.

Saten shouted in surprise and pulled out her phone.

Uiharu snapped at her for once.

“What are you doing, Saten-san!?”

“It’s not my fault. The alarm won’t stop! I didn’t think we even got a signal down here!”

It wasn’t just Saten.

More of those loud electronic tones sounded from other passageways and around other corners. They reverberated and mixed together into a mass of noise that seemed to spread endlessly.

A deep groaning came from the lightweight aluminum alloy walls.

Shirai looked around.

“This isn’t a normal signal. Is it a more powerful disaster warning app alert?”

(No.)

Mikoto gulped.

(This isn’t an earthquake. When a fault in the crust grinds together, the friction produces static electricity, but I don’t sense anything like that.)

It was easy enough to say what this wasn’t, but then what was it? The low rumbling was so unusually regular it seemed more like some kind of machine.

Something felt extremely off to Mikoto.

She felt the frustration of seeing something dangerous approaching her but being unable to find the words to describe what exactly it was. Or maybe it was the groundless fear of a jinx where naming the thing would give it more power.

But her thoughts were cut off there.

Her phone’s light had found something in the vast underground space. Something on the floor there did not fit the smooth, metallic aesthetic. The dark, lumpy object was…

“A…person? Damn, it’s Canary-chan!!”

“Ah, Misaka-san!?”

“Uiharu, mark the wall with that special pen!!” said Shirai. “Forgetting to mark it could lead to trouble later!!

They were all in a hurry now.

A girl with long flaxen hair wore a Tokiwadai uniform. With Tokiwadai’s strict rules only the bangs and socks left room for individuality and Kanaria was wearing triple roll socks.

Yugure Kanaria lay face down on the floor. Mikoto had a bad feeling about this. If she hadn’t laid down on her own, she could have had trouble breathing. Either her mouth could have been covered or her weight could have applied pressure to her lungs.

Mikoto just about grabbed her shoulders and turned her on to her back, but then she stopped. Why was Kanaria collapsed down here and why couldn’t she get back up under her own power? It would be best to check her for injury before moving her.

But her classmate’s dry lips moved before she was done checking.

“Ah…kh…”

“Canary-chan, do you recognize me? Everything will be okay. There’s a bunch of Judgment and Anti-Skill here too!!”

“…was a…ctory.”

(…?)

Mikoto frowned.

What was that? Would she really suddenly use that word even if she was woozy?

It was possible Mikoto had misheard.

But it had sounded an awful lot like Yugure Kanaria had said something about a factory?

“It was a factory, Osprey-chan<ref>Kanaria refers to Mikoto as Osprey because Misaka is sort of similar to Misago, the Japanese word for the osprey.</ref>. This place was a factory.”

“What are you talking about, Canary-chan?”

“But I don’t think this is anywhere near enough. My, my. They know it too, which is why they wanted to keep their secret. It was all just a childish dream.”

“Start from the beginning please. What was a childish dream!?”

More deep rumbling.

Still kneeling next to her classmate, Mikoto looked up on reflex because she thought this was an earthquake.

But it wasn’t.

Yugure Kanaria knew more about what was going on, so she seemed to know what this was.

“It’s started. I couldn’t stop it. Oh, no. And now Hoatzin<ref>Tsumebakei is the Japanese word for the hoatzin.</ref> is going to be caught in the middle of it all.”

“What’s started!?”

“Independence Day,” said Kanaria, still lying face down and having trouble breathing. She was just like the bird chirping in the mines to warn of impending doom. “The School Garden is ''declaring independence'', Osprey-chan.”

===Part 7===

Shortly before that, 12-year-old Yugure Tsumebakei couldn’t focus on what she was saying.

The teachers across from her looked uncertain.

But not because she was saying anything weird.

Her responses to the interview had been perfect. They had been so painfully perfect they almost seemed robotic.

Mikoto’s group had contacted the adults, so the teachers would know about her situation. That meant they would be aware the young hopeful student was preoccupied. The School Garden was supposed to be unquestionably safe yet her sister had gone missing there. Anyone would have difficulty focusing on their entrance exam in those circumstances, so the Tokiwadai teachers’ opinions were split.

Some wanted to make an exception and push back her interview to a later date.

Some thought it would be unfair to the other hopeful students to allow any kind of exception.

Although none of them considered that their thoughtfulness actually put more pressure on her young heart. The interviewers, who were meant to place pressure on her, were all being unusually nice, which made her think something really bad had happened to her sister.

“Yugure-san, why don’t you take a break?” suggested the woman directly across from her. Akazame-sensei, was it? “Don’t worry. It will not affect the evaluation of your exam.”

The two factions of teachers had settled on that as a compromise.

All entrance exams were a coldhearted system used to select some people over others, but some kindness was allowed as well. The decisions made on those exams could literally influence the rest of someone’s life, after all. And the interviewers did not do this because they wanted to fail people. They wanted to find the most qualified people in the group.

Don’t worry.

That phrase made Tsumebakei look down at her right pinky finger.

An apparent friend of her sister had said the same thing while making a promise. She had nothing to prove that friend could make good on the promise, but she had to believe in it.

She thanked the teachers and left the exam room on unsteady legs, but what was she supposed to do now? If running around outside would find her sister, she was willing to run all the way around the planet, but she knew it wasn’t that simple.

After leaving the building, her own weight got the better of her and she collapsed onto the ground.

She was smart enough to know there was nothing she could do.

She understood that all too well in her own young way.

“Uhh.”

Why did this have to happen?

She had said all sorts of nice-sounding things to the teachers during the interview, but she didn’t actually have any grand dreams for her future. She only wanted to go to the same school as her sister. She only wanted to walk to school with her beloved sister every day. Had that been wrong of her? She didn’t know what had actually happened, but would her sister not have gotten into trouble today if she hadn’t tried to go to Tokiwadai?

Maybe she had been wrong to want that.

What if it was her fault her sister was in trouble?

But then why was it her sister who had to suffer and not her?

“No. I don’t care about Tokiwadai anymore. I don’t care about my future, so I’ll give up on all my dreams. Just give Onee-chan back…”

What was done was done, so this bargaining was meaningless.

She wasn’t even sure who or what she was bargaining with. Was she asking an invisible demon to alter fate to bring her sister back to her?

But she wasn’t even allowed that self-destructive wish. She was no more than a powerless observer.

And while she sat on the ground feeling so pitiful, things took a turn for her.

Yes…

“Oh? What are you doing out here?”

She heard a voice.

When she raised her lowered head, she saw a girl with long blonde hair.

“Who are you?”

“Hee hee. You must be Hoatzin-san☆ I’m Canary-san’s friend.”

Her heart leapt in her chest.

And the older blonde girl had more to say.

“Did Misaka-san’s group not contact you because they wanted you to focus on your interviewing ability? Fortunately, I heard allll about what happened from them☆”

“…?”

“You have nothing to worry about.”

The sweet-smelling girl bent her knees to bring herself to Tsumebakei’s eye level.

“Misaka-san found Canary-chan just like she promised.”

“Ah.”

“The school is looking after her, so there really, truly is nothing to worry about. She’s receiving medical care now, but it’s nothing serious. You should be able to see her soon.”

“Ahh, wahhhhhhh!!”

Tsumebakei leaped into the older girl’s arms and bawled.

“I was scared!! So scared!!”

“Anyone would be.”

“Onee-chan, sob, Onee-chan. I thought this was my fault. I thought none of it would have happened if I hadn’t tried to go to Tokiwadai!!”

“You were overthinking it. That would never happen.”

The confidence in the blonde girl’s voice soaked into lonely Tsumebakei’s heart like nothing else.

“Now listen, Hoatzin-san. Your dreams aren’t going to hurt anyone. There’s no reason at all to stop yourself from wanting to walk to school with and go to school with your sister. So throw out all that worrying ability. Turn around, march back into that building, and do your very best at that interview. I’m sure Canary-san wants to go to school with you too☆”

“Okay!!” she cheerfully replied, still clinging to the older girl.

All the dark feelings had vanished from her heart.

“Huh? But wait a second.”

“Yes?”

“How did you know my dream was to go to school with my sister? I never even told her about-”

Shokuhou Misaki pressed the button on the TV remote pressed against the girl’s back.

Yugure Tsumebakei fainted like her power switch had been flipped.

This was Academy City’s #5 Level 5, Mental Out, the strongest of the psychological powers.

She gently patted the back of the girl who had fallen into sweet dreams, but the blonde queen also clicked her tongue at her own mistake.

“Well, I sure screwed that one up!! I went as far as ''digging up'' their pet names for each other and then ruin it all with a stupid mistake!? Knowing someone ''too well'' has its own problems. I really do mess up the details when I try to work my adlib ability. I was supposed to put her at ease even if it meant lying to her and then I end up knocking her out about as forcibly as possible.”

Yes.

Young Tsumebakei normally wouldn’t open up so much to a middle schooler she had never met. Even if that middle schooler had been wearing a Judgment armband and had mentioned someone she knew like Misaka, she would have been on her guard.

But none of that mattered to Mental Out.

Shokuhou Misaki had not in fact been in contact with Misaka Mikoto since the two of them did not get along at all.

She had been smiling with Yugure Tsumebakei and mechanically constructing a conversation by assessing the situation and choosing the best phrase to use next like she was choosing a chess move. Whenever she pulled one statement from Tsumebakei’s mouth, she obtained all the surrounding terms as well. Once she had drawn out the terms “Misaka-san”, “searching for” and “Yugure Kanaria”, it wasn’t hard to find the right things to say to soothe the crying child. But this time, Shokuhou had delved too deep into the target’s mind and it had all backfired.

(No one tells the people they truly love about their plans for the future. How could I forget something so basic? When did my sensibilities get so distorted?)

“Queen.”

“Hokaze, I order you to treat this girl like she is me and protect her life, her assets, and everything else she holds dear. Protect her with your life☆”

That ringlets girl was Shokuhou’s most trusted aide and bodyguard and she always faithfully carried out her queen’s commands. Thus, when she asked a question, it was only to confirm some information she felt was necessary to carry out that command.

Hokaze Junko expressed her concern.

“Is something about to happen that will require me to protect her with my life? But Tokiwadai is so peaceful.”

“The usual state of affairs isn’t going to apply much longer. We’re about to see a major panic brought on by some extreme Peter Pan Syndromes.”

Then Shokuhou Misaki looked away and grumbled under her breath.

Disaster warning app alerts were going off all around. The chain reaction was like ripples spreading throughout the School Garden and it would reach Shokuhou and Hokaze’s phones eventually.

The low rumbling below their feet was growing.

That rumbling came from a large number of enormous motors.

“What are you even doing, Misaka-san?”

===Part 8===

The School Garden, which contained five girls’ schools including Tokiwadai Middle School, flew high into the sky.

The ground had been secretly reinforced with a megafloat foundation and the near endless solar energy collected while above the clouds was used to pour an overwhelming amount of power into a vertical takeoff system that was essentially a much larger version of a flying car.

Yugure Kanaria had called this Independence Day.

Mikoto’s group had failed to stop it.

===Part 9===

That brings us back to where we started.

Misaka Mikoto clicked her tongue at the changed world she saw while spying on the schoolyard.

(We’re 5000m up and the entire ground below the School Garden was remade in secret? What kind of tech did they even use?)

There was a strong tone of exasperation in Mikoto’s thoughts.

To be fair, the Eurotunnel linking the UK and France was nearly 40km long and the total length of a major city’s subway had to be hundreds if not thousands of kilometers. As a collection of 5 schools, the School Garden was only a few kilometers across. Digging below it, reinforcing it, creating an artificial space there, and using cubes of lightweight aluminum alloy to transform the ground into a giant aerial float wasn’t impossible.

(But just like with the Eurotunnel or a major city’s subway, actually doing it would require amounts of money discussed in national budgets. Some of the girls here are absurdly rich, but this goes beyond what even they could do as a prank.)

Only a few hours had passed since it had all started. It wasn’t even dinnertime yet.

Barely any time had passed since inviting Uiharu and Saten into the School Garden. The sun hadn’t set and the sky was still blue.

Nevertheless.

A redhead with shoulder length hair held a megaphone at the center of it all. Based on her figure, she had to be a year older than Mikoto, making her a third year. Unfortunately, her uniform was a Tokiwadai one.

The agitator spoke with a tiara sparkling on her head.

“How about we take a vote? Who thinks Akazame-sensei is guilty?”

“Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!” “Guilty!!”

Could they run away? Even if it meant jumping from an altitude of 5000m?

No one made those reckless but understandable suggestions.

In fact, they all agreed.

Did they not care who was in charge as long as they personally were safe? Or had they taken a liking to this newfound freedom even if it was self-destructive?

A teacher had been forced up onto the “gallows”, which was actually the metal flagpole. The thick metal wire hanging from the pole looked sinister with its end tied into a loop.

The usual safe and comfortable School Garden was nowhere to be found. Academy City’s rules no longer applied and Japan’s constitution probably didn’t either.

This was an airborne jail with no escape in any direction.

Mikoto glanced down at her phone. It did have a signal, but the connection timed out when she tried to access any sites outside of the School Garden. Cell phone signals couldn’t reach 5000m into the air, so she couldn’t access the surface.

(Did whoever did this set up a huge base antenna of their own? Or is this a satellite connection?)

Whatever the case, she couldn’t call for help.

She could only trust that Academy City’s adults were working toward a solution without needing anyone to point out to them that a chunk of the city had taken flight.

If this was a scaled-up version of a flying car, then it would use electric motors. But to keep something the size of the School Garden airborne would require high-level synchronization from a large number of large motors. If Mikoto stopped them one by one with her power, the large flat structure could easily tilt and then crash down into the surface.

This could have led to a panic, but the scales had tilted in the culprit’s favor. Once it was made clear they could live here and resume their ordinary life indefinitely here, most of the students would decide it was a problem but not one they needed to risk their safety to solve right away.

How did the water supply work after leaving the ground? Maybe they could move around at will and they would resupply by passing below rainclouds.

Imagine a long line in front of a sweets shop. What if a lost child were crying right next to that line? Any one person from the line only needed to leave the line, kneel down, and help the child with a smile, but would anyone choose to be that one person? If they left the line, they lost their chance to buy the sweets they wanted.

This was known as passive acceptance.

And the culprit had provided another factor here as well: active acceptance.

“All of Academy City’s social problems were created by the adults!”

The agitator used her megaphone to speak to the crowd around her.

This was the real reason everyone was so incensed.

“Why did they need to separate us out by Level if all they want to do is mess with our brains to develop esper powers!? Why do the researchers get to cover up all the horrific things they do in the name of ‘protecting city secrets’!? Because this city is designed to benefit the adults! The growth of your students shouldn’t be something you budget out!! If they let us choose how far we take our own development, so much tragedy and frustration could be avoided. At the very least, we could accept whatever happened as the result of our own actions!! So I say to you Academy City needs no teachers. If this is truly meant to be a city of academia, it should be a city designed to promote learning. This small area – not even a full district – can act as a test case. Once we prove the effectiveness of this method, the rest of the city will follow! Our actions here will truly liberate Academy City!!”

(The agitator is the redhead from that debate. Canary-chan made it sound like a group was behind it, so I bet the other schools’ debaters were in on it too.)

Solar power and flying cars.

The ideas presented by the other debaters had been used in this as well, so it was best to assume the debaters from each of the 5 schools were the ones behind this.

Independence.

That bizarre suggestion may have been slipped into people’s minds ahead of time through the debate being played all across the School Garden. If the supposed opponents were actually in cahoots, they could use their debate to guide the listeners’ thoughts toward whatever conclusion they wanted.

Unlike a speech where one person spoke to the audience, a debate between two people did not let the audience construct their own ideas. The audience was only meant to decide which of the two viewpoints they agreed with. Even if both sides’ ideas were crazy, the audience was forced to choose one or the other. And if both sides were supporting independence with different wordings, what would the audience end up choosing?

(I can’t believe they’re actually trying to hang someone over all those stupid school rules about underwear and deodorant. Too many people here don’t know how to blow off steam, so their frustrations just build up until something lets it explode out like this!!)

“But it’s more than that.”

Yes, they may have contained a bomb ready to blow.

But most any ordinary person was the same. If anyone really was living a truly stress-free life, they were probably unintentionally causing untold amounts of stress for everyone around them.

The current state of affairs required a spark to cause that powder keg to explode.

What had done it?

(I doubt they would explode this readily even with all the small daily frustrations building up. Was it the pressure of suddenly finding themselves trapped up here? Was it the mental backlash of finding themselves freed of the city’s rules? Or is the lower air pressure up here affecting their blood flow?)

No, it wasn’t any of those.

Misaka Mikoto was focused on a specific person. And the technology she held.

“That megaphone is producing more than just sound.”

It depended on the wavelength, but electromagnetic waves were reflected by a lot of things.

That included moisture. Even an invisible mist could have its location and thickness accurately measured from how it reflected those waves. A weather radar used that principle on a larger scale.

(Even simple moisture can make people feel sweaty and subconsciously make them irritable. Add specific chemicals into the mix and it would be even more effective. For example, an ''itching'' compound like a polypeptide or urushiol.)

If something physical had triggered this explosion, it was unlikely words alone could dissuade them now. But grabbing Shokuhou by the collar and forcing her to use Mental Out was a fundamentally flawed idea.

For example, what if Shokuhou used her psychological power on someone under purely chemical general anesthesia? Would they break free of the effects of the halothane or nitrous oxide to get up and walk around on her command? It might be possible to let that arrogant queen smugly push out her oversized chest and solve this, but there was no guarantee. The sample size was too small.

“Well, this sucks.”

Mikoto hated that she still hadn’t gotten the full story out of Yugure Kanaria since she was too weak.

What was the factory she had mentioned?

“Of course, running the School Garden costs money. A very large sum of money. However!! Do we really need the teachers for that!? In case you hadn’t noticed, we have a fair amount of wealth ourselves. Some of us have started our own businesses instead of just using our parents’ money! So again I ask you: do we really need the headmaster and director ordering us around to keep the School Garden running? We do not!! We already have enough money to look after ourselves!! And we know how to make more money! So why compromise and bring the teachers’ dirty money into the mix!? That brings only corruption!!”

Mikoto looked away for a moment and then sighed.

(Yeah, I don’t think Shokuhou can help here.)

Mikoto had been less interested in the #5 herself and more in the Tokiwadai’s largest clique using its superior numbers to solve this, but it didn’t look like they would be able to act right away. For one, Shokuhou would have to protect everyone who idolized her and, even if she did have superior numbers, she would have a hard time protecting all of her people if it came to all-out war. So she wouldn’t make that choice until she saw a real chance at victory.

And even if her clique was the largest in Tokiwadai, that proportion changed when looking at all 5 schools. In a conflict with everyone involved, the Shokuhou Clique would be the hunted minority.

Would Shokuhou and her clique choose to feign agreement with the agitator regardless of what they actually thought? She could even use Mental Out to guide her people’s actions so they didn’t let the truth slip.

Playing the long game like that wasn’t Mikoto’s style, which may have been why she and Shokuhou didn’t get along. Which in turn meant it wasn’t Shokuhou’s style to make the childish choice to immediately battle the harm before her eyes like Mikoto did.

Of course they got irritated whenever they saw each other.

“Anyway.”

Mikoto looked back to the schoolyard.

At this rate, that teacher was going to be execution #1. The students would place the wire around her neck, turn the crank, and hoist her corpse high like a flag to flap in the breeze.

And most likely, once they ''actually'' executed someone, something deep inside the School Garden would break and there would be no stopping them. Whether they woke from this dream or not, the students gathered here wouldn’t be able to trust they were doing the right thing.

And while having trouble breathing, Yugure Kanaria had said she hadn’t been able to stop it. She didn’t need to feel responsible, but if anyone died from this, it would apply even more pressure to the already weakened girl. And to the little sister who had to see her older sister like that.

Mikoto couldn’t just sit idly by and watch.

Shokuhou had her way of doing things, but so did Mikoto.

A strong crackle of electricity burst from her bangs as she made a decision only Tokiwadai’s Ace could make.

“It’s time to jump into the thick of things!! Because preserving life matters more than anything else!!”

===Part 10===

“Phew.”

The dorm manager who ruled Tokiwadai’s outside dorm with an iron fist removed the binoculars from her eyes.

She sighed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been gladder I wasn’t on campus for work.”

If she had been, the angry girls would have captured her and given her the honor of being execution #1. It was necessary for her job, but she knew she had made herself a hated figure among the students.

Your daily actions could come back to bite you.

(Well, I’m sure the director will take care of it. The biggest problem is probably Watanabe-sensei. She holds something of a damsel in distress position despite her age, so I hope she hadn’t been captured.)

===Part 11===

It all happened at once.

Partially because waiting for the count of three would have been too slow to save Akazame-sensei.

“Hm!!”

Misaka Mikoto took control of a metal construction panel a few centimeters thick and bigger than a tatami mat. She magnetically threw it, caught the teacher standing on the gallows 70m ahead, and launched her past the gathered crowd and outside Tokiwadai’s grounds.

Of course…

“We have a traitor!” The agitator’s voice exploded from the megaphone. “We have a traitor among us!! That traitor’s name is Misaka Mikoto!! That Level 5 is here to rescue the filthy teachers so she doesn’t have to give up all the perks those problematic adults granted herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

The girls all turned toward her with fully bloodshot eyes.

(Don’t look at me like you’re diehard fans and I interrupted your concert, dammit!!)

Ironically another trait of these high society girls was a reluctance to be the odd one out no matter the situation.

Mikoto wanted to ask them how they hoped to live a comfortable life when people were shouting “guilty” and pulling out the hanging wire.

As soon as she ran out of the thicket, the artificial woods were blown away. She didn’t have time to determine if it was fire, ice, wind, or rock that had done it. Hundreds of different powers flew her way and destroyed the very scenery

Fortunately, Mikoto didn’t need to defeat everyone gathered around the makeshift gallows.

In fact, everyone other than the agitator were merely schoolmates. Fighting her own side would be a waste of time.

(That means running away is my best bet, but will a magnetically-powered dash really be enough to escape them!?)

Bluish-white sparks scattered from her bangs before the many beams of light could reach her.

Then she jumped 5m straight up, planted her feet on the school wall, and leaped up to the roof.

The attacks immediately ceased.

(They don’t see a need to fix this right away because they can still live their ordinary lives. That’s how the passive acceptance works, so they won’t want to destroy the school that plays a crucial role in those ordinary lives!!)

“Bingo!!”

“''Are you sure about that.''”

She didn’t even have time to gasp.

Her consciousness was rattled by a blow to the side of her head. A heavy weapon had hit her. If she had lost her magnetic control, it would have knocked her clean off the roof.

There was someone up here with her!

“Tch!!”

“Why the surprise? The walls here aren’t perfectly smooth. The contestants at the Climbing World Cup can scale a 15m wall in just a bit over 5s. Plus, we can cheat with our powers.”

Mikoto chose to ignore what this girl said for now. The information might be useful, but she hadn’t searched it out and verified it herself. Anything the enemy said without prompting was too risky to take at face value.

She heard a heavy swishing sound.

They were several meters apart, but that was no reason to relax. The enemy held the megaphone in one hand while her other hand held a rod longer than a mop and twirled it like a baton.

The end of that rod carried the deadly combination of an axe and a spear.

“A halberd?”

“That attack should have taken off your head, but your last-second step forward meant the shaft hit you instead of the blade. Well done, little girl.”

The agitator grinned and slammed the butt of the shaft against the roof.

She looked to be the same age as Mikoto or a year older.

Her shoulder-length red hair was decorated by a tiara inlaid with jewels. A large chest pushed out her blazer uniform.

Her face showed beautiful white skin, but the legs emerging from her short skirt were covered in thick leather. Rather than stockings or tights, these were probably riding breeches.

“Resanerié Sadis Dialine, 3rd year. Tokiwadai Middle School Debate Representative and Equestrian Combat Club Captain. I have more titles, but I needn’t bore you with them, I hope?”

Mikoto decided the debate representative part could be safely ignored.

Another part sounded much more important.

“Equestrian combat club?”

“It’s a minor club, so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it.”

Was that why she wielded the halberd in one hand despite its great size? This wasn’t ordinary spear technique. It was a martial art designed to provide as much power as possible while staying balanced and keeping one hand on the reins at all times.

She held the megaphone in one hand and the halberd in the other.

Resanerié smiled boldly while wielding both the pen and the sword.

“Why the caution? I am no threat to the great Level 5 said to be Tokiwadai’s Ace despite not joining any of our many clubs.”

“You’re awfully self-deprecating for how haughty you look. Don’t you have any confidence in yourself?”

“Shut up, flat chest. You know those probably aren’t growing any more, don’t you?”

“…”

“…”

Misaka Mikoto and Resanerié Sadis Dialine clashed head on.

The agitator wasn’t like the rest of the angry mob.

If Mikoto defeated her, this would end. It might not end as soon as Resanerié was defeated since all 5 debate participants were probably working together, but it would still have a major impact on bringing Tokiwadai back to normal.

Thus, she didn’t hesitate to produce an iron sand sword in her hand.

That sword used its rapid vibration to slice through any substance like a chainsaw and it could also change form at will. Its default form resembled a one-handed sword, but it could also stretch out more like a whip.

However.

“My, my.” The voice that reached Mikoto’s eardrums carried pity. “Is that blatantly self-taught style really enough to handle me?”

“!?”

Orange sparks exploded out.

But Resanerié’s halberd remained intact.

That weapon had a spear, an axe, and a sharp hook on the back of the axe. The iron sand sword caught the thick axe…or it sure looked like it had to Mikoto. But after the burst of sparks, it was Mikoto who staggered back.

Her attack had been deflected.

“Wha-!?”

“You rapidly vibrate the iron sand, so, much like a chainsaw, that sword gains its superb cutting edge by repeatedly cutting at the same spot with miniscule blades.” The redhead smirked. “That cutting edge can never reach my halberd if I deflect it in the instant of a single vibration, before the vibration wave can repeat. What’s wrong, Academy City’s #3? Did you think your weapon was so formidable it couldn’t be countered?”

(Yeah, right. That’s like saying a running chainsaw won’t hurt you if you poke your fingertip against it for just an instant. It’s ridiculous!!)

But the fact remained that her halberd had survived contact with the iron sand sword.

In fact, Resanerié was swinging it toward Mikoto now.

Now that Mikoto had failed to end the battle on her first move, it was Resanerié’s turn.

(What kind of monster is she? How is my power as the #3 not working against her!?)

Just as Mikoto tried to fall back, she felt a tug at her leg.

Resanerié had lowered the halberd’s tip, moved it past Mikoto’s leg, caught the heel side of Mikoto’s ankle with the hook, and yanked hard.

Her weight seemed to vanish as she toppled backwards.

She gave up on preparing for impact with the rooftop. Instead, she magnetically suspended herself in midair for a single second while she curled up, made a full vertical rotation, and pressed her feet against the roof again.

She heard three swooshing sounds in that time.

The halberd tore into the rooftop.

If she had landed safely or hit the roof hard, the sharp tip would have destroyed her vitals. The weapon moved so smoothly, it reminded her more of a chameleon’s tongue than a metal spear.

The redhead girl looked annoyed.

“That’s cheating.”

“How are esper powers cheating in a city of espers!?”

The axe dropped straight down like a lightning bolt.

Mikoto quickly swung her body to the side, but the halberd swooped diagonally back up to pursue her. If she hadn’t doubled over and held down her fluttering skirt, the hook would have caught the cloth.

“So close. I was hoping to strip you naked.”

Of course, it wouldn’t have been anything as harmless as that.

Once you kept your target from moving, they might as well be asking to be killed. Mikoto was done for if she was dragged to the roof by her clothes. Resanerié could jab with her spear or swing down her axe to kill her instantly.

Resanerié easily twirled her halberd.

“Dragging your opponent from their horse and killing them on the ground is the standard tactic for a horseback knight, but with a soldier not wearing full armor, you can instead catch them by their collar and strangle them to death with their own clothing.”

(So you’re going to hook my clothes? How stupid are you!? I’m not going to let you carry out your plan after you explain it to me!!)

A high-pitched whistle left the gap between Resanerié’s alluring lips.

At the same time, Mikoto sent her EM radar from her entire body at full power.

Resanerié made a jab from head on instead of swinging the hook from the side. The sharp spear tip sliced off a few strands of Mikoto’s hair, but that was all. The deadly jab was sharp and heavy, but it failed to find its target and swished through empty air.

Mikoto had finally managed to dodge.

Such a heavy halberd would create a larger opening when it missed, so Mikoto focused on her brow, sent electricity scattering from her bangs, and prepared to launch a counterattack. However…

“''Now the return trip.''”

“Really!?”

The weapon tore through the air again. If Mikoto hadn’t immediately aborted her attack and swung her head in the opposite direction, the axe blade would have caught her on the side of the face as Resanerié pulled it back, tearing off her ear and cheek and leaving nothing to cover half her teeth. Just like pressing a saw against a piece of lumber and pulling it with all your might.

They reassessed the distance between them.

“There is no good translation of halberd in Japanese. Some have tried by inventing compound words like ‘axe-spear’, but I say that fails to adequately describe this weapon.”

All this was done with just the one hand.

Her other hand still held the megaphone she hadn’t even needed to use.

“There are many uniquely Western weapons – the rapier, the dagger, the bastard sword, the pike, the francisca, the morning star, the arbalest, etc. – but the halberd is the most difficult one to learn. Since it can be used as a spear, an axe, and a hook, it can cut, stab, and catch depending on how it is used. It can also be used in a wide variety of contexts: slashing from the ground, stabbing from horseback, or reaching out from a boat and catching the enemy. Even the professional mercenaries gave up trying to master it and invented the inferior battle hook by stripping away everything but the one aspect.”

“…”

“However.”

Mikoto continued watching carefully while Resanerié grinned and twirled the long, heavy halberd like a baton. She did so as casually as a bored student spinning a pen during class.

That showed just how much she had mastered the weapon.

“Any knight who sticks with it and masters its use will become the greatest warrior. I possess an endless number of options, so you can never perfectly predict my actions and I am not so poorly trained that you can dodge when you have to react after the fact.”

(So does her power directly boost her physical strength, or does it control steel or metal?)

Mikoto took a few steps back while carefully judging the distance between them and also making full us use of her mind without letting her thoughts show.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and wanted to believe it wasn’t a cold sweat.

“Are you really planning to keep the School Garden in the sky indefinitely? As some independent state of students beyond the reach of the adults?”

“Heh heh. A wonderful ''new life'' well worth writing in your diary, don’t you think?”

“You can’t be serious. You’ve trapped us in this small world where no one and nothing can get in or out. We might as well all have washed ashore on a desert island. Everyone might be excited now like they just ran away from home, but they will feel the pressure soon enough. I won’t say it’s impossible for people to live without any connection to others, but an isolated life has far more inconveniences than the other way around.”

“I have no interest in a life of riches and plenty. For that matter, is a single student at any of the 5 schools fixated on money? Why would we be when we were all privileged enough to have never experienced poverty?”

“…”

(Or does she have a precog power letting her predict my actions?)

“This will not change the minds of the elites of the School Garden. Especially when I give them a push in the right direction with this.” Resanerié winked and waved the megaphone she held on her other hand. “And it is that lack of interest in direct earnings that prevents the students here from understanding the lengths the adults are willing to go for money. Why rank our powers? Why create an official school caste system that covers the entire city? Because it is a twisted measuring stick the adults use to compare us and determine what research they should fund for the most efficient profit. Isn’t that right, ''#3''?”

“I see. You do have a way with words. Maybe that makes the immediate future look bright, but you aren’t considering what happens a week from now.”

An iron sand sword wasn’t enough.

So should she go with a lightning spear next or skip straight to a Railgun?

To reiterate, Resanerié was still only using one hand.

Mikoto didn’t know how far that girl’s skill went, but she at least had enough skill to concern Academy City’s #3.

(Did she climb the wall without any kind of assistance from her power? Can that even be explained with ordinary physics? Could she have messed with my memory or perception? In fact, could that weird megaphone and how she so easily manipulated everyone in Tokiwadai be related to her power?)

“Oh? Why the wide-eyed look? Are you trying to figure out my power while keeping the damage to a minimum and engaging me in conversation? A valiant attempt, but I’m sorry to say ''I have yet to use my power.''”

“…”

Goose bumps formed all across Mikoto’s skin.

Was Resanerié really twirling that heavy halberd around with just one hand using simple martial arts and no support from her esper power? Even though Mikoto was just barely keeping up while relying heavily on her Level 5 power?

That did not bode well.

The rules would change once Resanerié Sadis Dialine started fighting as an esper. Mikoto had no way of preventing it.

“Now, that should we be enough of a warmup.”

Resanerié licked her lips and squeezed her halberd tight.

“''It’s time to take this seriously.''”

Misaka Mikoto was a Level 5 known as the Railgun for her ability to launch an arcade coin at three times the speed of sound.

That meant she could function at those speeds if she focused her mind.

She was also sending weak microwaves from her upper body as a type of radar, so she would never overlook an incoming object. She had honed that skill to the point that she could accurately detect and shoot down each and every nonmetallic shard sent flying when a bomb exploded.

And yet.

Nevertheless.

“Gahhhhhh ahhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhh ah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

She had no idea how long she had been screaming.

The fury of the blade was so intense she felt like the flow of time had stopped.

She wasn’t sure if it was the halberd’s spear, axe, hook, thick shaft, or butt end that directly struck her.

With a sound like a manual transmission car’s shift lever operating, the redhead in a tiara came to a stop. Her right arm dangled limply at her side.

“Oops. I overdid it and dislocated my shoulder again. That’s what I get for not loosening up the joint with some stretches first.”

But Mikoto could not strike back. She had failed to block the fierce attack, so she had been bloodily pushed over the edge of the roof. She now scattered red as she fell toward the courtyard rather than the schoolyard.

“You’ve taken this prank too far, rich girl.”

“Rich girl? I am not like the rest of you,” calmly replied Resanerié, roughly forcing her shoulder back into the socket with her other hand. “I am Resanerié Sadis Dialine, ''empress of the Dialine Empire in Eastern Europe.'' I wield a different sort of power than you children who hide behind your parents’ backs and show off the silly allowances they give you.”

Tokiwadai’s students came from all sorts of backgrounds. Some came from well-established families with a long history and others were set to take over as president of their parent’s massive corporation. There had even been rumors of an actual princess transferring in.

So was that tiara not something she had donned after the completion of her twisted coup? Maybe it was a national treasure and maybe it was a royal tradition, but she had a reason worth earning an exception to Tokiwadai’s dress code.

The setup for this plan had required the kind of money discussed in national budgets.

The identity of the enemy had been staring Mikoto in the face all along. She had been wrong to dismiss the possibility over a simple “surely not”.

(I can’t believe this girl!)

But that was as far as Mikoto got.

Gravity grabbed at her body and she started plummeting straight down.

She really might have died there if she hadn’t just barely managed to hang onto consciousness and magnetically pulled herself toward the school’s wall as she fell.

“Gahh!!”

The difficulty breathing and the dizziness were worse than the pain.

She checked her injuries and tied a handkerchief around her leg.

(Gh. I don’t need to settle this right away. I achieved my goal when I rescued Akazame-sensei from being hanged! I need to make myself scarce.)

“She’s over here, over here, over herrrrrre!”

The agitator’s amplified voice shouted from the rooftop overhead. Resanerié didn’t seem interested in jumping down and pursuing Mikoto herself.

The halberd was not her only weapon.

The megaphone in her other hand said more.

“The traitor Misaka Mikoto has fallen into the courtyard!! If you believe in independence, then lend us a hand by killing herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

Unnatural stars twinkled in the blue sky.

No, those were esper powers dropping back down after being launched up like arrows from the schoolyard. This threat was one of pure numbers.

Mikoto had no choice but to turn tail and run.

“Damn!!”

“Did you think the threat had passed because you rescued one measly teacher.”

The dirt was torn up and launched higher than Mikoto’s head.

A mocking voice called out from the roof behind her.

“All I need to do is catch someone else and place them on the gallows!! ''It does not matter to me who we kill first''. Ah ha ha. Do you have any idea how many teachers there are in the School Garden as a whole? And at 5000m up, they can only run so far. We have you outnumbered, so we will hunt them down eventually. With no avenue of escape, we will seek out every last teacher, so do you really think you can save them all, Misaka Mikoto!?”

(This sucks!! She really understands how to lay on the pressure and tighten the screws!!)

===Part 12===

Atop Tokiwadai Middle School’s roof, the empress with shoulder-length red hair, white skin, riding breeches below her uniform skirt, and a tiara on her head looked upon the world below her.

Misaka Mikoto was gone, but it seemed unlikely the girl would attempt a freefall from an altitude of 5000m without any kind of preparation.

“Hm.”

“Empress.”

Resanerié had not called for them, but four people had appeared on the roof with her. They stayed close enough to protect her from anything without ever obstructing her view.

Her attorney, Tougyo Kea.

Her maid, Renka Ephilty.

Her accountant, Sanki Ai.

Her chef, Shitatsuzumi Yoshiko.

Including Empress Resanerié herself, they were the debate representatives from the five schools. They had originally been ordinary(?) girls from the School Garden. Maybe she had wanted to fight back against her retainers back in the empire, but she had ended up with her own servants here.

Tougyo Kea, the attorney in a fancy suit, respectfully bowed her head and asked a question.

As a defense attorney, she used debate as a weapon just as well as the empress.

“What should we do now?”

“Let’s see.”

Tougyo may have hoped Resanerié would order them to chase after Mikoto.

But now was not the time to release the hounds.

“Spending too much on this problem would only weigh us down.”

Resanerié held something about the size of a grape between her fingers. It was probably a jelly bean.

“These are good. How do you make them?”

“They are nothing special. By instantly injecting the gum syrup while ''pressurized to around 100 thousand atmospheres'', the flavor can permeate it while ignoring the osmotic pressure.”

The chef’s murmured response made the maid, Renka Ephilty, sigh.

She didn’t like how Shitatsuzumi Yoshiko’s artisanal spirit meant she had to verbally explain each dish after it was eaten. Even though they were technically from their schools’ respective debate teams.

But their individual tastes were irrelevant as long as they could put a smile on their empress’s face.

“If she insists on running, we can use that to our advantage. Identify any students in your schools that look obedient but you doubt really are. Ask them to pursue Misaka Mikoto and if they show any reluctance, send them to be executed as traitors. That should make a decent loyalty test.”

“Do you have anyone in mind within Tokiwadai?” asked Attorney Tougyo Kea.

Resanerié did not hesitate to respond.

“I think I will start with Shokuhou Misaki and her clique and then add a few more after them.”

“What a shame. They would make powerful allies,” said Accountant Sanki Ai who only ever viewed things numerically.

“Fool. You mustn’t hesitate if you want to avoid being killed in your sleep.”

Just as Resanerié Sadis Dialine responded, something sprinkled from her hand. That was all that remained of her seemingly indestructible halberd. Its powerful silhouette was nowhere to be found. Only the red rust powder scattering in the wind.

“What a pain. I thought stainless steel wasn’t supposed to rust. It’s the same story with steel, aluminum, and bronze. I really wish I had a more permanent partner by now.”

“It is resistant to rust, not immune to it. And that is how your power works, so you just need to accept it.”

“True,” sighed Resanerié, scratching her head with one hand, realizing she still had rust powder in that hand, and drooping her shoulders.

Maid Renka Ephilty quickly pulled out a towel.

“E-Empress, if you want a metal that won’t rust, why not create a pure gold halberd next?”

“Why would I create a weapon out of such a soft metal? Besides, it would be ''meaningless'' that way.”

Resanerié rejected the idea and then looked to the courtyard again.

She had lost her halberd, but she was not emptyhanded. Her other hand held the megaphone with a trigger power switch. That device was designed to secretly send out a fine mist containing an itching component along with its highly directional noise.

She was not above using tricks.

Charisma was just one weapon in a true monarch’s arsenal. No one could run an entire nation with nothing but talent and luck.

“The halberd is not my ''only'' weapon, Misaka Mikoto. You might be in a more difficult situation than me.”

===Part 13===

Mikoto had escaped Tokiwadai’s grounds, but she couldn’t relax yet.

“Damn. I really wish I had some of that Judgment hemostatic cream.”

She viewed her various injuries and clicked her tongue. Tying cloths around the wounds to stanch the bleeding wouldn’t be enough.

But she couldn’t rely on the others either. She wasn’t acting alone this time. She had to think about Shirai, Uiharu, Saten, and Yugure Kanaria, who they had only just rescued from deep underground. If she fled straight back to them, someone could tail her back to the hideout.

The School Garden was functioning surprisingly well. The buildings hadn’t collapsed and the windows hadn’t shattered. The underground infrastructure for electricity, gas, and water had to have been cut off, but the modifications to the ground must have accounted for that.

Mikoto glanced up at the solar panels on top of a nearby traffic light and building roof.

(I see. So they’re using solar for electricity. They might move below rainclouds for water, but what about gas? We might last a while with the big propane tanks found out behind restaurants.)

But one thing was hopelessly insufficient: people.

The Western-style stone-paved streets were empty.

Assuming Resanerié hadn’t been bluffing, then it was primarily the teachers being rounded up for execution. But with a mob of high-level espers roaming in search of victims, the other adults weren’t going to be manning the registers right now.

Besides, Resanerié’s group had no real reason to faithfully stay true to their word. It could all fall apart on a whim at any time.

(But where did the adults disappear to? And what about the kids here for entrance exams? Well, they might not be willing to tell me since I would look like any other student to them.)

Since the School Garden only accepted high-level Espers, it was possible the teachers had secret shelters built into the schools. There had to still be a fair number of Anti-Skill officers here too, but they had to worry about ammunition and fuel in a way espers didn’t. Without backup, it was unlikely they could suppress an angry mob of more than 1000 high-level espers from the 5 schools.

“?”

Mikoto’s shoulders shook.

Footsteps sounded awfully loud with the streets so empty. She used magnetism to jump up to the roof of a stone building.

Someone was running along the road below.

“Nwohhhhh!! Where are you, Misaka-san!? Where are you Misaka-san!? Where are you, Misaka-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!”

(Yikes, it’s Kongou-san. I have nothing against her and I know she’s not a bad person, but she really needs to be less impressionable! She has a real knack for tearing down all the goodwill she’s spent so much time and energy building up!)

Mikoto facepalmed at the Japanese-style black-haired girl’s behavior.

Kongou Mitsuko’s Aero Hand let her create air ejection points on any object she touched, so she could be a lot of trouble if she played her cards right. She could apparently launch a broadcast tower into the stratosphere, so she had Mikoto’s Railgun beat when it came to simple attack range. Since the School Garden was currently an isolated space located high in the sky, Kongou could start wearing her down with projectile attacks and finally knock her over the edge into the 5000m abyss of the sky.

On the other hand, Kongou’s power was limited to that side of things.

She could not cheat and locate her target using precognition or clairvoyance, so she wasn’t a threat as long as Mikoto hid from her.

The bigger problem was…

(An esper who can cheat like that.)

“Hee hee. I heard that, Misaka-sama.”

“Damn!”

Hearing a voice in her head, Mikoto spun around and saw a bob cut girl smiling and waving from the building across the road Kongou had run down.

That was Kobayashi Satori of the Shokuhou Clique.

Wasn’t she a telepath who gained a general sense of where someone she was “connected” to was located!?

(But I’m pretty sure Kobayashi-san’s power has a range limit. And she can’t move very fast. I can lose her if I move to a building two or three streets down!!)

“Perhaps, but I can hear every word you think while connected to you. It is possible to divide your thoughts into ones I can hear and ones I cannot, so how about we hold a study group later on? Also, I may not be much of a fighter myself, but that is why I generally provide communications support for our vanguard.”

''Crash!!!

The entire stone building shook below Mikoto.

Wait a second.

The wireless fire alarm should have warned Mikoto if the only door onto the roof had opened, but she hadn’t sensed anything. Then how had that “crash” come from the very center of the roof? The building was surrounded by wide roads and the rooftop itself was a 40m square. So where had that “crash” jumped from and how had it landed there!?

“Uh, oh.”

Mikoto hesitantly turned around again.

In the center of the square roof, a girl with gorgeous ringlets was crouched on one knee, presumably the pose she had landed in. Electricity crackled through her hair, but it was being ''used'' in a very different way from Mikoto’s.

She was the second in command of the Shokuhou Clique, the largest clique in Tokiwadai.

She fully specialized in physical combat, she acted as her Queen’s bodyguard, and she probably worked to defeat that Queen’s enemies as well.

(This is really bad!!)

“Hokaze…-san!?”

“I do apologize, Misaka-sama.”

She wasn’t even smiling.

She was unarmed, but that was no reason to let your guard down. Her Rampage Dress used weak electrical signals to push her muscles past their limits, so that extreme grappler could fold up a black bulletproof car with her bare hands. And she had to be well aware of how destructive she could be.

Kobayashi Satori had already completed her job.

She had only needed to accurately guide Hokaze Junko to Misaka Mikoto’s coordinates.

“But the Queen’s ‘optimization’ is absolute☆”

The wind roared and the concrete cracked when the girl simply stepped forward.

Mikoto scattered some bright electricity to dazzle Hokaze, but she also jumped from the edge of the roof. She gained nothing by getting into an extended battle with that monster. And her recent experience with that halberd had taught her she had trouble with martial artists.

If Hokaze caught her, it was all over.

That monster left even the #3 Railgun thinking that.

At least I can move through the air more freely than her! I just have to move to another building’s wall or rooftop to put some distance between-)

“Hee hee hee.”

“…”

That laughter was close.

How was it so close!?

Mikoto was using magnetism to leap to the building across the street 30m below, but the laughter sounded an awful lot like it came from right by her ear!?

“Are you serious? You can do that with leg strength alone!?”

“Yes, I am very serious☆”

With a loud crash, Hokaze’s fist dropped straight down, altering Mikoto’s trajectory and sending her hurtling toward the temporary ground like an artillery shell. And that was after Mikoto magnetically tore a sign from a building wall and used it as a shield. A direct hit may have literally caused her body to explode.

Magnetism was a wonderful thing. She could still move thanks to decelerating herself with that.

“E-eek!! What is with this post-apocalyptic genocide dimension? I’m never making myself visible again!! I’m staying in the safety of my own personal flower garden!!”

Mikoto heard a voice coming from seemingly empty air.

The Shokuhou Clique seemed to have its own issues, but Mikoto couldn’t focus on that at the moment.

“Don’t worry. If you want to run away, then get to it. I won’t attack unless you attack me first.”

“Bff!? Turning invisible is the only thing I have going for me and your microwave radar can see right through it!?”

Mikoto heard the dull sound of scraping concrete from up above.

Electricity crackled from her bangs. She maybe could have intercepted Hokaze with a lightning spear if the girl had dropped straight down, but Hokaze instead kicked off multiple walls to bounce around like a pinball and take an unpredictable route down. Rolling out of the way was the most Mikoto could manage.

(Damn. She uses hers different, but she is an electric esper, so can she predict my actions by sensing the faint magnetic and EM fluctuations!?)

Mikoto could not sense when Hokaze switched her power on and off. Maybe it was a natural talent on Hokaze’s part, or maybe Shokuhou had demanded she develop a few trump cards for use in a fight against Mikoto. Knowing Shokuhou Misaki, probably the latter.

Where was the scheming she-fox anyway!?

“H-Hokaze-san? Um, is it all possible we could have a civil discussion over tea instead?”

“I am sorry. It pains me to say this, but the Queen has decided to see how this plays out and has ordered us to play along with the bizarre things going on, so the clique has been tasked with capturing you to earn the trust of the independents led by Resanerié-sama.”

“If you feel bad, could you maybe not attack quite so fiercely? If those had hit me, I would have died.”

“My lack of hesitation likely comes from the ‘optimization’ the Queen provided to lessen the psychological burden from the fear of death and the pressure brought on by the current situation. …Oh?”

“?”

“How strange. I have this unusual fluttering in my chest and it seems I am dying to fight you. Wh-what has come over me? Oh, dear. Oh, my. Pant, pant. Ahh, I so want to surpass my limits as a person by dancing the dance of death with you! I can’t seem to help myself!!”

“Why would you do this to me now, Shokuhou you she-fooooooooooooooooooooooox!?”

===Part 14===

That extreme battle was shaking the ground and blasting the air.

While everyone was focused on that and directing their main fighting force there, Shokuhou Misaki walked down the European street unharassed. She was still leading the 12-year-old girl by the hand, but the girl had a blank look in her eyes and her mind had been altered so she did nothing more than obediently walk in the direction she was led by the hand.

“Everyone seems to be overlooking it because of how chilly it is, but the UV rays are strong up here. Far worse even than on Mount Fuji, so I’m glad I secured some suntan lotion as my top priority☆”

Her Mental Out was practically a cheat code when it came to other people, but it left her extremely vulnerable to nonhuman enemies like machines and military dogs.

In that sense…

(It was lucky the School Garden’s security cameras were vulnerable to the changing temperature and pressure at an altitude of 5000m.)

However, she hadn’t confirmed that every single security camera on the streets had malfunctioned. Whenever she spotted a camera, she had to observe it from a distance and confirm its lens wasn’t adjusting its focus before she could keep going.

And while traveling carefully through the School Garden like that…

“I see. So this is where you were hiding☆”

The food trucks that were everywhere on event days would function as sheltered hideouts without including any of the security cameras linked to the School Garden’s security servers. They would normally have a drive recorder in the front and back, but those would have been removed to meet the School Garden’s demands for any vehicle entering from outside.

In other words, Resanerié’s group could not see inside.

Shirai Kuroko pulled a metal dart from her thigh belt while holding her breath inside, but she poked her head above the counter on the side when she realized who it was.

“Geh. Shokuhou Misaki.”

“Does this mean they’ve found us. Umm, Shirai-san!?”

“Hey, there isn’t much room, Saten-san, so quit moving around. Hot, hot! The hot water for the cup yakisoba is spilling on me!?”

They appeared to be enjoying a sad meal chock full of preservatives and artificial flavors. Shokuhou refused to eat anything but natural ingredients, so those complex chemical equations looked like long-term suicide to her. And how were they making cup noodles when the reduced pressure of their high altitude would have shifted the boiling point of water?

“No need to freak out. First, I wanted to return this girl to you.”

Shokuhou aimed her remote and then the girl gasped.

And…

“Onee-chan!!”

Tsumebakei’s face lit up when she saw Kanaria weakly emerge from the food truck. Shokuhou narrowed her eyes when she saw the small girl spread her arms and run right into her sister.

She showed her face as a girl rather than as the Queen.

“Onee-chan, Onee-chan!!”

“Now, now. Don’t cry, Hoatzin. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Sniff, sniff. That’s Onee-chan’s scent. You’re so warm and soft! You really are the best. Hee hee. No one is as huggable as you!!”

Gradually growing more and more worried, Saten decided to interject.

“W-wait. I thought this was an emotional reunion, so why is it starting to feel uncomfortably Shirai-y?”

But Kanaria herself only seemed to be the doting big sister type.

Shirai brushed her twintail back from her shoulder.

“Heh. People are born with a love of their Onee-sama, search long and hard throughout life for something better, and always return to their Onee-sama in the end. That girl appears to have already arrived at the truth of her soul. She shows real promise for such a young girl.”

“Riiiiight. Can we get down to business please?”

Noticing the conversation derailing to the ends of the universe, Tokiwadai’s Queen cut in.

Shirai frowned.

“Business? What are you even doing here? And without your bodyguard Hokaze-san, I notice.”

“Oh, Hokaze is over thataway, working hard to keep me and this girl safe. Otherwise I never could have made it all this way without Resanerié’s group noticing, even if I was dodging all the security cameras. And since it wouldn’t count as a crime when done in self-defense during an emergency, she earns a perfect score if she happens to accidentally kill Misaka-san while she’s at it☆” It was unclear how serious Shokuhou was as she (seriously) said that, but then she shrugged. “At first glance, it looks like everything is going according to plan for Resanerié Sadis Dialine, but that isn’t actually true, is it? She loses points for having to rush in and silence someone who stumbled onto her secret, she loses further points for allowing anyone to notice that took place, and she loses major points for failing to silence that person and allowing her to be rescued. Do you see where I am going with this?”

Uiharu gulped.

“Y-you mean the Achilles heel of her plan was out where someone could see it? So we just need to know what Kanaria-san saw underground and why she was attacked!!”

Everyone turned toward the Tokiwadai 2nd year who was Mikoto’s classmate and belonged to the newspaper club.

Mikoto had said she would be extremely powerful if she used her power right. And that she had a very strong sense of justice and was afflicted with a super slow-motion curse.

“My, my. It was a factory,” began Yugure Kanaria while letting her huggy sister hug away. “If all they wanted to do was artificially reinforce the School Garden’s ground so it would survive floating in the sky, they would only need to fill it with the cubes of lightweight aluminum alloy used for megafloats, right? My, my. But the space down there was filled with passageways and rooms. That means it was more than just a foundation. That space was added for some kind of purpose. Namely, as a factory.”

She had mentioned this factory back when she was first rescued.

The question was what that factory was meant to do.

“Resanerié’s independents are using two different ideas to bind the thoughts of the School Garden’s students. The first is active acceptance. By painting the teachers and researchers as evil, they have created a fictional enemy to bring the students together. Even though it, well, isn’t clear if the adults really are doing all those bad things.”

Kanaria hugged Tsumebakei like a stuffed animal.

“The other is passive acceptance. The students can continue their usual lives even after the School Garden has declared independence and the adults have been removed. That makes it look like accepting the status quo is the smarter decision compared to resisting and possibly coming to harm. Even if people see a lost child crying next to a long line, will they want to waste all the time they have spent in line to help? My, my. Deep down, they know it is wrong, but as long as enough people are convinced that not protesting is the smart thing to do, Resanerié can keep the crowds quiet. That is the basic principle behind a dictatorship where a minority ruling class controls the majority.”

Some might wonder why a middle schooler could discuss the “basic principle” behind such a dangerous world, but there was a simple answer: Tokiwadai also taught about ''dictatorships and how to psychologically control people.''

Anyone who opposed the executions would be treated like they were wicked people agreeing with the many incidents where the scientists had caused so much harm and had it all covered up by the city’s leaders, so the majority would decide it was smarter to keep any more extreme opinions to themselves.

They would show neither agreement nor disagreement with what was happening, but in the end, that was the same as letting it happen.

“Quite the dictatorship we’ve got here,” said Shokuhou. “It sounds silly, but it’s effective. She has done her homework on human psychology.”

“A-are you kidding me? How is this living their usual lives? If they really do execute someone as a group, then they will all be guilty of murder!”

“Which is exactly why the people who provided support at any stage along the way need to protect the dictatorship that protects them from any law or international treaty they might have broken☆ They won’t be able to take a step outside of these narrow borders without getting arrested. If she successfully sets up a situation where the students have to insist what other countries consider to be evil is considered patriotism in their own country, then those students will be forced to keep up the farce forever.”

“But that isn’t possible,” said Yugure Kanaria.

Everyone turned toward the girl who had witnessed something definitive.

“I don’t see how that factory can possibly be enough. I don’t know if the design was flawed to begin with or if there was some trouble and they couldn’t acquire the necessary machinery in time, but they can’t do it. Based on what I saw down there – my, my – they cannot keep the promises they have made everyone.”

“S-so what exactly is this factory?” hesitantly asked Uiharu. “I don’t see how a factory fits into any of this.”

“Do you remember how the passive acceptance works? My, my. Resanerié’s group says they can preserve everyone’s usual lives without the adults, so the students decide it is best to stay silent for now.”

“What about it?”

“My, my. There are certain necessities for people to live their lives.” Yugure Kanaria approached the crux of the issue. “That vast underground space contains a combination of an artificial vegetable factory and a clone meat factory like the ones found in Academy City’s agricultural buildings. But its specs are not nearly enough to support everyone in the School Garden. That is why they need these executions. I think they hope to solve the problem by reducing the number of mouths to feed.”

Reducing the number of mouths.

That phrase made it hard to believe they were talking about the present day.

What year was it?

Shokuhou Misaki didn’t shy away from harsher thoughts, so she decided to get the ball rolling again.

“Do you have actual data supporting this?”

“R-right here.”

Even with her super slow motion curse, Kanaria seemed intimidated into action by a direct question from the #5.

She hesitantly reached into the chest of her uniform and pulled out a long piece of plastic a bit bigger than a pencil lead case.

It was a digital voice recorder used when doing journalism work for the newspaper club.

Her phone would be able to record voices as well, but everyone would be on the lookout for something everyone carried. The separate device was useful for making a show of switching off her phone while using the voice recorder in secret.

But that wasn’t what mattered this time.

“I found a console in the factory and copied the facility’s specs onto the recorder’s flash memory. My, my. All the detailed numbers might seem confusing, but if you convert it into a graph, it shouldn’t take long to notice the production and consumption rates are out of balance.”

“Let me see that,” said Uiharu Kazari, pulling out her PDA. “I can reveal this to everyone no matter what security they have in place. It looks like the School Garden’s intranet is functioning, so let’s use this to open everyone’s eyes to the truth.”

===Part 15===

“…No.”

The case didn’t directly affect her.

But it still led her to realize the truth.

“No.”

He couldn’t speak for himself.

He couldn’t even form facial expressions.

But everyone knew he was a living being with a mind of his own.

And yet….

“I’ll take care of him. I’ll take care of everything! So please don’t pull the plug! He didn’t do anything wrong! So please wait! Please!!”

It was over before she knew it.

It only happened because he showed no sign of recovery and caring for him indefinitely was considered a waste of money and personnel. Well, that and his genes weren’t considered valuable enough. That was all it took for a life to be lost.

That was when she realized the truth.

She realized it all had to do with what the doctors found most convenient.

Yes. And if that was how the adults did things, wouldn’t they also throw out her and her fellow students in the end?

“Hm?”

Hearing a splashing sound, the redheaded empress blinked drowsily and pulled her face back out of the bathwater.

“Oops. I feel asleep in the bath.”

She must have been even more exhausted than she had thought. Or maybe the thinner oxygen and stronger UV rays of the 5000m altitude were getting to her. Maybe she should have expected this exhaustion when the plan had run into a series of snags before it even got off the ground.

She had taken a bath to help refresh herself, but it had only sapped her of more strength. She languidly pulled herself out of the tub and walked to the dressing room where she lazily dried off and dressed in a new set of clothes.

(You fools. The blouse still smells of starch.)

She wore a Tokiwadai winter uniform with riding breeches below the skirt.

She already had a new halberd ready. Based on the feel and the heft, it appeared to be a titanium alloy, but not even that would last 10 minutes if she went all out.

That weapon symbolized her position in the equestrian combat club.

She twirled it like a baton and rested it on her shoulder before placing the tiara on her wet hair, leaving the shower room’s dressing room, and walking down the school hallway.

She spotted her attorney in a fancy suit.

“Where is Misaka Mikoto? I heard she was battling the Shokuhou Clique after we sent them after her as a loyalty test, but what became of that?”

“Th-that’s the thing…”

“If that hasn’t flushed her out like we wanted, then use a hostage. Capture some teacher or another and prepare her for execution. Announce the time of the execution over the speakers and Misaka Mikoto is sure to show up to stop it.”

“It isn’t that.” The attorney sounded unusually flustered. “She appears to be headed this way.”

“?”

“Misaka Mikoto and the Shokuhou Clique are still fighting while constantly on the move. B-but they appear to be charging toward Tokiwadai to drag us into their fight as well!!”

===Part 16===

===Part 17===

===Part 18===

===Part 19===

===Part 20===

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{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Railgun_Chapter3|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Railgun_Epilogue}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4

2022-06-19T23:45:48Z

SandyBoi: Undo revision 576589 by Rxls (talk)

IndexVSDRRR Crossover Ikebukuro Chapter

2021-05-10T12:53:33Z

SandyBoi: Undo revision 568201 by Rxls (talk)

==Ikebukuro Chapter==
Translation: botman/Dracoslayer123

Edit/Proofread: Dracoslayer123/Pablusky/SandyBoi/Fullmetal
===Part 1===

Tokyo | Ikebukuro | Summer

"Such misfortune..."

Kamijou Touma, under the sweltering sun, spoke his catchphrase.

However, there was just one thing that was different from normal.

He was neither in his usual stage known as "Academy City,” nor in the sky above Russia, nor in the eternal darkness made by the Magic God.

It was a place that wasn't that far from Academy City. He was in a city only a few kilometers to the northeast of one of the entrances of the "Outer Wall.”

Ikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo.

Although it couldn't compare to Academy City, Kyoto, or Akihabara, it was one of the most famous cities in Japan.

"Ikebukuro, huh... Come to think of it, I don't think I've been to many cities in Japan apart from Academy CIty..."

Kamijou deliberately added the word "Japanese" because he remembered that he had been to several cities outside of Japan in just the past few months. It was ironic that he had never been to a much closer city in Japan, yet he had been to Russia and Italy.

"Though if I wanted to shop, I could just do it in Academy City..."

At that moment, something similar to a news commentary could be heard from the side.

"...President to be at the summit..."

When he turned around toward the sound, he saw a prototype laptop displayed in an electrical appliance store, converting the news images from the TV to high definition and then broadcasting them.

The news of the summit between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Japan came on, and at that time, Kamijou tilted his head and said,

"Huh? He’s not that old guy?"

After a while, Kamijou, surprised at the appearance of a man who looked nothing like the Hispanic president Kamijou had known, suddenly noticed something and said,

"His approval rating didn’t drop because of that incident in Denmark...right?"

After he spoke with such anxiety, he heard a sudden beeping sound in his head.

Then, in the next instant, he had a question about what he had just said.

Huh?

"That incident in Denmark…” What was that again?

"Well, that old guy was really one of a kind... I guess he finally got the sack."

Kamijou, who easily accepted his acquaintance's sacking even while cocking his head in worry, started walking forward, and then sighed deeply once again.

"Why on earth would I want to spend my hard-earned days off on something that feels like what an envoy would do?"

In the bag hanging from his hand, there was a cylindrical protective case made of stainless steel and some sort of cushioning material.

It seemed to have been found at a station at Academy City, and after being bounced between various organizations, it ended up in the hands of the troubled Kamijou as usual. And now it had to be sent back to Ikebukuro.

“Anyway, all you have to do is casually walk around with it. It’s bound to be reclaimed soon enough thanks to the law of causality.”

"At least, that's what Birdway said, but I really don't get it. That bartender guy beat me up so bad yesterday that I can't even straighten my back anymore, and she had the nerve to oh-so-politely help me fill out my application to exit Academy City? No matter how you think about it, it can’t be anything other than her using me. Speaking of which, isn’t she spending way more time in Japan than in England…?”

Whining, Kamijou took a look at the box. There were signs that it had already been opened, but there was no way to know if the person who found it had drunk any of the "something" inside. As the transporter, Kamijou, who was a minor, didn't even think about the option of "drinking" the thing.

"Ahhh, seriously, will there never be a chance for me to relax other than on a hospital bed...?"

Beside the sighing Kamijou, one of his classmates opened his mouth with a happy smile.

"Don't say that, Kami-yan. I'm looking forward to it, you know? Ikebukuro is filled with a different flavor of chaos than Akihabara. The mere mention of the word "Otome Road" alone transforms my heart into a great-journey-gangster-gold-mine!"

The boy who spoke such nonsense was none other than Aogami Pierce.

Just as his nickname suggested, he was a blue-haired boy with perpetually closed eyes and pierced ears.

Although this bad friend of his had also applied to leave Academy City, it seemed as if he had applied to go out in the name of "external training experience instead of supplementary lessons," and in order to meet the requirements, he had to have a tutoring partner.

"Anyway, I'm going to leave the tutoring to you… or should I?"

As Kamijou expressed his unease, another fellow student smirked mischievously at him.

"Nyaa~ As soon as I said I was going to Ikebukuro, my step-sister told me to "hurry up and go to the butler cafe to have the essence of a gentleman carved into your spine." But before that, I should pop into a cosplay cafe, and in there, I'll think about world peace and the safety of my sister: that's the real essence of being a gentleman!"

The upbeat boy with dyed blonde hair and a Hawaiian shirt was Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

These three were a group of delinquents known as the "Delta Force" (“Idiot Trio”), famous among their classmates in a very small subsection of Academy City. Because Kamijou was always covered in blood, their characteristically red, blue, and yellow colors may have given them the nickname "Academy City's traffic light trio."

Those three were striding through the streets of Ikebukuro, but--

"Anyway, the subway to Ikebukuro was surprisingly crowded..."

The moment Kamijou said that, he noticed something strange—

Huh?

Subway?

That was strange. Was it even possible to reach Ikebukuro by subway from Academy City?

The last time he was able to leave Academy City so easily was that time on the beach in Kanagawa—

He was pretty sure...that leaving the city would require walking through the ‘gate’.

Kamijou, who had been repeatedly manipulated by various organizations, had gone to many countries like England and Italy through questionable means, having even been thrown out of planes, needing to stick a parachute landing. That was why he didn't think there was any point in formalities like "having to walk out through the gate" at all.

However, even so, he didn't think there was such a thing as being able to leave Academy City using the subway.

In order to go outside, students had to prepare an application and a guarantor. Before they went out, they had to accept the procedure of getting a nano transmitter injected into their bodies.

They say the extra security protocols were countermeasures against industrial espionage, but to students, it gave the illusion that Academy City was actually a prison and that they were applying for parole. Therefore, was it even possible that they could’ve gone through all of that and not remember any of it?

That... Eh?

In the first place, why didn’t he realize something so important until now?

Anyway, what was today’s date again?

He realized that even such simple facts had become so vague for him and was suddenly filled with unease.

"Hey, hey, it's not like we’ve been hit by some mind-altering magic or psychological esper power, right?"

Kamijou touched his head with his right hand just to be on the safe side, but didn't seem to notice any significant change.

After all, his right hand could dispel any supernatural ability and restore the world to its proper form. If his right hand, named "Imagine Breaker," touched it, any illusion or the like should have been dispelled at once. However, it seemed like his memories and vision haven't been tampered with.

He began to relax about that, but then another bout of unease arose.

"I don't think I went through any procedure, no matter how much I try to think about it. I don't even think I took a subway at all..."

Was this really Ikebukuro? He looked around in a panic, wondering if he had mistakenly gone to the downtown area of District 15.

Then, in just a few seconds, he found a subway station entrance marked "Ikebukuro station.”

"Huh? Am I even more tired than I had realized…?"

Looking at Kamijou, who was breaking out in cold sweat, Tsuchimikado whispered quietly.

"(Calm down nyaa~ Kami-yan. I also feel like something is out of place here.)"

"(Hey now, don't tell me it's some trick you Anglicans are pulling!? If I get taken away somewhere again, I'm actually going to be held back a grade at this point...)"

“(If that were the case, I wouldn't have done any of this. I would have just kidnapped you quickly, nyaa. In any case, if this is some kind of attack, panic is what they would want you to feel, so pretend like you’re totally fine. This is perfectly normal, okay?)"

"(What about Aogami Pierce?)"

Kamijou focused on his friend who was just an ordinary person, despite being an esper, and Tsuchimikado straight up gave a thumbs up.

"(That’s not a problem, nya. He’s an idiot, so he probably has no inkling as to what’s really happening!)"

"(Wait, that's true.)"

Saying something like that made one wonder if they were really friends—

Aogami Pierce suddenly stopped and said to Kamijou and Tsuchimikado.

"Hmm? By the way, we never went through the “gate,” did we?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe this guy just said it aloud!"

"Nyaa!! This guy really can't get with the program!"

Faced with inexplicable spite from his two evil friends, Aogami Pierce silently clenched his fists and prepared to defend himself while not even knowing why.

"Wait a minute! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I can definitely at least read the mood! Say if some president’s voluptuous secretary, who’s wearing glasses and has an air of maturity, and some depressed-looking, blonde, Nordic girl appeared in front of my eyes, even if they looked like mother and daughter, I would politely say "did you sisters come to see the sights around here?" while desperately fantasizing about those two as my older and younger sister. See, I can read the mood on that level of making a paradigm shift and turning it into a paradise shift!"

He was probably trying to say that he could be polite enough to refer to an older woman as much younger than she actually is, but the entire message was soiled by his later words.

"As expected from Aogami Pierce. Choosing to be the middle sibling of three instead of being a lover—I'm impressed by the depth of your skills."

"The moment you use the words "depressed-looking" and "president's voluptuous secretary" while trying to explain how you can be polite to women, you’re just proving that you really can’t read the mood…”

"No, that’s the key. By imagining our positions in detail, we can make our delusions more realistic and our hearts more satisfied."

“Oh, I see you know your stuff! See, I’ve already fantasized away and came up with this. The two sisters are actually assassin sisters who were sent here to kill me, but thanks to that lucky pervert Kami-yan, they got their breasts fondled somehow, and as a result of their mental shock, the brainwashing that had been placed on them got lifted, and the plot of escaping their evil organization begins! Then, 80 years later, surrounded by a total of 128 heroines that I met in my journeys, including eternally young mothers, maid robots, and shota step brothers, I die from pure moe overload!

“That’s a surprisingly long life you live in that fantasy… More than that, don’t just casually put other people inside your own perverted fantasies!”

"Though, Aogami Pierce... in order to differentiate each person, it's important to set up costumes for everyone! Also, is there really a need for the "shota step brothers" thing, nyaa?"

"What are you talking about! I've said this before, but no matter if its a step sister, a stepmother, a stepdaughter, twins, widows, (omitted), soldiers, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, (omitted), non-humans, ghost girls, or animal-eared girls, I can accept them all! As long as you feel attraction, trivialities like gender cease to matter, don’t they?"

“Well, homosexuality is indeed a form of love, but the moment you do anything with a child, it’s a crime whether or not you’re a man or a woman.”

“Mmmm, and the dream that allows us to bypass the wall known as the law is called the second dimension. After all, I firmly believe that as long as it’s only in 2D, even lolis and shotas are totally acceptable. Of course, if you bring that dream over into the 3D world, you’re really suspicious.”

“You know, I had a phase where I thought like that as well, but now that I’ve seen some guy who manages to build a harem with every single girl in his class, his loli teacher who looks like she’s still in grade school, some little nun he found somewhere, and the ojou-samas in some fancy middle school, I’ve come to realize that the wall between 2D and 3D is basically nonexistent.”

“Exactly. And then he always uses the “I like older women” card to spread the fake news that he doesn’t have a harem or anything like that, like he’s some kind of messenger from hell! What’s more, even though there should be no way he could develop a relationship with her, he’s been calling my sister by her first name from the very start, nyaa!”

"Hey, watch it."

Because the debate seemed to be perpetually ongoing and because he felt like he was being insulted to his face, Kamijou decided to change the subject by voicing a concern he had had for some time now.

"Anyway... Who in the world are you?"

The three of them focused their attention to one place where there was a man who had somehow so naturally joined the conversation.

"Ah, hey guys. I'm Yumasaki Walker."

The teen, who seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type, cheerfully gave out his name.

"Wow, to see the Kamijou Touma in the flesh, it's such an honor to meet you!"

===Part 2===

Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory.

A young woman strongly felt that something was very wrong.

The shape of a certain city on Earth had become completely different from what it had been just a few hours ago.

The person floating weightlessly in space while curled into a ball was a girl who was probably in her late teens.

That alone was anomalous enough for "this world,” but the fact that she was wearing a junihitoe made that fact all the more so.

However, for the "world she resides within," what she was wearing wasn't anything too special.

It may be that the only thing that had become abnormal was our benchmark. At least, it was this girl who noticed the abnormality just now.

To her, the Earth, including its seven billion people, was just “something to observe."

Whether it was a war on the surface, the disappearance of national borders, or even a nuclear explosion, it was merely someone else's business to her.

For her, who was, in a sense, watching a live documentary while in the luxury of a first-world environment, such a disturbance would not go unnoticed.

Having a unique life rhythm, she woke up a few hours ago and found that the earth had changed significantly between the time she had gone to bed and the time she had woken up.

The only place she had been "connected to” on Earth—Academy City—had disappeared from Japan.

Although the surface of the earth looked like a neat little collage, to make a collage of its scale in real time would require a being on the level of a god, a demon, or someone who had completely surpassed the boundaries of esper powers.

Located in the western part of Tokyo, the isolated circular world of Academy City contained 2.3 million people.

The developed city within that circle had disappeared, replaced with a completely different topography.

After about 0.5 seconds of her debating whether to try contacting someone in Academy City to judge whether this was some sort of "attack” or if it was too rash to reveal her location just like that, a communication signal came to her as if it had been deliberately timed.

It had all the right codes and the same patterns as the hidden line she usually used, but the voice was of a man she had never heard from before.

[Hey.]

"Yo."

The girl, named Amano Kaguya, who spoke back in a rude way that was completely contrary to her appearance, did not show any particular worry about the disappearance of an entire city.

"So, who are you?"

[Ah, sorry, I'm Tsukumoya Shinichi. Nice to meet you.]

"That name doesn’t show up in either my memory or my records. So, what do you want from me, a person in space who has deliberately abandoned the Earth? Though in this situation, it seems more like I've been abandoned by the Earth."

[To be honest, in your eyes, your situation isn’t something to be so pessimistic over, right? You’re basically embodying that saying about how if there is a god that throws you away, there is a god that picks you up.]

"Using the word “god” to represent the people of Academy City? I see you really are an outsider."

As if she had figured something out, she smiled and spat out the words that got directly to the heart of the matter.

"Before we talk, I just want to confirm one thing... Are you a human being?"

[Well, I'll just say this. I sort of emphasize with Kazakiri Hyouka of Academy City.]

The man named Tsukumoya replied in a voice whose emotion could not be read, which was not to say it was emotionless.

It was like a voice that had mixed together and averaged the happiness, anger, and sadness of millions of people.

[If she is considered by someone to be "human," then I guess I could also be regarded as some nameless human.]

===Part 3===

Celty Sturluson was definitely not human.

She was a "Dullahan,” who were fantastical spirits who lived between Scotland and Ireland—and who visited the houses of the dying to declare their deaths.

They visit the house of a dying person with their severed head in their arms, in a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a headless horse called the Cóiste Bodhar. And if you carelessly opened your door, you would be showered in blood. As the main example of ominous harbingers along with banshees, they have been passed down various European mythologies and folklore.

Some stories claim that they were actually figures of fallen Valkyries from Norse mythology, but whether that was actually the case was unclear even to her.

It was not that she didn't know.

Precisely speaking, it was that she could not remember.

She had been robbed of her "head" in her homeland, and her memory of her own existence had disappeared from her.

In order to retrieve “that,” she had come to this place called Ikebukuro, following the faint signs of her own head.

The headless horse transformed into a motorcycle, the armor into a skintight suit, and lingered around the city for decades.

In the end, however, she was unable to get her head back, and her memory had not been restored to this day.

She already knew who stole her head.

She also knew who the person was that prevented her from finding her head.

However, in the end, she had not been able to find the whereabouts of her head.

Celty, now, thought that even if that was the case, it was okay, since she could be with the person she loved.

It was because she was able to live with people who loved her, and who accepted her for what she was.

If that was what happiness was, she reckoned she'd be better off living how she was living now.

A headless woman who hid her firm determination in her heart, replaced her non-existent face and expressed her will through her actions.

That was it -- the existence of Celty Sturluson.

Then, and now.

She was in an abandoned factory on her home turf of Tokyo, confronting "something" even less human than herself.

"So...? Who are you, and where did you come from?"

Even though he was talking like a gangster, there was an air that was completely different from that of normal street urchins.

"Though, it doesn't matter anyway. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too."

She realized he must have gone through many kinds of hell, where he had to kill or be killed.

And that was a number that couldn't be counted using 2 or 3 digits.

The boy who was staring at her fiercely had a neutral face, but he was nothing more than a "boy"

That's right, he looked like a human being from the outside, as if he were a teenager.

He had beautiful pure white hair, that didn't look like it had been dyed.

No matter from where you look at it, it looked so natural, and yet everywhere you looked, it seemed to be full of some sort of scientific chemical, that sort of mysterious white.

Apart from that, he did look human in appearance, and didn't feel anything less than human.

The problem was, the actions he took, and the results of those actions.

A part of the floor of the abandoned factory was covered with steel plates, but there were many "human-shaped holes" in them.

To be more precise--

Heiwajima Shizuo. Half of his body was stuck in the floor of the abandoned factory, and he was not moving.

Although his body was still upright, his head was hanging slightly down. It was impossible to tell whether he was still conscious or not.

When Celty came into the factory for whatever reason, she heard a loud noise, and took a look inside. What she saw was the impossible to understand scenario of the man widely regarded as Ikebukuro's strongest, buried in the ground.

That "boy" -- The one who buried Heiwajima Shizuo into the ground, staring hard at her and said those words just now--

Even if he asked who she was and where she came from....---

She... she was the one who wanted to ask that!

Celty, who came just in time to witness the moment of Shizuo being buried into the ground.

Shizuo's body was hit by the teenager countless times with the metal plate, and as he finally stood up, several tons of industrial machinery floating in the air came crashing down at high speeds.

In the next instant, the industrial machinery was violently compressed, and Shizuo's body was driven into the ground like a nail.

"...Say, what the heck is going on with this product? From my experience, it should be the human body that would be compressed."

Startled, the boy shrugged and said to Celty.

"This isn't some cartoon about a mouse! I've blown so many people away so far, but this is the first time I've seen a guy who can hit a man-shaped hole in a metal plate. This is clearly beyond the scope of an ability that strengthens the flesh. It also doesn't look like he's got nitrogen or oxygen armor, or anything like that."

With a bored sigh, the white-haired boy asked Celty.

“Are you a “gemstone” or something? While I’ve heard that the “#7” is something like that, but at least now it makes sense why I was brought into do the dirty work—”

"Gemstone"? "#7?" What was he talking about?

"Don't play dumb."

Seeing Celty who seemed to have major doubts about it all, the teenager clicked his tongue and continued.

"I can tell from your outfit that you're related to Academy City. How can someone from outside the city have a suit that absorbs 100% of light?"

Facing the agitated teenager, Celty took her PDA out, and entered text with great trepidation.

[What's Academy City? Are you talking about Ōizumi-gakuen?]

He probably was thinking that he was being made fun of when he was shown the text, and so the boy silently reached his hand out and touched Celty's helmet.

"I can't sense the flow of blood in your vessels, or the movement of your muscles, so this is another type of special equipment. But it's been a long time since I've been played for a fool like this!"

The complaining teenager who had a cold tone--

Just like that, he blew the helmet off of Celty's head in an instead--!?--

Wha, wh-wh-wh, what was going on!?

Celty couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't use gunpowder or anything like that. The helmet merely bounced off, as if it moved by itself.

If Celty had a head, she would have stared, eyes wide.

Similar to how the boy in front of her was looking at her.

"...Ah?"

Furrowing one of his eyebrows, the boy said.

"I thought I had overexerted myself and chopped your head off... What's this all about?"

[I, I know now! You're that, aren't you, a vampire! There are vampires I know who can use this kind of ability with your mind!]

"It's not Psychokinesis."

The white-haired teenager dismissed the vampire or whatever she was saying as a joke, and continued.

"What's up about that body of yours? Long range manipulation?... Doesn't seem like it either."

Facing the presence of something that had nothing from the neck up, the teenager maintained his hostility, and continued questioning.

"...Hey, I'll ask one more time."

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

That moment--

Creak. An exaggerated sound could be heard from the abandoned factory.

Then, as if it was from the depths of hell, the dull sound made the surrounding air stir.

"Oi..."

As Celty and the boy looked towards the source of the sound, the man in the bartender's uniform appeared, half of his body buried in the ground, craning his neck, looking relaxed.

"To be honest, I don't know what you've done to me... but you made me a bit dizzy."

Although he gave the impression that his body was all battered, he put his hands on the ground, pulling his body out, which had been knocked into the ground, with just the force of his palms.

"I don't know what happened, but I was blown away by the force of the blow.... Then, for some reason, my blood pressure suddenly shot up, and a headache came on..."

The white haired boy frowned at Heiwajima Shizuo, the man in the bartender's uniform, who continued to twist his neck by gently pressing on his head.

"Although I've used quite a bit of energy to force your blood flow backward, in the end, you've just got a headache. Are you really human?"

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't matter how you did it. After all, I've been done to death by some corrupt politician using Aikido or something... The important thing isn't that."

Shizuo, who had his blows all reflected back to him, was wounded by his own wrist, and then had his blood vessels and internal organs ruptured by the manipulation of the vector of his blood flow. Even then, he said it was trivial, with his voice boiling in anger.

"If it's just me, then I'd let it go. Although I don't know why, I suddenly succumbed to provocation and was beaten, but even this wouldn't make me so angry."

"Is that so!?"

Shizuo, who was staring at the white-haired boy with the face like a demon, continued without acknowledging Celty's surprised words.

"But, you smashed the helmet of my friend, who just happened to be walking by..."

"So you're saying, even if you get killed you won't have any complaints?... That's what you mean, right...?"

===Part 4===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | A parking lot.

"It's Kamijou Touma..."

In front of the station wagon, she dropped the things she bought onto the floor and said, stunned.

"Hey? That..."--

Had he met her somewhere before?--

No, was it an acquaintance from before his memory disappeared...!?

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

It was a woman in her early twenties who was making that strange sound.

The moment their eyes met, an unprecedented light shone from her eyes, and then they made a strange sound.

"Kami...K-k-k-kami, Kamijou!? It's Kamijou, right!?"

"Eh? That's me, yes."

"I,I-I-I-I-I, I'm Karisawa Erika,it’s a real pleasure to meet you for the first time and please take good care of me!"

The woman named Karisawa Erika, who was holding the hand of the confused Kamijou, called out as she waved her hand back and forth.

"Alive! And walking!"

"Seriously, Karisawa, you're acting like a kid who met his dead grandmother using a time machine!"

The man named Yumasaki said that he'd "make sure someone would meet him,", so Kamijou and the others came to the station wagon, but--

"Hey... What the heck is going on here?"

"This isn't a high-precision cosplay or anything like that... It's the real deal! The real thing is right in front of me!"

"No, I don't get it at all.... Hey, why are you crying!?"

Kamijou Touma was swept deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of confusion as he stood in front of Karisawa, who began to spill tears.

"Karisawa's emotions are peaking."

"Haha, this is the first time I've seen someone this happy!"

In the wagon where they could hardly hear their conversations except for Kazawa's screams, the two men, Tokusa and Honda, tilted their heads and said.

"Who's that guy, Kadota?"

"I feel like I've seen him before... Judging by Karisawa's happiness, he's probably some young Seiyuu or something, right?"

"Ah! That's probably it!"

"Well, it's not a good idea to disturb them. Let's give them time to talk."

The two people in the driver's seat and shotgun who were nodding to each other, silently got out of the car, and left the parking lot.

Kadota didn't notice it.

That boy, in the novel that Yumasaki and Karisawa highly recommended and read- he said that he was "a good guy with backbone", the protagonist Kamijou Touma himself.

On the other hand, this Kamijou, the protagonist, was surrounded by his two evil friends, eyes closed, laughing.

"Heh heh.... Hahaha! Kami-yan... has finally learned the hax skill of "The big sister who he met for the first time but has already been flagged down"...?"

"Nya, besides, I like the "elder sister" trope anyway, nya, Kami-yan must be loving it, though I don't understand it well, the talents he has are only for the sake of getting popular..."

"Nonononono, nononono! It's not like that!"

Even if he wanted to defend himself, Kamijou could only keep saying "No," as he didn't know what was happening, but--

This was cut off by the woman named Karisawa.

"Well, it's obvious at first glance though! You must be Aogami Pierce, and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, right? Wow, that's amazing... it's the same as my imagination! You're both so tall!"

"Gwah!?" "Nya!?"

Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who did not expect to receive pieces of the flag themselves, looked at each other, and panicked.

Leaving the two in their bewilderment, Karisawa decided to take advantage of when Aogami Pierce asked Yumasaki, “What kind of flag is she raising with me?” and said something that rang all sorts of alarms in Tsuchimikdo’s head.

"Well, you know. Tsuchimikado, you started wearing sunglasses when you changed your appearance, but now they've become a symbol of your identity, and in reality, they look real good on you!"

"!?"

Kamijou and Tsuchimikado both stiffened up.

They remained in this state, shied away from Karisawa and the others, turned around, and whispered, shoulder to shoulder.

"{Hey! This person knows about Angel Fall! So it really is your contact over there! What are you going to get me involved in this time!)"

"(No, no, no, wait, Kami-yan, wait! I'm just as confused as you are, I have no idea who this person is!)"

"(So, then... could she be from the Russian Orthodox Church? If she knows about Angel Fall, it's unlikely she's related to Academy City, no matter how you think about it!"

"(The key thing is that we don't know. I've told you about the glasses, Kami-yan, so the information must have leaked from you somehow!)"

"(Bruh, there is a literal spy here, and he doubts· THE· Kamijou Touma!? Obviously you’re more suspicious than I am!)"

"(Why would I be surprised if it's the information that I leaked, nya?)"

While they were throwing out their suspicions like this, Karisawa, who was approaching behind them, unnoticed, said this with a refreshing smile.

"It's alright, I'm not a spy for Gremlin or the Kihara family! At least, I'm not an enemy of GROUP!"

"I can't believe it, she just casually said two phrases relating to the dark side of Academy City, nya... Speaking of that, what's that Gremlin that can be said on the same level as those two?"

"Huh?"

The sense of disharmony was wandering in Kamijou's brain--

Hmm? Tsuchimikado, was he playing dumb? --

Gremlin. Tsuchimikado was, of course...--

..... Hmm?--

When was the last time he had spoken to Tsuchimikado... When did that come...?

At that moment, Kamijou's mind began to play a flashback of Tsuchimikado's face.

He appeared in a completely different air from the current Tsuchimikado, with an expression as cold as ice...

Hmm? Strange. If Tsuchimikado was here right now... really stra....nge?

The voice of Aogami Pierce rang out as if to ride the wave of confusion that was going on in the mind of Kamijou.

"Hey, hey, Kami-yan. I just realized that I can't see Endymion in Ikebukuro."

Endymion.

The space elevator, pride of Academy City.

This elevator, which extended beyond the atmosphere, should have been visible as a thin line, even at a distance as far as Ikebukuro-- But Kamijou knew that it would never be visible now.

"...What are you talking about, Aogami Pierce? Isn't Endymion already..."

"What? Did I, uh, say something strange?"

A chill spread behind Kamijou's back.

No.

Something was wrong.

He could feel a distinctive "dislocation" from both Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

"Right! Speaking of Endymion, there's something I wanted to ask you about Meigo Arisa!"

"Oh, you've got a good eye, Arisa is related to this! I, ah, think she'll come? This Endymion concert is really something to look forward to!"

"Huh? Is it time for that concert again?"

Aogami Pierce seemed to have become indifferent to the fact that he could not see Endymion, and returned to the unique conversation he was having with Yumasaki.

On the other hand, Kamijou was convinced by what Aogami Pierce had just said.

There was something wrong after all--

There was a misalignment between himself and Aogami Pierce's "perception"--

...Arisa's concert on Endymion, it had ended, clearly!

It wasn't that those two were imposters. They were undoubtedly the real Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

Even so, he was sure that something was "distorted".

It was obvious that they were the real people, but something was "distorted", so what did that mean?

Thinking about this, Kamijou suddenly realized something.

It was possible that he himself might have been "distorted" with the world--

The president.

The TV image he saw when he first came to Ikebukuro.

On that note, Kamijou didn't recognize the man who was supposed to be the president.

Gradually, the sense of dissonance became clear about all this.

It was like waking up and then gradually being able to distinguish between reality and dreams, the feeling of one's brain gradually becoming clear, and waking up.

Moreover, this city named Ikebukuro, or actually, the whole of Tokyo.....

Suddenly, he turned towards Karisawa and asked.

"That! What happened to the dragon... that attacked this city before?"

"Ah! You know about that, huh? I see, I see. You've already experienced "that", right? Have you experienced that honeymoon in Denmark?"

"Dragon? What are you talking about?"

Contrary to Kamijou who nodded his head like he had figured it out, Tsuchimikado's face was full of his confusion.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Ugh, it must be Maika. I'm a little concerned about all this, but a call from a loli takes precedence over anything else, that's my 35th rule of life."

Tsuchimikado picked up his phone while walking to the corner of the parking lot. Looking at his back walking away, Karisawa said with passion:

"The fact that you can categorically say that your sister is also a loli is impressive. Having said that.... look at him, which time is this Tsuchimikado from?"

"Wait a second, explain quickly. What the hell is going on here?"

"Ahhh, mhm. Yeah, if you're unsure about a situation, it's natural that you'll feel uneasy."

Nodding her head while speaking in an understanding tone, Karisawa continued.

“Well actually, before we actually saw you, we were half-believing. We are probably the ones who could accept this the fastest, as I heard the details of the matter from the father of an acquaintance..."

Karisawa, who said this, looked at the entrance of the parking lot, and leaked out an "ah"

"Look, they're here. The person who can explain."

"Eh?"

When Kamijou looked over--

The man who was walking towards him, wearing a white gas mask in broad daylight in addition to a white lab coat, raised his hand in a friendly manner, and said.

"Aha! You're that "otherworlder"! Nice to meet you. How are you? (Written in English). Be careful not to get infected with bacteria that doesn't exist in your world and die suddenly!"

Looking at this man who greeted him with surprise, Kamijou--

"Defi..."

"Defi?"

Ignoring the "otherworlder" comment first, he shouted out what he was feeling at that very moment.

"You definitely have a connection with Academy City--!"

===Part 5===

A few minutes ago | In satellite orbit | Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Lab

"What about the "tunnel" with the other world?"

[There's a theory that the neutrino and Higgs particle experiments in both our worlds has something to do with this, but as far as I know, your world has a Magic God who has changed the world through the phases that filter the physical world, your boss has also forcibly teared apart the "thin film of the world", and our side has an existence known as the Dullahan, and began to overuse its powers. It's probably all these sorts of accidents that came together, that just happened to connect these two worlds together…]

"The accumulation of these unfavorable conditions, huh."

The girl who was near the top of the system called Academy City said with a sigh.

"Hng, let's not talk about whether parallel worlds exist or not, but this "tunnel" that just happened to be created is rather unbelievable. And it does not explain the fact that Academy City has disappeared off the earth."

Amano Kaguya, accepting the explanation of the man who called himself Tsukumoya Shinichi, nodded as she floated in mid air.

"However, the disappearance of Academy City on that side should be on this side."

[That's probably the case. However, not many people can remember and have that sense of dissonance. To fill that void of dissonance, it seems that the Earth where Academy City exists right now also has a 380 meter long aircraft named "Sky By Fire" flying around, like nobody's paying attention to it. No, maybe it's actually because of the appearance of this aircraft that you've suffered a loss.]

"I got squeezed out through that distortion, so I was transported here without going into the "tunnel"?"

[Yes, the "Sky by Fire" was originally developed by a company called Niblo in this world 50 years in the future. By connecting with a world like Academy City, which has technology a hundred or two ahead of its time, it was able to materialize in the world as a "thing that should exist". So basically, to replace that Queen of the Sky, and to achieve balance, the Princess of the Universe was chosen.]

Kaguya, who was floating upside down from the Earth, shrugged at Tsukumoya's words.

"Is that flattery or sarcasm? It's hard to read your feelings just from your voice."

[Even so, I'm still anxious right now. if the two worlds completely merge together, it'll become all kinds of bad.]

"If you look at it from the perspective of rapid development of science and technology, shouldn't it be a good thing for your world?"

[It's not like that. At the very least, there are tens of thousands of "Vampires" in this world. If the girl named Himegami, the carrier of "Deep Blood" from your side, comes here, the vampires will flock to her, and then we'll be in a crisis. We’ll need to sacrifice the girl's life to save the extinction of the vampires. But, what's troubling is that there's a lot of good people among the vampires. I can usually accept any outcome, no matter what, but what if someone I know, or an innocent girl dies as a result of an "outside" influence? That wouldn't be very interesting.]

Even for Kaguya, who knew about the dispute between Science and Magic, the sudden mention of a topic like "vampires" was unexpected, but--

But she, who looked at the world as it were someone else's business, dismissed it as "Of course that exists", felt relieved, and calmly accepted the request to help resolve the situation.

"Well, that's fine. I think it'll be interesting, just standing by and seeing how things develop, but I can't leave Academy City alone in this situation. So I'll help you get things back on track."

[That's a big help, thank you.]

"I'll take care of Tsuchimikado, who has come to this world. Probably because of his back and forth between the Magic and Science sides, and the outside and the inside of the City, his tolerance is quite big, as long as his sister is not in trouble. Even if he does look like that. I'm sure he'll accept this and help us."

"Ahah, that's true. Better start acting as soon as possible."

There was a slight pause here from Tsukumoya, and the presence of a certain man was mentioned.

[The troublemaker who's grasped the situation and accepted it readily is preparing to take advantage of it for his own personal gain.]

===Part 6===

Somewhere in the city | Orihara Izaya's office

"Well, even if it is Shizuo, it should be over by now."

In his office, Orihara Izaya, who was happily sitting in his chair, spinning around, talked about this, eyes shining.

"I'm having a hard time trying to make connections with the other world. Although we share the language of Japanese, there's a significant difference in science and technology, and there's 2 billion people in the Roman system alone."

Izaya, who seemed to be speaking to his assistant in the office, kept talking, half to himself, without waiting for a response.

"From a girl obsessed with urban legends named Saten Ruiko to the media queen of the other side of the world named Olay Blueshake, I was most satisfied to know someone is named "Loki". Me, I'd feel some empathy towards these types of people. But it seems he was recently betrayed, and got beaten up by his comrade. So even if he believes in what I say, he won't have any trust in me."

“If there’s someone who can trust you on a personal level, they can probably be considered a saint.”

Ignoring the sarcasm of his assistant, Izaya continued.

"In any case, with his cooperation, he managed to infiltrate part of the system in Academy City. After that, he gave a false command that relies on some condition to the most powerful Esper over there."

"False command?"

"Ahah, it's all true, up to the midway point at least. The two worlds are gradually merging together. And on top of that, add a hypothetical such as "If an important man goes to Academy City, the worlds will merge together. If that happens, the other world would be an obviously unnatural existence... For example, for the 10,000 or so clones, their existence will disappear, and other similar changes may occur." That kind of condition--"

There was a slight pause there, but he continued with a pleasant smile.

"The "strongest man in Ikebukuro", the point of deviation related to the metamorphosis of the world, rendered useless, with no chance of resurgence.... That kind of order. Additionally, I gave him the information that the man in the bartender's uniform is actually a nasty piece of work with a penchant for kidnapping young girls. Even if it is that physically overpowered Shizuo, in front of that "Level 5", who is literally beyond the stage of what you call an ability, he is nothing more than a baby."

"And who's this superpowered person?"

With a half-hearted look, the woman who was his assistant, Namie Yagiri, looked at the information in her hands.

"You write it as "One Way Road", and read it as Accelerator?"

"Yup. Well, it's the same as an animal's Japanese name as compared to its scientific name. Although names are used to represent identity, don't you think that this name suits him in every sense? And his old name is also very interesting."

"Compared to his actual ability name, "Vector Manipulation".... What is this?"

"It means what it means, literally. The ability to observe the "direction" of various phenomena, and manipulate them according to one's own will, such as kinetic energy, light, sound, heat, and electricity. The ability to trick the world, changing gravity energy into buoyancy, and in extreme cases, to manipulate the vector of time, in a limited sense.”

In the face of Izaya's exaggerations, Namie responded with a sigh.

"Even though you don't understand the concept of time very well, you still said that..."

"It's that sort of illogical ability. Although it's probably logical for a place like Academy City, in our world, it's something beyond our logic."

"Illogical ability, huh."

Namie narrowed her eyes slightly, and said with a hint of annoyance, as if she recalled something.

"That person’s "shadow" is no more logical than he is."

===Part 7===

An abandoned factory

"If I had complaints about being killed, I wouldn't have come here."

The white haired boy replied with a bored, but serious tone, saying something that reeked of self-deprecation.

"I never thought I'd hear such brave words after all this."

"....."

"You're not a normal human being. If you obediently lie back down, your chances of survival will grow."

In contrast to Shizuo, who emerged, veins bulging, the white-haired teenager kept a cold expression.

Celty, in the middle of those two people, firmly interrupted.

[No, wait a minute. Why are you doing this to Shizuo!]

"Why? It's just a job."

Speaking indifferently, the white-haired teenager lightly put his foot on the floor of the factory.

The next instant, the "action and counteraction" that existed in Celty's own brain, that common sense, completely collapsed.

The iron plate that lay on a part of the abandoned factory bounced up and began to turn in the air magnificently, as if it was dancing.

"And, if you get in the way, you'll get destroyed. I've said this before, right?"

The white haired teenager pushed the iron plate gently in the direction of Celty.

Then, as if the rotational force of the plate became propulsive force, it shot at a straight line towards Celty.

A direct hit with the iron plate that weighed dozens of kilograms onto a normal human wouldn't be something that you could shake off.

But, Celty wasn't human, and she definitely wasn’t normal.

Countless shadow tentacles reached out from her own body, and caught the iron plate that was flying at high speed.

"!"

Looking at Celty's shadows, the white-haired teenager narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...What, is that?"

If a normal person had seen it, they would have been open-eyed in shock, but the teen wasn't ordinary in any sense.

He changed his expression as if he had seen a strange cat, nothing more, and he then continued with a soft tone.

"...Do you use the same power as that #2?"

Celty muttered to herself, hearing the teenager's words--

What the hell was this #2 and #7 just then!?--

Nevermind, she had to suppress him first.

Celty immediately stretched out her shadow, and tried to wrap it around the boy's body at high speeds.

However, he dodged it with a jump that was beyond the physical limits of a human, and lightly slapped away one of the tendrils that got close with his left hand.

"...."

In an instant, the front end of Celty's shadow started spinning around, disappearing as if it had been swept into a tornado.

Uwah--

What was that feeling she felt just then!?

It wasn't a natural disappearance, as it took Celty's own will to disperse her shadows.

It was because she felt a creepy feeling, something like the flow of power being doubled and sent back in full. She judged the danger in an instant--

This guy… He really is using psychokinesis?--

This wasn't good, as this was much more powerful than even the vampires she knew.

Contrary to the anxious Celty, the teenager's body language didn't give away any signs of anxiety at all.

Maybe he had experience fighting against an opponent similar to herself before.

If that was the case, it would be impossible to maintain a dominant position here, right?

Would he allow him to surrender? To retreat? As she was contemplating that--

"Oi."

The voice of Shizuo rang out, and both Celty and the teenager's attention turned his way.

Then, Shizuo picked up the remains of the vending machine that had somehow been abandoned in this abandoned factory.

"Your opponent... Is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

In the next instant, the vending machine flew towards the teenager with substantial force behind it.

The action taken by the teenager in response was--

Ignored.

The teenager once again looked at Celty, and assumed the attitude that there was no need to respond to Shizuo's attack

However, in realty, the moment in touched the special "barrier" thinly covering his body, the vending machine jumped back like a bouncy ball hitting a wall--

Shizuo!

Although Celty hurriedly stretched her shadow out, it failed to reach him.

Those who are immersed within their own abilities shall drown in them. The overwhelming force that matched this metaphor was heading for Shizuo's body--

"Ora!"

And with that, Shizuo struck it again--

....What?

"Ah?"

Even the white haired teenager couldn't help but look back at his opponent.

This teenager, so far, had bounced back all kinds of enemy attacks with his "ability"

He had experienced multiple crises before. Such as, people who could nullify attacks, people with special energy such as the "shadow", as well as getting overwhelmed with attacks from different dimensions.

But was there anyone who could forcefully reflect an attack back by using only the force of his hands?

Although he observed a flow of a force field, he didn't think that he was using any sort of ability--

What was going on? Who the hell was this guy?

He felt that this level of sturdiness was a bit weird, never mind the fact that this was beyond the realm of humans in the first place. Although there had been battles with durable opponents before, this man's body was half the size of the leader of Skill Out that he fought before, so how the hell could he do such things that were so far from common sense?

Although he thought so, he soon realized that it was pointless.

Because even if he could get the vending machine back at him, he could just reflect it back again - totally risk free.

Just as he predicted, the vending machine bounced back at Shizuo--

And then, once again, the man in the bartender''s uniform punched it back.

"...."

Crack! Pop! Once again, the exaggerated sounds of destruction resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

Between the bartender and the white-haired teenager, a vending machine rally began.

And, the speed of it was gradually increasing.

But in the end, it finally stopped.

It wasn't because the man in the bartender uniform had run out of energy. Instead, it was because the vending machine couldn't bear the brunt, and finally broke apart in mid-air.

"...."

"...."

There was a silence, with only the sound of the bartender-suited man's breathing that echoed through the factory.

Then, the white haired boy began to take a step towards him, and he said casually.

"Honestly, people who boast of their strength I see as fools usually... But, the truly outstanding ones are enviable. Since I have no need for physical exercise over here."

"...."

"If I could have 5% of your strength...."

In the teenager's mind, the face of a certain spiky-haired teenager flashed through.

He put on a bitter face, and said with a distracted look.

"Though I probably wouldn't be who I am now in any sense."

And then, for the first time, the teenager spoke of his reason for taking that step forward.

"Although it may seem a bit unreasonable.... But for today and tomorrow, if you were to wander around freely, that guy I know may disappear from the world."

The white haired teenager continued, as he walked over, step by step.

Was it because he was in an overwhelmingly favorable position, or was it because of some other reason that he became more talkative?

"Direct reversal of the flow of brain signals. If I keep your consciousness suppressed for three days, that'll be enough. However, if you're careless, you might die... Although I'm not going to apologize, if you've got any resentments to express, I'll listen to them."

However, Shizuo replied to this with a smile.

"Although I can't understand the implications of this all, this is extremely unreasonable."

Despite the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, Shizuo persisted.

"But I can't fall like this without so much as a whimper. I'll lose my face against the spiky haired boy who beat me yesterday."

"....Spiky haired?"

Hearing that word, a bad feeling flashed through the teenager's mind.

But, thinking about it wasn't going to help, so he took another step closer.

Celty, overwhelmed by the vending machine rally, finally realized that Shizuo was in true danger.

Up to now, has Shizuo ever been pushed against the wall like this?

Whether it was getting sent flying by a dump truck, a train, a hundred people trying to cut his head off, getting attacked by a huge tiger, even though he could survive all that, he was in a truly life-threatening situation now.

Heiwajima Shizuo was about to be killed by someone who came out of nowhere.

Something that seemed as ridiculous to Celty that it could have been a joke to her was happening before her eyes, and she was having a hard time trying to understand it.

Celty looked at the Shizuo whose body was covered in wounds--

===Part 8===

Izaya's office

"To be honest, I'm still only half convinced."

Namie looked at the information in the laptop and said once again.

"Connecting with parallel worlds. That's an idea so old that even SciFi novels don't use it much anymore."

"You're the one who's delved into the mythical realm and studied the head of the Dullahan, so are you sure you can say that?"

"Eh, course I do. The head of the Dullahan is an actual thing, and it's been confirmed."

"And in fact, it's also true that people from the other world have come here, right?"

Izaya, who said this, handed over some papers to Namie.

"Kamijou Touma, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Aogami Pierce. These names don't have any sort of records in this world. These three people, who existed in Academy City, came to this world through the subway in order to transfer something."

"High school students?"

"They aren’t just any high school students. Especially this kid, Kamijou. He’s a real hero who has saved the world multiple times. It's probably only in a world of advanced science as well as magic that a person can become that sort of savior. For me, I'm very interested in the kind of state such a rare human being is living in."

Looking at Izaya, who was laughing, Namie said, bored.

"It's like you think you're a god. You don't even have all the information about this world yet, so can you really understand the information about this so-called "other world" correctly?"

Although she was still doubtful about the connection with this other world, she had experience of studying the existence of an unnatural being such as the "Dullahan" using the common sense of science, so she might not have been so doubtful if not for that.

"Ahah, the intelligence level in that world is much higher. It's a world where you can even see the memories of the dead if you want to collect it. It's even easier to get information there than in this world."

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted in pleasure, and he said something unbelievable.

"In fact, I think it's fine to let the worlds merge like this. I think it's better for them to be integrated. When a new variable or an alien existence that is completely unmanageable appears in front of them, what kind of action will the humans take? Even if it's just limited to the people in this city, if I can observe them, one by one, it'll be enough for me to enjoy this life."

"Although what you said was that you've abandoned the struggle with a kindly tone, what you just said was extremely bad."

"There are a lot of interesting people over there too. Especially the Kihara clan's way of life, which makes me wonder about new possibilities for human beings. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call it beautiful."

"I think it's sad that these children are being treated like precious specimens by people like you. ...Eh?"

While looking at the information, Namie sarcastically said that, but she frowned suddenly.

"Hey, what's this "Aogami Pierce" thing?"

In response to Namie's light question, Izaya looked up at the ceiling, and giggled.

"Ahaha, this kid's information is well collected."

Then, without looking at any of the info, he began to talk about it.

"He's an Esper who freeloads in a bakery in Academy City. Although he's the class president of Kamijou Touma's class, he's also known as one of the "three idiots", along with Kamijou and Tsuchimikado. He's a strange fellow who's over 180cm tall. He takes supplementary classes, but not because he's dumb. Instead, it's because he wants to have as much interaction with his class teacher as possible. The possibility of this is pretty high. He’s been questioned regarding his occupation 43 times… no, it would be around 40 times regarding the time from when he came over to this city."

Without pause, Izaya droned on, as if he were speaking a tongue twister about the boy named Aogami Pierce.

Instead of boasting his knowledge--- it seems like he was trying to hide something.

"Ah, yes, that guy's fetishes concerning the opposite sex really is impressive. "I have a wide range of acceptance when it comes to women: not just fallen female main characters but also foster sisters, foster mothers, foster daughters, twins, widows, senpais, kouhais, fellow classmates, teachers, childhood friends, ojou-samas, blondes, brunettes, brown-haired, silver-haired, long-haired, medium-haired, short-haired, girls wearing bobby pins, wavy-haired, twintails, ponytails, one-sided ponytails, twin braids, ahoges, curly-haired, girls in sailor clothes, blazers, judogi, kyuudougi, kindergarten nurses, maids, policewomen, witches, shrine maidens, nuns, military women, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, stewardesses, waitresses, goth girls wearing black, goth girls wearing white, girls in China dresses, frail girls, albino girls, fantasists, girls with split personalities, queens, princesses, thigh-high socks, garter belts, girls who cross-dress as guys, girls who wear glasses, girls who wear an eyepatch, girls who wear bandages, girls in school swimsuits, one-piece swimsuits, bikinis, V-shaped bikinis, bikinis that barely cover anything, youkai, ghosts, animal-eared girls, etc.- any female is within my area of acceptance." That seems to be his mantra. Although some aspects of the opposite sex aren't in my personal domain, I admit that he is also an existence that can expand the possibilities of mankind."

"That guy, and you as well, who actually memorized that all, are perverts."

Namie said with an icy gaze, flipping through the information, page by page, in contrast to Izaya reciting it.

"And then?"

"And then, what?"

"That, the real name of that kid Aogami Pierce. It's not in the file."

"...."

Orihara Izaya was silent."

It was probably the first time she had seen him with such a quiet expression.

"There are various things... When downloading information from there, that kid's information was broken in a few places."

"What the heck, you don't even know his real name, but you've got the nerve to claim that you've been collecting information well!"

"Well. Although I don't think this kid is anything special, but as a human being who loves everyone equally, let me show you."

And so, Izaya took his laptop out and connected it with a special cord.

After a long list of unusual codes floated across the screen, a data file detailing some kind of roster was displayed.

"This is the roster of students in Kamijou's class. If you compare that with other conditions, you can immediately find the real name of Aogami Pierce, or something..."

In the next moment, the screen was completely flooded with images of flowers.

At the flower garden in the middle of the screen, a cartoon image of a character wearing a bouquet of flowers on her head appeared, and text emerged from the dialogue box that extended from there.

"Stop right there! Inappropriate access behavior!"

"Ah, fuck."

Sensing something, Izaya hurriedly shut the laptop down, and cut the line.

"Fuck me that was dangerous! It was almost like I've been stripped naked on this side!"

"Are you not going to run?"

""Anti-skill", the policing unit of Academy City, won't come to Ikebukuro. I don't think I need to even mention the police force of Ikebukuro here."

After that, Izaya tried various means of getting into touch with Academy City, but--

The information about Aogami Pierce was obstructed or corrupted before he reached it, and so the key information was not obtained.

"Does that mean that this kid is actually related to some sort of super important confidential information?"

In response to Namie's question, Izaya just shook his head.

"If that were the case, the information itself would have been protected. The reason we can't get information about it so far is because, although it seems far-fetched to say this, is all by chance. No, is it possible that there's a protection system in Academy City that pretends to be like this? Well....but...."

After a brief moment of confusion, Izaya stood up with a soft sigh.

"There's no helping it. He's here in person. Let's go collect some fresh information."

Although he seemed to be whining, his expression was that of a smile.

With a face full of anticipation as if he had never seen a new "human" before, Orihara Izaya happily left his office.

After calmly watching him leave, Namie said softly.

"This is looking like the pattern where he comes back empty handed. You reap what you sow."

===Part 9===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | Station Wagon

"Isekai!? This Ikebukuro?"

Karisawa said that "it would be bad for Aogami Pierce to hear", and so she brought him back to the station wagon. After hearing the explanation from the man with the gas mask, Shingen Kishitani, Kamijou Touma accepted it, half in doubt.

"Though, now that you say it, I feel like I was involved in a similar incident yesterday..."

"You're the one who's in the other world to us. The company I belong to, Niblo, has been conducting various investigations to this, and both the technological might of Academy City and the magic outside of it are excellent. The idea of sending a corporate spy there was on my mind, but I thought it would be impossible to hide the discrepancy since we're of a different world, so I cancelled it."

"If it were you, you probably won't feel any sense of being out of place even if you were walking around the research area..."

The right hand of Kamijou clenched tightly, after Shingan said that, and stared at him.

"Whoa!? What!? What's the matter!?"

"Mhm. That's the "Imagine Breaker" that's become a topic of conversation over there. So. Since you're here in this world, wanna try dissecting it?"

"I refuse!"

Shingen, a fully grown adult, proceeded to prostrate himself while in the back seat of the station wagon before Kamijou, who had merely given the only sensible response.

"Please think about it!"

"Although there have been various people who have turned their sights on this right hand so far, this is the first time I've heard of such a direct request from someone sitting right in front of me! How!? Don't tell me that this is how this world operates!?"

Facing the confused Kamijou, Karisawa replied.

"Well, this guy is pretty special. His son is a special guy who likes girls who's got nothing above their neck."

"What kind of hobby is that!? Even Aogami Pierce's list of fetish doesn't include it!:"

"Ah, I guess I'll put it in the category of "not a human" for now."

Putting aside the Karisawa who calmly roasted someone, Shingen pressed on the subject of Kamijou's right hand.

"Money isn't a problem, we've got all the money you need! It's not as if we're going to cut that hand off and take it away. As long as we can do all sorts of experiments with you under anesthesia, we can guarantee a minimum of 20 million yen!"

"Twenty million!?"

After hearing the exact amount, Kamijou's brain circuit short circuited for a while--

Damn it... if this was about a billion or two, something that's extremely far from the reality Kamijou knew, it wouldn't have any effect, but when it comes to the ten thousands of yen, it felt surprisingly realistic...!--

Ahhh.... Speaking of this, how much would the repair of his dorm cost? With that big hole caused by Birdway and Lessar...---

And, that much money would render his food problems...

It seemed like the magic of money couldn't be dispelled by his right arm, and Kamijou staggered drunkenly in delusion--

Eh? Wait a minute. Food expenses?

The moment he thought of that word, "food", his mind went straight to, "Touma, where's the food", and the scenario where she made her way through 20 million yen worth of food in half a month. Kamijou couldn't help but shake his head vigorously as he thought of that.

Nononononono, he needed to pull himself together!--

If he believed that money on that sort of magnitude could have any effect on his misfortune, he had to destroy that illusion of his!

Kamijou slapped his face with his right hand, and awakened his consciousness with the sensation and clarity that came with the pain.

"...Well, better forget about it. Knowing me, the 2nd day I get that amount of money, I'll need to pay a 20 million yen compensation, or something will eat it, etc. That's my fate."

Although he hadn't yet given up on life, he had given up on his own fortune, and faced with the Kamijou who carried such sadness in his eyes, Shingen shook his head in pity.

"Ah... So that's the case. It's nothing, even if you hadn't said that, I understand. If you can't save someone who was in crisis during the time when your freedom of use of your right hand was taken away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life, right...! How noble!"

"Ah, no, I'm not thinking about such a grand thing..."

"Anyway. We'll want to avoid the cause that will be caused by the merging of the worlds. If all the people of the Academy City group, including you, can go back, the distortion will be more or less reduced, right?"

Nodding vigorously, Shingen once again began to explain the situation

"Actually, a boy who called himself Jörmungandr was raging all over the place with huge wounds covering his body, but apparently a group of vampires somehow appeased him, and there was also a woman who called herself Hel who could control the 'cause of death,' but a gang of immortals managed to calm her down."

"No, I don't get it at all, even if you tell me that."

Ignoring Kamijou, who was tilting his head, Shingen continued.

"Then, there's also...two people who are also confirmed to be here."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"One of them, I hear, is someone you know quite well."

At that instant-- The window of the station wagon made a clanging sound.

Looking over, what he found was Tsuchimikado, who was looking confused.

"What's wrong, Tsuchimikado?."

Kamijou opened the window of the car and looked over, while Tsuchimikado whispered.

"Ah... Just now, the boss gave me an order, nya."

"Order?"

"It seems like... someone's impersonating the Board of Directors, and are issuing false orders.”

A stuttering Tsuchimikado finally managed to spit out the true identity of one of the “visitors of Ikebukuro.”

"As a result of those false orders, the "1st Ranked" came over here, and because communications are unstable, I can't connect to him... so we'll have to get in direct contact with him and drag him back before shit gets real."

===Part 10===

Abandoned Factory

"....?"

The white-haired teenager stopped in his tracks, as he felt a powerful change in the flow of power behind him.

Turning back--he found half the factory filled with "darkness".

It was the large amount of shadows that Celty Sturluson sent forth, swallowing up the entire abandoned factory.

Shizuo, who saw this, shouted out!

"You fucking idiot... Celty! This is my fight, so hurry up and return it to me!"

[I refuse!]

"Wh..."

Seeing Celty, who was typing in words with an unprecedented forcefulness, Shizuo couldn't say anything--

Honestly, it was impossible to understand what was going on--

Because it was not understandable, they had to stop this situation in order to understand it--

If there was any chance of stopping it, it would only be herself.

Celty, who was calmly weaving those words in her mind, wanted herself to calm down.

However, the passion that came out was completely uncontrollable--

The most important thing was....

The headless horseman, Celty Sturluson, clenched her fists--

How could she stay silent as she saw a friend being treated like that, right in front of her eyes!

For her, this was an extremely rare emotion.

Pure "Anger"

That was to say, a clear "hostility" towards the boy in front of her.

She didn't think she could win.

Her opponent was an existence that was outside of common sense, even to her as a Dullahan.

And she feared that he hadn't even shown his full strength yet.

Even so, the option of abandoning Shizuo there and running away on her own did not even exist in the mind of Celty at the moment.

She was a Dullahan. A fairy who didn't become a human.

As a result of her integration into human society and learning about humans through various mediums, the "human" heart that had developed inside her had made up its mind to attack the threat in front of her.

And since that was the case, it didn't matter if that "ordinary human being" made fun of her for being tactless.

"You don't have a head, but you still make such a determined face. Well, at least it shows that you understand the situation better, as you're not getting on the ground and begging."

And after those words dripping with sarcasm--

The white haired teenager manipulated the vectors of the wind around him, and instantly whipped up a tornado.

He compressed it into a blade of wind, and shot it straight at Celty.

However, the protective shadows completely blocked the wind, and moved forward, through the new shadows being generated from within.

The shadows had taken root in every corner of the factory, and the half-hearted wind attack probably wouldn't budge at all.

"..."

Bang! The white haired boy understood the situation. Bang! And he tapped the floor with his foot.

After that, he somehow manipulated vectors to allow the steel in the abandoned factory to float, one by one, and then as if they were being pulled to his side, they flew.

And then, as if to dust off the steel off his body, he knocked them, one by one.

The simple action made the iron accelerate like a cannonball, and with the momentum of a rain of bullets, they flew towards Celty.

However, all of them were absorbed as if they fell into a swamp, and the shadow continued to expand, like a giant slime.

"Tch... it really is the same sort as the #2!"

While clicking his tongue, the white haired boy raised his hand to the sky.

The wind began to compress in front of him at a high density, creating a small body of plasma.

Just as the teenager was about to throw the plasma at the "shadow" without hesitation--

"Take this!"

Shizuo threw one of the nearby chunks of iron, the same way he had through the vending machines before.

However, if it were only on this level, the teenager would not panic and misfire the plasma.

"Watch and learn, old man."

Of course, his reflection worked properly, and bounced the iron back just like before.

However, it was a little different than before.

Shizuo, after throwing the piece of metal, burst forward towards his opponent himself.

Then, in the same way, he hit the iron back at him.

If that was it, the results would not differ from before.

And because there was no difference--

Shizuo hit the piece of iron into the ground.

"!"

The piece of iron completely destroyed the ground, and stabbed itself into the underground warehouse of the factory.

And the white haired boy started to fall.

If it was only this, it wouldn't be considered on the level of a crisis.

However, when he felt that the ground in front of him was darker than he thought, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He sensed it.

Was it that Celty read Shizuo's intention, or was it that she was prepared to take hold from the very beginning- passing through the cave where half of Shizuo's body had been buried into, she filled the ground with a number of large shadows.

Then, just a moment before he was going to escape from the air through vector manipulation--

The shadows that covered the top, bottom, left and right of the abandoned factory wrapped up the boy completely.

"...What's this, huh?"

What was in front of Shizuo's eyes was a giant sphere that was about the size of a small car.

It didn't make contact with the ground, but it was completely stationary in the air.

[For the time being, I kind of locked him up....]

Instead of having the shadows directly twisting on him, it was akin to being locked up in a soap bubble.

Judging that he could manipulate kinetic energy freely, she didn't move the sphere immediately, but just kept it stationary in the air. Of course, if he kicked at the walls, he would be able to generate energy, right? So that was why Celty divided the sphere into dozens of layers, and wrapped it up like a Russian matryoshka doll.

Even if an inner layer was destroyed, a new one could be generated from one of the outer layers to cover it immediately. Although she had prepared for this specifically, nothing happened yet.

If this was ordinary matter, no matter what kind of technique was used to construct it, as long as the teenager used his ability, he would be able to tear it apart easily.

However, this was no ordinary matter that wrapped up the teenager.

It was "shadows"

Originally, shadows were areas where there was no light, and since they weren’t even considered matter, they didn’t have mass, or thickness.

Celty was manipulating the "shadow" as if it were an object with mass - the important thing here was that although "thickness" could be created through this, the concept of "thickness" could also be ignored.

This was something Celty herself did not realize, that she was actually able to materialize her shadows with varying degrees of thinness.

In other words, it could be kept at zero thickness, but also could be stacked infinitely to increase its strength.

Therefore, if Celty Sturluson had actually knew about this--

The "Shadow" could be a spear and a shield more powerful than any other material on this planet. It could even be the thread used to connect Earth and Mars together.

It was a power that had completely surpassed the common sense of science and the laws of physics. Celty herself was not able to understand it properly. It was a shadow of absolute strength that was created unconsciously.

In order words, she was able to do this because of the anger she felt.

If the underground doctor, who lived with her, knew about this, there would be no doubt that he would be jealous of Shizuo.

"This, how are we going to deal with him?"

[I don't think he can be defeated by physical means. Let's just wait for him to enter a state of hypoxemia.]

Celty made the density of the shadow bigger than usual, thus blocking the supply of oxygen by blocking the air.

This "suffocation attack" created by the interweaving and overlapping of various special conditions could be said to be one of the rare weaknesses of the invincible reflection.

If it were a normal person, this would be enough to decide who was the winner, and the loser. But--

This young man was the existence known as the #1 of Academy City -- [Accelerator]

He was another existence that wasn't ordinary, even within the category of Espers.

Bang..... Celty and Shizuo felt the sound of the air shaking.

In the next instant, alongside a violent sound of destruction, the top of the black sphere was torn by something unseen.

"What!?"

This....

Next to Shizuo who shouted out loud, the headless Celty's "vision" felt it.

From the top of the sphere, two colorless wings grew out--

....He hasn't even shown his full strength yet!

The thing that destroyed Celty's shadow, something that ignored the laws of physics, was indeed something "from another dimension" that also did not obey the laws of physics.

What was this... this thing, it was almost like...!

Celty probably associated the pair of wings with something else.

Just before she continued to think about it, the crack of the sphere widened, and the invisible wings, (were they white or black?), were rendered in another color for just a moment--

"Please don't fight over me anymore! Says Misaka as Misaka remembers the lines she recently saw in the morning at the theatre, and tries to pretend to be the heroine in the swamp!"

Such words, which were completely incompatible with the atmosphere of the scene, resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

When Shizuo and Celty looked over, there was a girl of about 10 years of age standing there, with an ahoge on the top of her head.

"A kid...?"

In contrast to Shizuo, who frowned, Celty, who saw who the girl was, panicked and took out her PDA, pointing it at her.

[I told you to wait near the motorcycle!]

"Who is it?"

Before answering Shizuo's question, Celty typed something in order to ensure the girl's safety.

[It's dangerous! Get out of here!]

But the girl, looking up at the black sphere, asserted with her hands crossed.

"It's not dangerous anymore, says Misaka as Misaka tries to send the words of objective truth to the strange sphere with hopeful observation."

The young girl had the voice of a child, but with the words of an old man.

Then, in the next instant, the "transparent wings" disappeared completely from Celty's vision, and the voice of a teenager who had become tired in every sense came from inside the sphere.

"Oi... I'm no longer in the mood for messing around. Hurry up and get rid of this damn ball."

A few minutes later.

After the shadow cage was lifted at the urging of the girl who called herself Misaka, the boy stared at them but didn't attack.

"Why are you here, you idiot?!"

“Because of numerous reasons, announces Misaka, Misaka somehow came into this world, but there were also signals from a satellite that talked about how several people were involved in a conspiracy."

"Say it so that I can actually understand."

The teen said, annoyed. Shizuo had to have suppressed his anger and urge to interject from behind.

"Hey...Although you guys seem to be pushing the topic on your own over there, I'm totally not convinced...."

Probably because there was a kid in front of him, he held back desperately. But the moment Celty tried to calm Shizuo down, whose face was twitching with anger--

"The reason is Orihara Izaya."

Because of what that girl said, Shizuo's movements halted.

"Misaka says as Misaka tries to convey this crucial piece of information that's at the core of everything."

"What are you on about, Last Order?"

Then, the girl named Last Order weaved around Shizuo's back and continued.

"It's all lies! About this person wandering around and the network, they're lies! They're all false orders given by that person named Orihara Izaya, pretending to be Academy City's Board of Directors, says Misaka as Misaka tries to peek at a certain person to see if his reaction is different than normal when he sees Misaka hiding behind this bartender, as Misaka peaks Misaka’s head out to confirm."

"Cut the bullshit and tell me."

After a few minutes, after the girl had explained everything, Celty's shoulders slumped--

In the end, there he was again, with his usual evil plans!

The man who did this thing purely because he hated Shizuo was none other than Orihara Izaya.

She understood this, but this time she actually really wanted to beat him up.

However, above that, there was a worry.

If she had that kind of thought, what kind of boiling state was Shizuo's mind in right now?

"Seriously, anyway, you should say sorry to the person you hurt first, Misaka says as Misaka thoughtfully teaches you the common sense of society."

Faced with the teenager who kept his face stiff, the young girl urged him to apologize to Shizuo and the others.

Just before the teenager said something, Shizuo said.

"Ahah... No, no need to apologize...."

Even though the #1 kid didn't use his ability, he could feel that Heiwajima Shizuo's anger vector had completely switched direction. But it also increased by several times then when he was facing him.

"Do you know where that fungus Izaya is?... Girl."

The girl answered without panic to the face of Shizuo, who was seeping with a ghost-like anger.

"Although I don't know why, because Hikoboshi II has also come to this world, I can observe his location in detail if I connect to the network! Misaka says confidently."

===Part 11===

——

Distortion.

The reason for all this was the distortion of space-time.

For example, even if Yumasaki or Karisawa went to Academy City tomorrow or yesterday, and met Index, but didn't realize it was her, that could be explained by that phrase, that it was all caused by the distortion of space-time.

In the past, when Yumasaki was thrown into the other world called Dengeki Gakuen, there had been a miracle, where he had met Index, and Burning-Eyed Shana themselves - perhaps the Yumasaki who went to Academy City was actually the Yumasaki from before in that point in time, so during his time in "that other world", that was why he judged Index to be a cosplayer.

And in this situation with distorted space-time--

Yumasaki and Karisawa were still going their separate ways.

"So, if you get Shokuhou-chan to remove the psychological scars of Awaki-chan, would it allow her to become a Level 5? Kamijou, try doing that please."

"What good would that do to Misaki-chan, huh?"

"Nonono, what are you talking about! And who's Awaki!?"

"She's a shotacon girl!"

"Even if you say that!"

While Tsuchimikado was trying to find out where Accelerator was, this argument continued. Shingen left the station wagon, saying that he had to go back to the office to report on the situation, and Aogami said that he was going to meet some girl on the Otome Road and left, so only Kamijou was left to savor this unreasonable situation--

Why do these people know so much about Kamijou and Academy City?

"Actually, I have even more questions..."

When Yumasaki tried to take out some books, he accidently dropped his backpack, and several Light Novels dropped out of the opened pack.

"Huh? What books are these?"

Seeing the cover that said "A Certain Magical Index," Kamijou frowned.

Index of Forbidden Books. A word that he often heard. So adding that "Index" on there was pretty redundant.

T/N: The Japanese title reads: "Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku", with Kinsho Mokuroku, with that meaning "Index of Prohibited Books", but there's Furigana above those Kanji, which tells the reader that it's supposed to be pronounced "Indekkusu", so that's why it's redundant

And, the cover art of these books of the characters all matched with the people he knew, even the outfits.

"Ah, this is..."

While Yumasaki was thinking of how he should explain it, Kamijou picked up one of the books nearest to him, and turned the pages noisily.

Then--

"W....what the hell is this!?"

Electrical current swam throughout the grey matter in Kamijou's brain.

Actually, it was the same kind of shock, as the time when he was gently hit by Misaka Mikoto's electrical attacks.

After seeing the word "Kamijou" in the novel, reading it with a frown, he found that it was as if his previous experiences in the past had been recorded in the form of a novel.

"This, what the hell is this!? Is it some stalker's diary or something? Did I make some enemies in some kind of strange organization unknowingly!?"

"Ahhhh... That.... That's.... something like the Akashic Records. About the Akashic Records, maybe Index or Birdway can explain it in more detail."

"Wait a second! You not only know Index, but also Birdway!?"

In the book labeled Volume 2, the events relating to Himegami and the Misawa Cram school were described.

Then, it suddenly occurred to Kamijou--

Hmm? This means...--

Wouldn't the first volume... be about the events before he lost his memories?

Moving his eyes down, he found a book with no number after the title, lying on the floor.

Gulping, he slowly stretched his arm out, but--

Karisawa held her hand out.

"No."

"Hey..."

This book was a very good example of the kind of book that could be used to make a person's life easier.

Putting that book away in his backpack, Yumasaki, with a serious face, said.

"Kamijou, we'll also be talking according to the situation. About your past, just like the flower on Uiharu's head, it's a sacred area that must not be touched. So I'm sorry."

"Hey, so my past, though I don't get it at all, it's on the same level as the "flower on the head" or something...?"

"After all, we're just mere spectators. Even if we can cheer you on, we don't have the right to change your life."

Karisawa said, hugging the Kamijou who had no choice but to calm down.

"It's alright, even if you don't have your memories, there are still people who love you. No matter what happens to them, we're the same. Who we love is the ‘you’ who can move forward now!"

"That's right, in this city, there is someone who has lost her head, not to mention her memories, and that person is now living a fulfilling, loving life."

"...."

He didn't understand what all this was about.

Although this was the case, he could feel that the warmth in their words was genuine, so Kamijou said this, though he was still confused.

"Thank....you."

"Ooooohhhhhhhhhh! Kami-yan!"

Completely destroying the fantasy-like atmosphere, from outside the station wagon came the voice of Aogami Pierce.

"What's wrong, what's wrong!?"

After Kamijou opened the car door, it revealed the tearful Aogami Pierce."

"You listen to me, Kami-yan! Even if I talk to the girls on Otome Road, all they say to me is that "Wow, that's so cool, this cosplay suits you"! What??? Did someone steal my iconic hair and earrings that I've put so much faith into! I didn't think it would be so humiliating to be asked if it was a cosplay or not, but this seems to have awakened a new fetish in me, ohonononononoononono."

"Okay, just calm down! The one feeling embarrassed is me now!"

Kamijou was made aware of the eyes surrounding them and used his hand to press on Aogami Pierce's mouth.

Pushing Kamijou's hand away from him, and complaining to Yumasaki, whom he had just established a friendly relationship with, Tsuchimikado sighed as he watched Aogami Pierce running around.

"Not good, nya. The line with Hikoboshi has become mixed up, and so I can't figure out where that guy is."

"Are you saying that there's others communicating? With that satellite?"

"Well, there's a lot of confusion over on the other side as well. Even so, if we don't find Accelerator soon..."

"You want me to tell you what?"

Kamijou and the others looked back at the place where the voice suddenly appeared, and there stood a man wearing a black fur coat.

"...Who are you?"

"An informant that's just passing by. You guys are worried because you can't find where Accelerator is, right? Then allow me to sell you that information."

"You... know about what's going on?"

"Sort of. Honestly, I've already looked into the situation. After all, this incident is of great interest to me as well."

The man who called himself the informant looked at the teenager near the door of the station wagon, expertly weaving his words together.

"There's just one thing, to be honest. Although I’ve collected all kinds of information, I don't know why I can't get the real name of Aogami Pierce over there."

With a self deprecating smile, the informant continued.

"Although it isn't a big deal, I'm pretty unsatisfied having such a hole in my information. If you can tell me this, I'll give you the information you want."

"What, what? It's not such a big deal. I'm not even listening, and you're talking about it so casually?"

Aogami Pierce, who heard his nickname being called, started to listen to the conversation midway, saying to the informant, determined.

"Oh, tell me my real name, Kami-yan! With gusto! Let this second-rate informant, who doesn't even know my real name, see the cruelty of reality!"

Aogami Pierce, who was pointing a finger at Izaya with a strange pose, Kamijou could only respond with silence.

"...."

"Kami-yan?"

An unprecedented cold sweat seeped out of his face, and Kamijou said some words, as if he were talking to himself.

"Once, despair was inflicted."

"?"

"That was when the whole world became my enemy. Even you and Fukiyose tried to kill me. Imagine it as some sort of dream."

"Hey? Ah, so you're talking about a dream?"

"In such a horrible, horrible situation, to you who tried to kill me... I called you ‘Aogami Pierce’... Even in such a situation, I could only use your nickname..."

"What are you talking about, Kami-yan? What are you trying to say?"

"Hey, wait, you guys, are you serious!? Are you kidding me!? Nononono, really, are you guys trolling me?"

Aogami Pierce accepted his friend's reaction as a joke, standing in front of the informant.

"Fine, I'll do it myself! Dig the shit out of your ears, and listen to me carefully!"

Aogami Pierce took a big breath, getting ready to say his name out loud to all these people around him.

"My name is..."

And in the moment after that, space-time distorted.

To be precise, it was an attack that gave the illusion of space-time distortion, that wrapped up an entire space.

The one that flew here, aiming at Orihara Izaya, crushed the asphalt beneath him, blowing the body of the Aogami Pierce next to him away, through the pressure of the wind alone.

"Arghhh--!?"

Looking at the Aogami Pierce, who was rolling around, grunting, Kamijou went after it with his unsteady body.

He glanced to the side -- A small impact crater had been created, and a man in a bartender's uniform with a face that looked like it belonged to a demon lord was standing in it.

Because of the overwhelming sense of pressure, Kamijou continued to chase after Aogami Pierce, as if he had seen nothing.

The man who had dodged the impact just in time howled like a monster.

"I don't know if this world is distorted or whatever... But you're ready to have your body squished into a ball, right...? I---Za----Ya----Kun------ OOOOOOHHHHHH!"

===Part 12===
"Goodbye, and thank you so much for today, says Misaka as Misaka shows kindness in the place of the cold edgy guy."

[Ahah, take care on your way back.]

Celty entered that text gently, to the girl who was smiling innocently.

Then, she took a look at the boy named Accelerator.

He manipulated Shizuo's strength, which far exceeded that of a normal human, blowing his body directly towards where Izaya was. Although this was Shizuo's own request, Celty couldn't help but think that this kid who could do this was so far beyond common sense that it wasn't even funny.

At the same time, if that girl hadn't arrived, who knows what would have happened.

Shingen suddenly said "You should accompany this child to find someone" and then because of this girl "Felt that he was this way, thought Misaka as Misaka tried to look for that person's distinct traces of AIM surrounding him", Celty followed those ambiguous instructions and ran up and down the streets.

When she came into the abandoned factory because of Shizuo's guttural roar, she told the girl to wait at the motorcycle, and so she went to see what was going on, but ended up getting involved in it--

After all, she didn't know about the white hair... So she didn't think that it was the person that the kid was looking for.

"Why are you staring over here... Uh, oh wait, you've got no eyes."

The girl began to lecture the teenager when he said such things to Celty--

Ignoring the lecturing, he said this to Celty.

"....Oi."

[What?]

"About your power... There should be a better way that you can use to kill me in an instant, right? Why didn't you use it?"

Celty responded after thinking a little, typing out the text.

[Why do you think... Wouldn't it be better to settle things without killing anyone? No one would lose any sleep at night because of it.]

Hearing that, the teenager frowned, muttering.

"Even a monster like you is this indecisive."

After that, with a slightly unimpressed expression, he messed with the girl's hair.

"We're going back. This isn't my city."

[Nonsense. As long as you don't go crazy like before, Ikebukuro welcomes you]

The teenager didn't respond to Celty's words.

As if to replace the reply, he once again ruffled with the girls' hair.

It was as if he was claiming that the place where the teenager would go was the place where he belonged.

===Part 13===

Ikebukuro station | On the subway

"Ahh, what bad luck. It's the same as yesterday. I didn't even finish one of the external research..."

After all that chaos, Kamijou and the others got on the same subway they took here because of Shingen's urging.

After that, they got caught in a fight between the man in the bartender suit and the informant, and when they managed to escape, they found out that Accelerator had already gone back to Academy City, so everything was settled.

"Honestly, I have no idea what just happened, but suddenly everything is alright now... Well anyway, if it's all solved, then it's for the best..."

Kamijou, who got involved in the incident, and yet didn't become the center of it, felt the fatigue coming on, after relaxing for a bit.

Speaking of which, was it really all over?

Although he wasn't so sure about it, once you got on this subway, people of the "Academy City World" would automatically go back to the original world.

Aogami Pierce, who did not understand what was happening, and Tsuchimikado, whose last encounter with Kamijou was a little earlier back in time. Each of them would go back to their respective times and places, across the distorted space-time.

No matter if it was a distorted path or not, all one could do was to move forward.

Suddenly, Kamijou, who had made his mind, felt a sense of unease, and said,

"I feel like I've forgotten something... What could it be?"

===Part 14===

Hikoboshi II | Satellite Orbit | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory

[We've finally solved the problem]

In response to the message from Tsukumoya Shinichi, Kaguya maintained her floating position as she replied.

"The scale of the merging seems to be larger than expected."

[Yes. So there's nothing better than getting in touch with you, who can observe the earth from the most objective perspective, and getting your assistance on top of that.]

"But the important thing is that I'm still here in this world."

[If the distortion of the Sky by Fire can be resolved, you should be able to return to your original world in a few days.]

"I said that I couldn't leave Academy City on it's own, but I don't really care about it. Looking at a different Earth is a good way to pass the time. It's like a spot the difference game."

To the not particularly troubled Kaguya, Tsukumoya Shinichi told the truth.

[Well, also, since you think it's fine like that, then I better not say anything more...]

[But your presence here has sent the surface into panic.]

===Part 15===
Somewhere on Kawagoe Street | Shinra's apartment

"Celty! You're back! What a day it's been today!"

[Really!... Suddenly something unbelievable has happened.]

When she finally returned home, she found a paper bag on the table.

[What's this?]

She took a peek with her hand, and saw something that looked like a wine bottle in some special packaging.

"Ahhh.... That seems to be something that my dad's guest forgot. He says that he wants you to send it back through the subway tunnel tomorrow..."

[???]

Why did she have to go through the subway tunnel to send back something that someone forgot?

Just as Celty was about to ask the obvious question, a report about an astonishing event just came, blaring from the news on the TV.

[And for the next piece of news. We have received an astonishing image. A huge artificial structure, 5,000 meters long, has appeared in the sky over Tokyo. There is no record of such a satellite being sent up, as far as we know--]

Suddenly, Celty dropped the goods onto the couch.

[Ohh... Are these aliens ahhahaguukayadshaaghdsdkgh]

"Calm down, Celty! Celty!?"

After that, she couldn't get her work done well because of the news, and the next day, she passed through the underground tunnel, confused. She arrived at "Academy City", but--

But this is another story, for another time.

===Part 16===

'''Epilogue'''

Ikebukuro's west gate park was covered in a thin, crimson, sunset.

In the corner of the park was a man with long, thin eyes, as well as a European shaped face, sitting on a metal tube bench.

Although it wasn't a rare presence in Ikebukuro, where there were many foreign tourists, the unique atmosphere that surrounded this man was a presence very rare indeed, both in Japan, and abroad.

However, a person who could detect this atmosphere would also be a very rare existence in this world.

"Can I sit next to you?"

"It's a public bench. You don't need to ask me for permission..."

The man said with a shrug, after glancing in the direction of the girl.

"Whatever."

"It's not just whatever. This side or that side, how much confusion do you think has been created? There were several conflicts in places you didn't see. Of course, you know all that, right?"

"So, is it, or is it not? After all, it would be boring if I knew everything. Life is meant to be a challenge."

"What are you talking about, cheater?"

The girl said that, sitting down violently on the bench

To this girl, the man said.

"Why did you come here? The bottle should have been returned to Kamijou Touma, right, girl?"

"It's like you asked me to come here yourself. I didn't expect that someone like you could blend in with society in general. How can you not be interested in something like that?"

The young girl, who was about 12 years old, spoke loudly. The leader of the magic cabal, the Dawn Colored Sunlight, Leivinia Birdway. To this, the man softly replied.

"Even so, he was a senior member of an underground organization. It's hard to say that he's someone with a normal status."

"It doesn't matter if it's the triads, the Camorra, or the 'Ndrangheta, to us Magicians, they're all the same."

"From how I can see it, Magicians and Espers are just the same."

"Don't get so passive aggressive. What are you, a child?"

The man of the underworld giggled at Birdway's words.

"It's not something to laugh at. Have you seriously prepared a solution to this mess?"

"Don't need to do anything. In the infinite cycle of the chicken and the egg, the chick will go on it's own way."

"Are you going to play this game of words to deceive your way through? If that really would work, what a chaotic play it would be."

After a little more words exchanged, Birdway slowly stood up.

"There's not much to be gained from how I live my life. It's time for me to return, Alchemist."

"Yeah? I'm sorry to see you go, but I won't keep you any longer."

The man named the Alchemist continued to speak to the magician girl.

"It's hard to form ties. In the end, I'd like to leave you a piece of advice, about your actions this time. Although it's something that the majority of people from this world can feel."

"What? Advice from a "being" like you would be interesting. Let's hear it then."

In response to Birdway's words, the Alchemist said with a blank expression.

"I don't think you came here because you were interested in what I was doing, but simply because you were chasing after Kamijou Touma, right?"

"Wh...."

"You're actually a brocon, aren't you?"

"...."

For a moment, the silence that seemed like that time had stood still dominated these two.

After several seconds of silence that could be described as forever, the corners of Birdway's mouth twitched, and she said.

"....If I become a magic god, I'll come over to this universe and destroy you, you bloody bastard. Keep that in mind."

"What a horrible thing to say...Fine"

Smiling while shrugging his shoulders once more, the Alchemist laughed.

"When that time comes, I'll ask Kamijou Touma for help."

===Part 17===
After the girl disappeared from the streets of Ikebukuro with an appalling anger, the man, still sitting on the bench, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself.

"A chaotic play. In some sense, maybe that's true. But where in the world can you get the words to explain this event."--

"If you could explain it with words, then a phenomenon of this magnitude can't really be truly called "Absurd"".... Ha--

This, again, was the words of something outside of this dimension, from elsewhere--

Whether he understood it or not, this incident was, in other words, something like that.

"Oh well."

After saying that, the man's figure disappeared.

The space where the man was originally located dissolved into "nothingness" - like a film reel being scattered in the air.

Then, one part of the film distorts, beginning to form a circle, and the film, which had become a shape of a mobius ring, further shifted into the shape of ∞ Infinity, beginning to rotate.

As if to say that the event neither had a beginning, nor an end, from the very start.

The view of the city, too, continued to rotate like a film.

Knock knock, click click--

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Translator's note - Here's a note on all the origins of the characters (and terms) that appeared or were mentioned:

'''A Certain Magical Index (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

Kamijou Touma, Othinus, Roberto Katze, Leivinia Birdway, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Tsuchimikado Maika, Fukiyose, Himegami Aisa, Tsukuyomi Komoe, Index Librorum Prohibitum, Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Amano Kaguya, Kazakiri Hyouka, Accelerator, Meigo Airsa, Aleister Crowley, Saten Ruiko, Olay Blueshake, Utgard Loki, Misaka Imouto, Sogiita Gunha, Kakine Teitoku, Komaba Ritoku, Kihara clan, Aiwass, Uiharu Kazari, Lessar, Jörmungandr, Hel, Last Order, Musujime Awaki

'''A Simple Series (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

[Absurd]

'''Durarara!!! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Yumasaki Walker, Tsukumoya Shinichi, Celty Sturluson, Heiwajima Shizuo, idk who this is, Karisawa Erika, Kyohei Kadota, Saburo Togusa, Shingen Kishitani, Shinra Kishitani, Orihara Izaya, Namie Yagiri

'''Vamp! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Viscount -- Gerhardt von Waldstein, The Organization

'''Baccano! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Prohibition Era Groups, Alchemy of the Abyss, Alchemist (Ronnie Schiatto)

'''Shakugan no Shana (Takahashi Yashichiro)'''

Shana

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IndexVSDRRR Crossover Ikebukuro Chapter

2021-04-14T14:18:16Z

SandyBoi:

==Ikebukuro Chapter==
Translation: botman/Dracoslayer123

Edit/Proofread: Dracoslayer123/Pablusky/SandyBoi/Fullmetal
===Part 1===

Tokyo | Ikebukuro | Summer

"Such misfortune..."

Kamijou Touma, under the sweltering sun, spoke his catchphrase.

However, there was just one thing that was different from normal.

He was neither in his usual stage known as "Academy City,” nor in the sky above Russia, nor in the eternal darkness made by the Magic God.

It was a place that wasn't that far from Academy City. He was in a city only a few kilometers to the northeast of one of the entrances of the "Outer Wall.”

Ikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo.

Although it couldn't compare to Academy City, Kyoto, or Akihabara, it was one of the most famous cities in Japan.

"Ikebukuro, huh... Come to think of it, I don't think I've been to many cities in Japan apart from Academy CIty..."

Kamijou deliberately added the word "Japanese" because he remembered that he had been to several cities outside of Japan in just the past few months. It was ironic that he had never been to a much closer city in Japan, yet he had been to Russia and Italy.

"Though if I wanted to shop, I could just do it in Academy City..."

At that moment, something similar to a news commentary could be heard from the side.

"...President to be at the summit..."

When he turned around toward the sound, he saw a prototype laptop displayed in an electrical appliance store, converting the news images from the TV to high definition and then broadcasting them.

The news of the summit between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Japan came on, and at that time, Kamijou tilted his head and said,

"Huh? He’s not that old guy?"

After a while, Kamijou, surprised at the appearance of a man who looked nothing like the Hispanic president Kamijou had known, suddenly noticed something and said,

"His approval rating didn’t drop because of that incident in Denmark...right?"

After he spoke with such anxiety, he heard a sudden beeping sound in his head.

Then, in the next instant, he had a question about what he had just said.

Huh?

"That incident in Denmark…” What was that again?

"Well, that old guy was really one of a kind... I guess he finally got the sack."

Kamijou, who easily accepted his acquaintance's sacking even while cocking his head in worry, started walking forward, and then sighed deeply once again.

"Why on earth would I want to spend my hard-earned days off on something that feels like what an envoy would do?"

In the bag hanging from his hand, there was a cylindrical protective case made of stainless steel and some sort of cushioning material.

It seemed to have been found at a station at Academy City, and after being bounced between various organizations, it ended up in the hands of the troubled Kamijou as usual. And now it had to be sent back to Ikebukuro.

“Anyway, all you have to do is casually walk around with it. It’s bound to be reclaimed soon enough thanks to the law of causality.”

"At least, that's what Birdway said, but I really don't get it. That bartender guy beat me up so bad yesterday that I can't even straighten my back anymore, and she had the nerve to oh-so-politely help me fill out my application to exit Academy City? No matter how you think about it, it can’t be anything other than her using me. Speaking of which, isn’t she spending way more time in Japan than in England…?”

Whining, Kamijou took a look at the box. There were signs that it had already been opened, but there was no way to know if the person who found it had drunk any of the "something" inside. As the transporter, Kamijou, who was a minor, didn't even think about the option of "drinking" the thing.

"Ahhh, seriously, will there never be a chance for me to relax other than on a hospital bed...?"

Beside the sighing Kamijou, one of his classmates opened his mouth with a happy smile.

"Don't say that, Kami-yan. I'm looking forward to it, you know? Ikebukuro is filled with a different flavor of chaos than Akihabara. The mere mention of the word "Otome Road" alone transforms my heart into a great-journey-gangster-gold-mine!"

The boy who spoke such nonsense was none other than Aogami Pierce.

Just as his nickname suggested, he was a blue-haired boy with perpetually closed eyes and pierced ears.

Although this bad friend of his had also applied to leave Academy City, it seemed as if he had applied to go out in the name of "external training experience instead of supplementary lessons," and in order to meet the requirements, he had to have a tutoring partner.

"Anyway, I'm going to leave the tutoring to you… or should I?"

As Kamijou expressed his unease, another fellow student smirked mischievously at him.

"Nyaa~ As soon as I said I was going to Ikebukuro, my step-sister told me to "hurry up and go to the butler cafe to have the essence of a gentleman carved into your spine." But before that, I should pop into a cosplay cafe, and in there, I'll think about world peace and the safety of my sister: that's the real essence of being a gentleman!"

The upbeat boy with dyed blonde hair and a Hawaiian shirt was Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

These three were a group of delinquents known as the "Delta Force" (“Idiot Trio”), famous among their classmates in a very small subsection of Academy City. Because Kamijou was always covered in blood, their characteristically red, blue, and yellow colors may have given them the nickname "Academy City's traffic light trio."

Those three were striding through the streets of Ikebukuro, but--

"Anyway, the subway to Ikebukuro was surprisingly crowded..."

The moment Kamijou said that, he noticed something strange—

Huh?

Subway?

That was strange. Was it even possible to reach Ikebukuro by subway from Academy City?

The last time he was able to leave Academy City so easily was that time on the beach in Kanagawa—

He was pretty sure...that leaving the city would require walking through the ‘gate’.

Kamijou, who had been repeatedly manipulated by various organizations, had gone to many countries like England and Italy through questionable means, having even been thrown out of planes, needing to stick a parachute landing. That was why he didn't think there was any point in formalities like "having to walk out through the gate" at all.

However, even so, he didn't think there was such a thing as being able to leave Academy City using the subway.

In order to go outside, students had to prepare an application and a guarantor. Before they went out, they had to accept the procedure of getting a nano transmitter injected into their bodies.

They say the extra security protocols were countermeasures against industrial espionage, but to students, it gave the illusion that Academy City was actually a prison and that they were applying for parole. Therefore, was it even possible that they could’ve gone through all of that and not remember any of it?

That... Eh?

In the first place, why didn’t he realize something so important until now?

Anyway, what was today’s date again?

He realized that even such simple facts had become so vague for him and was suddenly filled with unease.

"Hey, hey, it's not like we’ve been hit by some mind-altering magic or psychological esper power, right?"

Kamijou touched his head with his right hand just to be on the safe side, but didn't seem to notice any significant change.

After all, his right hand could dispel any supernatural ability and restore the world to its proper form. If his right hand, named "Imagine Breaker," touched it, any illusion or the like should have been dispelled at once. However, it seemed like his memories and vision haven't been tampered with.

He began to relax about that, but then another bout of unease arose.

"I don't think I went through any procedure, no matter how much I try to think about it. I don't even think I took a subway at all..."

Was this really Ikebukuro? He looked around in a panic, wondering if he had mistakenly gone to the downtown area of District 15.

Then, in just a few seconds, he found a subway station entrance marked "Ikebukuro station.”

"Huh? Am I even more tired than I had realized…?"

Looking at Kamijou, who was breaking out in cold sweat, Tsuchimikado whispered quietly.

"(Calm down nyaa~ Kami-yan. I also feel like something is out of place here.)"

"(Hey now, don't tell me it's some trick you Anglicans are pulling!? If I get taken away somewhere again, I'm actually going to be held back a grade at this point...)"

“(If that were the case, I wouldn't have done any of this. I would have just kidnapped you quickly, nyaa. In any case, if this is some kind of attack, panic is what they would want you to feel, so pretend like you’re totally fine. This is perfectly normal, okay?)"

"(What about Aogami Pierce?)"

Kamijou focused on his friend who was just an ordinary person, despite being an esper, and Tsuchimikado straight up gave a thumbs up.

"(That’s not a problem, nya. He’s an idiot, so he probably has no inkling as to what’s really happening!)"

"(Wait, that's true.)"

Saying something like that made one wonder if they were really friends—

Aogami Pierce suddenly stopped and said to Kamijou and Tsuchimikado.

"Hmm? By the way, we never went through the “gate,” did we?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe this guy just said it aloud!"

"Nyaa!! This guy really can't get with the program!"

Faced with inexplicable spite from his two evil friends, Aogami Pierce silently clenched his fists and prepared to defend himself while not even knowing why.

"Wait a minute! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I can definitely at least read the mood! Say if some president’s voluptuous secretary, who’s wearing glasses and has an air of maturity, and some depressed-looking, blonde, Nordic girl appeared in front of my eyes, even if they looked like mother and daughter, I would politely say "did you sisters come to see the sights around here?" while desperately fantasizing about those two as my older and younger sister. See, I can read the mood on that level of making a paradigm shift and turning it into a paradise shift!"

He was probably trying to say that he could be polite enough to refer to an older woman as much younger than she actually is, but the entire message was soiled by his later words.

"As expected from Aogami Pierce. Choosing to be the middle sibling of three instead of being a lover—I'm impressed by the depth of your skills."

"The moment you use the words "depressed-looking" and "president's voluptuous secretary" while trying to explain how you can be polite to women, you’re just proving that you really can’t read the mood…”

"No, that’s the key. By imagining our positions in detail, we can make our delusions more realistic and our hearts more satisfied."

“Oh, I see you know your stuff! See, I’ve already fantasized away and came up with this. The two sisters are actually assassin sisters who were sent here to kill me, but thanks to that lucky pervert Kami-yan, they got their breasts fondled somehow, and as a result of their mental shock, the brainwashing that had been placed on them got lifted, and the plot of escaping their evil organization begins! Then, 80 years later, surrounded by a total of 128 heroines that I met in my journeys, including eternally young mothers, maid robots, and shota step brothers, I die from pure moe overload!

“That’s a surprisingly long life you live in that fantasy… More than that, don’t just casually put other people inside your own perverted fantasies!”

"Though, Aogami Pierce... in order to differentiate each person, it's important to set up costumes for everyone! Also, is there really a need for the "shota step brothers" thing, nyaa?"

"What are you talking about! I've said this before, but no matter if its a step sister, a stepmother, a stepdaughter, twins, widows, (omitted), soldiers, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, (omitted), non-humans, ghost girls, or animal-eared girls, I can accept them all! As long as you feel attraction, trivialities like gender cease to matter, don’t they?"

“Well, homosexuality is indeed a form of love, but the moment you do anything with a child, it’s a crime whether or not you’re a man or a woman.”

“Mmmm, and the dream that allows us to bypass the wall known as the law is called the second dimension. After all, I firmly believe that as long as it’s only in 2D, even lolis and shotas are totally acceptable. Of course, if you bring that dream over into the 3D world, you’re really sus.”

“You know, I had a phase where I thought like that as well, but now that I’ve seen some guy who manages to build a harem with every single girl in his class, his loli teacher who looks like she’s still in grade school, some little nun he found somewhere, and the ojou-samas in some fancy middle school, I’ve come to realize that the wall between 2D and 3D is basically nonexistent.”

“Exactly. And then he always uses the “I like older women” card to spread the fake news that he doesn’t have a harem or anything like that, like he’s some kind of messenger from hell! What’s more, even though there should be no way he could develop a relationship with her, he’s been calling my sister by her first name from the very start, nyaa!”

"Hey, watch it."

Because the debate seemed to be perpetually ongoing and because he felt like he was being insulted to his face, Kamijou decided to change the subject by voicing a concern he had had for some time now.

"Anyway... Who in the world are you?"

The three of them focused their attention to one place where there was a man who had somehow so naturally joined the conversation.

"Ah, hey guys. I'm Yumasaki Walker."

The teen, who seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type, cheerfully gave out his name.

"Wow, to see the Kamijou Touma in the flesh, it's such an honor to meet you!"

===Part 2===

Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory.

A young woman strongly felt that something was very wrong.

The shape of a certain city on Earth had become completely different from what it had been just a few hours ago.

The person floating weightlessly in space while curled into a ball was a girl who was probably in her late teens.

That alone was anomalous enough for "this world,” but the fact that she was wearing a junihitoe made that fact all the more so.

However, for the "world she resides within," what she was wearing wasn't anything too special.

It may be that the only thing that had become abnormal was our benchmark. At least, it was this girl who noticed the abnormality just now.

To her, the Earth, including its seven billion people, was just “something to observe."

Whether it was a war on the surface, the disappearance of national borders, or even a nuclear explosion, it was merely someone else's business to her.

For her, who was, in a sense, watching a live documentary while in the luxury of a first-world environment, such a disturbance would not go unnoticed.

Having a unique life rhythm, she woke up a few hours ago and found that the earth had changed significantly between the time she had gone to bed and the time she had woken up.

The only place she had been "connected to” on Earth—Academy City—had disappeared from Japan.

Although the surface of the earth looked like a neat little collage, to make a collage of its scale in real time would require a being on the level of a god, a demon, or someone who had completely surpassed the boundaries of esper powers.

Located in the western part of Tokyo, the isolated circular world of Academy City contained 2.3 million people.

The developed city within that circle had disappeared, replaced with a completely different topography.

After about 0.5 seconds of her debating whether to try contacting someone in Academy City to judge whether this was some sort of "attack” or if it was too rash to reveal her location just like that, a communication signal came to her as if it had been deliberately timed.

It had all the right codes and the same patterns as the hidden line she usually used, but the voice was of a man she had never heard from before.

[Hey.]

"Yo."

The girl, named Amano Kaguya, who spoke back in a rude way that was completely contrary to her appearance, did not show any particular worry about the disappearance of an entire city.

"So, who are you?"

[Ah, sorry, I'm Tsukumoya Shinichi. Nice to meet you.]

"That name doesn’t show up in either my memory or my records. So, what do you want from me, a person in space who has deliberately abandoned the Earth? Though in this situation, it seems more like I've been abandoned by the Earth."

[To be honest, in your eyes, your situation isn’t something to be so pessimistic over, right? You’re basically embodying that saying about how if there is a god that throws you away, there is a god that picks you up.]

"Using the word “god” to represent the people of Academy City? I see you really are an outsider."

As if she had figured something out, she smiled and spat out the words that got directly to the heart of the matter.

"Before we talk, I just want to confirm one thing... Are you a human being?"

[Well, I'll just say this. I sort of emphasize with Kazakiri Hyouka of Academy City.]

The man named Tsukumoya replied in a voice whose emotion could not be read, which was not to say it was emotionless.

It was like a voice that had mixed together and averaged the happiness, anger, and sadness of millions of people.

[If she is considered by someone to be "human," then I guess I could also be regarded as some nameless human.]

===Part 3===

Celty Sturluson was definitely not human.

She was a "Dullahan,” who were fantastical spirits who lived between Scotland and Ireland—and who visited the houses of the dying to declare their deaths.

They visit the house of a dying person with their severed head in their arms, in a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a headless horse called the Cóiste Bodhar. And if you carelessly opened your door, you would be showered in blood. As the main example of ominous harbingers along with banshees, they have been passed down various European mythologies and folklore.

Some stories claim that they were actually figures of fallen Valkyries from Norse mythology, but whether that was actually the case was unclear even to her.

It was not that she didn't know.

Precisely speaking, it was that she could not remember.

She had been robbed of her "head" in her homeland, and her memory of her own existence had disappeared from her.

In order to retrieve “that,” she had come to this place called Ikebukuro, following the faint signs of her own head.

The headless horse transformed into a motorcycle, the armor into a skintight suit, and lingered around the city for decades.

In the end, however, she was unable to get her head back, and her memory had not been restored to this day.

She already knew who stole her head.

She also knew who the person was that prevented her from finding her head.

However, in the end, she had not been able to find the whereabouts of her head.

Celty, now, thought that even if that was the case, it was okay, since she could be with the person she loved.

It was because she was able to live with people who loved her, and who accepted her for what she was.

If that was what happiness was, she reckoned she'd be better off living how she was living now.

A headless woman who hid her firm determination in her heart, replaced her non-existent face and expressed her will through her actions.

That was it -- the existence of Celty Sturluson.

Then, and now.

She was in an abandoned factory on her home turf of Tokyo, confronting "something" even less human than herself.

"So...? Who are you, and where did you come from?"

Even though he was talking like a gangster, there was an air that was completely different from that of normal street urchins.

"Though, it doesn't matter anyway. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too."

She realized he must have gone through many kinds of hell, where he had to kill or be killed.

And that was a number that couldn't be counted using 2 or 3 digits.

The boy who was staring at her fiercely had a neutral face, but he was nothing more than a "boy"

That's right, he looked like a human being from the outside, as if he were a teenager.

He had beautiful pure white hair, that didn't look like it had been dyed.

No matter from where you look at it, it looked so natural, and yet everywhere you looked, it seemed to be full of some sort of scientific chemical, that sort of mysterious white.

Apart from that, he did look human in appearance, and didn't feel anything less than human.

The problem was, the actions he took, and the results of those actions.

A part of the floor of the abandoned factory was covered with steel plates, but there were many "human-shaped holes" in them.

To be more precise--

Heiwajima Shizuo. Half of his body was stuck in the floor of the abandoned factory, and he was not moving.

Although his body was still upright, his head was hanging slightly down. It was impossible to tell whether he was still conscious or not.

When Celty came into the factory for whatever reason, she heard a loud noise, and took a look inside. What she saw was the impossible to understand scenario of the man widely regarded as Ikebukuro's strongest, buried in the ground.

That "boy" -- The one who buried Heiwajima Shizuo into the ground, staring hard at her and said those words just now--

Even if he asked who she was and where she came from....---

She... she was the one who wanted to ask that!

Celty, who came just in time to witness the moment of Shizuo being buried into the ground.

Shizuo's body was hit by the teenager countless times with the metal plate, and as he finally stood up, several tons of industrial machinery floating in the air came crashing down at high speeds.

In the next instant, the industrial machinery was violently compressed, and Shizuo's body was driven into the ground like a nail.

"...Say, what the heck is going on with this product? From my experience, it should be the human body that would be compressed."

Startled, the boy shrugged and said to Celty.

"This isn't some cartoon about a mouse! I've blown so many people away so far, but this is the first time I've seen a guy who can hit a man-shaped hole in a metal plate. This is clearly beyond the scope of an ability that strengthens the flesh. It also doesn't look like he's got nitrogen or oxygen armor, or anything like that."

With a bored sigh, the white-haired boy asked Celty.

“Are you a “gemstone” or something? While I’ve heard that the “#7” is something like that, but at least now it makes sense why I was brought into do the dirty work—”

"Gemstone"? "#7?" What was he talking about?

"Don't play dumb."

Seeing Celty who seemed to have major doubts about it all, the teenager clicked his tongue and continued.

"I can tell from your outfit that you're related to Academy City. How can someone from outside the city have a suit that absorbs 100% of light?"

Facing the agitated teenager, Celty took her PDA out, and entered text with great trepidation.

[What's Academy City? Are you talking about Ōizumi-gakuen?]

He probably was thinking that he was being made fun of when he was shown the text, and so the boy silently reached his hand out and touched Celty's helmet.

"I can't sense the flow of blood in your vessels, or the movement of your muscles, so this is another type of special equipment. But it's been a long time since I've been played for a fool like this!"

The complaining teenager who had a cold tone--

Just like that, he blew the helmet off of Celty's head in an instead--!?--

Wha, wh-wh-wh, what was going on!?

Celty couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't use gunpowder or anything like that. The helmet merely bounced off, as if it moved by itself.

If Celty had a head, she would have stared, eyes wide.

Similar to how the boy in front of her was looking at her.

"...Ah?"

Furrowing one of his eyebrows, the boy said.

"I thought I had overexerted myself and chopped your head off... What's this all about?"

[I, I know now! You're that, aren't you, a vampire! There are vampires I know who can use this kind of ability with your mind!]

"It's not Psychokinesis."

The white-haired teenager dismissed the vampire or whatever she was saying as a joke, and continued.

"What's up about that body of yours? Long range manipulation?... Doesn't seem like it either."

Facing the presence of something that had nothing from the neck up, the teenager maintained his hostility, and continued questioning.

"...Hey, I'll ask one more time."

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

That moment--

Creak. An exaggerated sound could be heard from the abandoned factory.

Then, as if it was from the depths of hell, the dull sound made the surrounding air stir.

"Oi..."

As Celty and the boy looked towards the source of the sound, the man in the bartender's uniform appeared, half of his body buried in the ground, craning his neck, looking relaxed.

"To be honest, I don't know what you've done to me... but you made me a bit dizzy."

Although he gave the impression that his body was all battered, he put his hands on the ground, pulling his body out, which had been knocked into the ground, with just the force of his palms.

"I don't know what happened, but I was blown away by the force of the blow.... Then, for some reason, my blood pressure suddenly shot up, and a headache came on..."

The white haired boy frowned at Heiwajima Shizuo, the man in the bartender's uniform, who continued to twist his neck by gently pressing on his head.

"Although I've used quite a bit of energy to force your blood flow backward, in the end, you've just got a headache. Are you really human?"

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't matter how you did it. After all, I've been done to death by some corrupt politician using Aikido or something... The important thing isn't that."

Shizuo, who had his blows all reflected back to him, was wounded by his own wrist, and then had his blood vessels and internal organs ruptured by the manipulation of the vector of his blood flow. Even then, he said it was trivial, with his voice boiling in anger.

"If it's just me, then I'd let it go. Although I don't know why, I suddenly succumbed to provocation and was beaten, but even this wouldn't make me so angry."

"Is that so!?"

Shizuo, who was staring at the white-haired boy with the face like a demon, continued without acknowledging Celty's surprised words.

"But, you smashed the helmet of my friend, who just happened to be walking by..."

"So you're saying, even if you get killed you won't have any complaints?... That's what you mean, right...?"

===Part 4===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | A parking lot.

"It's Kamijou Touma..."

In front of the station wagon, she dropped the things she bought onto the floor and said, stunned.

"Hey? That..."--

Had he met her somewhere before?--

No, was it an acquaintance from before his memory disappeared...!?

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

It was a woman in her early twenties who was making that strange sound.

The moment their eyes met, an unprecedented light shone from her eyes, and then they made a strange sound.

"Kami...K-k-k-kami, Kamijou!? It's Kamijou, right!?"

"Eh? That's me, yes."

"I,I-I-I-I-I, I'm Karisawa Erika,it’s a real pleasure to meet you for the first time and please take good care of me!"

The woman named Karisawa Erika, who was holding the hand of the confused Kamijou, called out as she waved her hand back and forth.

"Alive! And walking!"

"Seriously, Karisawa, you're acting like a kid who met his dead grandmother using a time machine!"

The man named Yumasaki said that he'd "make sure someone would meet him,", so Kamijou and the others came to the station wagon, but--

"Hey... What the heck is going on here?"

"This isn't a high-precision cosplay or anything like that... It's the real deal! The real thing is right in front of me!"

"No, I don't get it at all.... Hey, why are you crying!?"

Kamijou Touma was swept deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of confusion as he stood in front of Karisawa, who began to spill tears.

"Karisawa's emotions are peaking."

"Haha, this is the first time I've seen someone this happy!"

In the wagon where they could hardly hear their conversations except for Kazawa's screams, the two men, Tokusa and Honda, tilted their heads and said.

"Who's that guy, Kadota?"

"I feel like I've seen him before... Judging by Karisawa's happiness, he's probably some young Seiyuu or something, right?"

"Ah! That's probably it!"

"Well, it's not a good idea to disturb them. Let's give them time to talk."

The two people in the driver's seat and shotgun who were nodding to each other, silently got out of the car, and left the parking lot.

Kadota didn't notice it.

That boy, in the novel that Yumasaki and Karisawa highly recommended and read- he said that he was "a good guy with backbone", the protagonist Kamijou Touma himself.

On the other hand, this Kamijou, the protagonist, was surrounded by his two evil friends, eyes closed, laughing.

"Heh heh.... Hahaha! Kami-yan... has finally learned the hax skill of "The big sister who he met for the first time but has already been flagged down"...?"

"Nya, besides, I like the "elder sister" trope anyway, nya, Kami-yan must be loving it, though I don't understand it well, the talents he has are only for the sake of getting popular..."

"Nonononono, nononono! It's not like that!"

Even if he wanted to defend himself, Kamijou could only keep saying "No," as he didn't know what was happening, but--

This was cut off by the woman named Karisawa.

"Well, it's obvious at first glance though! You must be Aogami Pierce, and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, right? Wow, that's amazing... it's the same as my imagination! You're both so tall!"

"Gwah!?" "Nya!?"

Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who did not expect to receive pieces of the flag themselves, looked at each other, and panicked.

Leaving the two in their bewilderment, Karisawa decided to take advantage of when Aogami Pierce asked Yumasaki, “What kind of flag is she raising with me?” and said something that rang all sorts of alarms in Tsuchimikdo’s head.

"Well, you know. Tsuchimikado, you started wearing sunglasses when you changed your appearance, but now they've become a symbol of your identity, and in reality, they look real good on you!"

"!?"

Kamijou and Tsuchimikado both stiffened up.

They remained in this state, shied away from Karisawa and the others, turned around, and whispered, shoulder to shoulder.

"{Hey! This person knows about Angel Fall! So it really is your contact over there! What are you going to get me involved in this time!)"

"(No, no, no, wait, Kami-yan, wait! I'm just as confused as you are, I have no idea who this person is!)"

"(So, then... could she be from the Russian Orthodox Church? If she knows about Angel Fall, it's unlikely she's related to Academy City, no matter how you think about it!"

"(The key thing is that we don't know. I've told you about the glasses, Kami-yan, so the information must have leaked from you somehow!)"

"(Bruh, there is a literal spy here, and he doubts· THE· Kamijou Touma!? Obviously you’re more suspicious than I am!)"

"(Why would I be surprised if it's the information that I leaked, nya?)"

While they were throwing out their suspicions like this, Karisawa, who was approaching behind them, unnoticed, said this with a refreshing smile.

"It's alright, I'm not a spy for Gremlin or the Kihara family! At least, I'm not an enemy of GROUP!"

"I can't believe it, she just casually said two phrases relating to the dark side of Academy City, nya... Speaking of that, what's that Gremlin that can be said on the same level as those two?"

"Huh?"

The sense of disharmony was wandering in Kamijou's brain--

Hmm? Tsuchimikado, was he playing dumb? --

Gremlin. Tsuchimikado was, of course...--

..... Hmm?--

When was the last time he had spoken to Tsuchimikado... When did that come...?

At that moment, Kamijou's mind began to play a flashback of Tsuchimikado's face.

He appeared in a completely different air from the current Tsuchimikado, with an expression as cold as ice...

Hmm? Strange. If Tsuchimikado was here right now... really stra....nge?

The voice of Aogami Pierce rang out as if to ride the wave of confusion that was going on in the mind of Kamijou.

"Hey, hey, Kami-yan. I just realized that I can't see Endymion in Ikebukuro."

Endymion.

The space elevator, pride of Academy City.

This elevator, which extended beyond the atmosphere, should have been visible as a thin line, even at a distance as far as Ikebukuro-- But Kamijou knew that it would never be visible now.

"...What are you talking about, Aogami Pierce? Isn't Endymion already..."

"What? Did I, uh, say something strange?"

A chill spread behind Kamijou's back.

No.

Something was wrong.

He could feel a distinctive "dislocation" from both Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

"Right! Speaking of Endymion, there's something I wanted to ask you about Meigo Arisa!"

"Oh, you've got a good eye, Arisa is related to this! I, ah, think she'll come? This Endymion concert is really something to look forward to!"

"Huh? Is it time for that concert again?"

Aogami Pierce seemed to have become indifferent to the fact that he could not see Endymion, and returned to the unique conversation he was having with Yumasaki.

On the other hand, Kamijou was convinced by what Aogami Pierce had just said.

There was something wrong after all--

There was a misalignment between himself and Aogami Pierce's "perception"--

...Arisa's concert on Endymion, it had ended, clearly!

It wasn't that those two were imposters. They were undoubtedly the real Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

Even so, he was sure that something was "distorted".

It was obvious that they were the real people, but something was "distorted", so what did that mean?

Thinking about this, Kamijou suddenly realized something.

It was possible that he himself might have been "distorted" with the world--

The president.

The TV image he saw when he first came to Ikebukuro.

On that note, Kamijou didn't recognize the man who was supposed to be the president.

Gradually, the sense of dissonance became clear about all this.

It was like waking up and then gradually being able to distinguish between reality and dreams, the feeling of one's brain gradually becoming clear, and waking up.

Moreover, this city named Ikebukuro, or actually, the whole of Tokyo.....

Suddenly, he turned towards Karisawa and asked.

"That! What happened to the dragon... that attacked this city before?"

"Ah! You know about that, huh? I see, I see. You've already experienced "that", right? Have you experienced that honeymoon in Denmark?"

"Dragon? What are you talking about?"

Contrary to Kamijou who nodded his head like he had figured it out, Tsuchimikado's face was full of his confusion.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Ugh, it must be Maika. I'm a little concerned about all this, but a call from a loli takes precedence over anything else, that's my 35th rule of life."

Tsuchimikado picked up his phone while walking to the corner of the parking lot. Looking at his back walking away, Karisawa said with passion:

"The fact that you can categorically say that your sister is also a loli is impressive. Having said that.... look at him, which time is this Tsuchimikado from?"

"Wait a second, explain quickly. What the hell is going on here?"

"Ahhh, mhm. Yeah, if you're unsure about a situation, it's natural that you'll feel uneasy."

Nodding her head while speaking in an understanding tone, Karisawa continued.

“Well actually, before we actually saw you, we were half-believing. We are probably the ones who could accept this the fastest, as I heard the details of the matter from the father of an acquaintance..."

Karisawa, who said this, looked at the entrance of the parking lot, and leaked out an "ah"

"Look, they're here. The person who can explain."

"Eh?"

When Kamijou looked over--

The man who was walking towards him, wearing a white gas mask in broad daylight in addition to a white lab coat, raised his hand in a friendly manner, and said.

"Aha! You're that "otherworlder"! Nice to meet you. How are you? (Written in English). Be careful not to get infected with bacteria that doesn't exist in your world and die suddenly!"

Looking at this man who greeted him with surprise, Kamijou--

"Defi..."

"Defi?"

Ignoring the "otherworlder" comment first, he shouted out what he was feeling at that very moment.

"You definitely have a connection with Academy City--!"

===Part 5===

A few minutes ago | In satellite orbit | Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Lab

"What about the "tunnel" with the other world?"

[There's a theory that the neutrino and Higgs particle experiments in both our worlds has something to do with this, but as far as I know, your world has a Magic God who has changed the world through the phases that filter the physical world, your boss has also forcibly teared apart the "thin film of the world", and our side has an existence known as the Dullahan, and began to overuse its powers. It's probably all these sorts of accidents that came together, that just happened to connect these two worlds together…]

"The accumulation of these unfavorable conditions, huh."

The girl who was near the top of the system called Academy City said with a sigh.

"Hng, let's not talk about whether parallel worlds exist or not, but this "tunnel" that just happened to be created is rather unbelievable. And it does not explain the fact that Academy City has disappeared off the earth."

Amano Kaguya, accepting the explanation of the man who called himself Tsukumoya Shinichi, nodded as she floated in mid air.

"However, the disappearance of Academy City on that side should be on this side."

[That's probably the case. However, not many people can remember and have that sense of dissonance. To fill that void of dissonance, it seems that the Earth where Academy City exists right now also has a 380 meter long aircraft named "Sky By Fire" flying around, like nobody's paying attention to it. No, maybe it's actually because of the appearance of this aircraft that you've suffered a loss.]

"I got squeezed out through that distortion, so I was transported here without going into the "tunnel"?"

[Yes, the "Sky by Fire" was originally developed by a company called Niblo in this world 50 years in the future. By connecting with a world like Academy City, which has technology a hundred or two ahead of its time, it was able to materialize in the world as a "thing that should exist". So basically, to replace that Queen of the Sky, and to achieve balance, the Princess of the Universe was chosen.]

Kaguya, who was floating upside down from the Earth, shrugged at Tsukumoya's words.

"Is that flattery or sarcasm? It's hard to read your feelings just from your voice."

[Even so, I'm still anxious right now. if the two worlds completely merge together, it'll become all kinds of bad.]

"If you look at it from the perspective of rapid development of science and technology, shouldn't it be a good thing for your world?"

[It's not like that. At the very least, there are tens of thousands of "Vampires" in this world. If the girl named Himegami, the carrier of "Deep Blood" from your side, comes here, the vampires will flock to her, and then we'll be in a crisis. We’ll need to sacrifice the girl's life to save the extinction of the vampires. But, what's troubling is that there's a lot of good people among the vampires. I can usually accept any outcome, no matter what, but what if someone I know, or an innocent girl dies as a result of an "outside" influence? That wouldn't be very interesting.]

Even for Kaguya, who knew about the dispute between Science and Magic, the sudden mention of a topic like "vampires" was unexpected, but--

But she, who looked at the world as it were someone else's business, dismissed it as "Of course that exists", felt relieved, and calmly accepted the request to help resolve the situation.

"Well, that's fine. I think it'll be interesting, just standing by and seeing how things develop, but I can't leave Academy City alone in this situation. So I'll help you get things back on track."

[That's a big help, thank you.]

"I'll take care of Tsuchimikado, who has come to this world. Probably because of his back and forth between the Magic and Science sides, and the outside and the inside of the City, his tolerance is quite big, as long as his sister is not in trouble. Even if he does look like that. I'm sure he'll accept this and help us."

"Ahah, that's true. Better start acting as soon as possible."

There was a slight pause here from Tsukumoya, and the presence of a certain man was mentioned.

[The troublemaker who's grasped the situation and accepted it readily is preparing to take advantage of it for his own personal gain.]

===Part 6===

Somewhere in the city | Orihara Izaya's office

"Well, even if it is Shizuo, it should be over by now."

In his office, Orihara Izaya, who was happily sitting in his chair, spinning around, talked about this, eyes shining.

"I'm having a hard time trying to make connections with the other world. Although we share the language of Japanese, there's a significant difference in science and technology, and there's 2 billion people in the Roman system alone."

Izaya, who seemed to be speaking to his assistant in the office, kept talking, half to himself, without waiting for a response.

"From a girl obsessed with urban legends named Saten Ruiko to the media queen of the other side of the world named Olay Blueshake, I was most satisfied to know someone is named "Loki". Me, I'd feel some empathy towards these types of people. But it seems he was recently betrayed, and got beaten up by his comrade. So even if he believes in what I say, he won't have any trust in me."

“If there’s someone who can trust you on a personal level, they can probably be considered a saint.”

Ignoring the sarcasm of his assistant, Izaya continued.

"In any case, with his cooperation, he managed to infiltrate part of the system in Academy City. After that, he gave a false command that relies on some condition to the most powerful Esper over there."

"False command?"

"Ahah, it's all true, up to the midway point at least. The two worlds are gradually merging together. And on top of that, add a hypothetical such as "If an important man goes to Academy City, the worlds will merge together. If that happens, the other world would be an obviously unnatural existence... For example, for the 10,000 or so clones, their existence will disappear, and other similar changes may occur." That kind of condition--"

There was a slight pause there, but he continued with a pleasant smile.

"The "strongest man in Ikebukuro", the point of deviation related to the metamorphosis of the world, rendered useless, with no chance of resurgence.... That kind of order. Additionally, I gave him the information that the man in the bartender's uniform is actually a nasty piece of work with a penchant for kidnapping young girls. Even if it is that physically overpowered Shizuo, in front of that "Level 5", who is literally beyond the stage of what you call an ability, he is nothing more than a baby."

"And who's this superpowered person?"

With a half-hearted look, the woman who was his assistant, Namie Yagiri, looked at the information in her hands.

"You write it as "One Way Road", and read it as Accelerator?"

"Yup. Well, it's the same as an animal's Japanese name as compared to its scientific name. Although names are used to represent identity, don't you think that this name suits him in every sense? And his old name is also very interesting."

"Compared to his actual ability name, "Vector Manipulation".... What is this?"

"It means what it means, literally. The ability to observe the "direction" of various phenomena, and manipulate them according to one's own will, such as kinetic energy, light, sound, heat, and electricity. The ability to trick the world, changing gravity energy into buoyancy, and in extreme cases, to manipulate the vector of time, in a limited sense.”

In the face of Izaya's exaggerations, Namie responded with a sigh.

"Even though you don't understand the concept of time very well, you still said that..."

"It's that sort of illogical ability. Although it's probably logical for a place like Academy City, in our world, it's something beyond our logic."

"Illogical ability, huh."

Namie narrowed her eyes slightly, and said with a hint of annoyance, as if she recalled something.

"That person’s "shadow" is no more logical than he is."

===Part 7===

An abandoned factory

"If I had complaints about being killed, I wouldn't have come here."

The white haired boy replied with a bored, but serious tone, saying something that reeked of self-deprecation.

"I never thought I'd hear such brave words after all this."

"....."

"You're not a normal human being. If you obediently lie back down, your chances of survival will grow."

In contrast to Shizuo, who emerged, veins bulging, the white-haired teenager kept a cold expression.

Celty, in the middle of those two people, firmly interrupted.

[No, wait a minute. Why are you doing this to Shizuo!]

"Why? It's just a job."

Speaking indifferently, the white-haired teenager lightly put his foot on the floor of the factory.

The next instant, the "action and counteraction" that existed in Celty's own brain, that common sense, completely collapsed.

The iron plate that lay on a part of the abandoned factory bounced up and began to turn in the air magnificently, as if it was dancing.

"And, if you get in the way, you'll get destroyed. I've said this before, right?"

The white haired teenager pushed the iron plate gently in the direction of Celty.

Then, as if the rotational force of the plate became propulsive force, it shot at a straight line towards Celty.

A direct hit with the iron plate that weighed dozens of kilograms onto a normal human wouldn't be something that you could shake off.

But, Celty wasn't human, and she definitely wasn’t normal.

Countless shadow tentacles reached out from her own body, and caught the iron plate that was flying at high speed.

"!"

Looking at Celty's shadows, the white-haired teenager narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...What, is that?"

If a normal person had seen it, they would have been open-eyed in shock, but the teen wasn't ordinary in any sense.

He changed his expression as if he had seen a strange cat, nothing more, and he then continued with a soft tone.

"...Do you use the same power as that #2?"

Celty muttered to herself, hearing the teenager's words--

What the hell was this #2 and #7 just then!?--

Nevermind, she had to suppress him first.

Celty immediately stretched out her shadow, and tried to wrap it around the boy's body at high speeds.

However, he dodged it with a jump that was beyond the physical limits of a human, and lightly slapped away one of the tendrils that got close with his left hand.

"...."

In an instant, the front end of Celty's shadow started spinning around, disappearing as if it had been swept into a tornado.

Uwah--

What was that feeling she felt just then!?

It wasn't a natural disappearance, as it took Celty's own will to disperse her shadows.

It was because she felt a creepy feeling, something like the flow of power being doubled and sent back in full. She judged the danger in an instant--

This guy… He really is using psychokinesis?--

This wasn't good, as this was much more powerful than even the vampires she knew.

Contrary to the anxious Celty, the teenager's body language didn't give away any signs of anxiety at all.

Maybe he had experience fighting against an opponent similar to herself before.

If that was the case, it would be impossible to maintain a dominant position here, right?

Would he allow him to surrender? To retreat? As she was contemplating that--

"Oi."

The voice of Shizuo rang out, and both Celty and the teenager's attention turned his way.

Then, Shizuo picked up the remains of the vending machine that had somehow been abandoned in this abandoned factory.

"Your opponent... Is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

In the next instant, the vending machine flew towards the teenager with substantial force behind it.

The action taken by the teenager in response was--

Ignored.

The teenager once again looked at Celty, and assumed the attitude that there was no need to respond to Shizuo's attack

However, in realty, the moment in touched the special "barrier" thinly covering his body, the vending machine jumped back like a bouncy ball hitting a wall--

Shizuo!

Although Celty hurriedly stretched her shadow out, it failed to reach him.

Those who are immersed within their own abilities shall drown in them. The overwhelming force that matched this metaphor was heading for Shizuo's body--

"Ora!"

And with that, Shizuo struck it again--

....What?

"Ah?"

Even the white haired teenager couldn't help but look back at his opponent.

This teenager, so far, had bounced back all kinds of enemy attacks with his "ability"

He had experienced multiple crises before. Such as, people who could nullify attacks, people with special energy such as the "shadow", as well as getting overwhelmed with attacks from different dimensions.

But was there anyone who could forcefully reflect an attack back by using only the force of his hands?

Although he observed a flow of a force field, he didn't think that he was using any sort of ability--

What was going on? Who the hell was this guy?

He felt that this level of sturdiness was a bit weird, never mind the fact that this was beyond the realm of humans in the first place. Although there had been battles with durable opponents before, this man's body was half the size of the leader of Skill Out that he fought before, so how the hell could he do such things that were so far from common sense?

Although he thought so, he soon realized that it was pointless.

Because even if he could get the vending machine back at him, he could just reflect it back again - totally risk free.

Just as he predicted, the vending machine bounced back at Shizuo--

And then, once again, the man in the bartender''s uniform punched it back.

"...."

Crack! Pop! Once again, the exaggerated sounds of destruction resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

Between the bartender and the white-haired teenager, a vending machine rally began.

And, the speed of it was gradually increasing.

But in the end, it finally stopped.

It wasn't because the man in the bartender uniform had run out of energy. Instead, it was because the vending machine couldn't bear the brunt, and finally broke apart in mid-air.

"...."

"...."

There was a silence, with only the sound of the bartender-suited man's breathing that echoed through the factory.

Then, the white haired boy began to take a step towards him, and he said casually.

"Honestly, people who boast of their strength I see as fools usually... But, the truly outstanding ones are enviable. Since I have no need for physical exercise over here."

"...."

"If I could have 5% of your strength...."

In the teenager's mind, the face of a certain spiky-haired teenager flashed through.

He put on a bitter face, and said with a distracted look.

"Though I probably wouldn't be who I am now in any sense."

And then, for the first time, the teenager spoke of his reason for taking that step forward.

"Although it may seem a bit unreasonable.... But for today and tomorrow, if you were to wander around freely, that guy I know may disappear from the world."

The white haired teenager continued, as he walked over, step by step.

Was it because he was in an overwhelmingly favorable position, or was it because of some other reason that he became more talkative?

"Direct reversal of the flow of brain signals. If I keep your consciousness suppressed for three days, that'll be enough. However, if you're careless, you might die... Although I'm not going to apologize, if you've got any resentments to express, I'll listen to them."

However, Shizuo replied to this with a smile.

"Although I can't understand the implications of this all, this is extremely unreasonable."

Despite the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, Shizuo persisted.

"But I can't fall like this without so much as a whimper. I'll lose my face against the spiky haired boy who beat me yesterday."

"....Spiky haired?"

Hearing that word, a bad feeling flashed through the teenager's mind.

But, thinking about it wasn't going to help, so he took another step closer.

Celty, overwhelmed by the vending machine rally, finally realized that Shizuo was in true danger.

Up to now, has Shizuo ever been pushed against the wall like this?

Whether it was getting sent flying by a dump truck, a train, a hundred people trying to cut his head off, getting attacked by a huge tiger, even though he could survive all that, he was in a truly life-threatening situation now.

Heiwajima Shizuo was about to be killed by someone who came out of nowhere.

Something that seemed as ridiculous to Celty that it could have been a joke to her was happening before her eyes, and she was having a hard time trying to understand it.

Celty looked at the Shizuo whose body was covered in wounds--

===Part 8===

Izaya's office

"To be honest, I'm still only half convinced."

Namie looked at the information in the laptop and said once again.

"Connecting with parallel worlds. That's an idea so old that even SciFi novels don't use it much anymore."

"You're the one who's delved into the mythical realm and studied the head of the Dullahan, so are you sure you can say that?"

"Eh, course I do. The head of the Dullahan is an actual thing, and it's been confirmed."

"And in fact, it's also true that people from the other world have come here, right?"

Izaya, who said this, handed over some papers to Namie.

"Kamijou Touma, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Aogami Pierce. These names don't have any sort of records in this world. These three people, who existed in Academy City, came to this world through the subway in order to transfer something."

"High school students?"

"They aren’t just any high school students. Especially this kid, Kamijou. He’s a real hero who has saved the world multiple times. It's probably only in a world of advanced science as well as magic that a person can become that sort of savior. For me, I'm very interested in the kind of state such a rare human being is living in."

Looking at Izaya, who was laughing, Namie said, bored.

"It's like you think you're a god. You don't even have all the information about this world yet, so can you really understand the information about this so-called "other world" correctly?"

Although she was still doubtful about the connection with this other world, she had experience of studying the existence of an unnatural being such as the "Dullahan" using the common sense of science, so she might not have been so doubtful if not for that.

"Ahah, the intelligence level in that world is much higher. It's a world where you can even see the memories of the dead if you want to collect it. It's even easier to get information there than in this world."

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted in pleasure, and he said something unbelievable.

"In fact, I think it's fine to let the worlds merge like this. I think it's better for them to be integrated. When a new variable or an alien existence that is completely unmanageable appears in front of them, what kind of action will the humans take? Even if it's just limited to the people in this city, if I can observe them, one by one, it'll be enough for me to enjoy this life."

"Although what you said was that you've abandoned the struggle with a kindly tone, what you just said was extremely bad."

"There are a lot of interesting people over there too. Especially the Kihara clan's way of life, which makes me wonder about new possibilities for human beings. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call it beautiful."

"I think it's sad that these children are being treated like precious specimens by people like you. ...Eh?"

While looking at the information, Namie sarcastically said that, but she frowned suddenly.

"Hey, what's this "Aogami Pierce" thing?"

In response to Namie's light question, Izaya looked up at the ceiling, and giggled.

"Ahaha, this kid's information is well collected."

Then, without looking at any of the info, he began to talk about it.

"He's an Esper who freeloads in a bakery in Academy City. Although he's the class president of Kamijou Touma's class, he's also known as one of the "three idiots", along with Kamijou and Tsuchimikado. He's a strange fellow who's over 180cm tall. He takes supplementary classes, but not because he's dumb. Instead, it's because he wants to have as much interaction with his class teacher as possible. The possibility of this is pretty high. He’s been questioned regarding his occupation 43 times… no, it would be around 40 times regarding the time from when he came over to this city."

Without pause, Izaya droned on, as if he were speaking a tongue twister about the boy named Aogami Pierce.

Instead of boasting his knowledge--- it seems like he was trying to hide something.

"Ah, yes, that guy's fetishes concerning the opposite sex really is impressive. "I have a wide range of acceptance when it comes to women: not just fallen female main characters but also foster sisters, foster mothers, foster daughters, twins, widows, senpais, kouhais, fellow classmates, teachers, childhood friends, ojou-samas, blondes, brunettes, brown-haired, silver-haired, long-haired, medium-haired, short-haired, girls wearing bobby pins, wavy-haired, twintails, ponytails, one-sided ponytails, twin braids, ahoges, curly-haired, girls in sailor clothes, blazers, judogi, kyuudougi, kindergarten nurses, maids, policewomen, witches, shrine maidens, nuns, military women, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, stewardesses, waitresses, goth girls wearing black, goth girls wearing white, girls in China dresses, frail girls, albino girls, fantasists, girls with split personalities, queens, princesses, thigh-high socks, garter belts, girls who cross-dress as guys, girls who wear glasses, girls who wear an eyepatch, girls who wear bandages, girls in school swimsuits, one-piece swimsuits, bikinis, V-shaped bikinis, bikinis that barely cover anything, youkai, ghosts, animal-eared girls, etc.- any female is within my area of acceptance." That seems to be his mantra. Although some aspects of the opposite sex aren't in my personal domain, I admit that he is also an existence that can expand the possibilities of mankind."

"That guy, and you as well, who actually memorized that all, are perverts."

Namie said with an icy gaze, flipping through the information, page by page, in contrast to Izaya reciting it.

"And then?"

"And then, what?"

"That, the real name of that kid Aogami Pierce. It's not in the file."

"...."

Orihara Izaya was silent."

It was probably the first time she had seen him with such a quiet expression.

"There are various things... When downloading information from there, that kid's information was broken in a few places."

"What the heck, you don't even know his real name, but you've got the nerve to claim that you've been collecting information well!"

"Well. Although I don't think this kid is anything special, but as a human being who loves everyone equally, let me show you."

And so, Izaya took his laptop out and connected it with a special cord.

After a long list of unusual codes floated across the screen, a data file detailing some kind of roster was displayed.

"This is the roster of students in Kamijou's class. If you compare that with other conditions, you can immediately find the real name of Aogami Pierce, or something..."

In the next moment, the screen was completely flooded with images of flowers.

At the flower garden in the middle of the screen, a cartoon image of a character wearing a bouquet of flowers on her head appeared, and text emerged from the dialogue box that extended from there.

"Stop right there! Inappropriate access behavior!"

"Ah, fuck."

Sensing something, Izaya hurriedly shut the laptop down, and cut the line.

"Fuck me that was dangerous! It was almost like I've been stripped naked on this side!"

"Are you not going to run?"

""Anti-skill", the policing unit of Academy City, won't come to Ikebukuro. I don't think I need to even mention the police force of Ikebukuro here."

After that, Izaya tried various means of getting into touch with Academy City, but--

The information about Aogami Pierce was obstructed or corrupted before he reached it, and so the key information was not obtained.

"Does that mean that this kid is actually related to some sort of super important confidential information?"

In response to Namie's question, Izaya just shook his head.

"If that were the case, the information itself would have been protected. The reason we can't get information about it so far is because, although it seems far-fetched to say this, is all by chance. No, is it possible that there's a protection system in Academy City that pretends to be like this? Well....but...."

After a brief moment of confusion, Izaya stood up with a soft sigh.

"There's no helping it. He's here in person. Let's go collect some fresh information."

Although he seemed to be whining, his expression was that of a smile.

With a face full of anticipation as if he had never seen a new "human" before, Orihara Izaya happily left his office.

After calmly watching him leave, Namie said softly.

"This is looking like the pattern where he comes back empty handed. You reap what you sow."

===Part 9===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | Station Wagon

"Isekai!? This Ikebukuro?"

Karisawa said that "it would be bad for Aogami Pierce to hear", and so she brought him back to the station wagon. After hearing the explanation from the man with the gas mask, Shingen Kishitani, Kamijou Touma accepted it, half in doubt.

"Though, now that you say it, I feel like I was involved in a similar incident yesterday..."

"You're the one who's in the other world to us. The company I belong to, Niblo, has been conducting various investigations to this, and both the technological might of Academy City and the magic outside of it are excellent. The idea of sending a corporate spy there was on my mind, but I thought it would be impossible to hide the discrepancy since we're of a different world, so I cancelled it."

"If it were you, you probably won't feel any sense of being out of place even if you were walking around the research area..."

The right hand of Kamijou clenched tightly, after Shingan said that, and stared at him.

"Whoa!? What!? What's the matter!?"

"Mhm. That's the "Imagine Breaker" that's become a topic of conversation over there. So. Since you're here in this world, wanna try dissecting it?"

"I refuse!"

Shingen, a fully grown adult, proceeded to prostrate himself while in the back seat of the station wagon before Kamijou, who had merely given the only sensible response.

"Please think about it!"

"Although there have been various people who have turned their sights on this right hand so far, this is the first time I've heard of such a direct request from someone sitting right in front of me! How!? Don't tell me that this is how this world operates!?"

Facing the confused Kamijou, Karisawa replied.

"Well, this guy is pretty special. His son is a special guy who likes girls who's got nothing above their neck."

"What kind of hobby is that!? Even Aogami Pierce's list of fetish doesn't include it!:"

"Ah, I guess I'll put it in the category of "not a human" for now."

Putting aside the Karisawa who calmly roasted someone, Shingen pressed on the subject of Kamijou's right hand.

"Money isn't a problem, we've got all the money you need! It's not as if we're going to cut that hand off and take it away. As long as we can do all sorts of experiments with you under anesthesia, we can guarantee a minimum of 20 million yen!"

"Twenty million!?"

After hearing the exact amount, Kamijou's brain circuit short circuited for a while--

Damn it... if this was about a billion or two, something that's extremely far from the reality Kamijou knew, it wouldn't have any effect, but when it comes to the ten thousands of yen, it felt surprisingly realistic...!--

Ahhh.... Speaking of this, how much would the repair of his dorm cost? With that big hole caused by Birdway and Lessar...---

And, that much money would render his food problems...

It seemed like the magic of money couldn't be dispelled by his right arm, and Kamijou staggered drunkenly in delusion--

Eh? Wait a minute. Food expenses?

The moment he thought of that word, "food", his mind went straight to, "Touma, where's the food", and the scenario where she made her way through 20 million yen worth of food in half a month. Kamijou couldn't help but shake his head vigorously as he thought of that.

Nononononono, he needed to pull himself together!--

If he believed that money on that sort of magnitude could have any effect on his misfortune, he had to destroy that illusion of his!

Kamijou slapped his face with his right hand, and awakened his consciousness with the sensation and clarity that came with the pain.

"...Well, better forget about it. Knowing me, the 2nd day I get that amount of money, I'll need to pay a 20 million yen compensation, or something will eat it, etc. That's my fate."

Although he hadn't yet given up on life, he had given up on his own fortune, and faced with the Kamijou who carried such sadness in his eyes, Shingen shook his head in pity.

"Ah... So that's the case. It's nothing, even if you hadn't said that, I understand. If you can't save someone who was in crisis during the time when your freedom of use of your right hand was taken away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life, right...! How noble!"

"Ah, no, I'm not thinking about such a grand thing..."

"Anyway. We'll want to avoid the cause that will be caused by the merging of the worlds. If all the people of the Academy City group, including you, can go back, the distortion will be more or less reduced, right?"

Nodding vigorously, Shingen once again began to explain the situation

"Actually, a boy who called himself Jörmungandr was raging all over the place with huge wounds covering his body, but apparently a group of vampires somehow appeased him, and there was also a woman who called herself Hel who could control the 'cause of death,' but a gang of immortals managed to calm her down."

"No, I don't get it at all, even if you tell me that."

Ignoring Kamijou, who was tilting his head, Shingen continued.

"Then, there's also...two people who are also confirmed to be here."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"One of them, I hear, is someone you know quite well."

At that instant-- The window of the station wagon made a clanging sound.

Looking over, what he found was Tsuchimikado, who was looking confused.

"What's wrong, Tsuchimikado?."

Kamijou opened the window of the car and looked over, while Tsuchimikado whispered.

"Ah... Just now, the boss gave me an order, nya."

"Order?"

"It seems like... someone's impersonating the Board of Directors, and are issuing false orders.”

A stuttering Tsuchimikado finally managed to spit out the true identity of one of the “visitors of Ikebukuro.”

"As a result of those false orders, the "1st Ranked" came over here, and because communications are unstable, I can't connect to him... so we'll have to get in direct contact with him and drag him back before shit gets real."

===Part 10===

Abandoned Factory

"....?"

The white-haired teenager stopped in his tracks, as he felt a powerful change in the flow of power behind him.

Turning back--he found half the factory filled with "darkness".

It was the large amount of shadows that Celty Sturluson sent forth, swallowing up the entire abandoned factory.

Shizuo, who saw this, shouted out!

"You fucking idiot... Celty! This is my fight, so hurry up and return it to me!"

[I refuse!]

"Wh..."

Seeing Celty, who was typing in words with an unprecedented forcefulness, Shizuo couldn't say anything--

Honestly, it was impossible to understand what was going on--

Because it was not understandable, they had to stop this situation in order to understand it--

If there was any chance of stopping it, it would only be herself.

Celty, who was calmly weaving those words in her mind, wanted herself to calm down.

However, the passion that came out was completely uncontrollable--

The most important thing was....

The headless horseman, Celty Sturluson, clenched her fists--

How could she stay silent as she saw a friend being treated like that, right in front of her eyes!

For her, this was an extremely rare emotion.

Pure "Anger"

That was to say, a clear "hostility" towards the boy in front of her.

She didn't think she could win.

Her opponent was an existence that was outside of common sense, even to her as a Dullahan.

And she feared that he hadn't even shown his full strength yet.

Even so, the option of abandoning Shizuo there and running away on her own did not even exist in the mind of Celty at the moment.

She was a Dullahan. A fairy who didn't become a human.

As a result of her integration into human society and learning about humans through various mediums, the "human" heart that had developed inside her had made up its mind to attack the threat in front of her.

And since that was the case, it didn't matter if that "ordinary human being" made fun of her for being tactless.

"You don't have a head, but you still make such a determined face. Well, at least it shows that you understand the situation better, as you're not getting on the ground and begging."

And after those words dripping with sarcasm--

The white haired teenager manipulated the vectors of the wind around him, and instantly whipped up a tornado.

He compressed it into a blade of wind, and shot it straight at Celty.

However, the protective shadows completely blocked the wind, and moved forward, through the new shadows being generated from within.

The shadows had taken root in every corner of the factory, and the half-hearted wind attack probably wouldn't budge at all.

"..."

Bang! The white haired boy understood the situation. Bang! And he tapped the floor with his foot.

After that, he somehow manipulated vectors to allow the steel in the abandoned factory to float, one by one, and then as if they were being pulled to his side, they flew.

And then, as if to dust off the steel off his body, he knocked them, one by one.

The simple action made the iron accelerate like a cannonball, and with the momentum of a rain of bullets, they flew towards Celty.

However, all of them were absorbed as if they fell into a swamp, and the shadow continued to expand, like a giant slime.

"Tch... it really is the same sort as the #2!"

While clicking his tongue, the white haired boy raised his hand to the sky.

The wind began to compress in front of him at a high density, creating a small body of plasma.

Just as the teenager was about to throw the plasma at the "shadow" without hesitation--

"Take this!"

Shizuo threw one of the nearby chunks of iron, the same way he had through the vending machines before.

However, if it were only on this level, the teenager would not panic and misfire the plasma.

"Watch and learn, old man."

Of course, his reflection worked properly, and bounced the iron back just like before.

However, it was a little different than before.

Shizuo, after throwing the piece of metal, burst forward towards his opponent himself.

Then, in the same way, he hit the iron back at him.

If that was it, the results would not differ from before.

And because there was no difference--

Shizuo hit the piece of iron into the ground.

"!"

The piece of iron completely destroyed the ground, and stabbed itself into the underground warehouse of the factory.

And the white haired boy started to fall.

If it was only this, it wouldn't be considered on the level of a crisis.

However, when he felt that the ground in front of him was darker than he thought, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He sensed it.

Was it that Celty read Shizuo's intention, or was it that she was prepared to take hold from the very beginning- passing through the cave where half of Shizuo's body had been buried into, she filled the ground with a number of large shadows.

Then, just a moment before he was going to escape from the air through vector manipulation--

The shadows that covered the top, bottom, left and right of the abandoned factory wrapped up the boy completely.

"...What's this, huh?"

What was in front of Shizuo's eyes was a giant sphere that was about the size of a small car.

It didn't make contact with the ground, but it was completely stationary in the air.

[For the time being, I kind of locked him up....]

Instead of having the shadows directly twisting on him, it was akin to being locked up in a soap bubble.

Judging that he could manipulate kinetic energy freely, she didn't move the sphere immediately, but just kept it stationary in the air. Of course, if he kicked at the walls, he would be able to generate energy, right? So that was why Celty divided the sphere into dozens of layers, and wrapped it up like a Russian matryoshka doll.

Even if an inner layer was destroyed, a new one could be generated from one of the outer layers to cover it immediately. Although she had prepared for this specifically, nothing happened yet.

If this was ordinary matter, no matter what kind of technique was used to construct it, as long as the teenager used his ability, he would be able to tear it apart easily.

However, this was no ordinary matter that wrapped up the teenager.

It was "shadows"

Originally, shadows were areas where there was no light, and since they weren’t even considered matter, they didn’t have mass, or thickness.

Celty was manipulating the "shadow" as if it were an object with mass - the important thing here was that although "thickness" could be created through this, the concept of "thickness" could also be ignored.

This was something Celty herself did not realize, that she was actually able to materialize her shadows with varying degrees of thinness.

In other words, it could be kept at zero thickness, but also could be stacked infinitely to increase its strength.

Therefore, if Celty Sturluson had actually knew about this--

The "Shadow" could be a spear and a shield more powerful than any other material on this planet. It could even be the thread used to connect Earth and Mars together.

It was a power that had completely surpassed the common sense of science and the laws of physics. Celty herself was not able to understand it properly. It was a shadow of absolute strength that was created unconsciously.

In order words, she was able to do this because of the anger she felt.

If the underground doctor, who lived with her, knew about this, there would be no doubt that he would be jealous of Shizuo.

"This, how are we going to deal with him?"

[I don't think he can be defeated by physical means. Let's just wait for him to enter a state of hypoxemia.]

Celty made the density of the shadow bigger than usual, thus blocking the supply of oxygen by blocking the air.

This "suffocation attack" created by the interweaving and overlapping of various special conditions could be said to be one of the rare weaknesses of the invincible reflection.

If it were a normal person, this would be enough to decide who was the winner, and the loser. But--

This young man was the existence known as the #1 of Academy City -- [Accelerator]

He was another existence that wasn't ordinary, even within the category of Espers.

Bang..... Celty and Shizuo felt the sound of the air shaking.

In the next instant, alongside a violent sound of destruction, the top of the black sphere was torn by something unseen.

"What!?"

This....

Next to Shizuo who shouted out loud, the headless Celty's "vision" felt it.

From the top of the sphere, two colorless wings grew out--

....He hasn't even shown his full strength yet!

The thing that destroyed Celty's shadow, something that ignored the laws of physics, was indeed something "from another dimension" that also did not obey the laws of physics.

What was this... this thing, it was almost like...!

Celty probably associated the pair of wings with something else.

Just before she continued to think about it, the crack of the sphere widened, and the invisible wings, (were they white or black?), were rendered in another color for just a moment--

"Please don't fight over me anymore! Says Misaka as Misaka remembers the lines she recently saw in the morning at the theatre, and tries to pretend to be the heroine in the swamp!"

Such words, which were completely incompatible with the atmosphere of the scene, resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

When Shizuo and Celty looked over, there was a girl of about 10 years of age standing there, with an ahoge on the top of her head.

"A kid...?"

In contrast to Shizuo, who frowned, Celty, who saw who the girl was, panicked and took out her PDA, pointing it at her.

[I told you to wait near the motorcycle!]

"Who is it?"

Before answering Shizuo's question, Celty typed something in order to ensure the girl's safety.

[It's dangerous! Get out of here!]

But the girl, looking up at the black sphere, asserted with her hands crossed.

"It's not dangerous anymore, says Misaka as Misaka tries to send the words of objective truth to the strange sphere with hopeful observation."

The young girl had the voice of a child, but with the words of an old man.

Then, in the next instant, the "transparent wings" disappeared completely from Celty's vision, and the voice of a teenager who had become tired in every sense came from inside the sphere.

"Oi... I'm no longer in the mood for messing around. Hurry up and get rid of this damn ball."

A few minutes later.

After the shadow cage was lifted at the urging of the girl who called herself Misaka, the boy stared at them but didn't attack.

"Why are you here, you idiot?!"

“Because of numerous reasons, announces Misaka, Misaka somehow came into this world, but there were also signals from a satellite that talked about how several people were involved in a conspiracy."

"Say it so that I can actually understand."

The teen said, annoyed. Shizuo had to have suppressed his anger and urge to interject from behind.

"Hey...Although you guys seem to be pushing the topic on your own over there, I'm totally not convinced...."

Probably because there was a kid in front of him, he held back desperately. But the moment Celty tried to calm Shizuo down, whose face was twitching with anger--

"The reason is Orihara Izaya."

Because of what that girl said, Shizuo's movements halted.

"Misaka says as Misaka tries to convey this crucial piece of information that's at the core of everything."

"What are you on about, Last Order?"

Then, the girl named Last Order weaved around Shizuo's back and continued.

"It's all lies! About this person wandering around and the network, they're lies! They're all false orders given by that person named Orihara Izaya, pretending to be Academy City's Board of Directors, says Misaka as Misaka tries to peek at a certain person to see if his reaction is different than normal when he sees Misaka hiding behind this bartender, as Misaka peaks Misaka’s head out to confirm."

"Cut the bullshit and tell me."

After a few minutes, after the girl had explained everything, Celty's shoulders slumped--

In the end, there he was again, with his usual evil plans!

The man who did this thing purely because he hated Shizuo was none other than Orihara Izaya.

She understood this, but this time she actually really wanted to beat him up.

However, above that, there was a worry.

If she had that kind of thought, what kind of boiling state was Shizuo's mind in right now?

"Seriously, anyway, you should say sorry to the person you hurt first, Misaka says as Misaka thoughtfully teaches you the common sense of society."

Faced with the teenager who kept his face stiff, the young girl urged him to apologize to Shizuo and the others.

Just before the teenager said something, Shizuo said.

"Ahah... No, no need to apologize...."

Even though the #1 kid didn't use his ability, he could feel that Heiwajima Shizuo's anger vector had completely switched direction. But it also increased by several times then when he was facing him.

"Do you know where that fungus Izaya is?... Girl."

The girl answered without panic to the face of Shizuo, who was seeping with a ghost-like anger.

"Although I don't know why, because Hikoboshi II has also come to this world, I can observe his location in detail if I connect to the network! Misaka says confidently."

===Part 11===

——

Distortion.

The reason for all this was the distortion of space-time.

For example, even if Yumasaki or Karisawa went to Academy City tomorrow or yesterday, and met Index, but didn't realize it was her, that could be explained by that phrase, that it was all caused by the distortion of space-time.

In the past, when Yumasaki was thrown into the other world called Dengeki Gakuen, there had been a miracle, where he had met Index, and Burning-Eyed Shana themselves - perhaps the Yumasaki who went to Academy City was actually the Yumasaki from before in that point in time, so during his time in "that other world", that was why he judged Index to be a cosplayer.

And in this situation with distorted space-time--

Yumasaki and Karisawa were still going their separate ways.

"So, if you get Shokuhou-chan to remove the psychological scars of Awaki-chan, would it allow her to become a Level 5? Kamijou, try doing that please."

"What good would that do to Misaki-chan, huh?"

"Nonono, what are you talking about! And who's Awaki!?"

"She's a shotacon girl!"

"Even if you say that!"

While Tsuchimikado was trying to find out where Accelerator was, this argument continued. Shingen left the station wagon, saying that he had to go back to the office to report on the situation, and Aogami said that he was going to meet some girl on the Otome Road and left, so only Kamijou was left to savor this unreasonable situation--

Why do these people know so much about Kamijou and Academy City?

"Actually, I have even more questions..."

When Yumasaki tried to take out some books, he accidently dropped his backpack, and several Light Novels dropped out of the opened pack.

"Huh? What books are these?"

Seeing the cover that said "A Certain Magical Index," Kamijou frowned.

Index of Forbidden Books. A word that he often heard. So adding that "Index" on there was pretty redundant.

T/N: The Japanese title reads: "Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku", with Kinsho Mokuroku, with that meaning "Index of Prohibited Books", but there's Furigana above those Kanji, which tells the reader that it's supposed to be pronounced "Indekkusu", so that's why it's redundant

And, the cover art of these books of the characters all matched with the people he knew, even the outfits.

"Ah, this is..."

While Yumasaki was thinking of how he should explain it, Kamijou picked up one of the books nearest to him, and turned the pages noisily.

Then--

"W....what the hell is this!?"

Electrical current swam throughout the grey matter in Kamijou's brain.

Actually, it was the same kind of shock, as the time when he was gently hit by Misaka Mikoto's electrical attacks.

After seeing the word "Kamijou" in the novel, reading it with a frown, he found that it was as if his previous experiences in the past had been recorded in the form of a novel.

"This, what the hell is this!? Is it some stalker's diary or something? Did I make some enemies in some kind of strange organization unknowingly!?"

"Ahhhh... That.... That's.... something like the Akashic Records. About the Akashic Records, maybe Index or Birdway can explain it in more detail."

"Wait a second! You not only know Index, but also Birdway!?"

In the book labeled Volume 2, the events relating to Himegami and the Misawa Cram school were described.

Then, it suddenly occurred to Kamijou--

Hmm? This means...--

Wouldn't the first volume... be about the events before he lost his memories?

Moving his eyes down, he found a book with no number after the title, lying on the floor.

Gulping, he slowly stretched his arm out, but--

Karisawa held her hand out.

"No."

"Hey..."

This book was a very good example of the kind of book that could be used to make a person's life easier.

Putting that book away in his backpack, Yumasaki, with a serious face, said.

"Kamijou, we'll also be talking according to the situation. About your past, just like the flower on Uiharu's head, it's a sacred area that must not be touched. So I'm sorry."

"Hey, so my past, though I don't get it at all, it's on the same level as the "flower on the head" or something...?"

"After all, we're just mere spectators. Even if we can cheer you on, we don't have the right to change your life."

Karisawa said, hugging the Kamijou who had no choice but to calm down.

"It's alright, even if you don't have your memories, there are still people who love you. No matter what happens to them, we're the same. Who we love is the ‘you’ who can move forward now!"

"That's right, in this city, there is someone who has lost her head, not to mention her memories, and that person is now living a fulfilling, loving life."

"...."

He didn't understand what all this was about.

Although this was the case, he could feel that the warmth in their words was genuine, so Kamijou said this, though he was still confused.

"Thank....you."

"Ooooohhhhhhhhhh! Kami-yan!"

Completely destroying the fantasy-like atmosphere, from outside the station wagon came the voice of Aogami Pierce.

"What's wrong, what's wrong!?"

After Kamijou opened the car door, it revealed the tearful Aogami Pierce."

"You listen to me, Kami-yan! Even if I talk to the girls on Otome Road, all they say to me is that "Wow, that's so cool, this cosplay suits you"! What??? Did someone steal my iconic hair and earrings that I've put so much faith into! I didn't think it would be so humiliating to be asked if it was a cosplay or not, but this seems to have awakened a new fetish in me, ohonononononoononono."

"Okay, just calm down! The one feeling embarrassed is me now!"

Kamijou was made aware of the eyes surrounding them and used his hand to press on Aogami Pierce's mouth.

Pushing Kamijou's hand away from him, and complaining to Yumasaki, whom he had just established a friendly relationship with, Tsuchimikado sighed as he watched Aogami Pierce running around.

"Not good, nya. The line with Hikoboshi has become mixed up, and so I can't figure out where that guy is."

"Are you saying that there's others communicating? With that satellite?"

"Well, there's a lot of confusion over on the other side as well. Even so, if we don't find Accelerator soon..."

"You want me to tell you what?"

Kamijou and the others looked back at the place where the voice suddenly appeared, and there stood a man wearing a black fur coat.

"...Who are you?"

"An informant that's just passing by. You guys are worried because you can't find where Accelerator is, right? Then allow me to sell you that information."

"You... know about what's going on?"

"Sort of. Honestly, I've already looked into the situation. After all, this incident is of great interest to me as well."

The man who called himself the informant looked at the teenager near the door of the station wagon, expertly weaving his words together.

"There's just one thing, to be honest. Although I’ve collected all kinds of information, I don't know why I can't get the real name of Aogami Pierce over there."

With a self deprecating smile, the informant continued.

"Although it isn't a big deal, I'm pretty unsatisfied having such a hole in my information. If you can tell me this, I'll give you the information you want."

"What, what? It's not such a big deal. I'm not even listening, and you're talking about it so casually?"

Aogami Pierce, who heard his nickname being called, started to listen to the conversation midway, saying to the informant, determined.

"Oh, tell me my real name, Kami-yan! With gusto! Let this second-rate informant, who doesn't even know my real name, see the cruelty of reality!"

Aogami Pierce, who was pointing a finger at Izaya with a strange pose, Kamijou could only respond with silence.

"...."

"Kami-yan?"

An unprecedented cold sweat seeped out of his face, and Kamijou said some words, as if he were talking to himself.

"Once, despair was inflicted."

"?"

"That was when the whole world became my enemy. Even you and Fukiyose tried to kill me. Imagine it as some sort of dream."

"Hey? Ah, so you're talking about a dream?"

"In such a horrible, horrible situation, to you who tried to kill me... I called you ‘Aogami Pierce’... Even in such a situation, I could only use your nickname..."

"What are you talking about, Kami-yan? What are you trying to say?"

"Hey, wait, you guys, are you serious!? Are you kidding me!? Nononono, really, are you guys trolling me?"

Aogami Pierce accepted his friend's reaction as a joke, standing in front of the informant.

"Fine, I'll do it myself! Dig the shit out of your ears, and listen to me carefully!"

Aogami Pierce took a big breath, getting ready to say his name out loud to all these people around him.

"My name is..."

And in the moment after that, space-time distorted.

To be precise, it was an attack that gave the illusion of space-time distortion, that wrapped up an entire space.

The one that flew here, aiming at Orihara Izaya, crushed the asphalt beneath him, blowing the body of the Aogami Pierce next to him away, through the pressure of the wind alone.

"Arghhh--!?"

Looking at the Aogami Pierce, who was rolling around, grunting, Kamijou went after it with his unsteady body.

He glanced to the side -- A small impact crater had been created, and a man in a bartender's uniform with a face that looked like it belonged to a demon lord was standing in it.

Because of the overwhelming sense of pressure, Kamijou continued to chase after Aogami Pierce, as if he had seen nothing.

The man who had dodged the impact just in time howled like a monster.

"I don't know if this world is distorted or whatever... But you're ready to have your body squished into a ball, right...? I---Za----Ya----Kun------ OOOOOOHHHHHH!"

===Part 12===
"Goodbye, and thank you so much for today, says Misaka as Misaka shows kindness in the place of the cold edgy guy."

[Ahah, take care on your way back.]

Celty entered that text gently, to the girl who was smiling innocently.

Then, she took a look at the boy named Accelerator.

He manipulated Shizuo's strength, which far exceeded that of a normal human, blowing his body directly towards where Izaya was. Although this was Shizuo's own request, Celty couldn't help but think that this kid who could do this was so far beyond common sense that it wasn't even funny.

At the same time, if that girl hadn't arrived, who knows what would have happened.

Shingen suddenly said "You should accompany this child to find someone" and then because of this girl "Felt that he was this way, thought Misaka as Misaka tried to look for that person's distinct traces of AIM surrounding him", Celty followed those ambiguous instructions and ran up and down the streets.

When she came into the abandoned factory because of Shizuo's guttural roar, she told the girl to wait at the motorcycle, and so she went to see what was going on, but ended up getting involved in it--

After all, she didn't know about the white hair... So she didn't think that it was the person that the kid was looking for.

"Why are you staring over here... Uh, oh wait, you've got no eyes."

The girl began to lecture the teenager when he said such things to Celty--

Ignoring the lecturing, he said this to Celty.

"....Oi."

[What?]

"About your power... There should be a better way that you can use to kill me in an instant, right? Why didn't you use it?"

Celty responded after thinking a little, typing out the text.

[Why do you think... Wouldn't it be better to settle things without killing anyone? No one would lose any sleep at night because of it.]

Hearing that, the teenager frowned, muttering.

"Even a monster like you is this indecisive."

After that, with a slightly unimpressed expression, he messed with the girl's hair.

"We're going back. This isn't my city."

[Nonsense. As long as you don't go crazy like before, Ikebukuro welcomes you]

The teenager didn't respond to Celty's words.

As if to replace the reply, he once again ruffled with the girls' hair.

It was as if he was claiming that the place where the teenager would go was the place where he belonged.

===Part 13===

Ikebukuro station | On the subway

"Ahh, what bad luck. It's the same as yesterday. I didn't even finish one of the external research..."

After all that chaos, Kamijou and the others got on the same subway they took here because of Shingen's urging.

After that, they got caught in a fight between the man in the bartender suit and the informant, and when they managed to escape, they found out that Accelerator had already gone back to Academy City, so everything was settled.

"Honestly, I have no idea what just happened, but suddenly everything is alright now... Well anyway, if it's all solved, then it's for the best..."

Kamijou, who got involved in the incident, and yet didn't become the center of it, felt the fatigue coming on, after relaxing for a bit.

Speaking of which, was it really all over?

Although he wasn't so sure about it, once you got on this subway, people of the "Academy City World" would automatically go back to the original world.

Aogami Pierce, who did not understand what was happening, and Tsuchimikado, whose last encounter with Kamijou was a little earlier back in time. Each of them would go back to their respective times and places, across the distorted space-time.

No matter if it was a distorted path or not, all one could do was to move forward.

Suddenly, Kamijou, who had made his mind, felt a sense of unease, and said,

"I feel like I've forgotten something... What could it be?"

===Part 14===

Hikoboshi II | Satellite Orbit | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory

[We've finally solved the problem]

In response to the message from Tsukumoya Shinichi, Kaguya maintained her floating position as she replied.

"The scale of the merging seems to be larger than expected."

[Yes. So there's nothing better than getting in touch with you, who can observe the earth from the most objective perspective, and getting your assistance on top of that.]

"But the important thing is that I'm still here in this world."

[If the distortion of the Sky by Fire can be resolved, you should be able to return to your original world in a few days.]

"I said that I couldn't leave Academy City on it's own, but I don't really care about it. Looking at a different Earth is a good way to pass the time. It's like a spot the difference game."

To the not particularly troubled Kaguya, Tsukumoya Shinichi told the truth.

[Well, also, since you think it's fine like that, then I better not say anything more...]

[But your presence here has sent the surface into panic.]

===Part 15===
Somewhere on Kawagoe Street | Shinra's apartment

"Celty! You're back! What a day it's been today!"

[Really!... Suddenly something unbelievable has happened.]

When she finally returned home, she found a paper bag on the table.

[What's this?]

She took a peek with her hand, and saw something that looked like a wine bottle in some special packaging.

"Ahhh.... That seems to be something that my dad's guest forgot. He says that he wants you to send it back through the subway tunnel tomorrow..."

[???]

Why did she have to go through the subway tunnel to send back something that someone forgot?

Just as Celty was about to ask the obvious question, a report about an astonishing event just came, blaring from the news on the TV.

[And for the next piece of news. We have received an astonishing image. A huge artificial structure, 5,000 meters long, has appeared in the sky over Tokyo. There is no record of such a satellite being sent up, as far as we know--]

Suddenly, Celty dropped the goods onto the couch.

[Ohh... Are these aliens ahhahaguukayadshaaghdsdkgh]

"Calm down, Celty! Celty!?"

After that, she couldn't get her work done well because of the news, and the next day, she passed through the underground tunnel, confused. She arrived at "Academy City", but--

But this is another story, for another time.

===Part 16===

'''Epilogue'''

Ikebukuro's west gate park was covered in a thin, crimson, sunset.

In the corner of the park was a man with long, thin eyes, as well as a European shaped face, sitting on a metal tube bench.

Although it wasn't a rare presence in Ikebukuro, where there were many foreign tourists, the unique atmosphere that surrounded this man was a presence very rare indeed, both in Japan, and abroad.

However, a person who could detect this atmosphere would also be a very rare existence in this world.

"Can I sit next to you?"

"It's a public bench. You don't need to ask me for permission..."

The man said with a shrug, after glancing in the direction of the girl.

"Whatever."

"It's not just whatever. This side or that side, how much confusion do you think has been created? There were several conflicts in places you didn't see. Of course, you know all that, right?"

"So, is it, or is it not? After all, it would be boring if I knew everything. Life is meant to be a challenge."

"What are you talking about, cheater?"

The girl said that, sitting down violently on the bench

To this girl, the man said.

"Why did you come here? The bottle should have been returned to Kamijou Touma, right, girl?"

"It's like you asked me to come here yourself. I didn't expect that someone like you could blend in with society in general. How can you not be interested in something like that?"

The young girl, who was about 12 years old, spoke loudly. The leader of the magic cabal, the Dawn Colored Sunlight, Leivinia Birdway. To this, the man softly replied.

"Even so, he was a senior member of an underground organization. It's hard to say that he's someone with a normal status."

"It doesn't matter if it's the triads, the Camorra, or the 'Ndrangheta, to us Magicians, they're all the same."

"From how I can see it, Magicians and Espers are just the same."

"Don't get so passive aggressive. What are you, a child?"

The man of the underworld giggled at Birdway's words.

"It's not something to laugh at. Have you seriously prepared a solution to this mess?"

"Don't need to do anything. In the infinite cycle of the chicken and the egg, the chick will go on it's own way."

"Are you going to play this game of words to deceive your way through? If that really would work, what a chaotic play it would be."

After a little more words exchanged, Birdway slowly stood up.

"There's not much to be gained from how I live my life. It's time for me to return, Alchemist."

"Yeah? I'm sorry to see you go, but I won't keep you any longer."

The man named the Alchemist continued to speak to the magician girl.

"It's hard to form ties. In the end, I'd like to leave you a piece of advice, about your actions this time. Although it's something that the majority of people from this world can feel."

"What? Advice from a "being" like you would be interesting. Let's hear it then."

In response to Birdway's words, the Alchemist said with a blank expression.

"I don't think you came here because you were interested in what I was doing, but simply because you were chasing after Kamijou Touma, right?"

"Wh...."

"You're actually a brocon, aren't you?"

"...."

For a moment, the silence that seemed like that time had stood still dominated these two.

After several seconds of silence that could be described as forever, the corners of Birdway's mouth twitched, and she said.

"....If I become a magic god, I'll come over to this universe and destroy you, you bloody bastard. Keep that in mind."

"What a horrible thing to say...Fine"

Smiling while shrugging his shoulders once more, the Alchemist laughed.

"When that time comes, I'll ask Kamijou Touma for help."

===Part 17===
After the girl disappeared from the streets of Ikebukuro with an appalling anger, the man, still sitting on the bench, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself.

"A chaotic play. In some sense, maybe that's true. But where in the world can you get the words to explain this event."--

"If you could explain it with words, then a phenomenon of this magnitude can't really be truly called "Absurd"".... Ha--

This, again, was the words of something outside of this dimension, from elsewhere--

Whether he understood it or not, this incident was, in other words, something like that.

"Oh well."

After saying that, the man's figure disappeared.

The space where the man was originally located dissolved into "nothingness" - like a film reel being scattered in the air.

Then, one part of the film distorts, beginning to form a circle, and the film, which had become a shape of a mobius ring, further shifted into the shape of ∞ Infinity, beginning to rotate.

As if to say that the event neither had a beginning, nor an end, from the very start.

The view of the city, too, continued to rotate like a film.

Knock knock, click click--

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Translator's note - Here's a note on all the origins of the characters (and terms) that appeared or were mentioned:

'''A Certain Magical Index (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

Kamijou Touma, Othinus, Roberto Katze, Leivinia Birdway, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Tsuchimikado Maika, Fukiyose, Himegami Aisa, Tsukuyomi Komoe, Index Librorum Prohibitum, Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Amano Kaguya, Kazakiri Hyouka, Accelerator, Meigo Airsa, Aleister Crowley, Saten Ruiko, Olay Blueshake, Utgard Loki, Misaka Imouto, Sogiita Gunha, Kakine Teitoku, Komaba Ritoku, Kihara clan, Aiwass, Uiharu Kazari, Lessar, Jörmungandr, Hel, Last Order, Musujime Awaki

'''A Simple Series (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

[Absurd]

'''Durarara!!! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Yumasaki Walker, Tsukumoya Shinichi, Celty Sturluson, Heiwajima Shizuo, idk who this is, Karisawa Erika, Kyohei Kadota, Saburo Togusa, Shingen Kishitani, Shinra Kishitani, Orihara Izaya, Namie Yagiri

'''Vamp! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Viscount -- Gerhardt von Waldstein, The Organization

'''Baccano! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Prohibition Era Groups, Alchemy of the Abyss, Alchemist (Ronnie Schiatto)

'''Shakugan no Shana (Takahashi Yashichiro)'''

Shana

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IndexVSDRRR Crossover Ikebukuro Chapter

2021-04-14T13:52:49Z

SandyBoi:

==Ikebukuro Chapter==
Translation: botman/Dracoslayer123

Edit/Proofread: Dracoslayer123/Pablusky/SandyBoi/Fullmetal
===Part 1===

Tokyo | Ikebukuro | Summer

"Such misfortune..."

Kamijou Touma, under the sweltering sun, spoke his catchphrase.

However, there was just one thing that was different from normal.

He was neither in his usual stage known as "Academy City,” nor in the sky above Russia, nor in the eternal darkness made by the Magic God.

It was a place that wasn't that far from Academy City. He was in a city only a few kilometers to the northeast of one of the entrances of the "Outer Wall.”

Ikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo.

Although it couldn't compare to Academy City, Kyoto, or Akihabara, it was one of the most famous cities in Japan.

"Ikebukuro, huh... Come to think of it, I don't think I've been to many cities in Japan apart from Academy CIty..."

Kamijou deliberately added the word "Japanese" because he remembered that he had been to several cities outside of Japan in just the past few months. It was ironic that he had never been to a much closer city in Japan, yet he had been to Russia and Italy.

"Though if I wanted to shop, I could just do it in Academy City..."

At that moment, something similar to a news commentary could be heard from the side.

"...President to be at the summit..."

When he turned around toward the sound, he saw a prototype laptop displayed in an electrical appliance store, converting the news images from the TV to high definition and then broadcasting them.

The news of the summit between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Japan came on, and at that time, Kamijou tilted his head and said,

"Huh? He’s not that old guy?"

After a while, Kamijou, surprised at the appearance of a man who looked nothing like the Hispanic president Kamijou had known, suddenly noticed something and said,

"His approval rating didn’t drop because of that incident in Denmark...right?"

After he spoke with such anxiety, he heard a sudden beeping sound in his head.

Then, in the next instant, he had a question about what he had just said.

Huh?

"That incident in Denmark…” What was that again?

"Well, that old guy was really one of a kind... I guess he finally got the sack."

Kamijou, who easily accepted his acquaintance's sacking even while cocking his head in worry, started walking forward, and then sighed deeply once again.

"Why on earth would I want to spend my hard-earned days off on something that feels like what an envoy would do?"

In the bag hanging from his hand, there was a cylindrical protective case made of stainless steel and some sort of cushioning material.

It seemed to have been found at a station at Academy City, and after being bounced between various organizations, it ended up in the hands of the troubled Kamijou as usual. And now it had to be sent back to Ikebukuro.

“Anyway, all you have to do is casually walk around with it. It’s bound to be reclaimed soon enough thanks to the law of causality.”

"At least, that's what Birdway said, but I really don't get it. That bartender guy beat me up so bad yesterday that I can't even straighten my back anymore, and she had the nerve to oh-so-politely help me fill out my application to exit Academy City? No matter how you think about it, it can’t be anything other than her using me. Speaking of which, isn’t she spending way more time in Japan than in England…?”

Whining, Kamijou took a look at the box. There were signs that it had already been opened, but there was no way to know if the person who found it had drunk any of the "something" inside. As the transporter, Kamijou, who was a minor, didn't even think about the option of "drinking" the thing.

"Ahhh, seriously, will there never be a chance for me to relax other than on a hospital bed...?"

Beside the sighing Kamijou, one of his classmates opened his mouth with a happy smile.

"Don't say that, Kami-yan. I'm looking forward to it, you know? Ikebukuro is filled with a different flavor of chaos than Akihabara. The mere mention of the word "Otome Road" alone transforms my heart into a great-journey-gangster-gold-mine!"

The boy who spoke such nonsense was none other than Aogami Pierce.

Just as his nickname suggested, he was a blue-haired boy with perpetually closed eyes and pierced ears.

Although this bad friend of his had also applied to leave Academy City, it seemed as if he had applied to go out in the name of "external training experience instead of supplementary lessons," and in order to meet the requirements, he had to have a tutoring partner.

"Anyway, I'm going to leave the tutoring to you… or should I?"

As Kamijou expressed his unease, another fellow student smirked mischievously at him.

"Nyaa~ As soon as I said I was going to Ikebukuro, my step-sister told me to "hurry up and go to the butler cafe to have the essence of a gentleman carved into your spine." But before that, I should pop into a cosplay cafe, and in there, I'll think about world peace and the safety of my sister: that's the real essence of being a gentleman!"

The upbeat boy with dyed blonde hair and a Hawaiian shirt was Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

These three were a group of delinquents known as the "Delta Force" (“Idiot Trio”), famous among their classmates in a very small subsection of Academy City. Because Kamijou was always covered in blood, their characteristically red, blue, and yellow colors may have given them the nickname "Academy City's traffic light trio."

Those three were striding through the streets of Ikebukuro, but--

"Anyway, the subway to Ikebukuro was surprisingly crowded..."

The moment Kamijou said that, he noticed something strange—

Huh?

Subway?

That was strange. Was it even possible to reach Ikebukuro by subway from Academy City?

The last time he was able to leave Academy City so easily was that time on the beach in Kanagawa—

He was pretty sure...that leaving the city would require walking through the ‘gate’.

Kamijou, who had been repeatedly manipulated by various organizations, had gone to many countries like England and Italy through questionable means, having even been thrown out of planes, needing to stick a parachute landing. That was why he didn't think there was any point in formalities like "having to walk out through the gate" at all.

However, even so, he didn't think there was such a thing as being able to leave Academy City using the subway.

In order to go outside, students had to prepare an application and a guarantor. Before they went out, they had to accept the procedure of getting a nano transmitter injected into their bodies.

They say the extra security protocols were countermeasures against industrial espionage, but to students, it gave the illusion that Academy City was actually a prison and that they were applying for parole. Therefore, was it even possible that they could’ve gone through all of that and not remember any of it?

That... Eh?

In the first place, why didn’t he realize something so important until now?

Anyway, what was today’s date again?

He realized that even such simple facts had become so vague for him and was suddenly filled with unease.

"Hey, hey, it's not like we’ve been hit by some mind-altering magic or psychological esper power, right?"

Kamijou touched his head with his right hand just to be on the safe side, but didn't seem to notice any significant change.

After all, his right hand could dispel any supernatural ability and restore the world to its proper form. If his right hand, named "Imagine Breaker," touched it, any illusion or the like should have been dispelled at once. However, it seemed like his memories and vision haven't been tampered with.

He began to relax about that, but then another bout of unease arose.

"I don't think I went through any procedure, no matter how much I try to think about it. I don't even think I took a subway at all..."

Was this really Ikebukuro? He looked around in a panic, wondering if he had mistakenly gone to the downtown area of District 15.

Then, in just a few seconds, he found a subway station entrance marked "Ikebukuro station.”

"Huh? Am I even more tired than I had realized…?"

Looking at Kamijou, who was breaking out in cold sweat, Tsuchimikado whispered quietly.

"(Calm down nyaa~ Kami-yan. I also feel like something is out of place here.)"

"(Hey now, don't tell me it's some trick you Anglicans are pulling!? If I get taken away somewhere again, I'm actually going to be held back a grade at this point...)"

“(If that were the case, I wouldn't have done any of this. I would have just kidnapped you quickly, nyaa. In any case, if this is some kind of attack, panic is what they would want you to feel, so pretend like you’re totally fine. This is perfectly normal, okay?)"

"(What about Aogami Pierce?)"

Kamijou focused on his friend who was just an ordinary person, despite being an esper, and Tsuchimikado straight up gave a thumbs up.

"(That’s not a problem, nya. He’s an idiot, so he probably has no inkling as to what’s really happening!)"

"(Wait, that's true.)"

Saying something like that made one wonder if they were really friends—

Aogami Pierce suddenly stopped and said to Kamijou and Tsuchimikado.

"Hmm? By the way, we never went through the “gate,” did we?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe this guy just said it aloud!"

"Nyaa!! This guy really can't get with the program!"

Faced with inexplicable spite from his two evil friends, Aogami Pierce silently clenched his fists and prepared to defend himself while not even knowing why.

"Wait a minute! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I can definitely at least read the mood! Say if some president’s voluptuous secretary, who’s wearing glasses and has an air of maturity, and some depressed-looking, blonde, Nordic girl appeared in front of my eyes, even if they looked like mother and daughter, I would politely say "did you sisters come to see the sights around here?" while desperately fantasizing about those two as my older and younger sister. See, I can read the mood on that level of making a paradigm shift and turning it into a paradise shift!"

He was probably trying to say that he could be polite enough to refer to an older woman as much younger than she actually is, but the entire message was soiled by his later words.

"As expected from Aogami Pierce. Choosing to be the middle sibling of three instead of being a lover—I'm impressed by the depth of your skills."

"The moment you use the words "depressed-looking" and "president's voluptuous secretary" while trying to explain how you can be polite to women, you’re just proving that you really can’t read the mood…”

"No, that’s the key. By imagining our positions in detail, we can make our delusions more realistic and our hearts more satisfied."

“Oh, I see you know your stuff! See, I’ve already fantasized away and came up with this. The two sisters are actually assassin sisters who were sent here to kill me, but thanks to that lucky pervert Kami-yan, they got their breasts fondled somehow, and as a result of their mental shock, the brainwashing that had been placed on them got lifted, and the plot of escaping their evil organization begins! Then, 80 years later, surrounded by a total of 128 heroines that I met in my journeys, including eternally young mothers, maid robots, and shota step brothers, I die from pure moe overload!

“That’s a surprisingly long life you live in that fantasy… More than that, don’t just casually put other people inside your own perverted fantasies!”

"Though, Aogami Pierce... in order to differentiate each person, it's important to set up costumes for everyone! Also, is there really a need for the "shota step brothers" thing, nyaa?"

"What are you talking about! I've said this before, but no matter if its a step sister, a stepmother, a stepdaughter, twins, widows, (omitted), soldiers, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, (omitted), non-humans, ghost girls, or animal-eared girls, I can accept them all! As long as you feel attraction, trivialities like gender cease to matter, don’t they?"

“Well, homosexuality is indeed a form of love, but the moment you do anything with a child, it’s a crime whether or not you’re a man or a woman.”

“Mmmm, and the dream that allows us to bypass the wall known as the law is called the second dimension. After all, I firmly believe that as long as it’s only in 2D, even lolis and shotas are totally acceptable. Of course, if you bring that dream over into the 3D world, you’re really sus.”

“You know, I had a phase where I thought like that as well, but now that I’ve seen some guy who manages to build a harem with every single girl in his class, his loli teacher who looks like she’s still in grade school, some little nun he found somewhere, and the ojou-samas in some fancy middle school, I’ve come to realize that the wall between 2D and 3D is basically nonexistent.”

“Exactly. And then he always uses the “I like older women” card to spread the fake news that he doesn’t have a harem or anything like that, like he’s some kind of messenger from hell! What’s more, even though there should be no way he could develop a relationship with her, he’s been calling my sister by her first name from the very start, nyaa!”

"Hey, watch it."

Because the debate seemed to be perpetually ongoing and because he felt like he was being insulted to his face, Kamijou decided to change the subject by voicing a concern he had had for some time now.

"Anyway... Who in the world are you?"

The three of them focused their attention to one place where there was a man who had somehow so naturally joined the conversation.

"Ah, hey guys. I'm Yumasaki Walker."

The teen, who seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type, cheerfully gave out his name.

"Wow, to see the Kamijou Touma in the flesh, it's such an honor to meet you!"

===Part 2===

Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory.

A young woman strongly felt that something was very wrong.

The shape of a certain city on Earth had become completely different from what it had been just a few hours ago.

The person floating weightlessly in space while curled into a ball was a girl who was probably in her late teens.

That alone was anomalous enough for "this world,” but the fact that she was wearing a junihitoe made that fact all the more so.

However, for the "world she resides within," what she was wearing wasn't anything too special.

It may be that the only thing that had become abnormal was our benchmark. At least, it was this girl who noticed the abnormality just now.

To her, the Earth, including its seven billion people, was just “something to observe."

Whether it was a war on the surface, the disappearance of national borders, or even a nuclear explosion, it was merely someone else's business to her.

For her, who was, in a sense, watching a live documentary while in the luxury of a first-world environment, such a disturbance would not go unnoticed.

Having a unique life rhythm, she woke up a few hours ago and found that the earth had changed significantly between the time she had gone to bed and the time she had woken up.

The only place she had been "connected to” on Earth—Academy City—had disappeared from Japan.

Although the surface of the earth looked like a neat little collage, to make a collage of its scale in real time would require a being on the level of a god, a demon, or someone who had completely surpassed the boundaries of esper powers.

Located in the western part of Tokyo, the isolated circular world of Academy City contained 2.3 million people.

The developed city within that circle had disappeared, replaced with a completely different topography.

After about 0.5 seconds of her debating whether to try contacting someone in Academy City to judge whether this was some sort of "attack” or if it was too rash to reveal her location just like that, a communication signal came to her as if it had been deliberately timed.

It had all the right codes and the same patterns as the hidden line she usually used, but the voice was of a man she had never heard from before.

[Hey.]

"Yo."

The girl, named Amano Kaguya, who spoke back in a rude way that was completely contrary to her appearance, did not show any particular worry about the disappearance of an entire city.

"So, who are you?"

[Ah, sorry, I'm Tsukumoya Shinichi. Nice to meet you.]

"That name doesn’t show up in either my memory or my records. So, what do you want from me, a person in space who has deliberately abandoned the Earth? Though in this situation, it seems more like I've been abandoned by the Earth."

[To be honest, in your eyes, your situation isn’t something to be so pessimistic over, right? You’re basically embodying that saying about how if there is a god that throws you away, there is a god that picks you up.]

"Using the word “god” to represent the people of Academy City? I see you really are an outsider."

As if she had figured something out, she smiled and spat out the words that got directly to the heart of the matter.

"Before we talk, I just want to confirm one thing... Are you a human being?"

[Well, I'll just say this. I sort of emphasize with Kazakiri Hyouka of Academy City.]

The man named Tsukumoya replied in a voice whose emotion could not be read, which was not to say it was emotionless.

It was like a voice that had mixed together and averaged the happiness, anger, and sadness of millions of people.

[If she is considered by someone to be "human," then I guess I could also be regarded as some nameless human.]

===Part 3===

Celty Sturluson was definitely not human.

She was a "Dullahan,” who were fantastical spirits who lived between Scotland and Ireland—and who visited the houses of the dying to declare their deaths.

They visit the house of a dying person with their severed head in their arms, in a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a headless horse called the Cóiste Bodhar. And if you carelessly opened your door, you would be showered in blood. As the main example of ominous harbingers along with banshees, they have been passed down various European mythologies and folklore.

Some stories claim that they were actually figures of fallen Valkyries from Norse mythology, but whether that was actually the case was unclear even to her.

It was not that she didn't know.

Precisely speaking, it was that she could not remember.

She had been robbed of her "head" in her homeland, and her memory of her own existence had disappeared from her.

In order to retrieve “that,” she had come to this place called Ikebukuro, following the faint signs of her own head.

The headless horse transformed into a motorcycle, the armor into a skintight suit, and lingered around the city for decades.

In the end, however, she was unable to get her head back, and her memory had not been restored to this day.

She already knew who stole her head.

She also knew who the person was that prevented her from finding her head.

However, in the end, she had not been able to find the whereabouts of her head.

Celty, now, thought that even if that was the case, it was okay, since she could be with the person she loved.

It was because she was able to live with people who loved her, and who accepted her for what she was.

If that was what happiness was, she reckoned she'd be better off living how she was living now.

A headless woman who hid her firm determination in her heart, replaced her non-existent face and expressed her will through her actions.

That was it -- the existence of Celty Sturluson.

Then, and now.

She was in an abandoned factory on her home turf of Tokyo, confronting "something" even less human than herself.

"So...? Who are you, and where did you come from?"

Even though he was talking like a gangster, there was an air that was completely different from that of normal street urchins.

"Though, it doesn't matter anyway. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too."

She realized he must have gone through many kinds of hell, where he had to kill or be killed.

And that was a number that couldn't be counted using 2 or 3 digits.

The boy who was staring at her fiercely had a neutral face, but he was nothing more than a "boy"

That's right, he looked like a human being from the outside, as if he were a teenager.

He had beautiful pure white hair, that didn't look like it had been dyed.

No matter from where you look at it, it looked so natural, and yet everywhere you looked, it seemed to be full of some sort of scientific chemical, that sort of mysterious white.

Apart from that, he did look human in appearance, and didn't feel anything less than human.

The problem was, the actions he took, and the results of those actions.

A part of the floor of the abandoned factory was covered with steel plates, but there were many "human-shaped holes" in them.

To be more precise--

Heiwajima Shizuo. Half of his body was stuck in the floor of the abandoned factory, and he was not moving.

Although his body was still upright, his head was hanging slightly down. It was impossible to tell whether he was still conscious or not.

When Celty came into the factory for whatever reason, she heard a loud noise, and took a look inside. What she saw was the impossible to understand scenario of the man widely regarded as Ikebukuro's strongest, buried in the ground.

That "boy" -- The one who buried Heiwajima Shizuo into the ground, staring hard at her and said those words just now--

Even if he asked who she was and where she came from....---

She... she was the one who wanted to ask that!

Celty, who came just in time to witness the moment of Shizuo being buried into the ground.

Shizuo's body was hit by the teenager countless times with the metal plate, and as he finally stood up, several tons of industrial machinery floating in the air came crashing down at high speeds.

In the next instant, the industrial machinery was violently compressed, and Shizuo's body was driven into the ground like a nail.

"...Say, what the heck is going on with this product? From my experience, it should be the human body that would be compressed."

Startled, the boy shrugged and said to Celty.

"This isn't some cartoon about a mouse! I've blown so many people away so far, but this is the first time I've seen a guy who can hit a man-shaped hole in a metal plate. This is clearly beyond the scope of an ability that strengthens the flesh. It also doesn't look like he's got nitrogen or oxygen armor, or anything like that."

With a bored sigh, the white-haired boy asked Celty.

“Are you a “gemstone” or something? While I’ve heard that the “#7” is something like that, but at least now it makes sense why I was brought into do the dirty work—”

"Gemstone"? "#7?" What was he talking about?

"Don't play dumb."

Seeing Celty who seemed to have major doubts about it all, the teenager clicked his tongue and continued.

"I can tell from your outfit that you're related to Academy City. How can someone from outside the city have a suit that absorbs 100% of light?"

Facing the agitated teenager, Celty took her PDA out, and entered text with great trepidation.

[What's Academy City? Are you talking about Ōizumi-gakuen?]

He probably was thinking that he was being made fun of when he was shown the text, and so the boy silently reached his hand out and touched Celty's helmet.

"I can't sense the flow of blood in your vessels, or the movement of your muscles, so this is another type of special equipment. But it's been a long time since I've been played for a fool like this!"

The complaining teenager who had a cold tone--

Just like that, he blew the helmet off of Celty's head in an instead--!?--

Wha, wh-wh-wh, what was going on!?

Celty couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't use gunpowder or anything like that. The helmet merely bounced off, as if it moved by itself.

If Celty had a head, she would have stared, eyes wide.

Similar to how the boy in front of her was looking at her.

"...Ah?"

Furrowing one of his eyebrows, the boy said.

"I thought I had overexerted myself and chopped your head off... What's this all about?"

[I, I know now! You're that, aren't you, a vampire! There are vampires I know who can use this kind of ability with your mind!]

"It's not Psychokinesis."

The white-haired teenager dismissed the vampire or whatever she was saying as a joke, and continued.

"What's up about that body of yours? Long range manipulation?... Doesn't seem like it either."

Facing the presence of something that had nothing from the neck up, the teenager maintained his hostility, and continued questioning.

"...Hey, I'll ask one more time."

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

That moment--

Creak. An exaggerated sound could be heard from the abandoned factory.

Then, as if it was from the depths of hell, the dull sound made the surrounding air stir.

"Oi..."

As Celty and the boy looked towards the source of the sound, the man in the bartender's uniform appeared, half of his body buried in the ground, craning his neck, looking relaxed.

"To be honest, I don't know what you've done to me... but you made me a bit dizzy."

Although he gave the impression that his body was all battered, he put his hands on the ground, pulling his body out, which had been knocked into the ground, with just the force of his palms.

"I don't know what happened, but I was blown away by the force of the blow.... Then, for some reason, my blood pressure suddenly shot up, and a headache came on..."

The white haired boy frowned at Heiwajima Shizuo, the man in the bartender's uniform, who continued to twist his neck by gently pressing on his head.

"Although I've used quite a bit of energy to force your blood flow backward, in the end, you've just got a headache. Are you really human?"

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't matter how you did it. After all, I've been done to death by some corrupt politician using Aikido or something... The important thing isn't that."

Shizuo, who had his blows all reflected back to him, was wounded by his own wrist, and then had his blood vessels and internal organs ruptured by the manipulation of the vector of his blood flow. Even then, he said it was trivial, with his voice boiling in anger.

"If it's just me, then I'd let it go. Although I don't know why, I suddenly succumbed to provocation and was beaten, but even this wouldn't make me so angry."

"Is that so!?"

Shizuo, who was staring at the white-haired boy with the face like a demon, continued without acknowledging Celty's surprised words.

"But, you smashed the helmet of my friend, who just happened to be walking by..."

"So you're saying, even if you get killed you won't have any complaints?... That's what you mean, right...?"

===Part 4===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | A parking lot.

"It's Kamijou Touma..."

In front of the station wagon, she dropped the things she bought onto the floor and said, stunned.

"Hey? That..."--

Had he met her somewhere before?--

No, was it an acquaintance from before his memory disappeared...!?

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

It was a woman in her early twenties who was making that strange sound.

The moment their eyes met, an unprecedented light shone from her eyes, and then they made a strange sound.

"Kami...K-k-k-kami, Kamijou!? It's Kamijou, right!?"

"Eh? That's me, yes."

"I,I-I-I-I-I, I'm Karisawa Erika,it’s a real pleasure to meet you for the first time and please take good care of me!"

The woman named Karisawa Erika, who was holding the hand of the confused Kamijou, called out as she waved her hand back and forth.

"Alive! And walking!"

"Seriously, Karisawa, you're acting like a kid who met his dead grandmother using a time machine!"

The man named Yumasaki said that he'd "make sure someone would meet him,", so Kamijou and the others came to the station wagon, but--

"Hey... What the heck is going on here?"

"This isn't a high-precision cosplay or anything like that... It's the real deal! The real thing is right in front of me!"

"No, I don't get it at all.... Hey, why are you crying!?"

Kamijou Touma was swept deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of confusion as he stood in front of Karisawa, who began to spill tears.

"Karisawa's emotions are peaking."

"Haha, this is the first time I've seen someone this happy!"

In the wagon where they could hardly hear their conversations except for Kazawa's screams, the two men, Tokusa and Honda, tilted their heads and said.

"Who's that guy, Kadota?"

"I feel like I've seen him before... Judging by Karisawa's happiness, he's probably some young Seiyuu or something, right?"

"Ah! That's probably it!"

"Well, it's not a good idea to disturb them. Let's give them time to talk."

The two people in the driver's seat and shotgun who were nodding to each other, silently got out of the car, and left the parking lot.

Kadota didn't notice it.

That boy, in the novel that Yumasaki and Karisawa highly recommended and read- he said that he was "a good guy with backbone", the protagonist Kamijou Touma himself.

On the other hand, this Kamijou, the protagonist, was surrounded by his two evil friends, eyes closed, laughing.

"Heh heh.... Hahaha! Kami-yan... has finally learned the hax skill of "The big sister who he met for the first time but has already been flagged down"...?"

"Nya, besides, I like the "elder sister" trope anyway, nya, Kami-yan must be loving it, though I don't understand it well, the talents he has are only for the sake of getting popular..."

"Nonononono, nononono! It's not like that!"

Even if he wanted to defend himself, Kamijou could only keep saying "No," as he didn't know what was happening, but--

This was cut off by the woman named Karisawa.

"Well, it's obvious at first glance though! You must be Aogami Pierce, and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, right? Wow, that's amazing... it's the same as my imagination! You're both so tall!"

"Gwah!?" "Nya!?"

Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who did not expect to receive pieces of the flag themselves, looked at each other, and panicked.

Leaving the two in their bewilderment, Karisawa decided to take advantage of when Aogami Pierce asked Yumasaki, “What kind of flag is she raising with me?” and said something that rang all sorts of alarms in Tsuchimikdo’s head.

"Well, you know. Tsuchimikado, you started wearing sunglasses when you changed your appearance, but now they've become a symbol of your identity, and in reality, they look real good on you!"

"!?"

Kamijou and Tsuchimikado both stiffened up.

They remained in this state, shied away from Karisawa and the others, turned around, and whispered, shoulder to shoulder.

"{Hey! This person knows about Angel Fall! So it really is your contact over there! What are you going to get me involved in this time!)"

"(No, no, no, wait, Kami-yan, wait! I'm just as confused as you are, I have no idea who this person is!)"

"(So, then... could she be from the Russian Orthodox Church? If she knows about Angel Fall, it's unlikely she's related to Academy City, no matter how you think about it!"

"(The key thing is that we don't know. I've told you about the glasses, Kami-yan, so the information must have leaked from you somehow!)"

"(Bruh, there is a literal spy here, and he doubts· THE· Kamijou Touma!? Obviously you’re more suspicious than I am!)"

"(Why would I be surprised if it's the information that I leaked, nya?)"

While they were throwing out their suspicions like this, Karisawa, who was approaching behind them, unnoticed, said this with a refreshing smile.

"It's alright, I'm not a spy for Gremlin or the Kihara family! At least, I'm not an enemy of GROUP!"

"I can't believe it, she just casually said two phrases relating to the dark side of Academy City, nya... Speaking of that, what's that Gremlin that can be said on the same level as those two?"

"Huh?"

The sense of disharmony was wandering in Kamijou's brain--

Hmm? Tsuchimikado, was he playing dumb? --

Gremlin. Tsuchimikado was, of course...--

..... Hmm?--

When was the last time he had spoken to Tsuchimikado... When did that come...?

At that moment, Kamijou's mind began to play a flashback of Tsuchimikado's face.

He appeared in a completely different air from the current Tsuchimikado, with an expression as cold as ice...

Hmm? Strange. If Tsuchimikado was here right now... really stra....nge?

The voice of Aogami Pierce rang out as if to ride the wave of confusion that was going on in the mind of Kamijou.

"Hey, hey, Kami-yan. I just realized that I can't see Endymion in Ikebukuro."

Endymion.

The space elevator, pride of Academy City.

This elevator, which extended beyond the atmosphere, should have been visible as a thin line, even at a distance as far as Ikebukuro-- But Kamijou knew that it would never be visible now.

"...What are you talking about, Aogami Pierce? Isn't Endymion already..."

"What? Did I, uh, say something strange?"

A chill spread behind Kamijou's back.

No.

Something was wrong.

He could feel a distinctive "dislocation" from both Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

"Right! Speaking of Endymion, there's something I wanted to ask you about Meigo Arisa!"

"Oh, you've got a good eye, Arisa is related to this! I, ah, think she'll come? This Endymion concert is really something to look forward to!"

"Huh? Is it time for that concert again?"

Aogami Pierce seemed to have become indifferent to the fact that he could not see Endymion, and returned to the unique conversation he was having with Yumasaki.

On the other hand, Kamijou was convinced by what Aogami Pierce had just said.

There was something wrong after all--

There was a misalignment between himself and Aogami Pierce's "perception"--

...Arisa's concert on Endymion, it had ended, clearly!

It wasn't that those two were imposters. They were undoubtedly the real Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

Even so, he was sure that something was "distorted".

It was obvious that they were the real people, but something was "distorted", so what did that mean?

Thinking about this, Kamijou suddenly realized something.

It was possible that he himself might have been "distorted" with the world--

The president.

The TV image he saw when he first came to Ikebukuro.

On that note, Kamijou didn't recognize the man who was supposed to be the president.

Gradually, the sense of dissonance became clear about all this.

It was like waking up and then gradually being able to distinguish between reality and dreams, the feeling of one's brain gradually becoming clear, and waking up.

Moreover, this city named Ikebukuro, or actually, the whole of Tokyo.....

Suddenly, he turned towards Karisawa and asked.

"That! What happened to the dragon... that attacked this city before?"

"Ah! You know about that, huh? I see, I see. You've already experienced "that", right? Have you experienced that honeymoon in Denmark?"

"Dragon? What are you talking about?"

Contrary to Kamijou who nodded his head like he had figured it out, Tsuchimikado's face was full of his confusion.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Ugh, it must be Maika. I'm a little concerned about all this, but a call from a loli takes precedence over anything else, that's my 35th rule of life."

Tsuchimikado picked up his phone while walking to the corner of the parking lot. Looking at his back walking away, Karisawa said with passion:

"The fact that you can categorically say that your sister is also a loli is impressive. Having said that.... look at him, which time is this Tsuchimikado from?"

"Wait a second, explain quickly. What the hell is going on here?"

"Ahhh, mhm. Yeah, if you're unsure about a situation, it's natural that you'll feel uneasy."

Nodding her head while speaking in an understanding tone, Karisawa continued.

“Well actually, before we actually saw you, we were half-believing. We are probably the ones who could accept this the fastest, as I heard the details of the matter from the father of an acquaintance..."

Karisawa, who said this, looked at the entrance of the parking lot, and leaked out an "ah"

"Look, they're here. The person who can explain."

"Eh?"

When Kamijou looked over--

The man who was walking towards him, wearing a white gas mask in broad daylight in addition to a white lab coat, raised his hand in a friendly manner, and said.

"Aha! You're that "otherworlder"! Nice to meet you. How are you? (Written in English). Be careful not to get infected with bacteria that doesn't exist in your world and die suddenly!"

Looking at this man who greeted him with surprise, Kamijou--

"Defi..."

"Defi?"

Ignoring the "otherworlder" comment first, he shouted out what he was feeling at that very moment.

"You definitely have a connection with Academy City--!"

===Part 5===

A few minutes ago | In satellite orbit | Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Lab

"What about the "tunnel" with the other world?"

[There's a theory that the neutrino and Higgs particle experiments in both our worlds has something to do with this, but as far as I know, your world has a Magic God who has changed the world through the phases that filter the physical world, your boss has also forcibly teared apart the "thin film of the world", and our side has an existence known as the Dullahan, and began to overuse its powers. It's probably all these sorts of accidents that came together, that just happened to connect these two worlds together…]

"The accumulation of these unfavorable conditions, huh."

The girl who was near the top of the system called Academy City said with a sigh.

"Hng, let's not talk about whether parallel worlds exist or not, but this "tunnel" that just happened to be created is rather unbelievable. And it does not explain the fact that Academy City has disappeared off the earth."

Amano Kaguya, accepting the explanation of the man who called himself Tsukumoya Shinichi, nodded as she floated in mid air.

"However, the disappearance of Academy City on that side should be on this side."

[That's probably the case. However, not many people can remember and have that sense of dissonance. To fill that void of dissonance, it seems that the Earth where Academy City exists right now also has a 380 meter long aircraft named "Sky By Fire" flying around, like nobody's paying attention to it. No, maybe it's actually because of the appearance of this aircraft that you've suffered a loss.]

"I got squeezed out through that distortion, so I was transported here without going into the "tunnel"?"

[Yes, the "Sky by Fire" was originally developed by a company called Niblo in this world 50 years in the future. By connecting with a world like Academy City, which has technology a hundred or two ahead of its time, it was able to materialize in the world as a "thing that should exist". So basically, to replace that Queen of the Sky, and to achieve balance, the Princess of the Universe was chosen.]

Kaguya, who was floating upside down from the Earth, shrugged at Tsukumoya's words.

"Is that flattery or sarcasm? It's hard to read your feelings just from your voice."

[Even so, I'm still anxious right now. if the two worlds completely merge together, it'll become all kinds of bad.]

"If you look at it from the perspective of rapid development of science and technology, shouldn't it be a good thing for your world?"

[It's not like that. At the very least, there are tens of thousands of "Vampires" in this world. If the girl named Himegami, the carrier of "Deep Blood" from your side, comes here, the vampires will flock to her, and then we'll be in a crisis. We’ll need to sacrifice the girl's life to save the extinction of the vampires. But, what's troubling is that there's a lot of good people among the vampires. I can usually accept any outcome, no matter what, but what if someone I know, or an innocent girl dies as a result of an "outside" influence? That wouldn't be very interesting.]

Even for Kaguya, who knew about the dispute between Science and Magic, the sudden mention of a topic like "vampires" was unexpected, but--

But she, who looked at the world as it were someone else's business, dismissed it as "Of course that exists", felt relieved, and calmly accepted the request to help resolve the situation.

"Well, that's fine. I think it'll be interesting, just standing by and seeing how things develop, but I can't leave Academy City alone in this situation. So I'll help you get things back on track."

[That's a big help, thank you.]

"I'll take care of Tsuchimikado, who has come to this world. Probably because of his back and forth between the Magic and Science sides, and the outside and the inside of the City, his tolerance is quite big, as long as his sister is not in trouble. Even if he does look like that. I'm sure he'll accept this and help us."

"Ahah, that's true. Better start acting as soon as possible."

There was a slight pause here from Tsukumoya, and the presence of a certain man was mentioned.

[The troublemaker who's grasped the situation and accepted it readily is preparing to take advantage of it for his own personal gain.]

===Part 6===

Somewhere in the city | Orihara Izaya's office

"Well, even if it is Shizuo, it should be over by now."

In his office, Orihara Izaya, who was happily sitting in his chair, spinning around, talked about this, eyes shining.

"I'm having a hard time trying to make connections with the other world. Although we share the language of Japanese, there's a significant difference in science and technology, and there's 2 billion people in the Roman system alone."

Izaya, who seemed to be speaking to his assistant in the office, kept talking, half to himself, without waiting for a response.

"From a girl obsessed with urban legends named Saten Ruiko to the media queen of the other side of the world named Olay Blueshake, I was most satisfied to know someone is named "Loki". Me, I'd feel some empathy towards these types of people. But it seems he was recently betrayed, and got beaten up by his comrade. So even if he believes in what I say, he won't have any trust in me."

“If there’s someone who can trust you on a personal level, they can probably be considered a saint.”

Ignoring the sarcasm of his assistant, Izaya continued.

"In any case, with his cooperation, he managed to infiltrate part of the system in Academy City. After that, he gave a false command that relies on some condition to the most powerful Esper over there."

"False command?"

"Ahah, it's all true, up to the midway point at least. The two worlds are gradually merging together. And on top of that, add a hypothetical such as "If an important man goes to Academy City, the worlds will merge together. If that happens, the other world would be an obviously unnatural existence... For example, for the 10,000 or so clones, their existence will disappear, and other similar changes may occur." That kind of condition--"

There was a slight pause there, but he continued with a pleasant smile.

"The "strongest man in Ikebukuro", the point of deviation related to the metamorphosis of the world, rendered useless, with no chance of resurgence.... That kind of order. Additionally, I gave him the information that the man in the bartender's uniform is actually a nasty piece of work with a penchant for kidnapping young girls. Even if it is that physically overpowered Shizuo, in front of that "Level 5", who is literally beyond the stage of what you call an ability, he is nothing more than a baby."

"And who's this superpowered person?"

With a half-hearted look, the woman who was his assistant, Namie Yagiri, looked at the information in her hands.

"You write it as "One Way Road", and read it as Accelerator?"

"Yup. Well, it's the same as an animal's Japanese name as compared to its scientific name. Although names are used to represent identity, don't you think that this name suits him in every sense? And his old name is also very interesting."

"Compared to his actual ability name, "Vector Manipulation".... What is this?"

"It means what it means, literally. The ability to observe the "direction" of various phenomena, and manipulate them according to one's own will, such as kinetic energy, light, sound, heat, and electricity. The ability to trick the world, changing gravity energy into buoyancy, and in extreme cases, to manipulate the vector of time, in a limited sense.”

In the face of Izaya's exaggerations, Namie responded with a sigh.

"Even though you don't understand the concept of time very well, you still said that..."

"It's that sort of illogical ability. Although it's probably logical for a place like Academy City, in our world, it's something beyond our logic."

"Illogical ability, huh."

Namie narrowed her eyes slightly, and said with a hint of annoyance, as if she recalled something.

"That person’s "shadow" is no more logical than he is."

===Part 7===

An abandoned factory

"If I had complaints about being killed, I wouldn't have come here."

The white haired boy replied with a bored, but serious tone, saying something that reeked of self-deprecation.

"I never thought I'd hear such brave words after all this."

"....."

"You're not a normal human being. If you obediently lie back down, your chances of survival will grow."

In contrast to Shizuo, who emerged, veins bulging, the white-haired teenager kept a cold expression.

Celty, in the middle of those two people, firmly interrupted.

[No, wait a minute. Why are you doing this to Shizuo!]

"Why? It's just a job."

Speaking indifferently, the white-haired teenager lightly put his foot on the floor of the factory.

The next instant, the "action and counteraction" that existed in Celty's own brain, that common sense, completely collapsed.

The iron plate that lay on a part of the abandoned factory bounced up and began to turn in the air magnificently, as if it was dancing.

"And, if you get in the way, you'll get destroyed. I've said this before, right?"

The white haired teenager pushed the iron plate gently in the direction of Celty.

Then, as if the rotational force of the plate became propulsive force, it shot at a straight line towards Celty.

A direct hit with the iron plate that weighed dozens of kilograms onto a normal human wouldn't be something that you could shake off.

But, Celty wasn't human, and she definitely wasn’t normal.

Countless shadow tentacles reached out from her own body, and caught the iron plate that was flying at high speed.

"!"

Looking at Celty's shadows, the white-haired teenager narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...What, is that?"

If a normal person had seen it, they would have been open-eyed in shock, but the teen wasn't ordinary in any sense.

He changed his expression as if he had seen a strange cat, nothing more, and he then continued with a soft tone.

"...Do you use the same power as that #2?"

Celty muttered to herself, hearing the teenager's words--

What the hell was this #2 and #7 just then!?--

Nevermind, she had to suppress him first.

Celty immediately stretched out her shadow, and tried to wrap it around the boy's body at high speeds.

However, he dodged it with a jump that was beyond the physical limits of a human, and lightly slapped away one of the tendrils that got close with his left hand.

"...."

In an instant, the front end of Celty's shadow started spinning around, disappearing as if it had been swept into a tornado.

Uwah--

What was that feeling she felt just then!?

It wasn't a natural disappearance, as it took Celty's own will to disperse her shadows.

It was because she felt a creepy feeling, something like the flow of power being doubled and sent back in full. She judged the danger in an instant--

This guy… He really is using psychokinesis?--

This wasn't good, as this was much more powerful than even the vampires she knew.

Contrary to the anxious Celty, the teenager's body language didn't give away any signs of anxiety at all.

Maybe he had experience fighting against an opponent similar to herself before.

If that was the case, it would be impossible to maintain a dominant position here, right?

Would he allow him to surrender? To retreat? As she was contemplating that--

"Oi."

The voice of Shizuo rang out, and both Celty and the teenager's attention turned his way.

Then, Shizuo picked up the remains of the vending machine that had somehow been abandoned in this abandoned factory.

"Your opponent... Is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

In the next instant, the vending machine flew towards the teenager with substantial force behind it.

The action taken by the teenager in response was--

Ignored.

The teenager once again looked at Celty, and assumed the attitude that there was no need to respond to Shizuo's attack

However, in realty, the moment in touched the special "barrier" thinly covering his body, the vending machine jumped back like a bouncy ball hitting a wall--

Shizuo!

Although Celty hurriedly stretched her shadow out, it failed to reach him.

Those who are immersed within their own abilities shall drown in them. The overwhelming force that matched this metaphor was heading for Shizuo's body--

"Ora!"

And with that, Shizuo struck it again--

....What?

"Ah?"

Even the white haired teenager couldn't help but look back at his opponent.

This teenager, so far, had bounced back all kinds of enemy attacks with his "ability"

He had experienced multiple crises before. Such as, people who could nullify attacks, people with special energy such as the "shadow", as well as getting overwhelmed with attacks from different dimensions.

But was there anyone who could forcefully reflect an attack back by using only the force of his hands?

Although he observed a flow of a force field, he didn't think that he was using any sort of ability--

What was going on? Who the hell was this guy?

He felt that this level of sturdiness was a bit weird, never mind the fact that this was beyond the realm of humans in the first place. Although there had been battles with durable opponents before, this man's body was half the size of the leader of Skill Out that he fought before, so how the hell could he do such things that were so far from common sense?

Although he thought so, he soon realized that it was pointless.

Because even if he could get the vending machine back at him, he could just reflect it back again - totally risk free.

Just as he predicted, the vending machine bounced back at Shizuo--

And then, once again, the man in the bartender''s uniform punched it back.

"...."

Crack! Pop! Once again, the exaggerated sounds of destruction resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

Between the bartender and the white-haired teenager, a vending machine rally began.

And, the speed of it was gradually increasing.

But in the end, it finally stopped.

It wasn't because the man in the bartender uniform had run out of energy. Instead, it was because the vending machine couldn't bear the brunt, and finally broke apart in mid-air.

"...."

"...."

There was a silence, with only the sound of the bartender-suited man's breathing that echoed through the factory.

Then, the white haired boy began to take a step towards him, and he said casually.

"Honestly, people who boast of their strength I see as fools usually... But, the truly outstanding ones are enviable. Since I have no need for physical exercise over here."

"...."

"If I could have 5% of your strength...."

In the teenager's mind, the face of a certain spiky-haired teenager flashed through.

He put on a bitter face, and said with a distracted look.

"Though I probably wouldn't be who I am now in any sense."

And then, for the first time, the teenager spoke of his reason for taking that step forward.

"Although it may seem a bit unreasonable.... But for today and tomorrow, if you were to wander around freely, that guy I know may disappear from the world."

The white haired teenager continued, as he walked over, step by step.

Was it because he was in an overwhelmingly favorable position, or was it because of some other reason that he became more talkative?

"Direct reversal of the flow of brain signals. If I keep your consciousness suppressed for three days, that'll be enough. However, if you're careless, you might die... Although I'm not going to apologize, if you've got any resentments to express, I'll listen to them."

However, Shizuo replied to this with a smile.

"Although I can't understand the implications of this all, this is extremely unreasonable."

Despite the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, Shizuo persisted.

"But I can't fall like this without so much as a whimper. I'll lose my face against the spiky haired boy who beat me yesterday."

"....Spiky haired?"

Hearing that word, a bad feeling flashed through the teenager's mind.

But, thinking about it wasn't going to help, so he took another step closer.

Celty, overwhelmed by the vending machine rally, finally realized that Shizuo was in true danger.

Up to now, has Shizuo ever been pushed against the wall like this?

Whether it was getting sent flying by a dump truck, a train, a hundred people trying to cut his head off, getting attacked by a huge tiger, even though he could survive all that, he was in a truly life-threatening situation now.

Heiwajima Shizuo was about to be killed by someone who came out of nowhere.

Something that seemed as ridiculous to Celty that it could have been a joke to her was happening before her eyes, and she was having a hard time trying to understand it.

Celty looked at the Shizuo whose body was covered in wounds--

===Part 8===

Izaya's office

"To be honest, I'm still only half convinced."

Namie looked at the information in the laptop and said once again.

"Connecting with parallel worlds. That's an idea so old that even SciFi novels don't use it much anymore."

"You're the one who's delved into the mythical realm and studied the head of the Dullahan, so are you sure you can say that?"

"Eh, course I do. The head of the Dullahan is an actual thing, and it's been confirmed."

"And in fact, it's also true that people from the other world have come here, right?"

Izaya, who said this, handed over some papers to Namie.

"Kamijou Touma, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Aogami Pierce. These names don't have any sort of records in this world. These three people, who existed in Academy City, came to this world through the subway in order to transfer something."

"High school students?"

"They aren’t just any high school students. Especially this kid, Kamijou. He’s a real hero who has saved the world multiple times. It's probably only in a world of advanced science as well as magic that a person can become that sort of savior. For me, I'm very interested in the kind of state such a rare human being is living in."

Looking at Izaya, who was laughing, Namie said, bored.

"It's like you think you're a god. You don't even have all the information about this world yet, so can you really understand the information about this so-called "other world" correctly?"

Although she was still doubtful about the connection with this other world, she had experience of studying the existence of an unnatural being such as the "Dullahan" using the common sense of science, so she might not have been so doubtful if not for that.

"Ahah, the intelligence level in that world is much higher. It's a world where you can even see the memories of the dead if you want to collect it. It's even easier to get information there than in this world."

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted in pleasure, and he said something unbelievable.

"In fact, I think it's fine to let the worlds merge like this. I think it's better for them to be integrated. When a new variable or an alien existence that is completely unmanageable appears in front of them, what kind of action will the humans take? Even if it's just limited to the people in this city, if I can observe them, one by one, it'll be enough for me to enjoy this life."

"Although what you said was that you've abandoned the struggle with a kindly tone, what you just said was extremely bad."

"There are a lot of interesting people over there too. Especially the Kihara clan's way of life, which makes me wonder about new possibilities for human beings. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call it beautiful."

"I think it's sad that these children are being treated like precious specimens by people like you. ...Eh?"

While looking at the information, Namie sarcastically said that, but she frowned suddenly.

"Hey, what's this "Aogami Pierce" thing?"

In response to Namie's light question, Izaya looked up at the ceiling, and giggled.

"Ahaha, this kid's information is well collected."

Then, without looking at any of the info, he began to talk about it.

"He's an Esper who freeloads in a bakery in Academy City. Although he's the class president of Kamijou Touma's class, he's also known as one of the "three idiots", along with Kamijou and Tsuchimikado. He's a strange fellow who's over 180cm tall. He takes supplementary classes, but not because he's dumb. Instead, it's because he wants to have as much interaction with his class teacher as possible. The possibility of this is pretty high. He’s been questioned regarding his occupation 43 times… no, it would be around 40 times regarding the time from when he came over to this city."

Without pause, Izaya droned on, as if he were speaking a tongue twister about the boy named Aogami Pierce.

Instead of boasting his knowledge--- it seems like he was trying to hide something.

"Ah, yes, that guy's fetishes concerning the opposite sex really is impressive. "I have a wide range of acceptance when it comes to women: not just fallen female main characters but also foster sisters, foster mothers, foster daughters, twins, widows, senpais, kouhais, fellow classmates, teachers, childhood friends, ojou-samas, blondes, brunettes, brown-haired, silver-haired, long-haired, medium-haired, short-haired, girls wearing bobby pins, wavy-haired, twintails, ponytails, one-sided ponytails, twin braids, ahoges, curly-haired, girls in sailor clothes, blazers, judogi, kyuudougi, kindergarten nurses, maids, policewomen, witches, shrine maidens, nuns, military women, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, stewardesses, waitresses, goth girls wearing black, goth girls wearing white, girls in China dresses, frail girls, albino girls, fantasists, girls with split personalities, queens, princesses, thigh-high socks, garter belts, girls who cross-dress as guys, girls who wear glasses, girls who wear an eyepatch, girls who wear bandages, girls in school swimsuits, one-piece swimsuits, bikinis, V-shaped bikinis, bikinis that barely cover anything, youkai, ghosts, animal-eared girls, etc.- any female is within my area of acceptance." That seems to be his mantra. Although some aspects of the opposite sex aren't in my personal domain, I admit that he is also an existence that can expand the possibilities of mankind."

"That guy, and you as well, who actually memorized that all, are perverts."

Namie said with an icy gaze, flipping through the information, page by page, in contrast to Izaya reciting it.

"And then?"

"And then, what?"

"That, the real name of that kid Aogami Pierce. It's not in the file."

"...."

Orihara Izaya was silent."

It was probably the first time she had seen him with such a quiet expression.

"There are various things... When downloading information from there, that kid's information was broken in a few places."

"What the heck, you don't even know his real name, but you've got the nerve to claim that you've been collecting information well!"

"Well. Although I don't think this kid is anything special, but as a human being who loves everyone equally, let me show you."

And so, Izaya took his laptop out and connected it with a special cord.

After a long list of unusual codes floated across the screen, a data file detailing some kind of roster was displayed.

"This is the roster of students in Kamijou's class. If you compare that with other conditions, you can immediately find the real name of Aogami Pierce, or something..."

In the next moment, the screen was completely flooded with images of flowers.

At the flower garden in the middle of the screen, a cartoon image of a character wearing a bouquet of flowers on her head appeared, and text emerged from the dialogue box that extended from there.

"Stop right there! Inappropriate access behavior!"

"Ah, fuck."

Sensing something, Izaya hurriedly shut the laptop down, and cut the line.

"Fuck me that was dangerous! It was almost like I've been stripped naked on this side!"

"Are you not going to run?"

""Anti-skill", the policing unit of Academy City, won't come to Ikebukuro. I don't think I need to even mention the police force of Ikebukuro here."

After that, Izaya tried various means of getting into touch with Academy City, but--

The information about Aogami Pierce was obstructed or corrupted before he reached it, and so the key information was not obtained.

"Does that mean that this kid is actually related to some sort of super important confidential information?"

In response to Namie's question, Izaya just shook his head.

"If that were the case, the information itself would have been protected. The reason we can't get information about it so far is because, although it seems far-fetched to say this, is all by chance. No, is it possible that there's a protection system in Academy City that pretends to be like this? Well....but...."

After a brief moment of confusion, Izaya stood up with a soft sigh.

"There's no helping it. He's here in person. Let's go collect some fresh information."

Although he seemed to be whining, his expression was that of a smile.

With a face full of anticipation as if he had never seen a new "human" before, Orihara Izaya happily left his office.

After calmly watching him leave, Namie said softly.

"This is looking like the pattern where he comes back empty handed. You reap what you sow."

===Part 9===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | Station Wagon

"Isekai!? This Ikebukuro?"

Karisawa said that "it would be bad for Aogami Pierce to hear", and so she brought him back to the station wagon. After hearing the explanation from the man with the gas mask, Shingen Kishitani, Kamijou Touma accepted it, half in doubt.

"Though, now that you say it, I feel like I was involved in a similar incident yesterday..."

"You're the one who's in the other world to us. The company I belong to, Niblo, has been conducting various investigations to this, and both the technological might of Academy City and the magic outside of it are excellent. The idea of sending a corporate spy there was on my mind, but I thought it would be impossible to hide the discrepancy since we're of a different world, so I cancelled it."

"If it were you, you probably won't feel any sense of being out of place even if you were walking around the research area..."

The right hand of Kamijou clenched tightly, after Shingan said that, and stared at him.

"Whoa!? What!? What's the matter!?"

"Mhm. That's the "Imagine Breaker" that's become a topic of conversation over there. So. Since you're here in this world, wanna try dissecting it?"

"I refuse!"

Shingen, a fully grown adult, proceeded to prostrate himself while in the back seat of the station wagon before Kamijou, who had merely given the only sensible response.

"Please think about it!"

"Although there have been various people who have turned their sights on this right hand so far, this is the first time I've heard of such a direct request from someone sitting right in front of me! How!? Don't tell me that this is how this world operates!?"

Facing the confused Kamijou, Karisawa replied.

"Well, this guy is pretty special. His son is a special guy who likes girls who's got nothing above their neck."

"What kind of hobby is that!? Even Aogami Pierce's list of fetish doesn't include it!:"

"Ah, I guess I'll put it in the category of "not a human" for now."

Putting aside the Karisawa who calmly roasted someone, Shingen pressed on the subject of Kamijou's right hand.

"Money isn't a problem, we've got all the money you need! It's not as if we're going to cut that hand off and take it away. As long as we can do all sorts of experiments with you under anesthesia, we can guarantee a minimum of 20 million yen!"

"Twenty million!?"

After hearing the exact amount, Kamijou's brain circuit short circuited for a while--

Damn it... if this was about a billion or two, something that's extremely far from the reality Kamijou knew, it wouldn't have any effect, but when it comes to the ten thousands of yen, it felt surprisingly realistic...!--

Ahhh.... Speaking of this, how much would the repair of his dorm cost? With that big hole caused by Birdway and Lessar...---

And, that much money would render his food problems...

It seemed like the magic of money couldn't be dispelled by his right arm, and Kamijou staggered drunkenly in delusion--

Eh? Wait a minute. Food expenses?

The moment he thought of that word, "food", his mind went straight to, "Touma, where's the food", and the scenario where she made her way through 20 million yen worth of food in half a month. Kamijou couldn't help but shake his head vigorously as he thought of that.

Nononononono, he needed to pull himself together!--

If he believed that money on that sort of magnitude could have any effect on his misfortune, he had to destroy that illusion of his!

Kamijou slapped his face with his right hand, and awakened his consciousness with the sensation and clarity that came with the pain.

"...Well, better forget about it. Knowing me, the 2nd day I get that amount of money, I'll need to pay a 20 million yen compensation, or something will eat it, etc. That's my fate."

Although he hadn't yet given up on life, he had given up on his own fortune, and faced with the Kamijou who carried such sadness in his eyes, Shingen shook his head in pity.

"Ah... So that's the case. It's nothing, even if you hadn't said that, I understand. If you can't save someone who was in crisis during the time when your freedom of use of your right hand was taken away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life, right...! How noble!"

"Ah, no, I'm not thinking about such a grand thing..."

"Anyway. We'll want to avoid the cause that will be caused by the merging of the worlds. If all the people of the Academy City group, including you, can go back, the distortion will be more or less reduced, right?"

Nodding vigorously, Shingen once again began to explain the situation

"Actually, a boy who called himself Jörmungandr was raging all over the place with huge wounds covering his body, but apparently a group of vampires somehow appeased him, and there was also a woman who called herself Hel who could control the 'cause of death,' but a gang of immortals managed to calm her down."

"No, I don't get it at all, even if you tell me that."

Ignoring Kamijou, who was tilting his head, Shingen continued.

"Then, there's also...two people who are also confirmed to be here."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"One of them, I hear, is someone you know quite well."

At that instant-- The window of the station wagon made a clanging sound.

Looking over, what he found was Tsuchimikado, who was looking confused.

"What's wrong, Tsuchimikado?."

Kamijou opened the window of the car and looked over, while Tsuchimikado whispered.

"Ah... Just now, the boss gave me an order, nya."

"Order?"

"It seems like... someone's impersonating the Board of Directors, and are issuing false orders.”

A stuttering Tsuchimikado finally managed to spit out the true identity of one of the “visitors of Ikebukuro.”

"As a result of those false orders, the "1st Ranked" came over here, and because communications are unstable, I can't connect to him... so we'll have to get in direct contact with him and drag him back before shit gets real."

===Part 10===

Abandoned Factory

"....?"

The white-haired teenager stopped in his tracks, as he felt a powerful change in the flow of power behind him.

Turning back--he found half the factory filled with "darkness".

It was the large amount of shadows that Celty Sturluson sent forth, swallowing up the entire abandoned factory.

Shizuo, who saw this, shouted out!

"You fucking idiot... Celty! This is my fight, so hurry up and return it to me!"

[I refuse!]

"Wh..."

Seeing Celty, who was typing in words with an unprecedented forcefulness, Shizuo couldn't say anything--

Honestly, it was impossible to understand what was going on--

Because it was not understandable, they had to stop this situation in order to understand it--

If there was any chance of stopping it, it would only be herself.

Celty, who was calmly weaving those words in her mind, wanted herself to calm down.

However, the passion that came out was completely uncontrollable--

The most important thing was....

The headless horseman, Celty Sturluson, clenched her fists--

How could she stay silent as she saw a friend being treated like that, right in front of her eyes!

For her, this was an extremely rare emotion.

Pure "Anger"

That was to say, a clear "hostility" towards the boy in front of her.

She didn't think she could win.

Her opponent was an existence that was outside of common sense, even to her as a Dullahan.

And she feared that he hadn't even shown his full strength yet.

Even so, the option of abandoning Shizuo there and running away on her own did not even exist in the mind of Celty at the moment.

She was a Dullahan. A fairy who didn't become a human.

As a result of her integration into human society and learning about humans through various mediums, the "human" heart that had developed inside her had made up its mind to attack the threat in front of her.

And since that was the case, it didn't matter if that "ordinary human being" made fun of her for being tactless.

"You don't have a head, but you still make such a determined face. Well, at least it shows that you understand the situation better, as you're not getting on the ground and begging."

And after those words dripping with sarcasm--

The white haired teenager manipulated the vectors of the wind around him, and instantly whipped up a tornado.

He compressed it into a blade of wind, and shot it straight at Celty.

However, the protective shadows completely blocked the wind, and moved forward, through the new shadows being generated from within.

The shadows had taken root in every corner of the factory, and the half-hearted wind attack probably wouldn't budge at all.

"..."

Bang! The white haired boy understood the situation. Bang! And he tapped the floor with his foot.

After that, he somehow manipulated vectors to allow the steel in the abandoned factory to float, one by one, and then as if they were being pulled to his side, they flew.

And then, as if to dust off the steel off his body, he knocked them, one by one.

The simple action made the iron accelerate like a cannonball, and with the momentum of a rain of bullets, they flew towards Celty.

However, all of them were absorbed as if they fell into a swamp, and the shadow continued to expand, like a giant slime.

"Tch... it really is the same sort as the #2!"

While clicking his tongue, the white haired boy raised his hand to the sky.

The wind began to compress in front of him at a high density, creating a small body of plasma.

Just as the teenager was about to throw the plasma at the "shadow" without hesitation--

"Take this!"

Shizuo threw one of the nearby chunks of iron, the same way he had through the vending machines before.

However, if it were only on this level, the teenager would not panic and misfire the plasma.

"Watch and learn, old man."

Of course, his reflection worked properly, and bounced the iron back just like before.

However, it was a little different than before.

Shizuo, after throwing the piece of metal, burst forward towards his opponent himself.

Then, in the same way, he hit the iron back at him.

If that was it, the results would not differ from before.

And because there was no difference--

Shizuo hit the piece of iron into the ground.

"!"

The piece of iron completely destroyed the ground, and stabbed itself into the underground warehouse of the factory.

And the white haired boy started to fall.

If it was only this, it wouldn't be considered on the level of a crisis.

However, when he felt that the ground in front of him was darker than he thought, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He sensed it.

Was it that Celty read Shizuo's intention, or was it that she was prepared to take hold from the very beginning- passing through the cave where half of Shizuo's body had been buried into, she filled the ground with a number of large shadows.

Then, just a moment before he was going to escape from the air through vector manipulation--

The shadows that covered the top, bottom, left and right of the abandoned factory wrapped up the boy completely.

"...What's this, huh?"

What was in front of Shizuo's eyes was a giant sphere that was about the size of a small car.

It didn't make contact with the ground, but it was completely stationary in the air.

[For the time being, I kind of locked him up....]

Instead of having the shadows directly twisting on him, it was akin to being locked up in a soap bubble.

Judging that he could manipulate kinetic energy freely, she didn't move the sphere immediately, but just kept it stationary in the air. Of course, if he kicked at the walls, he would be able to generate energy, right? So that was why Celty divided the sphere into dozens of layers, and wrapped it up like a Russian matryoshka doll.

Even if an inner layer was destroyed, a new one could be generated from one of the outer layers to cover it immediately. Although she had prepared for this specifically, nothing happened yet.

If this was ordinary matter, no matter what kind of technique was used to construct it, as long as the teenager used his ability, he would be able to tear it apart easily.

However, this was no ordinary matter that wrapped up the teenager.

It was "shadows"

Originally, shadows were areas where there was no light, and since they weren’t even considered matter, they didn’t have mass, or thickness.

Celty was manipulating the "shadow" as if it were an object with mass - the important thing here was that although "thickness" could be created through this, the concept of "thickness" could also be ignored.

This was something Celty herself did not realize, that she was actually able to materialize her shadows with varying degrees of thinness.

In other words, it could be kept at zero thickness, but also could be stacked infinitely to increase its strength.

Therefore, if Celty Sturluson had actually knew about this--

The "Shadow" could be a spear and a shield more powerful than any other material on this planet. It could even be the thread used to connect Earth and Mars together.

It was a power that had completely surpassed the common sense of science and the laws of physics. Celty herself was not able to understand it properly. It was a shadow of absolute strength that was created unconsciously.

In order words, she was able to do this because of the anger she felt.

If the underground doctor, who lived with her, knew about this, there would be no doubt that he would be jealous of Shizuo.

"This, how are we going to deal with him?"

[I don't think he can be defeated by physical means. Let's just wait for him to enter a state of hypoxemia.]

Celty made the density of the shadow bigger than usual, thus blocking the supply of oxygen by blocking the air.

This "suffocation attack" created by the interweaving and overlapping of various special conditions could be said to be one of the rare weaknesses of the invincible reflection.

If it were a normal person, this would be enough to decide who was the winner, and the loser. But--

This young man was the existence known as the #1 of Academy City -- [Accelerator]

He was another existence that wasn't ordinary, even within the category of Espers.

Bang..... Celty and Shizuo felt the sound of the air shaking.

In the next instant, alongside a violent sound of destruction, the top of the black sphere was torn by something unseen.

"What!?"

This....

Next to Shizuo who shouted out loud, the headless Celty's "vision" felt it.

From the top of the sphere, two colorless wings grew out--

....He hasn't even shown his full strength yet!

The thing that destroyed Celty's shadow, something that ignored the laws of physics, was indeed something "from another dimension" that also did not obey the laws of physics.

What was this... this thing, it was almost like...!

Celty probably associated the pair of wings with something else.

Just before she continued to think about it, the crack of the sphere widened, and the invisible wings, (were they white or black?), were rendered in another color for just a moment--

"Please don't fight over me anymore! Says Misaka as Misaka remembers the lines she recently saw in the morning at the theatre, and tries to pretend to be the heroine in the swamp!"

Such words, which were completely incompatible with the atmosphere of the scene, resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

When Shizuo and Celty looked over, there was a girl of about 10 years of age standing there, with an ahoge on the top of her head.

"A kid...?"

In contrast to Shizuo, who frowned, Celty, who saw who the girl was, panicked and took out her PDA, pointing it at her.

[I told you to wait near the motorcycle!]

"Who is it?"

Before answering Shizuo's question, Celty typed something in order to ensure the girl's safety.

[It's dangerous! Get out of here!]

But the girl, looking up at the black sphere, asserted with her hands crossed.

"It's not dangerous anymore, says Misaka as Misaka tries to send the words of objective truth to the strange sphere with hopeful observation."

The young girl had the voice of a child, but with the words of an old man.

Then, in the next instant, the "transparent wings" disappeared completely from Celty's vision, and the voice of a teenager who had become tired in every sense came from inside the sphere.

"Oi... I'm no longer in the mood for messing around. Hurry up and get rid of this damn ball."

A few minutes later.

After the shadow cage was lifted at the urging of the girl who called herself Misaka, the boy stared at them but didn't attack.

"Why are you here, you idiot?!"

“Because of numerous reasons, announces Misaka, Misaka somehow came into this world, but there were also signals from a satellite that talked about how several people were involved in a conspiracy."

"Say it so that I can actually understand."

The teen said, annoyed. Shizuo had to have suppressed his anger and urge to interject from behind.

"Hey...Although you guys seem to be pushing the topic on your own over there, I'm totally not convinced...."

Probably because there was a kid in front of him, he held back desperately. But the moment Celty tried to calm Shizuo down, whose face was twitching with anger--

"The reason is Orihara Izaya."

Because of what that girl said, Shizuo's movements halted.

"Misaka says as Misaka tries to convey this crucial piece of information that's at the core of everything."

"What are you on about, Last Order?"

Then, the girl named Last Order weaved around Shizuo's back and continued.

"It's all lies! About this person wandering around and the network, they're lies! They're all false orders given by that person named Orihara Izaya, pretending to be Academy City's Board of Directors, says Misaka as Misaka tries to peek at a certain person to see if his reaction is different than normal when he sees Misaka hiding behind this bartender, as Misaka peaks Misaka’s head out to confirm."

"Cut the bullshit and tell me."

After a few minutes, after the girl had explained everything, Celty's shoulders slumped--

In the end, there he was again, with his usual evil plans!

The man who did this thing purely because he hated Shizuo was none other than Orihara Izaya.

She understood this, but this time she actually really wanted to beat him up.

However, above that, there was a worry.

If she had that kind of thought, what kind of boiling state was Shizuo's mind in right now?

"Seriously, anyway, you should say sorry to the person you hurt first, Misaka says as Misaka thoughtfully teaches you the common sense of society."

Faced with the teenager who kept his face stiff, the young girl urged him to apologize to Shizuo and the others.

Just before the teenager said something, Shizuo said.

"Ahah... No, no need to apologize...."

Even though the #1 kid didn't use his ability, he could feel that Heiwajima Shizuo's anger vector had completely switched direction. But it also increased by several times then when he was facing him.

"Do you know where that fungus Izaya is?... Girl."

The girl answered without panic to the face of Shizuo, who was seeping with a ghost-like anger.

"Although I don't know why, because Hikoboshi II has also come to this world, I can observe his location in detail if I connect to the network! Misaka says confidently."

===Part 11===

——

Distortion.

The reason for all this was the distortion of space-time.

For example, even if Yumasaki or Karisawa went to Academy City tomorrow or yesterday, and met Index, but didn't realize it was her, that could be explained by that phrase, that it was all caused by the distortion of space-time.

In the past, when Yumasaki was thrown into the other world called Dengeki Gakuen, there had been a miracle, where he had met Index, and Burning-Eyed Shana themselves - perhaps the Yumasaki who went to Academy City was actually the Yumasaki from before in that point in time, so during his time in "that other world", that was why he judged Index to be a cosplayer.

And in this situation with distorted space-time--

Yumasaki and Karisawa were still going their separate ways.

"So, if you get Shokuhou-chan to remove the psychological scars of Awaki-chan, would it allow her to become a Level 5? Kamijou, try doing that please."

"What good would that do to Misaki-chan, huh?"

"Nonono, what are you talking about! And who's Awaki!?"

"She's a shotacon girl!"

"Even if you say that!"

While Tsuchimikado was trying to find out where Accelerator was, this argument continued. Shingen left the station wagon, saying that he had to go back to the office to report on the situation, and Aogami said that he was going to meet some girl on the Otome Road and left, so only Kamijou was left to savor this unreasonable situation--

Why do these people know so much about Kamijou and Academy City?

"Actually, I have even more questions..."

When Yumasaki tried to take out some books, he accidently dropped his backpack, and several Light Novels dropped out of the opened pack.

"Huh? What books are these?"

Seeing the cover that said "A Certain Magical Index," Kamijou frowned.

Index of Forbidden Books. A word that he often heard. So adding that "Index" on there was pretty redundant.

T/N: The Japanese title reads: "Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku", with Kinsho Mokuroku, with that meaning "Index of Prohibited Books", but there's Furigana above those Kanji, which tells the reader that it's supposed to be pronounced "Indekkusu", so that's why it's redundant

And, the cover art of these books of the characters all matched with the people he knew, even the outfits.

"Ah, this is..."

While Yumasaki was thinking of how he should explain it, Kamijou picked up one of the books nearest to him, and turned the pages noisily.

Then--

"W....what the hell is this!?"

Electrical current swam throughout the grey matter in Kamijou's brain.

Actually, it was the same kind of shock, as the time when he was gently hit by Misaka Mikoto's electrical attacks.

After seeing the word "Kamijou" in the novel, reading it with a frown, he found that it was as if his previous experiences in the past had been recorded in the form of a novel.

"This, what the hell is this!? Is it some stalker's diary or something? Did I make some enemies in some kind of strange organization unknowingly!?"

"Ahhhh... That.... That's.... something like the Akashic Records. About the Akashic Records, maybe Index or Birdway can explain it in more detail."

"Wait a second! You not only know Index, but also Birdway!?"

In the book labeled Volume 2, the events relating to Himegami and the Misawa Cram school were described.

Then, it suddenly occurred to Kamijou--

Hmm? This means...--

Wouldn't the first volume... be about the events before he lost his memories?

Moving his eyes down, he found a book with no number after the title, lying on the floor.

Gulping, he slowly stretched his arm out, but--

Karisawa held her hand out.

"No."

"Hey..."

This book was a very good example of the kind of book that could be used to make a person's life easier.

Putting that book away in his backpack, Yumasaki, with a serious face, said.

"Kamijou, we'll also be talking according to the situation. About your past, just like the flower on Uiharu's head, it's a sacred area that must not be touched. So I'm sorry."

"Hey, so my past, though I don't get it at all, it's on the same level as the "flower on the head" or something...?"

"After all, we're just mere spectators. Even if we can cheer you on, we don't have the right to change your life."

Karisawa said, hugging the Kamijou who had no choice but to calm down.

"It's alright, even if you don't have your memories, there are still people who love you. No matter what happens to them, we're the same. Who we love is the ‘you’ who can move forward now!"

"That's right, in this city, there is someone who has lost her head, not to mention her memories, and that person is now living a fulfilling, loving life."

"...."

He didn't understand what all this was about.

Although this was the case, he could feel that the warmth in their words was genuine, so Kamijou said this, though he was still confused.

"Thank....you."

"Ooooohhhhhhhhhh! Kami-yan!"

Completely destroying the fantasy-like atmosphere, from outside the station wagon came the voice of Aogami Pierce.

"What's wrong, what's wrong!?"

After Kamijou opened the car door, it revealed the tearful Aogami Pierce."

"You listen to me, Kami-yan! Even if I talk to the girls on Otome Road, all they say to me is that "Wow, that's so cool, this cosplay suits you"! What??? Did someone steal my iconic hair and earrings that I've put so much faith into! I didn't think it would be so humiliating to be asked if it was a cosplay or not, but this seems to have awakened a new fetish in me, ohonononononoononono."

"Okay, just calm down! The one feeling embarrassed is me now!"

Kamijou was made aware of the eyes surrounding them and used his hand to press on Aogami Pierce's mouth.

Pushing Kamijou's hand away from him, and complaining to Yumasaki, whom he had just established a friendly relationship with, Tsuchimikado sighed as he watched Aogami Pierce running around.

"Not good, nya. The line with Hikoboshi has become mixed up, and so I can't figure out where that guy is."

"Are you saying that there's others communicating? With that satellite?"

"Well, there's a lot of confusion over on the other side as well. Even so, if we don't find Accelerator soon..."

"You want me to tell you what?"

Kamijou and the others looked back at the place where the voice suddenly appeared, and there stood a man wearing a black fur coat.

"...Who are you?"

"An informant that's just passing by. You guys are worried because you can't find where Accelerator is, right? Then allow me to sell you that information."

"You... know about what's going on?"

"Sort of. Honestly, I've already looked into the situation. After all, this incident is of great interest to me as well."

The man who called himself the informant looked at the teenager near the door of the station wagon, expertly weaving his words together.

"There's just one thing, to be honest. Although I’ve collected all kinds of information, I don't know why I can't get the real name of Aogami Pierce over there."

With a self deprecating smile, the informant continued.

"Although it isn't a big deal, I'm pretty unsatisfied having such a hole in my information. If you can tell me this, I'll give you the information you want."

"What, what? It's not such a big deal. I'm not even listening, and you're talking about it so casually?"

Aogami Pierce, who heard his nickname being called, started to listen to the conversation midway, saying to the informant, determined.

"Oh, tell me my real name, Kami-yan! With gusto! Let this second-rate informant, who doesn't even know my real name, see the cruelty of reality!"

Aogami Pierce, who was pointing a finger at Izaya with a strange pose, Kamijou could only respond with silence.

"...."

"Kami-yan?"

An unprecedented cold sweat seeped out of his face, and Kamijou said some words, as if he were talking to himself.

"Once, despair was inflicted."

"?"

"That was when the whole world became my enemy. Even you and Fukiyose tried to kill me. Imagine it as some sort of dream."

"Hey? Ah, so you're talking about a dream?"

"In such a horrible, horrible situation, to you who tried to kill me... I called you ‘Aogami Pierce’... Even in such a situation, I could only use your nickname..."

"What are you talking about, Kami-yan? What are you trying to say?"

"Hey, wait, you guys, are you serious!? Are you kidding me!? Nononono, really, are you guys trolling me?"

Aogami Pierce accepted his friend's reaction as a joke, standing in front of the informant.

"Fine, I'll do it myself! Dig the shit out of your ears, and listen to me carefully!"

Aogami Pierce took a big breath, getting ready to say his name out loud to all these people around him.

"My name is..."

And in the moment after that, space-time distorted.

To be precise, it was an attack that gave the illusion of space-time distortion, that wrapped up an entire space.

The one that flew here, aiming at Orihara Izaya, crushed the asphalt beneath him, blowing the body of the Aogami Pierce next to him away, through the pressure of the wind alone.

"Arghhh--!?"

Looking at the Aogami Pierce, who was rolling around, grunting, Kamijou went after it with his unsteady body.

He glanced to the side -- A small impact crater had been created, and a man in a bartender's uniform with a face that looked like it belonged to a demon lord was standing in it.

Because of the overwhelming sense of pressure, Kamijou continued to chase after Aogami Pierce, as if he had seen nothing.

The man who had dodged the impact just in time howled like a monster.

"I don't know if this world is distorted or whatever... But you're ready to have your body squished into a ball, right...? I---Za----Ya----Kun------ OOOOOOHHHHHH!"

===Part 12===
"Goodbye, and thank you so much for today, says Misaka as Misaka shows kindness in the place of the cold edgy guy."

[Ahah, take care on your way back.]

Celty entered that text gently, to the girl who was smiling innocently.

Then, she took a look at the boy named Accelerator.

He manipulated Shizuo's strength, which far exceeded that of a normal human, blowing his body directly towards where Izaya was. Although this was Shizuo's own request, Celty couldn't help but think that this kid who could do this was so far beyond common sense that it wasn't even funny.

At the same time, if that girl hadn't arrived, who knows what would have happened.

Shingen suddenly said "You should accompany this child to find someone" and then because of this girl "Felt that he was this way, thought Misaka as Misaka tried to look for that person's distinct traces of AIM surrounding him", Celty followed those ambiguous instructions and ran up and down the streets.

When she came into the abandoned factory because of Shizuo's guttural roar, she told the girl to wait at the motorcycle, and so she went to see what was going on, but ended up getting involved in it--

After all, she didn't know about the white hair... So she didn't think that it was the person that the kid was looking for.

"Why are you staring over here... Uh, oh wait, you've got no eyes."

The girl began to lecture the teenager when he said such things to Celty--

Ignoring the lecturing, he said this to Celty.

"....Oi."

[What?]

"About your power... There should be a better way that you can use to kill me in an instant, right? Why didn't you use it?"

Celty responded after thinking a little, typing out the text.

[Why do you think... Wouldn't it be better to settle things without killing anyone? No one would lose any sleep at night because of it.]

Hearing that, the teenager frowned, muttering.

"Even a monster like you is this indecisive."

After that, with a slightly unimpressed expression, he messed with the girl's hair.

"We're going back. This isn't my city."

[Nonsense. As long as you don't go crazy like before, Ikebukuro welcomes you]

The teenager didn't respond to Celty's words.

As if to replace the reply, he once again ruffled with the girls' hair.

It was as if he was claiming that the place where the teenager would go was the place where he belonged.

===Part 13===

Ikebukuro station | On the subway

"Ahh, what bad luck. It's the same as yesterday. I didn't even finish one of the external research..."

After all that chaos, Kamijou and the others got on the same subway they took here because of Shingen's urging.

After that, they got caught in a fight between the man in the bartender suit and the informant, and when they managed to escape, they found out that Accelerator had already gone back to Academy City, so everything was settled.

"Honestly, I have no idea what just happened, but suddenly everything is alright now... Well anyway, if it's all solved, then it's for the best..."

Kamijou, who got involved in the incident, and yet didn't become the center of it, felt the fatigue coming on, after relaxing for a bit.

Speaking of which, was it really all over?

Although he wasn't so sure about it, once you got on this subway, people of the "Academy City World" would automatically go back to the original world.

Aogami Pierce, who did not understand what was happening, and Tsuchimikado, whose last encounter with Kamijou was a little earlier back in time. Each of them would go back to their respective times and places, across the distorted space-time.

No matter if it was a distorted path or not, all one could do was to move forward.

Suddenly, Kamijou, who had made his mind, felt a sense of unease, and said,

"I feel like I've forgotten something... What could it be?"

===Part 14===

Hikoboshi II - Satellite Orbit - Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory

[We've finally solved the problem]

In response to the message from Tsukumoya Shinichi, Kaguya maintained her floating position as she replied.

"The scale of the merging seems to be larger than expected."

[Yes. So there's nothing better than getting in touch with you, who can observe the earth from the most objective perspective, and getting your assistance on top of that.]

"But the important thing is that I'm still here in this world."

[If the distortion of the Sky by Fire can be resolved, you should be able to return to your original world in a few days.]

"I said that I couldn't leave Academy City on it's own, but I don't really care about it. Looking at a different Earth is a good way to pass the time. It's like a spot the difference game."

To the not particularly troubled Kaguya, Tsukumoya Shinichi told the truth.

[Well, also, since you think it's fine like that, then I better not say anything more...]

[But your presence here has sent the surface into panic.]

===Part 15===
Somewhere on Kawagoe Street | Shinra's apartment

"Celty! You're back! What a day it's been today!"

[Really!... Suddenly something unbelievable has happened.]

When she finally returned home, she found a paper bag on the table.

[What's this?]

She took a peek with her hand, and saw something that looked like a wine bottle in some special packaging.

"Ahhh.... That seems to be something that my dad's guest forgot. He says that he wants you to send it back through the subway tunnel tomorrow..."

[???]

Why did she have to go through the subway tunnel to send back something that someone forgot?

Just as Celty was about to ask the obvious question, a report about an astonishing event just came, blaring from the news on the TV.

[And for the next piece of news. We have received an astonishing image. A huge artificial structure, 5,000 meters long, has appeared in the sky over Tokyo. There is no record of such a satellite being sent up, as far as we know--]

Suddenly, Celty dropped the goods onto the couch.

[Ohh... Are these aliens ahhahaguukayadshaaghdsdkgh]

"Calm down, Celty! Celty!?"

After that, she couldn't get her work done well because of the news, and the next day, she passed through the underground tunnel, confused. She arrived at "Academy City", but--

But this is another story, for another time.

===Part 16===

'''Epilogue'''

Ikebukuro's west gate park was covered in a thin, crimson, sunset.

In the corner of the park was a man with long, thin eyes, as well as a European shaped face, sitting on a metal tube bench.

Although it wasn't a rare presence in Ikebukuro, where there were many foreign tourists, the unique atmosphere that surrounded this man was a presence very rare indeed, both in Japan, and abroad.

However, a person who could detect this atmosphere would also be a very rare existence in this world.

"Can I sit next to you?"

"It's a public bench. You don't need to ask me for permission..."

The man said with a shrug, after glancing in the direction of the girl.

"Whatever."

"It's not just whatever. This side or that side, how much confusion do you think has been created? There were several conflicts in places you didn't see. Of course, you know all that, right?"

"So, is it, or is it not? After all, it would be boring if I knew everything. Life is meant to be a challenge."

"What are you talking about, cheater?"

The girl said that, sitting down violently on the bench

To this girl, the man said.

"Why did you come here? The bottle should have been returned to Kamijou Touma, right, girl?"

"It's like you asked me to come here yourself. I didn't expect that someone like you could blend in with society in general. How can you not be interested in something like that?"

The young girl, who was about 12 years old, spoke loudly. The leader of the magic cabal, the Dawn Colored Sunlight, Leivinia Birdway. To this, the man softly replied.

"Even so, he was a senior member of an underground organization. It's hard to say that he's someone with a normal status."

"It doesn't matter if it's the triads, the Camorra, or the 'Ndrangheta, to us Magicians, they're all the same."

"From how I can see it, Magicians and Espers are just the same."

"Don't get so passive aggressive. What are you, a child?"

The man of the underworld giggled at Birdway's words.

"It's not something to laugh at. Have you seriously prepared a solution to this mess?"

"Don't need to do anything. In the infinite cycle of the chicken and the egg, the chick will go on it's own way."

"Are you going to play this game of words to deceive your way through? If that really would work, what a chaotic play it would be."

After a little more words exchanged, Birdway slowly stood up.

"There's not much to be gained from how I live my life. It's time for me to return, Alchemist."

"Yeah? I'm sorry to see you go, but I won't keep you any longer."

The man named the Alchemist continued to speak to the magician girl.

"It's hard to form ties. In the end, I'd like to leave you a piece of advice, about your actions this time. Although it's something that the majority of people from this world can feel."

"What? Advice from a "being" like you would be interesting. Let's hear it then."

In response to Birdway's words, the Alchemist said with a blank expression.

"I don't think you came here because you were interested in what I was doing, but simply because you were chasing after Kamijou Touma, right?"

"Wh...."

"You're actually a brocon, aren't you?"

"...."

For a moment, the silence that seemed like that time had stood still dominated these two.

After several seconds of silence that could be described as forever, the corners of Birdway's mouth twitched, and she said.

"....If I become a magic god, I'll come over to this universe and destroy you, you bloody bastard. Keep that in mind."

"What a horrible thing to say...Fine"

Smiling while shrugging his shoulders once more, the Alchemist laughed.

"When that time comes, I'll ask Kamijou Touma for help."

===Part 17===
After the girl disappeared from the streets of Ikebukuro with an appalling anger, the man, still sitting on the bench, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself.

"A chaotic play. In some sense, maybe that's true. But where in the world can you get the words to explain this event."--

"If you could explain it with words, then a phenomenon of this magnitude can't really be truly called "Absurd"".... Ha--

This, again, was the words of something outside of this dimension, from elsewhere--

Whether he understood it or not, this incident was, in other words, something like that.

"Oh well."

After saying that, the man's figure disappeared.

The space where the man was originally located dissolved into "nothingness" - like a film reel being scattered in the air.

Then, one part of the film distorts, beginning to form a circle, and the film, which had become a shape of a mobius ring, further shifted into the shape of ∞ Infinity, beginning to rotate.

As if to say that the event neither had a beginning, nor an end, from the very start.

The view of the city, too, continued to rotate like a film.

Knock knock, click click--

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Translator's note - Here's a note on all the origins of the characters (and terms) that appeared or were mentioned:

'''A Certain Magical Index (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

Kamijou Touma, Othinus, Roberto Katze, Leivinia Birdway, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Tsuchimikado Maika, Fukiyose, Himegami Aisa, Tsukuyomi Komoe, Index Librorum Prohibitum, Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Amano Kaguya, Kazakiri Hyouka, Accelerator, Meigo Airsa, Aleister Crowley, Saten Ruiko, Olay Blueshake, Utgard Loki, Misaka Imouto, Sogiita Gunha, Kakine Teitoku, Komaba Ritoku, Kihara clan, Aiwass, Uiharu Kazari, Lessar, Jörmungandr, Hel, Last Order, Musujime Awaki

'''A Simple Series (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

[Absurd]

'''Durarara!!! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Yumasaki Walker, Tsukumoya Shinichi, Celty Sturluson, Heiwajima Shizuo, idk who this is, Karisawa Erika, Kyohei Kadota, Saburo Togusa, Shingen Kishitani, Shinra Kishitani, Orihara Izaya, Namie Yagiri

'''Vamp! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Viscount -- Gerhardt von Waldstein, The Organization

'''Baccano! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Prohibition Era Groups, Alchemy of the Abyss, Alchemist (Ronnie Schiatto)

'''Shakugan no Shana (Takahashi Yashichiro)'''

Shana

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IndexVSDRRR Crossover Ikebukuro Chapter

2021-04-03T02:30:49Z

SandyBoi:

==Ikebukuro Chapter==
Translation: botman/Dracoslayer123

Edit/Proofread: Dracoslayer123/Pablusky/SandyBoi/Fullmetal
===Part 1===

Tokyo | Ikebukuro | Summer

"Such misfortune..."

Kamijou Touma, under the sweltering sun, spoke his catchphrase.

However, there was just one thing that was different from normal.

He was neither in his usual stage known as "Academy City,” nor in the sky above Russia, nor in the eternal darkness made by the Magic God.

It was a place that wasn't that far from Academy City. He was in a city only a few kilometers to the northeast of one of the entrances of the "Outer Wall.”

Ikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo.

Although it couldn't compare to Academy City, Kyoto, or Akihabara, it was one of the most famous cities in Japan.

"Ikebukuro, huh... Come to think of it, I don't think I've been to many cities in Japan apart from Academy CIty..."

Kamijou deliberately added the word "Japanese" because he remembered that he had been to several cities outside of Japan in just the past few months. It was ironic that he had never been to a much closer city in Japan, yet he had been to Russia and Italy.

"Though if I wanted to shop, I could just do it in Academy City..."

At that moment, something similar to a news commentary could be heard from the side.

"...President to be at the summit..."

When he turned around toward the sound, he saw a prototype laptop displayed in an electrical appliance store, converting the news images from the TV to high definition and then broadcasting them.

The news of the summit between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Japan came on, and at that time, Kamijou tilted his head and said,

"Huh? He’s not that old guy?"

After a while, Kamijou, surprised at the appearance of a man who looked nothing like the Hispanic president Kamijou had known, suddenly noticed something and said,

"His approval rating didn’t drop because of that incident in Denmark...right?"

After he spoke with such anxiety, he heard a sudden beeping sound in his head.

Then, in the next instant, he had a question about what he had just said.

Huh?

"That incident in Denmark…” What was that again?

"Well, that old guy was really one of a kind... I guess he finally got the sack."

Kamijou, who easily accepted his acquaintance's sacking even while cocking his head in worry, started walking forward, and then sighed deeply once again.

"Why on earth would I want to spend my hard-earned days off on something that feels like what an envoy would do?"

In the bag hanging from his hand, there was a cylindrical protective case made of stainless steel and some sort of cushioning material.

It seemed to have been found at a station at Academy City, and after being bounced between various organizations, it ended up in the hands of the troubled Kamijou as usual. And now it had to be sent back to Ikebukuro.

“Anyway, all you have to do is casually walk around with it. It’s bound to be reclaimed soon enough thanks to the law of causality.”

"At least, that's what Birdway said, but I really don't get it. That bartender guy beat me up so bad yesterday that I can't even straighten my back anymore, and she had the nerve to oh-so-politely help me fill out my application to exit Academy City? No matter how you think about it, it can’t be anything other than her using me. Speaking of which, isn’t she spending way more time in Japan than in England…?”

Whining, Kamijou took a look at the box. There were signs that it had already been opened, but there was no way to know if the person who found it had drunk any of the "something" inside. As the transporter, Kamijou, who was a minor, didn't even think about the option of "drinking" the thing.

"Ahhh, seriously, will there never be a chance for me to relax other than on a hospital bed...?"

Beside the sighing Kamijou, one of his classmates opened his mouth with a happy smile.

"Don't say that, Kami-yan. I'm looking forward to it, you know? Ikebukuro is filled with a different flavor of chaos than Akihabara. The mere mention of the word "Otome Road" alone transforms my heart into a great-journey-gangster-gold-mine!"

The boy who spoke such nonsense was none other than Aogami Pierce.

Just as his nickname suggested, he was a blue-haired boy with perpetually closed eyes and pierced ears.

Although this bad friend of his had also applied to leave Academy City, it seemed as if he had applied to go out in the name of "external training experience instead of supplementary lessons," and in order to meet the requirements, he had to have a tutoring partner.

"Anyway, I'm going to leave the tutoring to you… or should I?"

As Kamijou expressed his unease, another fellow student smirked mischievously at him.

"Nyaa~ As soon as I said I was going to Ikebukuro, my step-sister told me to "hurry up and go to the butler cafe to have the essence of a gentleman carved into your spine." But before that, I should pop into a cosplay cafe, and in there, I'll think about world peace and the safety of my sister: that's the real essence of being a gentleman!"

The upbeat boy with dyed blonde hair and a Hawaiian shirt was Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

These three were a group of delinquents known as the "Delta Force" (“Idiot Trio”), famous among their classmates in a very small subsection of Academy City. Because Kamijou was always covered in blood, their characteristically red, blue, and yellow colors may have given them the nickname "Academy City's traffic light trio."

Those three were striding through the streets of Ikebukuro, but--

"Anyway, the subway to Ikebukuro was surprisingly crowded..."

The moment Kamijou said that, he noticed something strange—

Huh?

Subway?

That was strange. Was it even possible to reach Ikebukuro by subway from Academy City?

The last time he was able to leave Academy City so easily was that time on the beach in Kanagawa—

He was pretty sure...that leaving the city would require walking through the ‘gate’.

Kamijou, who had been repeatedly manipulated by various organizations, had gone to many countries like England and Italy through questionable means, having even been thrown out of planes, needing to stick a parachute landing. That was why he didn't think there was any point in formalities like "having to walk out through the gate" at all.

However, even so, he didn't think there was such a thing as being able to leave Academy City using the subway.

In order to go outside, students had to prepare an application and a guarantor. Before they went out, they had to accept the procedure of getting a nano transmitter injected into their bodies.

They say the extra security protocols were countermeasures against industrial espionage, but to students, it gave the illusion that Academy City was actually a prison and that they were applying for parole. Therefore, was it even possible that they could’ve gone through all of that and not remember any of it?

That... Eh?

In the first place, why didn’t he realize something so important until now?

Anyway, what was today’s date again?

He realized that even such simple facts had become so vague for him and was suddenly filled with unease.

"Hey, hey, it's not like we’ve been hit by some mind-altering magic or psychological esper power, right?"

Kamijou touched his head with his right hand just to be on the safe side, but didn't seem to notice any significant change.

After all, his right hand could dispel any supernatural ability and restore the world to its proper form. If his right hand, named "Imagine Breaker," touched it, any illusion or the like should have been dispelled at once. However, it seemed like his memories and vision haven't been tampered with.

He began to relax about that, but then another bout of unease arose.

"I don't think I went through any procedure, no matter how much I try to think about it. I don't even think I took a subway at all..."

Was this really Ikebukuro? He looked around in a panic, wondering if he had mistakenly gone to the downtown area of District 15.

Then, in just a few seconds, he found a subway station entrance marked "Ikebukuro station.”

"Huh? Am I even more tired than I had realized…?"

Looking at Kamijou, who was breaking out in cold sweat, Tsuchimikado whispered quietly.

"(Calm down nyaa~ Kami-yan. I also feel like something is out of place here.)"

"(Hey now, don't tell me it's some trick you Anglicans are pulling!? If I get taken away somewhere again, I'm actually going to be held back a grade at this point...)"

“(If that were the case, I wouldn't have done any of this. I would have just kidnapped you quickly, nyaa. In any case, if this is some kind of attack, panic is what they would want you to feel, so pretend like you’re totally fine. This is perfectly normal, okay?)"

"(What about Aogami Pierce?)"

Kamijou focused on his friend who was just an ordinary person, despite being an esper, and Tsuchimikado straight up gave a thumbs up.

"(That’s not a problem, nya. He’s an idiot, so he probably has no inkling as to what’s really happening!)"

"(Wait, that's true.)"

Saying something like that made one wonder if they were really friends—

Aogami Pierce suddenly stopped and said to Kamijou and Tsuchimikado.

"Hmm? By the way, we never went through the “gate,” did we?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe this guy just said it aloud!"

"Nyaa!! This guy really can't get with the program!"

Faced with inexplicable spite from his two evil friends, Aogami Pierce silently clenched his fists and prepared to defend himself while not even knowing why.

"Wait a minute! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I can definitely at least read the mood! Say if some president’s voluptuous secretary, who’s wearing glasses and has an air of maturity, and some depressed-looking, blonde, Nordic girl appeared in front of my eyes, even if they looked like mother and daughter, I would politely say "did you sisters come to see the sights around here?" while desperately fantasizing about those two as my older and younger sister. See, I can read the mood on that level of making a paradigm shift and turning it into a paradise shift!"

He was probably trying to say that he could be polite enough to refer to an older woman as much younger than she actually is, but the entire message was soiled by his later words.

"As expected from Aogami Pierce. Choosing to be the middle sibling of three instead of being a lover—I'm impressed by the depth of your skills."

"The moment you use the words "depressed-looking" and "president's voluptuous secretary" while trying to explain how you can be polite to women, you’re just proving that you really can’t read the mood…”

"No, that’s the key. By imagining our positions in detail, we can make our delusions more realistic and our hearts more satisfied."

“Oh, I see you know your stuff! See, I’ve already fantasized away and came up with this. The two sisters are actually assassin sisters who were sent here to kill me, but thanks to that lucky pervert Kami-yan, they got their breasts fondled somehow, and as a result of their mental shock, the brainwashing that had been placed on them got lifted, and the plot of escaping their evil organization begins! Then, 80 years later, surrounded by a total of 128 heroines that I met in my journeys, including eternally young mothers, maid robots, and shota step brothers, I die from pure moe overload!

“That’s a surprisingly long life you live in that fantasy… More than that, don’t just casually put other people inside your own perverted fantasies!”

"Though, Aogami Pierce... in order to differentiate each person, it's important to set up costumes for everyone! Also, is there really a need for the "shota step brothers" thing, nyaa?"

"What are you talking about! I've said this before, but no matter if its a step sister, a stepmother, a stepdaughter, twins, widows, (omitted), soldiers, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, (omitted), non-humans, ghost girls, or animal-eared girls, I can accept them all! As long as you feel attraction, trivialities like gender cease to matter, don’t they?"

“Well, homosexuality is indeed a form of love, but the moment you do anything with a child, it’s a crime whether or not you’re a man or a woman.”

“Mmmm, and the dream that allows us to bypass the wall known as the law is called the second dimension. After all, I firmly believe that as long as it’s only in 2D, even lolis and shotas are totally acceptable. Of course, if you bring that dream over into the 3D world, you’re really suspicious.”

“You know, I had a phase where I thought like that as well, but now that I’ve seen some guy who manages to build a harem with every single girl in his class, his loli teacher who looks like she’s still in grade school, some little nun he found somewhere, and the ojou-samas in some fancy middle school, I’ve come to realize that the wall between 2D and 3D is basically nonexistent.”

“Exactly. And then he always uses the “I like older women” card to spread the fake news that he doesn’t have a harem or anything like that, like he’s some kind of messenger from hell! What’s more, even though there should be no way he could develop a relationship with her, he’s been calling my sister by her first name from the very start, nyaa!”

"Hey, watch it."

Because the debate seemed to be perpetually ongoing and because he felt like he was being insulted to his face, Kamijou decided to change the subject by voicing a concern he had had for some time now.

"Anyway... Who in the world are you?"

The three of them focused their attention to one place where there was a man who had somehow so naturally joined the conversation.

"Ah, hey guys. I'm Yumasaki Walker."

The teen, who seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type, cheerfully gave out his name.

"Wow, to see the Kamijou Touma in the flesh, it's such an honor to meet you!"

===Part 2===

Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory.

A young woman strongly felt that something was very wrong.

The shape of a certain city on Earth had become completely different from what it had been just a few hours ago.

The person floating weightlessly in space while curled into a ball was a girl who was probably in her late teens.

That alone was anomalous enough for "this world,” but the fact that she was wearing a junihitoe made that fact all the more so.

However, for the "world she resides within," what she was wearing wasn't anything too special.

It may be that the only thing that had become abnormal was our benchmark. At least, it was this girl who noticed the abnormality just now.

To her, the Earth, including its seven billion people, was just “something to observe."

Whether it was a war on the surface, the disappearance of national borders, or even a nuclear explosion, it was merely someone else's business to her.

For her, who was, in a sense, watching a live documentary while in the luxury of a first-world environment, such a disturbance would not go unnoticed.

Having a unique life rhythm, she woke up a few hours ago and found that the earth had changed significantly between the time she had gone to bed and the time she had woken up.

The only place she had been "connected to” on Earth—Academy City—had disappeared from Japan.

Although the surface of the earth looked like a neat little collage, to make a collage of its scale in real time would require a being on the level of a god, a demon, or someone who had completely surpassed the boundaries of esper powers.

Located in the western part of Tokyo, the isolated circular world of Academy City contained 2.3 million people.

The developed city within that circle had disappeared, replaced with a completely different topography.

After about 0.5 seconds of her debating whether to try contacting someone in Academy City to judge whether this was some sort of "attack” or if it was too rash to reveal her location just like that, a communication signal came to her as if it had been deliberately timed.

It had all the right codes and the same patterns as the hidden line she usually used, but the voice was of a man she had never heard from before.

[Hey.]

"Yo."

The girl, named Amano Kaguya, who spoke back in a rude way that was completely contrary to her appearance, did not show any particular worry about the disappearance of an entire city.

"So, who are you?"

[Ah, sorry, I'm Tsukumoya Shinichi. Nice to meet you.]

"That name doesn’t show up in either my memory or my records. So, what do you want from me, a person in space who has deliberately abandoned the Earth? Though in this situation, it seems more like I've been abandoned by the Earth."

[To be honest, in your eyes, your situation isn’t something to be so pessimistic over, right? You’re basically embodying that saying about how if there is a god that throws you away, there is a god that picks you up.]

"Using the word “god” to represent the people of Academy City? I see you really are an outsider."

As if she had figured something out, she smiled and spat out the words that got directly to the heart of the matter.

"Before we talk, I just want to confirm one thing... Are you a human being?"

[Well, I'll just say this. I sort of emphasize with Kazakiri Hyouka of Academy City.]

The man named Tsukumoya replied in a voice whose emotion could not be read, which was not to say it was emotionless.

It was like a voice that had mixed together and averaged the happiness, anger, and sadness of millions of people.

[If she is considered by someone to be "human," then I guess I could also be regarded as some nameless human.]

===Part 3===

Celty Sturluson was definitely not human.

She was a "Dullahan,” who were fantastical spirits who lived between Scotland and Ireland—and who visited the houses of the dying to declare their deaths.

They visit the house of a dying person with their severed head in their arms, in a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a headless horse called the Cóiste Bodhar. And if you carelessly opened your door, you would be showered in blood. As the main example of ominous harbingers along with banshees, they have been passed down various European mythologies and folklore.

Some stories claim that they were actually figures of fallen Valkyries from Norse mythology, but whether that was actually the case was unclear even to her.

It was not that she didn't know.

Precisely speaking, it was that she could not remember.

She had been robbed of her "head" in her homeland, and her memory of her own existence had disappeared from her.

In order to retrieve “that,” she had come to this place called Ikebukuro, following the faint signs of her own head.

The headless horse transformed into a motorcycle, the armor into a skintight suit, and lingered around the city for decades.

In the end, however, she was unable to get her head back, and her memory had not been restored to this day.

She already knew who stole her head.

She also knew who the person was that prevented her from finding her head.

However, in the end, she had not been able to find the whereabouts of her head.

Celty, now, thought that even if that was the case, it was okay, since she could be with the person she loved.

It was because she was able to live with people who loved her, and who accepted her for what she was.

If that was what happiness was, she reckoned she'd be better off living how she was living now.

A headless woman who hid her firm determination in her heart, replaced her non-existent face and expressed her will through her actions.

That was it -- the existence of Celty Sturluson.

Then, and now.

She was in an abandoned factory on her home turf of Tokyo, confronting "something" even less human than herself.

"So...? Who are you, and where did you come from?"

Even though he was talking like a gangster, there was an air that was completely different from that of normal street urchins.

"Though, it doesn't matter anyway. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too."

She realized he must have gone through many kinds of hell, where he had to kill or be killed.

And that was a number that couldn't be counted using 2 or 3 digits.

The boy who was staring at her fiercely had a neutral face, but he was nothing more than a "boy"

That's right, he looked like a human being from the outside, as if he were a teenager.

He had beautiful pure white hair, that didn't look like it had been dyed.

No matter from where you look at it, it looked so natural, and yet everywhere you looked, it seemed to be full of some sort of scientific chemical, that sort of mysterious white.

Apart from that, he did look human in appearance, and didn't feel anything less than human.

The problem was, the actions he took, and the results of those actions.

A part of the floor of the abandoned factory was covered with steel plates, but there were many "human-shaped holes" in them.

To be more precise--

Heiwajima Shizuo. Half of his body was stuck in the floor of the abandoned factory, and he was not moving.

Although his body was still upright, his head was hanging slightly down. It was impossible to tell whether he was still conscious or not.

When Celty came into the factory for whatever reason, she heard a loud noise, and took a look inside. What she saw was the impossible to understand scenario of the man widely regarded as Ikebukuro's strongest, buried in the ground.

That "boy" -- The one who buried Heiwajima Shizuo into the ground, staring hard at her and said those words just now--

Even if he asked who she was and where she came from....---

She... she was the one who wanted to ask that!

Celty, who came just in time to witness the moment of Shizuo being buried into the ground.

Shizuo's body was hit by the teenager countless times with the metal plate, and as he finally stood up, several tons of industrial machinery floating in the air came crashing down at high speeds.

In the next instant, the industrial machinery was violently compressed, and Shizuo's body was driven into the ground like a nail.

"...Say, what the heck is going on with this product? From my experience, it should be the human body that would be compressed."

Startled, the boy shrugged and said to Celty.

"This isn't some cartoon about a mouse! I've blown so many people away so far, but this is the first time I've seen a guy who can hit a man-shaped hole in a metal plate. This is clearly beyond the scope of an ability that strengthens the flesh. It also doesn't look like he's got nitrogen or oxygen armor, or anything like that."

With a bored sigh, the white-haired boy asked Celty.

“Are you a “gemstone” or something? While I’ve heard that the “#7” is something like that, but at least now it makes sense why I was brought into do the dirty work—”

"Gemstone"? "#7?" What was he talking about?

"Don't play dumb."

Seeing Celty who seemed to have major doubts about it all, the teenager clicked his tongue and continued.

"I can tell from your outfit that you're related to Academy City. How can someone from outside the city have a suit that absorbs 100% of light?"

Facing the agitated teenager, Celty took her PDA out, and entered text with great trepidation.

[What's Academy City? Are you talking about Ōizumi-gakuen?]

He probably was thinking that he was being made fun of when he was shown the text, and so the boy silently reached his hand out and touched Celty's helmet.

"I can't sense the flow of blood in your vessels, or the movement of your muscles, so this is another type of special equipment. But it's been a long time since I've been played for a fool like this!"

The complaining teenager who had a cold tone--

Just like that, he blew the helmet off of Celty's head in an instead--!?--

Wha, wh-wh-wh, what was going on!?

Celty couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't use gunpowder or anything like that. The helmet merely bounced off, as if it moved by itself.

If Celty had a head, she would have stared, eyes wide.

Similar to how the boy in front of her was looking at her.

"...Ah?"

Furrowing one of his eyebrows, the boy said.

"I thought I had overexerted myself and chopped your head off... What's this all about?"

[I, I know now! You're that, aren't you, a vampire! There are vampires I know who can use this kind of ability with your mind!]

"It's not Psychokinesis."

The white-haired teenager dismissed the vampire or whatever she was saying as a joke, and continued.

"What's up about that body of yours? Long range manipulation?... Doesn't seem like it either."

Facing the presence of something that had nothing from the neck up, the teenager maintained his hostility, and continued questioning.

"...Hey, I'll ask one more time."

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

That moment--

Creak. An exaggerated sound could be heard from the abandoned factory.

Then, as if it was from the depths of hell, the dull sound made the surrounding air stir.

"Oi..."

As Celty and the boy looked towards the source of the sound, the man in the bartender's uniform appeared, half of his body buried in the ground, craning his neck, looking relaxed.

"To be honest, I don't know what you've done to me... but you made me a bit dizzy."

Although he gave the impression that his body was all battered, he put his hands on the ground, pulling his body out, which had been knocked into the ground, with just the force of his palms.

"I don't know what happened, but I was blown away by the force of the blow.... Then, for some reason, my blood pressure suddenly shot up, and a headache came on..."

The white haired boy frowned at Heiwajima Shizuo, the man in the bartender's uniform, who continued to twist his neck by gently pressing on his head.

"Although I've used quite a bit of energy to force your blood flow backward, in the end, you've just got a headache. Are you really human?"

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't matter how you did it. After all, I've been done to death by some corrupt politician using Aikido or something... The important thing isn't that."

Shizuo, who had his blows all reflected back to him, was wounded by his own wrist, and then had his blood vessels and internal organs ruptured by the manipulation of the vector of his blood flow. Even then, he said it was trivial, with his voice boiling in anger.

"If it's just me, then I'd let it go. Although I don't know why, I suddenly succumbed to provocation and was beaten, but even this wouldn't make me so angry."

"Is that so!?"

Shizuo, who was staring at the white-haired boy with the face like a demon, continued without acknowledging Celty's surprised words.

"But, you smashed the helmet of my friend, who just happened to be walking by..."

"So you're saying, even if you get killed you won't have any complaints?... That's what you mean, right...?"

===Part 4===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | A parking lot.

"It's Kamijou Touma..."

In front of the station wagon, she dropped the things she bought onto the floor and said, stunned.

"Hey? That..."--

Had he met her somewhere before?--

No, was it an acquaintance from before his memory disappeared...!?

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

It was a woman in her early twenties who was making that strange sound.

The moment their eyes met, an unprecedented light shone from her eyes, and then they made a strange sound.

"Kami...K-k-k-kami, Kamijou!? It's Kamijou, right!?"

"Eh? That's me, yes."

"I,I-I-I-I-I, I'm Karisawa Erika,it’s a real pleasure to meet you for the first time and please take good care of me!"

The woman named Karisawa Erika, who was holding the hand of the confused Kamijou, called out as she waved her hand back and forth.

"Alive! And walking!"

"Seriously, Karisawa, you're acting like a kid who met his dead grandmother using a time machine!"

The man named Yumasaki said that he'd "make sure someone would meet him,", so Kamijou and the others came to the station wagon, but--

"Hey... What the heck is going on here?"

"This isn't a high-precision cosplay or anything like that... It's the real deal! The real thing is right in front of me!"

"No, I don't get it at all.... Hey, why are you crying!?"

Kamijou Touma was swept deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of confusion as he stood in front of Karisawa, who began to spill tears.

"Karisawa's emotions are peaking."

"Haha, this is the first time I've seen someone this happy!"

In the wagon where they could hardly hear their conversations except for Kazawa's screams, the two men, Tokusa and Honda, tilted their heads and said.

"Who's that guy, Kadota?"

"I feel like I've seen him before... Judging by Karisawa's happiness, he's probably some young Seiyuu or something, right?"

"Ah! That's probably it!"

"Well, it's not a good idea to disturb them. Let's give them time to talk."

The two people in the driver's seat and shotgun who were nodding to each other, silently got out of the car, and left the parking lot.

Kadota didn't notice it.

That boy, in the novel that Yumasaki and Karisawa highly recommended and read- he said that he was "a good guy with backbone", the protagonist Kamijou Touma himself.

On the other hand, this Kamijou, the protagonist, was surrounded by his two evil friends, eyes closed, laughing.

"Heh heh.... Hahaha! Kami-yan... has finally learned the hax skill of "The big sister who he met for the first time but has already been flagged down"...?"

"Nya, besides, I like the "elder sister" trope anyway, nya, Kami-yan must be loving it, though I don't understand it well, the talents he has are only for the sake of getting popular..."

"Nonononono, nononono! It's not like that!"

Even if he wanted to defend himself, Kamijou could only keep saying "No," as he didn't know what was happening, but--

This was cut off by the woman named Karisawa.

"Well, it's obvious at first glance though! You must be Aogami Pierce, and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, right? Wow, that's amazing... it's the same as my imagination! You're both so tall!"

"Gwah!?" "Nya!?"

Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who did not expect to receive pieces of the flag themselves, looked at each other, and panicked.

Leaving the two in their bewilderment, Karisawa decided to take advantage of when Aogami Pierce asked Yumasaki, “What kind of flag is she raising with me?” and said something that rang all sorts of alarms in Tsuchimikdo’s head.

"Well, you know. Tsuchimikado, you started wearing sunglasses when you changed your appearance, but now they've become a symbol of your identity, and in reality, they look real good on you!"

"!?"

Kamijou and Tsuchimikado both stiffened up.

They remained in this state, shied away from Karisawa and the others, turned around, and whispered, shoulder to shoulder.

"{Hey! This person knows about Angel Fall! So it really is your contact over there! What are you going to get me involved in this time!)"

"(No, no, no, wait, Kami-yan, wait! I'm just as confused as you are, I have no idea who this person is!)"

"(So, then... could she be from the Russian Orthodox Church? If she knows about Angel Fall, it's unlikely she's related to Academy City, no matter how you think about it!"

"(The key thing is that we don't know. I've told you about the glasses, Kami-yan, so the information must have leaked from you somehow!)"

"(Bruh, there is a literal spy here, and he doubts· THE· Kamijou Touma!? Obviously you’re more suspicious than I am!)"

"(Why would I be surprised if it's the information that I leaked, nya?)"

While they were throwing out their suspicions like this, Karisawa, who was approaching behind them, unnoticed, said this with a refreshing smile.

"It's alright, I'm not a spy for Gremlin or the Kihara family! At least, I'm not an enemy of GROUP!"

"I can't believe it, she just casually said two phrases relating to the dark side of Academy City, nya... Speaking of that, what's that Gremlin that can be said on the same level as those two?"

"Huh?"

The sense of disharmony was wandering in Kamijou's brain--

Hmm? Tsuchimikado, was he playing dumb? --

Gremlin. Tsuchimikado was, of course...--

..... Hmm?--

When was the last time he had spoken to Tsuchimikado... When did that come...?

At that moment, Kamijou's mind began to play a flashback of Tsuchimikado's face.

He appeared in a completely different air from the current Tsuchimikado, with an expression as cold as ice...

Hmm? Strange. If Tsuchimikado was here right now... really stra....nge?

The voice of Aogami Pierce rang out as if to ride the wave of confusion that was going on in the mind of Kamijou.

"Hey, hey, Kami-yan. I just realized that I can't see Endymion in Ikebukuro."

Endymion.

The space elevator, pride of Academy City.

This elevator, which extended beyond the atmosphere, should have been visible as a thin line, even at a distance as far as Ikebukuro-- But Kamijou knew that it would never be visible now.

"...What are you talking about, Aogami Pierce? Isn't Endymion already..."

"What? Did I, uh, say something strange?"

A chill spread behind Kamijou's back.

No.

Something was wrong.

He could feel a distinctive "dislocation" from both Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

"Right! Speaking of Endymion, there's something I wanted to ask you about Meigo Arisa!"

"Oh, you've got a good eye, Arisa is related to this! I, ah, think she'll come? This Endymion concert is really something to look forward to!"

"Huh? Is it time for that concert again?"

Aogami Pierce seemed to have become indifferent to the fact that he could not see Endymion, and returned to the unique conversation he was having with Yumasaki.

On the other hand, Kamijou was convinced by what Aogami Pierce had just said.

There was something wrong after all--

There was a misalignment between himself and Aogami Pierce's "perception"--

...Arisa's concert on Endymion, it had ended, clearly!

It wasn't that those two were imposters. They were undoubtedly the real Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

Even so, he was sure that something was "distorted".

It was obvious that they were the real people, but something was "distorted", so what did that mean?

Thinking about this, Kamijou suddenly realized something.

It was possible that he himself might have been "distorted" with the world--

The president.

The TV image he saw when he first came to Ikebukuro.

On that note, Kamijou didn't recognize the man who was supposed to be the president.

Gradually, the sense of dissonance became clear about all this.

It was like waking up and then gradually being able to distinguish between reality and dreams, the feeling of one's brain gradually becoming clear, and waking up.

Moreover, this city named Ikebukuro, or actually, the whole of Tokyo.....

Suddenly, he turned towards Karisawa and asked.

"That! What happened to the dragon... that attacked this city before?"

"Ah! You know about that, huh? I see, I see. You've already experienced "that", right? Have you experienced that honeymoon in Denmark?"

"Dragon? What are you talking about?"

Contrary to Kamijou who nodded his head like he had figured it out, Tsuchimikado's face was full of his confusion.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Ugh, it must be Maika. I'm a little concerned about all this, but a call from a loli takes precedence over anything else, that's my 35th rule of life."

Tsuchimikado picked up his phone while walking to the corner of the parking lot. Looking at his back walking away, Karisawa said with passion:

"The fact that you can categorically say that your sister is also a loli is impressive. Having said that.... look at him, which time is this Tsuchimikado from?"

"Wait a second, explain quickly. What the hell is going on here?"

"Ahhh, mhm. Yeah, if you're unsure about a situation, it's natural that you'll feel uneasy."

Nodding her head while speaking in an understanding tone, Karisawa continued.

“Well actually, before we actually saw you, we were half-believing. We are probably the ones who could accept this the fastest, as I heard the details of the matter from the father of an acquaintance..."

Karisawa, who said this, looked at the entrance of the parking lot, and leaked out an "ah"

"Look, they're here. The person who can explain."

"Eh?"

When Kamijou looked over--

The man who was walking towards him, wearing a white gas mask in broad daylight in addition to a white lab coat, raised his hand in a friendly manner, and said.

"Aha! You're that "otherworlder"! Nice to meet you. How are you? (Written in English). Be careful not to get infected with bacteria that doesn't exist in your world and die suddenly!"

Looking at this man who greeted him with surprise, Kamijou--

"Defi..."

"Defi?"

Ignoring the "otherworlder" comment first, he shouted out what he was feeling at that very moment.

"You definitely have a connection with Academy City--!"

===Part 5===

A few minutes ago | In satellite orbit | Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Lab

"What about the "tunnel" with the other world?"

[There's a theory that the neutrino and Higgs particle experiments in both our worlds has something to do with this, but as far as I know, your world has a Magic God who has changed the world through the phases that filter the physical world, your boss has also forcibly teared apart the "thin film of the world", and our side has an existence known as the Dullahan, and began to overuse its powers. It's probably all these sorts of accidents that came together, that just happened to connect these two worlds together…]

"The accumulation of these unfavorable conditions, huh."

The girl who was near the top of the system called Academy City said with a sigh.

"Hng, let's not talk about whether parallel worlds exist or not, but this "tunnel" that just happened to be created is rather unbelievable. And it does not explain the fact that Academy City has disappeared off the earth."

Amano Kaguya, accepting the explanation of the man who called himself Tsukumoya Shinichi, nodded as she floated in mid air.

"However, the disappearance of Academy City on that side should be on this side."

[That's probably the case. However, not many people can remember and have that sense of dissonance. To fill that void of dissonance, it seems that the Earth where Academy City exists right now also has a 380 meter long aircraft named "Sky By Fire" flying around, like nobody's paying attention to it. No, maybe it's actually because of the appearance of this aircraft that you've suffered a loss.]

"I got squeezed out through that distortion, so I was transported here without going into the "tunnel"?"

[Yes, the "Sky by Fire" was originally developed by a company called Niblo in this world 50 years in the future. By connecting with a world like Academy City, which has technology a hundred or two ahead of its time, it was able to materialize in the world as a "thing that should exist". So basically, to replace that Queen of the Sky, and to achieve balance, the Princess of the Universe was chosen.]

Kaguya, who was floating upside down from the Earth, shrugged at Tsukumoya's words.

"Is that flattery or sarcasm? It's hard to read your feelings just from your voice."

[Even so, I'm still anxious right now. if the two worlds completely merge together, it'll become all kinds of bad.]

"If you look at it from the perspective of rapid development of science and technology, shouldn't it be a good thing for your world?"

[It's not like that. At the very least, there are tens of thousands of "Vampires" in this world. If the girl named Himegami, the carrier of "Deep Blood" from your side, comes here, the vampires will flock to her, and then we'll be in a crisis. We’ll need to sacrifice the girl's life to save the extinction of the vampires. But, what's troubling is that there's a lot of good people among the vampires. I can usually accept any outcome, no matter what, but what if someone I know, or an innocent girl dies as a result of an "outside" influence? That wouldn't be very interesting.]

Even for Kaguya, who knew about the dispute between Science and Magic, the sudden mention of a topic like "vampires" was unexpected, but--

But she, who looked at the world as it were someone else's business, dismissed it as "Of course that exists", felt relieved, and calmly accepted the request to help resolve the situation.

"Well, that's fine. I think it'll be interesting, just standing by and seeing how things develop, but I can't leave Academy City alone in this situation. So I'll help you get things back on track."

[That's a big help, thank you.]

"I'll take care of Tsuchimikado, who has come to this world. Probably because of his back and forth between the Magic and Science sides, and the outside and the inside of the City, his tolerance is quite big, as long as his sister is not in trouble. Even if he does look like that. I'm sure he'll accept this and help us."

"Ahah, that's true. Better start acting as soon as possible."

There was a slight pause here from Tsukumoya, and the presence of a certain man was mentioned.

[The troublemaker who's grasped the situation and accepted it readily is preparing to take advantage of it for his own personal gain.]

===Part 6===

Somewhere in the city | Orihara Izaya's office

"Well, even if it is Shizuo, it should be over by now."

In his office, Orihara Izaya, who was happily sitting in his chair, spinning around, talked about this, eyes shining.

"I'm having a hard time trying to make connections with the other world. Although we share the language of Japanese, there's a significant difference in science and technology, and there's 2 billion people in the Roman system alone."

Izaya, who seemed to be speaking to his assistant in the office, kept talking, half to himself, without waiting for a response.

"From a girl obsessed with urban legends named Saten Ruiko to the media queen of the other side of the world named Olay Blueshake, I was most satisfied to know someone is named "Loki". Me, I'd feel some empathy towards these types of people. But it seems he was recently betrayed, and got beaten up by his comrade. So even if he believes in what I say, he won't have any trust in me."

“If there’s someone who can trust you on a personal level, they can probably be considered a saint.”

Ignoring the sarcasm of his assistant, Izaya continued.

"In any case, with his cooperation, he managed to infiltrate part of the system in Academy City. After that, he gave a false command that relies on some condition to the most powerful Esper over there."

"False command?"

"Ahah, it's all true, up to the midway point at least. The two worlds are gradually merging together. And on top of that, add a hypothetical such as "If an important man goes to Academy City, the worlds will merge together. If that happens, the other world would be an obviously unnatural existence... For example, for the 10,000 or so clones, their existence will disappear, and other similar changes may occur." That kind of condition--"

There was a slight pause there, but he continued with a pleasant smile.

"The "strongest man in Ikebukuro", the point of deviation related to the metamorphosis of the world, rendered useless, with no chance of resurgence.... That kind of order. Additionally, I gave him the information that the man in the bartender's uniform is actually a nasty piece of work with a penchant for kidnapping young girls. Even if it is that physically overpowered Shizuo, in front of that "Level 5", who is literally beyond the stage of what you call an ability, he is nothing more than a baby."

"And who's this superpowered person?"

With a half-hearted look, the woman who was his assistant, Namie Yagiri, looked at the information in her hands.

"You write it as "One Way Road", and read it as Accelerator?"

"Yup. Well, it's the same as an animal's Japanese name as compared to its scientific name. Although names are used to represent identity, don't you think that this name suits him in every sense? And his old name is also very interesting."

"Compared to his actual ability name, "Vector Manipulation".... What is this?"

"It means what it means, literally. The ability to observe the "direction" of various phenomena, and manipulate them according to one's own will, such as kinetic energy, light, sound, heat, and electricity. The ability to trick the world, changing gravity energy into buoyancy, and in extreme cases, to manipulate the vector of time, in a limited sense.”

In the face of Izaya's exaggerations, Namie responded with a sigh.

"Even though you don't understand the concept of time very well, you still said that..."

"It's that sort of illogical ability. Although it's probably logical for a place like Academy City, in our world, it's something beyond our logic."

"Illogical ability, huh."

Namie narrowed her eyes slightly, and said with a hint of annoyance, as if she recalled something.

"That person’s "shadow" is no more logical than he is."

===Part 7===

An abandoned factory

"If I had complaints about being killed, I wouldn't have come here."

The white haired boy replied with a bored, but serious tone, saying something that reeked of self-deprecation.

"I never thought I'd hear such brave words after all this."

"....."

"You're not a normal human being. If you obediently lie back down, your chances of survival will grow."

In contrast to Shizuo, who emerged, veins bulging, the white-haired teenager kept a cold expression.

Celty, in the middle of those two people, firmly interrupted.

[No, wait a minute. Why are you doing this to Shizuo!]

"Why? It's just a job."

Speaking indifferently, the white-haired teenager lightly put his foot on the floor of the factory.

The next instant, the "action and counteraction" that existed in Celty's own brain, that common sense, completely collapsed.

The iron plate that lay on a part of the abandoned factory bounced up and began to turn in the air magnificently, as if it was dancing.

"And, if you get in the way, you'll get destroyed. I've said this before, right?"

The white haired teenager pushed the iron plate gently in the direction of Celty.

Then, as if the rotational force of the plate became propulsive force, it shot at a straight line towards Celty.

A direct hit with the iron plate that weighed dozens of kilograms onto a normal human wouldn't be something that you could shake off.

But, Celty wasn't human, and she definitely wasn’t normal.

Countless shadow tentacles reached out from her own body, and caught the iron plate that was flying at high speed.

"!"

Looking at Celty's shadows, the white-haired teenager narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...What, is that?"

If a normal person had seen it, they would have been open-eyed in shock, but the teen wasn't ordinary in any sense.

He changed his expression as if he had seen a strange cat, nothing more, and he then continued with a soft tone.

"...Do you use the same power as that #2?"

Celty muttered to herself, hearing the teenager's words--

What the hell was this #2 and #7 just then!?--

Nevermind, she had to suppress him first.

Celty immediately stretched out her shadow, and tried to wrap it around the boy's body at high speeds.

However, he dodged it with a jump that was beyond the physical limits of a human, and lightly slapped away one of the tendrils that got close with his left hand.

"...."

In an instant, the front end of Celty's shadow started spinning around, disappearing as if it had been swept into a tornado.

Uwah--

What was that feeling she felt just then!?

It wasn't a natural disappearance, as it took Celty's own will to disperse her shadows.

It was because she felt a creepy feeling, something like the flow of power being doubled and sent back in full. She judged the danger in an instant--

This guy… He really is using psychokinesis?--

This wasn't good, as this was much more powerful than even the vampires she knew.

Contrary to the anxious Celty, the teenager's body language didn't give away any signs of anxiety at all.

Maybe he had experience fighting against an opponent similar to herself before.

If that was the case, it would be impossible to maintain a dominant position here, right?

Would he allow him to surrender? To retreat? As she was contemplating that--

"Oi."

The voice of Shizuo rang out, and both Celty and the teenager's attention turned his way.

Then, Shizuo picked up the remains of the vending machine that had somehow been abandoned in this abandoned factory.

"Your opponent... Is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

In the next instant, the vending machine flew towards the teenager with substantial force behind it.

The action taken by the teenager in response was--

Ignored.

The teenager once again looked at Celty, and assumed the attitude that there was no need to respond to Shizuo's attack

However, in realty, the moment in touched the special "barrier" thinly covering his body, the vending machine jumped back like a bouncy ball hitting a wall--

Shizuo!

Although Celty hurriedly stretched her shadow out, it failed to reach him.

Those who are immersed within their own abilities shall drown in them. The overwhelming force that matched this metaphor was heading for Shizuo's body--

"Ora!"

And with that, Shizuo struck it again--

....What?

"Ah?"

Even the white haired teenager couldn't help but look back at his opponent.

This teenager, so far, had bounced back all kinds of enemy attacks with his "ability"

He had experienced multiple crises before. Such as, people who could nullify attacks, people with special energy such as the "shadow", as well as getting overwhelmed with attacks from different dimensions.

But was there anyone who could forcefully reflect an attack back by using only the force of his hands?

Although he observed a flow of a force field, he didn't think that he was using any sort of ability--

What was going on? Who the hell was this guy?

He felt that this level of sturdiness was a bit weird, never mind the fact that this was beyond the realm of humans in the first place. Although there had been battles with durable opponents before, this man's body was half the size of the leader of Skill Out that he fought before, so how the hell could he do such things that were so far from common sense?

Although he thought so, he soon realized that it was pointless.

Because even if he could get the vending machine back at him, he could just reflect it back again - totally risk free.

Just as he predicted, the vending machine bounced back at Shizuo--

And then, once again, the man in the bartender''s uniform punched it back.

"...."

Crack! Pop! Once again, the exaggerated sounds of destruction resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

Between the bartender and the white-haired teenager, a vending machine rally began.

And, the speed of it was gradually increasing.

But in the end, it finally stopped.

It wasn't because the man in the bartender uniform had run out of energy. Instead, it was because the vending machine couldn't bear the brunt, and finally broke apart in mid-air.

"...."

"...."

There was a silence, with only the sound of the bartender-suited man's breathing that echoed through the factory.

Then, the white haired boy began to take a step towards him, and he said casually.

"Honestly, people who boast of their strength I see as fools usually... But, the truly outstanding ones are enviable. Since I have no need for physical exercise over here."

"...."

"If I could have 5% of your strength...."

In the teenager's mind, the face of a certain spiky-haired teenager flashed through.

He put on a bitter face, and said with a distracted look.

"Though I probably wouldn't be who I am now in any sense."

And then, for the first time, the teenager spoke of his reason for taking that step forward.

"Although it may seem a bit unreasonable.... But for today and tomorrow, if you were to wander around freely, that guy I know may disappear from the world."

The white haired teenager continued, as he walked over, step by step.

Was it because he was in an overwhelmingly favorable position, or was it because of some other reason that he became more talkative?

"Direct reversal of the flow of brain signals. If I keep your consciousness suppressed for three days, that'll be enough. However, if you're careless, you might die... Although I'm not going to apologize, if you've got any resentments to express, I'll listen to them."

However, Shizuo replied to this with a smile.

"Although I can't understand the implications of this all, this is extremely unreasonable."

Despite the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, Shizuo persisted.

"But I can't fall like this without so much as a whimper. I'll lose my face against the spiky haired boy who beat me yesterday."

"....Spiky haired?"

Hearing that word, a bad feeling flashed through the teenager's mind.

But, thinking about it wasn't going to help, so he took another step closer.

Celty, overwhelmed by the vending machine rally, finally realized that Shizuo was in true danger.

Up to now, has Shizuo ever been pushed against the wall like this?

Whether it was getting sent flying by a dump truck, a train, a hundred people trying to cut his head off, getting attacked by a huge tiger, even though he could survive all that, he was in a truly life-threatening situation now.

Heiwajima Shizuo was about to be killed by someone who came out of nowhere.

Something that seemed as ridiculous to Celty that it could have been a joke to her was happening before her eyes, and she was having a hard time trying to understand it.

Celty looked at the Shizuo whose body was covered in wounds--

===Part 8===

Izaya's office

"To be honest, I'm still only half convinced."

Namie looked at the information in the laptop and said once again.

"Connecting with parallel worlds. That's an idea so old that even SciFi novels don't use it much anymore."

"You're the one who's delved into the mythical realm and studied the head of the Dullahan, so are you sure you can say that?"

"Eh, course I do. The head of the Dullahan is an actual thing, and it's been confirmed."

"And in fact, it's also true that people from the other world have come here, right?"

Izaya, who said this, handed over some papers to Namie.

"Kamijou Touma, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Aogami Pierce. These names don't have any sort of records in this world. These three people, who existed in Academy City, came to this world through the subway in order to transfer something."

"High school students?"

"They aren’t just any high school students. Especially this kid, Kamijou. He’s a real hero who has saved the world multiple times. It's probably only in a world of advanced science as well as magic that a person can become that sort of savior. For me, I'm very interested in the kind of state such a rare human being is living in."

Looking at Izaya, who was laughing, Namie said, bored.

"It's like you think you're a god. You don't even have all the information about this world yet, so can you really understand the information about this so-called "other world" correctly?"

Although she was still doubtful about the connection with this other world, she had experience of studying the existence of an unnatural being such as the "Dullahan" using the common sense of science, so she might not have been so doubtful if not for that.

"Ahah, the intelligence level in that world is much higher. It's a world where you can even see the memories of the dead if you want to collect it. It's even easier to get information there than in this world."

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted in pleasure, and he said something unbelievable.

"In fact, I think it's fine to let the worlds merge like this. I think it's better for them to be integrated. When a new variable or an alien existence that is completely unmanageable appears in front of them, what kind of action will the humans take? Even if it's just limited to the people in this city, if I can observe them, one by one, it'll be enough for me to enjoy this life."

"Although what you said was that you've abandoned the struggle with a kindly tone, what you just said was extremely bad."

"There are a lot of interesting people over there too. Especially the Kihara clan's way of life, which makes me wonder about new possibilities for human beings. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call it beautiful."

"I think it's sad that these children are being treated like precious specimens by people like you. ...Eh?"

While looking at the information, Namie sarcastically said that, but she frowned suddenly.

"Hey, what's this "Aogami Pierce" thing?"

In response to Namie's light question, Izaya looked up at the ceiling, and giggled.

"Ahaha, this kid's information is well collected."

Then, without looking at any of the info, he began to talk about it.

"He's an Esper who freeloads in a bakery in Academy City. Although he's the class president of Kamijou Touma's class, he's also known as one of the "three idiots", along with Kamijou and Tsuchimikado. He's a strange fellow who's over 180cm tall. He takes supplementary classes, but not because he's dumb. Instead, it's because he wants to have as much interaction with his class teacher as possible. The possibility of this is pretty high. He’s been questioned regarding his occupation 43 times… no, it would be around 40 times regarding the time from when he came over to this city."

Without pause, Izaya droned on, as if he were speaking a tongue twister about the boy named Aogami Pierce.

Instead of boasting his knowledge--- it seems like he was trying to hide something.

"Ah, yes, that guy's fetishes concerning the opposite sex really is impressive. "I have a wide range of acceptance when it comes to women: not just fallen female main characters but also foster sisters, foster mothers, foster daughters, twins, widows, senpais, kouhais, fellow classmates, teachers, childhood friends, ojou-samas, blondes, brunettes, brown-haired, silver-haired, long-haired, medium-haired, short-haired, girls wearing bobby pins, wavy-haired, twintails, ponytails, one-sided ponytails, twin braids, ahoges, curly-haired, girls in sailor clothes, blazers, judogi, kyuudougi, kindergarten nurses, maids, policewomen, witches, shrine maidens, nuns, military women, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, stewardesses, waitresses, goth girls wearing black, goth girls wearing white, girls in China dresses, frail girls, albino girls, fantasists, girls with split personalities, queens, princesses, thigh-high socks, garter belts, girls who cross-dress as guys, girls who wear glasses, girls who wear an eyepatch, girls who wear bandages, girls in school swimsuits, one-piece swimsuits, bikinis, V-shaped bikinis, bikinis that barely cover anything, youkai, ghosts, animal-eared girls, etc.- any female is within my area of acceptance." That seems to be his mantra. Although some aspects of the opposite sex aren't in my personal domain, I admit that he is also an existence that can expand the possibilities of mankind."

"That guy, and you as well, who actually memorized that all, are perverts."

Namie said with an icy gaze, flipping through the information, page by page, in contrast to Izaya reciting it.

"And then?"

"And then, what?"

"That, the real name of that kid Aogami Pierce. It's not in the file."

"...."

Orihara Izaya was silent."

It was probably the first time she had seen him with such a quiet expression.

"There are various things... When downloading information from there, that kid's information was broken in a few places."

"What the heck, you don't even know his real name, but you've got the nerve to claim that you've been collecting information well!"

"Well. Although I don't think this kid is anything special, but as a human being who loves everyone equally, let me show you."

And so, Izaya took his laptop out and connected it with a special cord.

After a long list of unusual codes floated across the screen, a data file detailing some kind of roster was displayed.

"This is the roster of students in Kamijou's class. If you compare that with other conditions, you can immediately find the real name of Aogami Pierce, or something..."

In the next moment, the screen was completely flooded with images of flowers.

At the flower garden in the middle of the screen, a cartoon image of a character wearing a bouquet of flowers on her head appeared, and text emerged from the dialogue box that extended from there.

"Stop right there! Inappropriate access behavior!"

"Ah, fuck."

Sensing something, Izaya hurriedly shut the laptop down, and cut the line.

"Fuck me that was dangerous! It was almost like I've been stripped naked on this side!"

"Are you not going to run?"

""Anti-skill", the policing unit of Academy City, won't come to Ikebukuro. I don't think I need to even mention the police force of Ikebukuro here."

After that, Izaya tried various means of getting into touch with Academy City, but--

The information about Aogami Pierce was obstructed or corrupted before he reached it, and so the key information was not obtained.

"Does that mean that this kid is actually related to some sort of super important confidential information?"

In response to Namie's question, Izaya just shook his head.

"If that were the case, the information itself would have been protected. The reason we can't get information about it so far is because, although it seems far-fetched to say this, is all by chance. No, is it possible that there's a protection system in Academy City that pretends to be like this? Well....but...."

After a brief moment of confusion, Izaya stood up with a soft sigh.

"There's no helping it. He's here in person. Let's go collect some fresh information."

Although he seemed to be whining, his expression was that of a smile.

With a face full of anticipation as if he had never seen a new "human" before, Orihara Izaya happily left his office.

After calmly watching him leave, Namie said softly.

"This is looking like the pattern where he comes back empty handed. You reap what you sow."

===Part 9===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | Station Wagon

"Isekai!? This Ikebukuro?"

Karisawa said that "it would be bad for Aogami Pierce to hear", and so she brought him back to the station wagon. After hearing the explanation from the man with the gas mask, Shingen Kishitani, Kamijou Touma accepted it, half in doubt.

"Though, now that you say it, I feel like I was involved in a similar incident yesterday..."

"You're the one who's in the other world to us. The company I belong to, Niblo, has been conducting various investigations to this, and both the technological might of Academy City and the magic outside of it are excellent. The idea of sending a corporate spy there was on my mind, but I thought it would be impossible to hide the discrepancy since we're of a different world, so I cancelled it."

"If it were you, you probably won't feel any sense of being out of place even if you were walking around the research area..."

The right hand of Kamijou clenched tightly, after Shingan said that, and stared at him.

"Whoa!? What!? What's the matter!?"

"Mhm. That's the "Imagine Breaker" that's become a topic of conversation over there. So. Since you're here in this world, wanna try dissecting it?"

"I refuse!"

Shingen, a fully grown adult, proceeded to prostrate himself while in the back seat of the station wagon before Kamijou, who had merely given the only sensible response.

"Please think about it!"

"Although there have been various people who have turned their sights on this right hand so far, this is the first time I've heard of such a direct request from someone sitting right in front of me! How!? Don't tell me that this is how this world operates!?"

Facing the confused Kamijou, Karisawa replied.

"Well, this guy is pretty special. His son is a special guy who likes girls who's got nothing above their neck."

"What kind of hobby is that!? Even Aogami Pierce's list of fetish doesn't include it!:"

"Ah, I guess I'll put it in the category of "not a human" for now."

Putting aside the Karisawa who calmly roasted someone, Shingen pressed on the subject of Kamijou's right hand.

"Money isn't a problem, we've got all the money you need! It's not as if we're going to cut that hand off and take it away. As long as we can do all sorts of experiments with you under anesthesia, we can guarantee a minimum of 20 million yen!"

"Twenty million!?"

After hearing the exact amount, Kamijou's brain circuit short circuited for a while--

Damn it... if this was about a billion or two, something that's extremely far from the reality Kamijou knew, it wouldn't have any effect, but when it comes to the ten thousands of yen, it felt surprisingly realistic...!--

Ahhh.... Speaking of this, how much would the repair of his dorm cost? With that big hole caused by Birdway and Lessar...---

And, that much money would render his food problems...

It seemed like the magic of money couldn't be dispelled by his right arm, and Kamijou staggered drunkenly in delusion--

Eh? Wait a minute. Food expenses?

The moment he thought of that word, "food", his mind went straight to, "Touma, where's the food", and the scenario where she made her way through 20 million yen worth of food in half a month. Kamijou couldn't help but shake his head vigorously as he thought of that.

Nononononono, he needed to pull himself together!--

If he believed that money on that sort of magnitude could have any effect on his misfortune, he had to destroy that illusion of his!

Kamijou slapped his face with his right hand, and awakened his consciousness with the sensation and clarity that came with the pain.

"...Well, better forget about it. Knowing me, the 2nd day I get that amount of money, I'll need to pay a 20 million yen compensation, or something will eat it, etc. That's my fate."

Although he hadn't yet given up on life, he had given up on his own fortune, and faced with the Kamijou who carried such sadness in his eyes, Shingen shook his head in pity.

"Ah... So that's the case. It's nothing, even if you hadn't said that, I understand. If you can't save someone who was in crisis during the time when your freedom of use of your right hand was taken away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life, right...! How noble!"

"Ah, no, I'm not thinking about such a grand thing..."

"Anyway. We'll want to avoid the cause that will be caused by the merging of the worlds. If all the people of the Academy City group, including you, can go back, the distortion will be more or less reduced, right?"

Nodding vigorously, Shingen once again began to explain the situation

"Actually, a boy who called himself Jörmungandr was raging all over the place with huge wounds covering his body, but apparently a group of vampires somehow appeased him, and there was also a woman who called herself Hel who could control the 'cause of death,' but a gang of immortals managed to calm her down."

"No, I don't get it at all, even if you tell me that."

Ignoring Kamijou, who was tilting his head, Shingen continued.

"Then, there's also...two people who are also confirmed to be here."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"One of them, I hear, is someone you know quite well."

At that instant-- The window of the station wagon made a clanging sound.

Looking over, what he found was Tsuchimikado, who was looking confused.

"What's wrong, Tsuchimikado?."

Kamijou opened the window of the car and looked over, while Tsuchimikado whispered.

"Ah... Just now, the boss gave me an order, nya."

"Order?"

"It seems like... someone's impersonating the Board of Directors, and are issuing false orders.”

A stuttering Tsuchimikado finally managed to spit out the true identity of one of the “visitors of Ikebukuro.”

"As a result of those false orders, the "1st Ranked" came over here, and because communications are unstable, I can't connect to him... so we'll have to get in direct contact with him and drag him back before shit gets real."

===Part 10===

Abandoned Factory

"....?"

The white-haired teenager stopped in his tracks, as he felt a powerful change in the flow of power behind him.

Turning back--he found half the factory filled with "darkness".

It was the large amount of shadows that Celty Sturluson sent forth, swallowing up the entire abandoned factory.

Shizuo, who saw this, shouted out!

"You fucking idiot... Celty! This is my fight, so hurry up and return it to me!"

[I refuse!]

"Wh..."

Seeing Celty, who was typing in words with an unprecedented forcefulness, Shizuo couldn't say anything--

Honestly, it was impossible to understand what was going on--

Because it was not understandable, they had to stop this situation in order to understand it--

If there was any chance of stopping it, it would only be herself.

Celty, who was calmly weaving those words in her mind, wanted herself to calm down.

However, the passion that came out was completely uncontrollable--

The most important thing was....

The headless horseman, Celty Sturluson, clenched her fists--

How could she stay silent as she saw a friend being treated like that, right in front of her eyes!

For her, this was an extremely rare emotion.

Pure "Anger"

That was to say, a clear "hostility" towards the boy in front of her.

She didn't think she could win.

Her opponent was an existence that was outside of common sense, even to her as a Dullahan.

And she feared that he hadn't even shown his full strength yet.

Even so, the option of abandoning Shizuo there and running away on her own did not even exist in the mind of Celty at the moment.

She was a Dullahan. A fairy who didn't become a human.

As a result of her integration into human society and learning about humans through various mediums, the "human" heart that had developed inside her had made up its mind to attack the threat in front of her.

And since that was the case, it didn't matter if that "ordinary human being" made fun of her for being tactless.

"You don't have a head, but you still make such a determined face. Well, at least it shows that you understand the situation better, as you're not getting on the ground and begging."

And after those words dripping with sarcasm--

The white haired teenager manipulated the vectors of the wind around him, and instantly whipped up a tornado.

He compressed it into a blade of wind, and shot it straight at Celty.

However, the protective shadows completely blocked the wind, and moved forward, through the new shadows being generated from within.

The shadows had taken root in every corner of the factory, and the half-hearted wind attack probably wouldn't budge at all.

"..."

Bang! The white haired boy understood the situation. Bang! And he tapped the floor with his foot.

After that, he somehow manipulated vectors to allow the steel in the abandoned factory to float, one by one, and then as if they were being pulled to his side, they flew.

And then, as if to dust off the steel off his body, he knocked them, one by one.

The simple action made the iron accelerate like a cannonball, and with the momentum of a rain of bullets, they flew towards Celty.

However, all of them were absorbed as if they fell into a swamp, and the shadow continued to expand, like a giant slime.

"Tch... it really is the same sort as the #2!"

While clicking his tongue, the white haired boy raised his hand to the sky.

The wind began to compress in front of him at a high density, creating a small body of plasma.

Just as the teenager was about to throw the plasma at the "shadow" without hesitation--

"Take this!"

Shizuo threw one of the nearby chunks of iron, the same way he had through the vending machines before.

However, if it were only on this level, the teenager would not panic and misfire the plasma.

"Watch and learn, old man."

Of course, his reflection worked properly, and bounced the iron back just like before.

However, it was a little different than before.

Shizuo, after throwing the piece of metal, burst forward towards his opponent himself.

Then, in the same way, he hit the iron back at him.

If that was it, the results would not differ from before.

And because there was no difference--

Shizuo hit the piece of iron into the ground.

"!"

The piece of iron completely destroyed the ground, and stabbed itself into the underground warehouse of the factory.

And the white haired boy started to fall.

If it was only this, it wouldn't be considered on the level of a crisis.

However, when he felt that the ground in front of him was darker than he thought, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He sensed it.

Was it that Celty read Shizuo's intention, or was it that she was prepared to take hold from the very beginning- passing through the cave where half of Shizuo's body had been buried into, she filled the ground with a number of large shadows.

Then, just a moment before he was going to escape from the air through vector manipulation--

The shadows that covered the top, bottom, left and right of the abandoned factory wrapped up the boy completely.

"...What's this, huh?"

What was in front of Shizuo's eyes was a giant sphere that was about the size of a small car.

It didn't make contact with the ground, but it was completely stationary in the air.

[For the time being, I kind of locked him up....]

Instead of having the shadows directly twisting on him, it was akin to being locked up in a soap bubble.

Judging that he could manipulate kinetic energy freely, she didn't move the sphere immediately, but just kept it stationary in the air. Of course, if he kicked at the walls, he would be able to generate energy, right? So that was why Celty divided the sphere into dozens of layers, and wrapped it up like a Russian matryoshka doll.

Even if an inner layer was destroyed, a new one could be generated from one of the outer layers to cover it immediately. Although she had prepared for this specifically, nothing happened yet.

If this was ordinary matter, no matter what kind of technique was used to construct it, as long as the teenager used his ability, he would be able to tear it apart easily.

However, this was no ordinary matter that wrapped up the teenager.

It was "shadows"

Originally, shadows were areas where there was no light, and since they weren’t even considered matter, they didn’t have mass, or thickness.

Celty was manipulating the "shadow" as if it were an object with mass - the important thing here was that although "thickness" could be created through this, the concept of "thickness" could also be ignored.

This was something Celty herself did not realize, that she was actually able to materialize her shadows with varying degrees of thinness.

In other words, it could be kept at zero thickness, but also could be stacked infinitely to increase its strength.

Therefore, if Celty Sturluson had actually knew about this--

The "Shadow" could be a spear and a shield more powerful than any other material on this planet. It could even be the thread used to connect Earth and Mars together.

It was a power that had completely surpassed the common sense of science and the laws of physics. Celty herself was not able to understand it properly. It was a shadow of absolute strength that was created unconsciously.

In order words, she was able to do this because of the anger she felt.

If the underground doctor, who lived with her, knew about this, there would be no doubt that he would be jealous of Shizuo.

"This, how are we going to deal with him?"

[I don't think he can be defeated by physical means. Let's just wait for him to enter a state of hypoxemia.]

Celty made the density of the shadow bigger than usual, thus blocking the supply of oxygen by blocking the air.

This "suffocation attack" created by the interweaving and overlapping of various special conditions could be said to be one of the rare weaknesses of the invincible reflection.

If it were a normal person, this would be enough to decide who was the winner, and the loser. But--

This young man was the existence known as the #1 of Academy City -- [Accelerator]

He was another existence that wasn't ordinary, even within the category of Espers.

Bang..... Celty and Shizuo felt the sound of the air shaking.

In the next instant, alongside a violent sound of destruction, the top of the black sphere was torn by something unseen.

"What!?"

This....

Next to Shizuo who shouted out loud, the headless Celty's "vision" felt it.

From the top of the sphere, two colorless wings grew out--

....He hasn't even shown his full strength yet!

The thing that destroyed Celty's shadow, something that ignored the laws of physics, was indeed something "from another dimension" that also did not obey the laws of physics.

What was this... this thing, it was almost like...!

Celty probably associated the pair of wings with something else.

Just before she continued to think about it, the crack of the sphere widened, and the invisible wings, (were they white or black?), were rendered in another color for just a moment--

"Please don't fight over me anymore! Says Misaka as Misaka remembers the lines she recently saw in the morning at the theatre, and tries to pretend to be the heroine in the swamp!"

Such words, which were completely incompatible with the atmosphere of the scene, resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

When Shizuo and Celty looked over, there was a girl of about 10 years of age standing there, with an ahoge on the top of her head.

"A kid...?"

In contrast to Shizuo, who frowned, Celty, who saw who the girl was, panicked and took out her PDA, pointing it at her.

[I told you to wait near the motorcycle!]

"Who is it?"

Before answering Shizuo's question, Celty typed something in order to ensure the girl's safety.

[It's dangerous! Get out of here!]

But the girl, looking up at the black sphere, asserted with her hands crossed.

"It's not dangerous anymore, says Misaka as Misaka tries to send the words of objective truth to the strange sphere with hopeful observation."

The young girl had the voice of a child, but with the words of an old man.

Then, in the next instant, the "transparent wings" disappeared completely from Celty's vision, and the voice of a teenager who had become tired in every sense came from inside the sphere.

"Oi... I'm no longer in the mood for messing around. Hurry up and get rid of this damn ball."

A few minutes later.

After the shadow cage was lifted at the urging of the girl who called herself Misaka, the boy stared at them but didn't attack.

"Why are you here, you idiot?!"

“Because of numerous reasons, announces Misaka, Misaka somehow came into this world, but there were also signals from a satellite that talked about how several people were involved in a conspiracy."

"Say it so that I can actually understand."

The teen said, annoyed. Shizuo had to have suppressed his anger and urge to interject from behind.

"Hey...Although you guys seem to be pushing the topic on your own over there, I'm totally not convinced...."

Probably because there was a kid in front of him, he held back desperately. But the moment Celty tried to calm Shizuo down, whose face was twitching with anger--

"The reason is Orihara Izaya."

Because of what that girl said, Shizuo's movements halted.

"Misaka says as Misaka tries to convey this crucial piece of information that's at the core of everything."

"What are you on about, Last Order?"

Then, the girl named Last Order weaved around Shizuo's back and continued.

"It's all lies! About this person wandering around and the network, they're lies! They're all false orders given by that person named Orihara Izaya, pretending to be Academy City's Board of Directors, says Misaka as Misaka tries to peek at a certain person to see if his reaction is different than normal when he sees Misaka hiding behind this bartender, as Misaka peaks Misaka’s head out to confirm."

"Cut the bullshit and tell me."

After a few minutes, after the girl had explained everything, Celty's shoulders slumped--

In the end, there he was again, with his usual evil plans!

The man who did this thing purely because he hated Shizuo was none other than Orihara Izaya.

She understood this, but this time she actually really wanted to beat him up.

However, above that, there was a worry.

If she had that kind of thought, what kind of boiling state was Shizuo's mind in right now?

"Seriously, anyway, you should say sorry to the person you hurt first, Misaka says as Misaka thoughtfully teaches you the common sense of society."

Faced with the teenager who kept his face stiff, the young girl urged him to apologize to Shizuo and the others.

Just before the teenager said something, Shizuo said.

"Ahah... No, no need to apologize...."

Even though the #1 kid didn't use his ability, he could feel that Heiwajima Shizuo's anger vector had completely switched direction. But it also increased by several times then when he was facing him.

"Do you know where that fungus Izaya is?... Girl."

The girl answered without panic to the face of Shizuo, who was seeping with a ghost-like anger.

"Although I don't know why, because Hikoboshi II has also come to this world, I can observe his location in detail if I connect to the network! Misaka says confidently."

===Part 11===

——

Distortion.

The reason for all this was the distortion of space-time.

For example, even if Yumasaki or Karisawa went to Academy City tomorrow or yesterday, and met Index, but didn't realize it was her, that could be explained by that phrase, that it was all caused by the distortion of space-time.

In the past, when Yumasaki was thrown into the other world called Dengeki Gakuen, there had been a miracle, where he had met Index, and Burning-Eyed Shana themselves - perhaps the Yumasaki who went to Academy City was actually the Yumasaki from before in that point in time, so during his time in "that other world", that was why he judged Index to be a cosplayer.

And in this situation with distorted space-time--

Yumasaki and Karisawa were still going their separate ways.

"So, if you get Shokuhou-chan to remove the psychological scars of Awaki-chan, would it allow her to become a Level 5? Kamijou, try doing that please."

"What good would that do to Misaki-chan, huh?"

"Nonono, what are you talking about! And who's Awaki!?"

"She's a shotacon girl!"

"Even if you say that!"

While Tsuchimikado was trying to find out where Accelerator was, this argument continued. Shingen left the station wagon, saying that he had to go back to the office to report on the situation, and Aogami said that he was going to meet some girl on the Otome Road and left, so only Kamijou was left to savor this unreasonable situation--

Why do these people know so much about Kamijou and Academy City?

"Actually, I have even more questions..."

When Yumasaki tried to take out some books, he accidently dropped his backpack, and several Light Novels dropped out of the opened pack.

"Huh? What books are these?"

Seeing the cover that said "A Certain Magical Index," Kamijou frowned.

Index of Forbidden Books. A word that he often heard. So adding that "Index" on there was pretty redundant.

T/N: The Japanese title reads: "Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku", with Kinsho Mokuroku, with that meaning "Index of Prohibited Books", but there's Furigana above those Kanji, which tells the reader that it's supposed to be pronounced "Indekkusu", so that's why it's redundant

And, the cover art of these books of the characters all matched with the people he knew, even the outfits.

"Ah, this is..."

While Yumasaki was thinking of how he should explain it, Kamijou picked up one of the books nearest to him, and turned the pages noisily.

Then--

"W....what the hell is this!?"

Electrical current swam throughout the grey matter in Kamijou's brain.

Actually, it was the same kind of shock, as the time when he was gently hit by Misaka Mikoto's electrical attacks.

After seeing the word "Kamijou" in the novel, reading it with a frown, he found that it was as if his previous experiences in the past had been recorded in the form of a novel.

"This, what the hell is this!? Is it some stalker's diary or something? Did I make some enemies in some kind of strange organization unknowingly!?"

"Ahhhh... That.... That's.... something like the Akashic Records. About the Akashic Records, maybe Index or Birdway can explain it in more detail."

"Wait a second! You not only know Index, but also Birdway!?"

In the book labeled Volume 2, the events relating to Himegami and the Misawa Cram school were described.

Then, it suddenly occurred to Kamijou--

Hmm? This means...--

Wouldn't the first volume... be about the events before he lost his memories?

Moving his eyes down, he found a book with no number after the title, lying on the floor.

Gulping, he slowly stretched his arm out, but--

Karisawa held her hand out.

"No."

"Hey..."

This book was a very good example of the kind of book that could be used to make a person's life easier.

Putting that book away in his backpack, Yumasaki, with a serious face, said.

"Kamijou, we'll also be talking according to the situation. About your past, just like the flower on Uiharu's head, it's a sacred area that must not be touched. So I'm sorry."

"Hey, so my past, though I don't get it at all, it's on the same level as the "flower on the head" or something...?"

"After all, we're just mere spectators. Even if we can cheer you on, we don't have the right to change your life."

Karisawa said, hugging the Kamijou who had no choice but to calm down.

"It's alright, even if you don't have your memories, there are still people who love you. No matter what happens to them, we're the same. Who we love is the ‘you’ who can move forward now!"

"That's right, in this city, there is someone who has lost her head, not to mention her memories, and that person is now living a fulfilling, loving life."

"...."

He didn't understand what all this was about.

Although this was the case, he could feel that the warmth in their words was genuine, so Kamijou said this, though he was still confused.

"Thank....you."

"Ooooohhhhhhhhhh! Kami-yan!"

Completely destroying the fantasy-like atmosphere, from outside the station wagon came the voice of Aogami Pierce.

"What's wrong, what's wrong!?"

After Kamijou opened the car door, it revealed the tearful Aogami Pierce."

"You listen to me, Kami-yan! Even if I talk to the girls on Otome Road, all they say to me is that "Wow, that's so cool, this cosplay suits you"! What??? Did someone steal my iconic hair and earrings that I've put so much faith into! I didn't think it would be so humiliating to be asked if it was a cosplay or not, but this seems to have awakened a new fetish in me, ohonononononoononono."

"Okay, just calm down! The one feeling embarrassed is me now!"

Kamijou was made aware of the eyes surrounding them and used his hand to press on Aogami Pierce's mouth.

Pushing Kamijou's hand away from him, and complaining to Yumasaki, whom he had just established a friendly relationship with, Tsuchimikado sighed as he watched Aogami Pierce running around.

"Not good, nya. The line with Hikoboshi has become mixed up, and so I can't figure out where that guy is."

"Are you saying that there's others communicating? With that satellite?"

"Well, there's a lot of confusion over on the other side as well. Even so, if we don't find Accelerator soon..."

"You want me to tell you what?"

Kamijou and the others looked back at the place where the voice suddenly appeared, and there stood a man wearing a black fur coat.

"...Who are you?"

"An informant that's just passing by. You guys are worried because you can't find where Accelerator is, right? Then allow me to sell you that information."

"You... know about what's going on?"

"Sort of. Honestly, I've already looked into the situation. After all, this incident is of great interest to me as well."

The man who called himself the informant looked at the teenager near the door of the station wagon, expertly weaving his words together.

"There's just one thing, to be honest. Although I’ve collected all kinds of information, I don't know why I can't get the real name of Aogami Pierce over there."

With a self deprecating smile, the informant continued.

"Although it isn't a big deal, I'm pretty unsatisfied having such a hole in my information. If you can tell me this, I'll give you the information you want."

"What, what? It's not such a big deal. I'm not even listening, and you're talking about it so casually?"

Aogami Pierce, who heard his nickname being called, started to listen to the conversation midway, saying to the informant, determined.

"Oh, tell me my real name, Kami-yan! With gusto! Let this second-rate informant, who doesn't even know my real name, see the cruelty of reality!"

Aogami Pierce, who was pointing a finger at Izaya with a strange pose, Kamijou could only respond with silence.

"...."

"Kami-yan?"

An unprecedented cold sweat seeped out of his face, and Kamijou said some words, as if he were talking to himself.

"Once, despair was inflicted."

"?"

"That was when the whole world became my enemy. Even you and Fukiyose tried to kill me. Imagine it as some sort of dream."

"Hey? Ah, so you're talking about a dream?"

"In such a horrible, horrible situation, to you who tried to kill me... I called you ‘Aogami Pierce’... Even in such a situation, I could only use your nickname..."

"What are you talking about, Kami-yan? What are you trying to say?"

"Hey, wait, you guys, are you serious!? Are you kidding me!? Nononono, really, are you guys trolling me?"

Aogami Pierce accepted his friend's reaction as a joke, standing in front of the informant.

"Fine, I'll do it myself! Dig the shit out of your ears, and listen to me carefully!"

Aogami Pierce took a big breath, getting ready to say his name out loud to all these people around him.

"My name is..."

And in the moment after that, space-time distorted.

To be precise, it was an attack that gave the illusion of space-time distortion, that wrapped up an entire space.

The one that flew here, aiming at Orihara Izaya, crushed the asphalt beneath him, blowing the body of the Aogami Pierce next to him away, through the pressure of the wind alone.

"Arghhh--!?"

Looking at the Aogami Pierce, who was rolling around, grunting, Kamijou went after it with his unsteady body.

He glanced to the side -- A small impact crater had been created, and a man in a bartender's uniform with a face that looked like it belonged to a demon lord was standing in it.

Because of the overwhelming sense of pressure, Kamijou continued to chase after Aogami Pierce, as if he had seen nothing.

The man who had dodged the impact just in time howled like a monster.

"I don't know if this world is distorted or whatever... But you're ready to have your body squished into a ball, right...? I---Za----Ya----Kun------ OOOOOOHHHHHH!"

===Part 12===
"Goodbye, and thank you so much for today, says Misaka as Misaka shows kindness in the place of the cold edgy guy."

[Ahah, take care on your way back.]

Celty entered that text gently, to the girl who was smiling innocently.

Then, she took a look at the boy named Accelerator.

He manipulated Shizuo's strength, which far exceeded that of a normal human, blowing his body directly towards where Izaya was. Although this was Shizuo's own request, Celty couldn't help but think that this kid who could do this was so far beyond common sense that it wasn't even funny.

At the same time, if that girl hadn't arrived, who knows what would have happened.

Shingen suddenly said "You should accompany this child to find someone" and then because of this girl "Felt that he was this way, thought Misaka as Misaka tried to look for that person's distinct traces of AIM surrounding him", Celty followed those ambiguous instructions and ran up and down the streets.

When she came into the abandoned factory because of Shizuo's guttural roar, she told the girl to wait at the motorcycle, and so she went to see what was going on, but ended up getting involved in it--

After all, she didn't know about the white hair... So she didn't think that it was the person that the kid was looking for.

"Why are you staring over here... Uh, oh wait, you've got no eyes."

The girl began to lecture the teenager when he said such things to Celty--

Ignoring the lecturing, he said this to Celty.

"....Oi."

[What?]

"About your power... There should be a better way that you can use to kill me in an instant, right? Why didn't you use it?"

Celty responded after thinking a little, typing out the text.

[Why do you think... Wouldn't it be better to settle things without killing anyone? No one would lose any sleep at night because of it.]

Hearing that, the teenager frowned, muttering.

"Even a monster like you is this indecisive."

After that, with a slightly unimpressed expression, he messed with the girl's hair.

"We're going back. This isn't my city."

[Nonsense. As long as you don't go crazy like before, Ikebukuro welcomes you]

The teenager didn't respond to Celty's words.

As if to replace the reply, he once again ruffled with the girls' hair.

It was as if he was claiming that the place where the teenager would go was the place where he belonged.

===Part 13===

Ikebukuro station | On the subway

"Ahh, what bad luck. It's the same as yesterday. I didn't even finish one of the external research..."

After all that chaos, Kamijou and the others got on the same subway they took here because of Shingen's urging.

After that, they got caught in a fight between the man in the bartender suit and the informant, and when they managed to escape, they found out that Accelerator had already gone back to Academy City, so everything was settled.

"Honestly, I have no idea what just happened, but suddenly everything is alright now... Well anyway, if it's all solved, then it's for the best..."

Kamijou, who got involved in the incident, and yet didn't become the center of it, felt the fatigue coming on, after relaxing for a bit.

Speaking of which, was it really all over?

Although he wasn't so sure about it, once you got on this subway, people of the "Academy City World" would automatically go back to the original world.

Aogami Pierce, who did not understand what was happening, and Tsuchimikado, whose last encounter with Kamijou was a little earlier back in time. Each of them would go back to their respective times and places, across the distorted space-time.

No matter if it was a distorted path or not, all one could do was to move forward.

Suddenly, Kamijou, who had made his mind, felt a sense of unease, and said,

"I feel like I've forgotten something... What could it be?"

===Part 14===

Hikoboshi II - Satellite Orbit - Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory

[We've finally solved the problem]

In response to the message from Tsukumoya Shinichi, Kaguya maintained her floating position as she replied.

"The scale of the merging seems to be larger than expected."

[Yes. So there's nothing better than getting in touch with you, who can observe the earth from the most objective perspective, and getting your assistance on top of that.]

"But the important thing is that I'm still here in this world."

[If the distortion of the Sky by Fire can be resolved, you should be able to return to your original world in a few days.]

"I said that I couldn't leave Academy City on it's own, but I don't really care about it. Looking at a different Earth is a good way to pass the time. It's like a spot the difference game."

To the not particularly troubled Kaguya, Tsukumoya Shinichi told the truth.

[Well, also, since you think it's fine like that, then I better not say anything more...]

[But your presence here has sent the surface into panic.]

===Part 15===
Somewhere on Kawagoe Street | Shinra's apartment

"Celty! You're back! What a day it's been today!"

[Really!... Suddenly something unbelievable has happened.]

When she finally returned home, she found a paper bag on the table.

[What's this?]

She took a peek with her hand, and saw something that looked like a wine bottle in some special packaging.

"Ahhh.... That seems to be something that my dad's guest forgot. He says that he wants you to send it back through the subway tunnel tomorrow..."

[???]

Why did she have to go through the subway tunnel to send back something that someone forgot?

Just as Celty was about to ask the obvious question, a report about an astonishing event just came, blaring from the news on the TV.

[And for the next piece of news. We have received an astonishing image. A huge artificial structure, 5,000 meters long, has appeared in the sky over Tokyo. There is no record of such a satellite being sent up, as far as we know--]

Suddenly, Celty dropped the goods onto the couch.

[Ohh... Are these aliens ahhahaguukayadshaaghdsdkgh]

"Calm down, Celty! Celty!?"

After that, she couldn't get her work done well because of the news, and the next day, she passed through the underground tunnel, confused. She arrived at "Academy City", but--

But this is another story, for another time.

===Part 16===

'''Epilogue'''

Ikebukuro's west gate park was covered in a thin, crimson, sunset.

In the corner of the park was a man with long, thin eyes, as well as a European shaped face, sitting on a metal tube bench.

Although it wasn't a rare presence in Ikebukuro, where there were many foreign tourists, the unique atmosphere that surrounded this man was a presence very rare indeed, both in Japan, and abroad.

However, a person who could detect this atmosphere would also be a very rare existence in this world.

"Can I sit next to you?"

"It's a public bench. You don't need to ask me for permission..."

The man said with a shrug, after glancing in the direction of the girl.

"Whatever."

"It's not just whatever. This side or that side, how much confusion do you think has been created? There were several conflicts in places you didn't see. Of course, you know all that, right?"

"So, is it, or is it not? After all, it would be boring if I knew everything. Life is meant to be a challenge."

"What are you talking about, cheater?"

The girl said that, sitting down violently on the bench

To this girl, the man said.

"Why did you come here? The bottle should have been returned to Kamijou Touma, right, girl?"

"It's like you asked me to come here yourself. I didn't expect that someone like you could blend in with society in general. How can you not be interested in something like that?"

The young girl, who was about 12 years old, spoke loudly. The leader of the magic cabal, the Dawn Colored Sunlight, Leivinia Birdway. To this, the man softly replied.

"Even so, he was a senior member of an underground organization. It's hard to say that he's someone with a normal status."

"It doesn't matter if it's the triads, the Camorra, or the 'Ndrangheta, to us Magicians, they're all the same."

"From how I can see it, Magicians and Espers are just the same."

"Don't get so passive aggressive. What are you, a child?"

The man of the underworld giggled at Birdway's words.

"It's not something to laugh at. Have you seriously prepared a solution to this mess?"

"Don't need to do anything. In the infinite cycle of the chicken and the egg, the chick will go on it's own way."

"Are you going to play this game of words to deceive your way through? If that really would work, what a chaotic play it would be."

After a little more words exchanged, Birdway slowly stood up.

"There's not much to be gained from how I live my life. It's time for me to return, Alchemist."

"Yeah? I'm sorry to see you go, but I won't keep you any longer."

The man named the Alchemist continued to speak to the magician girl.

"It's hard to form ties. In the end, I'd like to leave you a piece of advice, about your actions this time. Although it's something that the majority of people from this world can feel."

"What? Advice from a "being" like you would be interesting. Let's hear it then."

In response to Birdway's words, the Alchemist said with a blank expression.

"I don't think you came here because you were interested in what I was doing, but simply because you were chasing after Kamijou Touma, right?"

"Wh...."

"You're actually a brocon, aren't you?"

"...."

For a moment, the silence that seemed like that time had stood still dominated these two.

After several seconds of silence that could be described as forever, the corners of Birdway's mouth twitched, and she said.

"....If I become a magic god, I'll come over to this universe and destroy you, you bloody bastard. Keep that in mind."

"What a horrible thing to say...Fine"

Smiling while shrugging his shoulders once more, the Alchemist laughed.

"When that time comes, I'll ask Kamijou Touma for help."

===Part 17===
After the girl disappeared from the streets of Ikebukuro with an appalling anger, the man, still sitting on the bench, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself.

"A chaotic play. In some sense, maybe that's true. But where in the world can you get the words to explain this event."--

"If you could explain it with words, then a phenomenon of this magnitude can't really be truly called "Absurd"".... Ha--

This, again, was the words of something outside of this dimension, from elsewhere--

Whether he understood it or not, this incident was, in other words, something like that.

"Oh well."

After saying that, the man's figure disappeared.

The space where the man was originally located dissolved into "nothingness" - like a film reel being scattered in the air.

Then, one part of the film distorts, beginning to form a circle, and the film, which had become a shape of a mobius ring, further shifted into the shape of ∞ Infinity, beginning to rotate.

As if to say that the event neither had a beginning, nor an end, from the very start.

The view of the city, too, continued to rotate like a film.

Knock knock, click click--

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Translator's note - Here's a note on all the origins of the characters (and terms) that appeared or were mentioned:

'''A Certain Magical Index (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

Kamijou Touma, Othinus, Roberto Katze, Leivinia Birdway, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Tsuchimikado Maika, Fukiyose, Himegami Aisa, Tsukuyomi Komoe, Index Librorum Prohibitum, Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Amano Kaguya, Kazakiri Hyouka, Accelerator, Meigo Airsa, Aleister Crowley, Saten Ruiko, Olay Blueshake, Utgard Loki, Misaka Imouto, Sogiita Gunha, Kakine Teitoku, Komaba Ritoku, Kihara clan, Aiwass, Uiharu Kazari, Lessar, Jörmungandr, Hel, Last Order, Musujime Awaki

'''A Simple Series (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

[Absurd]

'''Durarara!!! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Yumasaki Walker, Tsukumoya Shinichi, Celty Sturluson, Heiwajima Shizuo, idk who this is, Karisawa Erika, Kyohei Kadota, Saburo Togusa, Shingen Kishitani, Shinra Kishitani, Orihara Izaya, Namie Yagiri

'''Vamp! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Viscount -- Gerhardt von Waldstein, The Organization

'''Baccano! (Narita Ryougo)'''

Prohibition Era Groups, Alchemy of the Abyss, Alchemist (Ronnie Schiatto)

'''Shakugan no Shana (Takahashi Yashichiro)'''

Shana

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IndexVSDRRR Crossover Ikebukuro Chapter

2021-04-03T02:22:19Z

SandyBoi:

==Ikebukuro Chapter==
Translation: botman/Dracoslayer123

Edit/Proofread: Dracoslayer123/Pablusky/SandyBoi/Fullmetal
===Part 1===

Tokyo | Ikebukuro | Summer

"Such misfortune..."

Kamijou Touma, under the sweltering sun, spoke his catchphrase.

However, there was just one thing that was different from normal.

He was neither in his usual stage known as "Academy City,” nor in the sky above Russia, nor in the eternal darkness made by the Magic God.

It was a place that wasn't that far from Academy City. He was in a city only a few kilometers to the northeast of one of the entrances of the "Outer Wall.”

Ikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo.

Although it couldn't compare to Academy City, Kyoto, or Akihabara, it was one of the most famous cities in Japan.

"Ikebukuro, huh... Come to think of it, I don't think I've been to many cities in Japan apart from Academy CIty..."

Kamijou deliberately added the word "Japanese" because he remembered that he had been to several cities outside of Japan in just the past few months. It was ironic that he had never been to a much closer city in Japan, yet he had been to Russia and Italy.

"Though if I wanted to shop, I could just do it in Academy City..."

At that moment, something similar to a news commentary could be heard from the side.

"...President to be at the summit..."

When he turned around toward the sound, he saw a prototype laptop displayed in an electrical appliance store, converting the news images from the TV to high definition and then broadcasting them.

The news of the summit between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Japan came on, and at that time, Kamijou tilted his head and said,

"Huh? He’s not that old guy?"

After a while, Kamijou, surprised at the appearance of a man who looked nothing like the Hispanic president Kamijou had known, suddenly noticed something and said,

"His approval rating didn’t drop because of that incident in Denmark...right?"

After he spoke with such anxiety, he heard a sudden beeping sound in his head.

Then, in the next instant, he had a question about what he had just said.

Huh?

"That incident in Denmark…” What was that again?

"Well, that old guy was really one of a kind... I guess he finally got the sack."

Kamijou, who easily accepted his acquaintance's sacking even while cocking his head in worry, started walking forward, and then sighed deeply once again.

"Why on earth would I want to spend my hard-earned days off on something that feels like what an envoy would do?"

In the bag hanging from his hand, there was a cylindrical protective case made of stainless steel and some sort of cushioning material.

It seemed to have been found at a station at Academy City, and after being bounced between various organizations, it ended up in the hands of the troubled Kamijou as usual. And now it had to be sent back to Ikebukuro.

“Anyway, all you have to do is casually walk around with it. It’s bound to be reclaimed soon enough thanks to the law of causality.”

"At least, that's what Birdway said, but I really don't get it. That bartender guy beat me up so bad yesterday that I can't even straighten my back anymore, and she had the nerve to oh-so-politely help me fill out my application to exit Academy City? No matter how you think about it, it can’t be anything other than her using me. Speaking of which, isn’t she spending way more time in Japan than in England…?”

Whining, Kamijou took a look at the box. There were signs that it had already been opened, but there was no way to know if the person who found it had drunk any of the "something" inside. As the transporter, Kamijou, who was a minor, didn't even think about the option of "drinking" the thing.

"Ahhh, seriously, will there never be a chance for me to relax other than on a hospital bed...?"

Beside the sighing Kamijou, one of his classmates opened his mouth with a happy smile.

"Don't say that, Kami-yan. I'm looking forward to it, you know? Ikebukuro is filled with a different flavor of chaos than Akihabara. The mere mention of the word "Otome Road" alone transforms my heart into a great-journey-gangster-gold-mine!"

The boy who spoke such nonsense was none other than Aogami Pierce.

Just as his nickname suggested, he was a blue-haired boy with perpetually closed eyes and pierced ears.

Although this bad friend of his had also applied to leave Academy City, it seemed as if he had applied to go out in the name of "external training experience instead of supplementary lessons," and in order to meet the requirements, he had to have a tutoring partner.

"Anyway, I'm going to leave the tutoring to you… or should I?"

As Kamijou expressed his unease, another fellow student smirked mischievously at him.

"Nyaa~ As soon as I said I was going to Ikebukuro, my step-sister told me to "hurry up and go to the butler cafe to have the essence of a gentleman carved into your spine." But before that, I should pop into a cosplay cafe, and in there, I'll think about world peace and the safety of my sister: that's the real essence of being a gentleman!"

The upbeat boy with dyed blonde hair and a Hawaiian shirt was Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

These three were a group of delinquents known as the "Delta Force" (“Idiot Trio”), famous among their classmates in a very small subsection of Academy City. Because Kamijou was always covered in blood, their characteristically red, blue, and yellow colors may have given them the nickname "Academy City's traffic light trio."

Those three were striding through the streets of Ikebukuro, but--

"Anyway, the subway to Ikebukuro was surprisingly crowded..."

The moment Kamijou said that, he noticed something strange—

Huh?

Subway?

That was strange. Was it even possible to reach Ikebukuro by subway from Academy City?

The last time he was able to leave Academy City so easily was that time on the beach in Kanagawa—

He was pretty sure...that leaving the city would require walking through the ‘gate’.

Kamijou, who had been repeatedly manipulated by various organizations, had gone to many countries like England and Italy through questionable means, having even been thrown out of planes, needing to stick a parachute landing. That was why he didn't think there was any point in formalities like "having to walk out through the gate" at all.

However, even so, he didn't think there was such a thing as being able to leave Academy City using the subway.

In order to go outside, students had to prepare an application and a guarantor. Before they went out, they had to accept the procedure of getting a nano transmitter injected into their bodies.

They say the extra security protocols were countermeasures against industrial espionage, but to students, it gave the illusion that Academy City was actually a prison and that they were applying for parole. Therefore, was it even possible that they could’ve gone through all of that and not remember any of it?

That... Eh?

In the first place, why didn’t he realize something so important until now?

Anyway, what was today’s date again?

He realized that even such simple facts had become so vague for him and was suddenly filled with unease.

"Hey, hey, it's not like we’ve been hit by some mind-altering magic or psychological esper power, right?"

Kamijou touched his head with his right hand just to be on the safe side, but didn't seem to notice any significant change.

After all, his right hand could dispel any supernatural ability and restore the world to its proper form. If his right hand, named "Imagine Breaker," touched it, any illusion or the like should have been dispelled at once. However, it seemed like his memories and vision haven't been tampered with.

He began to relax about that, but then another bout of unease arose.

"I don't think I went through any procedure, no matter how much I try to think about it. I don't even think I took a subway at all..."

Was this really Ikebukuro? He looked around in a panic, wondering if he had mistakenly gone to the downtown area of District 15.

Then, in just a few seconds, he found a subway station entrance marked "Ikebukuro station.”

"Huh? Am I even more tired than I had realized…?"

Looking at Kamijou, who was breaking out in cold sweat, Tsuchimikado whispered quietly.

"(Calm down nyaa~ Kami-yan. I also feel like something is out of place here.)"

"(Hey now, don't tell me it's some trick you Anglicans are pulling!? If I get taken away somewhere again, I'm actually going to be held back a grade at this point...)"

“(If that were the case, I wouldn't have done any of this. I would have just kidnapped you quickly, nyaa. In any case, if this is some kind of attack, panic is what they would want you to feel, so pretend like you’re totally fine. This is perfectly normal, okay?)"

"(What about Aogami Pierce?)"

Kamijou focused on his friend who was just an ordinary person, despite being an esper, and Tsuchimikado straight up gave a thumbs up.

"(That’s not a problem, nya. He’s an idiot, so he probably has no inkling as to what’s really happening!)"

"(Wait, that's true.)"

Saying something like that made one wonder if they were really friends—

Aogami Pierce suddenly stopped and said to Kamijou and Tsuchimikado.

"Hmm? By the way, we never went through the “gate,” did we?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe this guy just said it aloud!"

"Nyaa!! This guy really can't get with the program!"

Faced with inexplicable spite from his two evil friends, Aogami Pierce silently clenched his fists and prepared to defend himself while not even knowing why.

"Wait a minute! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I can definitely at least read the mood! Say if some president’s voluptuous secretary, who’s wearing glasses and has an air of maturity, and some depressed-looking, blonde, Nordic girl appeared in front of my eyes, even if they looked like mother and daughter, I would politely say "did you sisters come to see the sights around here?" while desperately fantasizing about those two as my older and younger sister. See, I can read the mood on that level of making a paradigm shift and turning it into a paradise shift!"

He was probably trying to say that he could be polite enough to refer to an older woman as much younger than she actually is, but the entire message was soiled by his later words.

"As expected from Aogami Pierce. Choosing to be the middle sibling of three instead of being a lover—I'm impressed by the depth of your skills."

"The moment you use the words "depressed-looking" and "president's voluptuous secretary" while trying to explain how you can be polite to women, you’re just proving that you really can’t read the mood…”

"No, that’s the key. By imagining our positions in detail, we can make our delusions more realistic and our hearts more satisfied."

“Oh, I see you know your stuff! See, I’ve already fantasized away and came up with this. The two sisters are actually assassin sisters who were sent here to kill me, but thanks to that lucky pervert Kami-yan, they got their breasts fondled somehow, and as a result of their mental shock, the brainwashing that had been placed on them got lifted, and the plot of escaping their evil organization begins! Then, 80 years later, surrounded by a total of 128 heroines that I met in my journeys, including eternally young mothers, maid robots, and shota step brothers, I die from pure moe overload!

“That’s a surprisingly long life you live in that fantasy… More than that, don’t just casually put other people inside your own perverted fantasies!”

"Though, Aogami Pierce... in order to differentiate each person, it's important to set up costumes for everyone! Also, is there really a need for the "shota step brothers" thing, nyaa?"

"What are you talking about! I've said this before, but no matter if its a step sister, a stepmother, a stepdaughter, twins, widows, (omitted), soldiers, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, (omitted), non-humans, ghost girls, or animal-eared girls, I can accept them all! As long as you feel attraction, trivialities like gender cease to matter, don’t they?"

“Well, homosexuality is indeed a form of love, but the moment you do anything with a child, it’s a crime whether or not you’re a man or a woman.”

“Mmmm, and the dream that allows us to bypass the wall known as the law is called the second dimension. After all, I firmly believe that as long as it’s only in 2D, even lolis and shotas are totally acceptable. Of course, if you bring that dream over into the 3D world, you’re really suspicious.”

“You know, I had a phase where I thought like that as well, but now that I’ve seen some guy who manages to build a harem with every single girl in his class, his loli teacher who looks like she’s still in grade school, some little nun he found somewhere, and the ojou-samas in some fancy middle school, I’ve come to realize that the wall between 2D and 3D is basically nonexistent.”

“Exactly. And then he always uses the “I like older women” card to spread the fake news that he doesn’t have a harem or anything like that, like he’s some kind of messenger from hell! What’s more, even though there should be no way he could develop a relationship with her, he’s been calling my sister by her first name from the very start, nyaa!”

"Hey, watch it."

Because the debate seemed to be perpetually ongoing and because he felt like he was being insulted to his face, Kamijou decided to change the subject by voicing a concern he had had for some time now.

"Anyway... Who in the world are you?"

The three of them focused their attention to one place where there was a man who had somehow so naturally joined the conversation.

"Ah, hey guys. I'm Yumasaki Walker."

The teen, who seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type, cheerfully gave out his name.

"Wow, to see the Kamijou Touma in the flesh, it's such an honor to meet you!"

===Part 2===

Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory.

A young woman strongly felt that something was very wrong.

The shape of a certain city on Earth had become completely different from what it had been just a few hours ago.

The person floating weightlessly in space while curled into a ball was a girl who was probably in her late teens.

That alone was anomalous enough for "this world,” but the fact that she was wearing a junihitoe made that fact all the more so.

However, for the "world she resides within," what she was wearing wasn't anything too special.

It may be that the only thing that had become abnormal was our benchmark. At least, it was this girl who noticed the abnormality just now.

To her, the Earth, including its seven billion people, was just “something to observe."

Whether it was a war on the surface, the disappearance of national borders, or even a nuclear explosion, it was merely someone else's business to her.

For her, who was, in a sense, watching a live documentary while in the luxury of a first-world environment, such a disturbance would not go unnoticed.

Having a unique life rhythm, she woke up a few hours ago and found that the earth had changed significantly between the time she had gone to bed and the time she had woken up.

The only place she had been "connected to” on Earth—Academy City—had disappeared from Japan.

Although the surface of the earth looked like a neat little collage, to make a collage of its scale in real time would require a being on the level of a god, a demon, or someone who had completely surpassed the boundaries of esper powers.

Located in the western part of Tokyo, the isolated circular world of Academy City contained 2.3 million people.

The developed city within that circle had disappeared, replaced with a completely different topography.

After about 0.5 seconds of her debating whether to try contacting someone in Academy City to judge whether this was some sort of "attack” or if it was too rash to reveal her location just like that, a communication signal came to her as if it had been deliberately timed.

It had all the right codes and the same patterns as the hidden line she usually used, but the voice was of a man she had never heard from before.

[Hey.]

"Yo."

The girl, named Amano Kaguya, who spoke back in a rude way that was completely contrary to her appearance, did not show any particular worry about the disappearance of an entire city.

"So, who are you?"

[Ah, sorry, I'm Tsukumoya Shinichi. Nice to meet you.]

"That name doesn’t show up in either my memory or my records. So, what do you want from me, a person in space who has deliberately abandoned the Earth? Though in this situation, it seems more like I've been abandoned by the Earth."

[To be honest, in your eyes, your situation isn’t something to be so pessimistic over, right? You’re basically embodying that saying about how if there is a god that throws you away, there is a god that picks you up.]

"Using the word “god” to represent the people of Academy City? I see you really are an outsider."

As if she had figured something out, she smiled and spat out the words that got directly to the heart of the matter.

"Before we talk, I just want to confirm one thing... Are you a human being?"

[Well, I'll just say this. I sort of emphasize with Kazakiri Hyouka of Academy City.]

The man named Tsukumoya replied in a voice whose emotion could not be read, which was not to say it was emotionless.

It was like a voice that had mixed together and averaged the happiness, anger, and sadness of millions of people.

[If she is considered by someone to be "human," then I guess I could also be regarded as some nameless human.]

===Part 3===

Celty Sturluson was definitely not human.

She was a "Dullahan,” who were fantastical spirits who lived between Scotland and Ireland—and who visited the houses of the dying to declare their deaths.

They visit the house of a dying person with their severed head in their arms, in a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a headless horse called the Cóiste Bodhar. And if you carelessly opened your door, you would be showered in blood. As the main example of ominous harbingers along with banshees, they have been passed down various European mythologies and folklore.

Some stories claim that they were actually figures of fallen Valkyries from Norse mythology, but whether that was actually the case was unclear even to her.

It was not that she didn't know.

Precisely speaking, it was that she could not remember.

She had been robbed of her "head" in her homeland, and her memory of her own existence had disappeared from her.

In order to retrieve “that,” she had come to this place called Ikebukuro, following the faint signs of her own head.

The headless horse transformed into a motorcycle, the armor into a skintight suit, and lingered around the city for decades.

In the end, however, she was unable to get her head back, and her memory had not been restored to this day.

She already knew who stole her head.

She also knew who the person was that prevented her from finding her head.

However, in the end, she had not been able to find the whereabouts of her head.

Celty, now, thought that even if that was the case, it was okay, since she could be with the person she loved.

It was because she was able to live with people who loved her, and who accepted her for what she was.

If that was what happiness was, she reckoned she'd be better off living how she was living now.

A headless woman who hid her firm determination in her heart, replaced her non-existent face and expressed her will through her actions.

That was it -- the existence of Celty Sturluson.

Then, and now.

She was in an abandoned factory on her home turf of Tokyo, confronting "something" even less human than herself.

"So...? Who are you, and where did you come from?"

Even though he was talking like a gangster, there was an air that was completely different from that of normal street urchins.

"Though, it doesn't matter anyway. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too."

She realized he must have gone through many kinds of hell, where he had to kill or be killed.

And that was a number that couldn't be counted using 2 or 3 digits.

The boy who was staring at her fiercely had a neutral face, but he was nothing more than a "boy"

That's right, he looked like a human being from the outside, as if he were a teenager.

He had beautiful pure white hair, that didn't look like it had been dyed.

No matter from where you look at it, it looked so natural, and yet everywhere you looked, it seemed to be full of some sort of scientific chemical, that sort of mysterious white.

Apart from that, he did look human in appearance, and didn't feel anything less than human.

The problem was, the actions he took, and the results of those actions.

A part of the floor of the abandoned factory was covered with steel plates, but there were many "human-shaped holes" in them.

To be more precise--

Heiwajima Shizuo. Half of his body was stuck in the floor of the abandoned factory, and he was not moving.

Although his body was still upright, his head was hanging slightly down. It was impossible to tell whether he was still conscious or not.

When Celty came into the factory for whatever reason, she heard a loud noise, and took a look inside. What she saw was the impossible to understand scenario of the man widely regarded as Ikebukuro's strongest, buried in the ground.

That "boy" -- The one who buried Heiwajima Shizuo into the ground, staring hard at her and said those words just now--

Even if he asked who she was and where she came from....---

She... she was the one who wanted to ask that!

Celty, who came just in time to witness the moment of Shizuo being buried into the ground.

Shizuo's body was hit by the teenager countless times with the metal plate, and as he finally stood up, several tons of industrial machinery floating in the air came crashing down at high speeds.

In the next instant, the industrial machinery was violently compressed, and Shizuo's body was driven into the ground like a nail.

"...Say, what the heck is going on with this product? From my experience, it should be the human body that would be compressed."

Startled, the boy shrugged and said to Celty.

"This isn't some cartoon about a mouse! I've blown so many people away so far, but this is the first time I've seen a guy who can hit a man-shaped hole in a metal plate. This is clearly beyond the scope of an ability that strengthens the flesh. It also doesn't look like he's got nitrogen or oxygen armor, or anything like that."

With a bored sigh, the white-haired boy asked Celty.

“Are you a “gemstone” or something? While I’ve heard that the “#7” is something like that, but at least now it makes sense why I was brought into do the dirty work—”

"Gemstone"? "#7?" What was he talking about?

"Don't play dumb."

Seeing Celty who seemed to have major doubts about it all, the teenager clicked his tongue and continued.

"I can tell from your outfit that you're related to Academy City. How can someone from outside the city have a suit that absorbs 100% of light?"

Facing the agitated teenager, Celty took her PDA out, and entered text with great trepidation.

[What's Academy City? Are you talking about Ōizumi-gakuen?]

He probably was thinking that he was being made fun of when he was shown the text, and so the boy silently reached his hand out and touched Celty's helmet.

"I can't sense the flow of blood in your vessels, or the movement of your muscles, so this is another type of special equipment. But it's been a long time since I've been played for a fool like this!"

The complaining teenager who had a cold tone--

Just like that, he blew the helmet off of Celty's head in an instead--!?--

Wha, wh-wh-wh, what was going on!?

Celty couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't use gunpowder or anything like that. The helmet merely bounced off, as if it moved by itself.

If Celty had a head, she would have stared, eyes wide.

Similar to how the boy in front of her was looking at her.

"...Ah?"

Furrowing one of his eyebrows, the boy said.

"I thought I had overexerted myself and chopped your head off... What's this all about?"

[I, I know now! You're that, aren't you, a vampire! There are vampires I know who can use this kind of ability with your mind!]

"It's not Psychokinesis."

The white-haired teenager dismissed the vampire or whatever she was saying as a joke, and continued.

"What's up about that body of yours? Long range manipulation?... Doesn't seem like it either."

Facing the presence of something that had nothing from the neck up, the teenager maintained his hostility, and continued questioning.

"...Hey, I'll ask one more time."

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

That moment--

Creak. An exaggerated sound could be heard from the abandoned factory.

Then, as if it was from the depths of hell, the dull sound made the surrounding air stir.

"Oi..."

As Celty and the boy looked towards the source of the sound, the man in the bartender's uniform appeared, half of his body buried in the ground, craning his neck, looking relaxed.

"To be honest, I don't know what you've done to me... but you made me a bit dizzy."

Although he gave the impression that his body was all battered, he put his hands on the ground, pulling his body out, which had been knocked into the ground, with just the force of his palms.

"I don't know what happened, but I was blown away by the force of the blow.... Then, for some reason, my blood pressure suddenly shot up, and a headache came on..."

The white haired boy frowned at Heiwajima Shizuo, the man in the bartender's uniform, who continued to twist his neck by gently pressing on his head.

"Although I've used quite a bit of energy to force your blood flow backward, in the end, you've just got a headache. Are you really human?"

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't matter how you did it. After all, I've been done to death by some corrupt politician using Aikido or something... The important thing isn't that."

Shizuo, who had his blows all reflected back to him, was wounded by his own wrist, and then had his blood vessels and internal organs ruptured by the manipulation of the vector of his blood flow. Even then, he said it was trivial, with his voice boiling in anger.

"If it's just me, then I'd let it go. Although I don't know why, I suddenly succumbed to provocation and was beaten, but even this wouldn't make me so angry."

"Is that so!?"

Shizuo, who was staring at the white-haired boy with the face like a demon, continued without acknowledging Celty's surprised words.

"But, you smashed the helmet of my friend, who just happened to be walking by..."

"So you're saying, even if you get killed you won't have any complaints?... That's what you mean, right...?"

===Part 4===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | A parking lot.

"It's Kamijou Touma..."

In front of the station wagon, she dropped the things she bought onto the floor and said, stunned.

"Hey? That..."--

Had he met her somewhere before?--

No, was it an acquaintance from before his memory disappeared...!?

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

It was a woman in her early twenties who was making that strange sound.

The moment their eyes met, an unprecedented light shone from her eyes, and then they made a strange sound.

"Kami...K-k-k-kami, Kamijou!? It's Kamijou, right!?"

"Eh? That's me, yes."

"I,I-I-I-I-I, I'm Karisawa Erika,it’s a real pleasure to meet you for the first time and please take good care of me!"

The woman named Karisawa Erika, who was holding the hand of the confused Kamijou, called out as she waved her hand back and forth.

"Alive! And walking!"

"Seriously, Karisawa, you're acting like a kid who met his dead grandmother using a time machine!"

The man named Yumasaki said that he'd "make sure someone would meet him,", so Kamijou and the others came to the station wagon, but--

"Hey... What the heck is going on here?"

"This isn't a high-precision cosplay or anything like that... It's the real deal! The real thing is right in front of me!"

"No, I don't get it at all.... Hey, why are you crying!?"

Kamijou Touma was swept deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of confusion as he stood in front of Karisawa, who began to spill tears.

"Karisawa's emotions are peaking."

"Haha, this is the first time I've seen someone this happy!"

In the wagon where they could hardly hear their conversations except for Kazawa's screams, the two men, Tokusa and Honda, tilted their heads and said.

"Who's that guy, Kadota?"

"I feel like I've seen him before... Judging by Karisawa's happiness, he's probably some young Seiyuu or something, right?"

"Ah! That's probably it!"

"Well, it's not a good idea to disturb them. Let's give them time to talk."

The two people in the driver's seat and shotgun who were nodding to each other, silently got out of the car, and left the parking lot.

Kadota didn't notice it.

That boy, in the novel that Yumasaki and Karisawa highly recommended and read- he said that he was "a good guy with backbone", the protagonist Kamijou Touma himself.

On the other hand, this Kamijou, the protagonist, was surrounded by his two evil friends, eyes closed, laughing.

"Heh heh.... Hahaha! Kami-yan... has finally learned the hax skill of "The big sister who he met for the first time but has already been flagged down"...?"

"Nya, besides, I like the "elder sister" trope anyway, nya, Kami-yan must be loving it, though I don't understand it well, the talents he has are only for the sake of getting popular..."

"Nonononono, nononono! It's not like that!"

Even if he wanted to defend himself, Kamijou could only keep saying "No," as he didn't know what was happening, but--

This was cut off by the woman named Karisawa.

"Well, it's obvious at first glance though! You must be Aogami Pierce, and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, right? Wow, that's amazing... it's the same as my imagination! You're both so tall!"

"Gwah!?" "Nya!?"

Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who did not expect to receive pieces of the flag themselves, looked at each other, and panicked.

Leaving the two in their bewilderment, Karisawa decided to take advantage of when Aogami Pierce asked Yumasaki, “What kind of flag is she raising with me?” and said something that rang all sorts of alarms in Tsuchimikdo’s head.

"Well, you know. Tsuchimikado, you started wearing sunglasses when you changed your appearance, but now they've become a symbol of your identity, and in reality, they look real good on you!"

"!?"

Kamijou and Tsuchimikado both stiffened up.

They remained in this state, shied away from Karisawa and the others, turned around, and whispered, shoulder to shoulder.

"{Hey! This person knows about Angel Fall! So it really is your contact over there! What are you going to get me involved in this time!)"

"(No, no, no, wait, Kami-yan, wait! I'm just as confused as you are, I have no idea who this person is!)"

"(So, then... could she be from the Russian Orthodox Church? If she knows about Angel Fall, it's unlikely she's related to Academy City, no matter how you think about it!"

"(The key thing is that we don't know. I've told you about the glasses, Kami-yan, so the information must have leaked from you somehow!)"

"(Bruh, there is a literal spy here, and he doubts· THE· Kamijou Touma!? Obviously you’re more suspicious than I am!)"

"(Why would I be surprised if it's the information that I leaked, nya?)"

While they were throwing out their suspicions like this, Karisawa, who was approaching behind them, unnoticed, said this with a refreshing smile.

"It's alright, I'm not a spy for Gremlin or the Kihara family! At least, I'm not an enemy of GROUP!"

"I can't believe it, she just casually said two phrases relating to the dark side of Academy City, nya... Speaking of that, what's that Gremlin that can be said on the same level as those two?"

"Huh?"

The sense of disharmony was wandering in Kamijou's brain--

Hmm? Tsuchimikado, was he playing dumb? --

Gremlin. Tsuchimikado was, of course...--

..... Hmm?--

When was the last time he had spoken to Tsuchimikado... When did that come...?

At that moment, Kamijou's mind began to play a flashback of Tsuchimikado's face.

He appeared in a completely different air from the current Tsuchimikado, with an expression as cold as ice...

Hmm? Strange. If Tsuchimikado was here right now... really stra....nge?

The voice of Aogami Pierce rang out as if to ride the wave of confusion that was going on in the mind of Kamijou.

"Hey, hey, Kami-yan. I just realized that I can't see Endymion in Ikebukuro."

Endymion.

The space elevator, pride of Academy City.

This elevator, which extended beyond the atmosphere, should have been visible as a thin line, even at a distance as far as Ikebukuro-- But Kamijou knew that it would never be visible now.

"...What are you talking about, Aogami Pierce? Isn't Endymion already..."

"What? Did I, uh, say something strange?"

A chill spread behind Kamijou's back.

No.

Something was wrong.

He could feel a distinctive "dislocation" from both Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

"Right! Speaking of Endymion, there's something I wanted to ask you about Meigo Arisa!"

"Oh, you've got a good eye, Arisa is related to this! I, ah, think she'll come? This Endymion concert is really something to look forward to!"

"Huh? Is it time for that concert again?"

Aogami Pierce seemed to have become indifferent to the fact that he could not see Endymion, and returned to the unique conversation he was having with Yumasaki.

On the other hand, Kamijou was convinced by what Aogami Pierce had just said.

There was something wrong after all--

There was a misalignment between himself and Aogami Pierce's "perception"--

...Arisa's concert on Endymion, it had ended, clearly!

It wasn't that those two were imposters. They were undoubtedly the real Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

Even so, he was sure that something was "distorted".

It was obvious that they were the real people, but something was "distorted", so what did that mean?

Thinking about this, Kamijou suddenly realized something.

It was possible that he himself might have been "distorted" with the world--

The president.

The TV image he saw when he first came to Ikebukuro.

On that note, Kamijou didn't recognize the man who was supposed to be the president.

Gradually, the sense of dissonance became clear about all this.

It was like waking up and then gradually being able to distinguish between reality and dreams, the feeling of one's brain gradually becoming clear, and waking up.

Moreover, this city named Ikebukuro, or actually, the whole of Tokyo.....

Suddenly, he turned towards Karisawa and asked.

"That! What happened to the dragon... that attacked this city before?"

"Ah! You know about that, huh? I see, I see. You've already experienced "that", right? Have you experienced that honeymoon in Denmark?"

"Dragon? What are you talking about?"

Contrary to Kamijou who nodded his head like he had figured it out, Tsuchimikado's face was full of his confusion.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Ugh, it must be Maika. I'm a little concerned about all this, but a call from a loli takes precedence over anything else, that's my 35th rule of life."

Tsuchimikado picked up his phone while walking to the corner of the parking lot. Looking at his back walking away, Karisawa said with passion:

"The fact that you can categorically say that your sister is also a loli is impressive. Having said that.... look at him, which time is this Tsuchimikado from?"

"Wait a second, explain quickly. What the hell is going on here?"

"Ahhh, mhm. Yeah, if you're unsure about a situation, it's natural that you'll feel uneasy."

Nodding her head while speaking in an understanding tone, Karisawa continued.

“Well actually, before we actually saw you, we were half-believing. We are probably the ones who could accept this the fastest, as I heard the details of the matter from the father of an acquaintance..."

Karisawa, who said this, looked at the entrance of the parking lot, and leaked out an "ah"

"Look, they're here. The person who can explain."

"Eh?"

When Kamijou looked over--

The man who was walking towards him, wearing a white gas mask in broad daylight in addition to a white lab coat, raised his hand in a friendly manner, and said.

"Aha! You're that "otherworlder"! Nice to meet you. How are you? (Written in English). Be careful not to get infected with bacteria that doesn't exist in your world and die suddenly!"

Looking at this man who greeted him with surprise, Kamijou--

"Defi..."

"Defi?"

Ignoring the "otherworlder" comment first, he shouted out what he was feeling at that very moment.

"You definitely have a connection with Academy City--!"

===Part 5===

A few minutes ago | In satellite orbit | Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Lab

"What about the "tunnel" with the other world?"

[There's a theory that the neutrino and Higgs particle experiments in both our worlds has something to do with this, but as far as I know, your world has a Magic God who has changed the world through the phases that filter the physical world, your boss has also forcibly teared apart the "thin film of the world", and our side has an existence known as the Dullahan, and began to overuse its powers. It's probably all these sorts of accidents that came together, that just happened to connect these two worlds together…]

"The accumulation of these unfavorable conditions, huh."

The girl who was near the top of the system called Academy City said with a sigh.

"Hng, let's not talk about whether parallel worlds exist or not, but this "tunnel" that just happened to be created is rather unbelievable. And it does not explain the fact that Academy City has disappeared off the earth."

Amano Kaguya, accepting the explanation of the man who called himself Tsukumoya Shinichi, nodded as she floated in mid air.

"However, the disappearance of Academy City on that side should be on this side."

[That's probably the case. However, not many people can remember and have that sense of dissonance. To fill that void of dissonance, it seems that the Earth where Academy City exists right now also has a 380 meter long aircraft named "Sky By Fire" flying around, like nobody's paying attention to it. No, maybe it's actually because of the appearance of this aircraft that you've suffered a loss.]

"I got squeezed out through that distortion, so I was transported here without going into the "tunnel"?"

[Yes, the "Sky by Fire" was originally developed by a company called Niblo in this world 50 years in the future. By connecting with a world like Academy City, which has technology a hundred or two ahead of its time, it was able to materialize in the world as a "thing that should exist". So basically, to replace that Queen of the Sky, and to achieve balance, the Princess of the Universe was chosen.]

Kaguya, who was floating upside down from the Earth, shrugged at Tsukumoya's words.

"Is that flattery or sarcasm? It's hard to read your feelings just from your voice."

[Even so, I'm still anxious right now. if the two worlds completely merge together, it'll become all kinds of bad.]

"If you look at it from the perspective of rapid development of science and technology, shouldn't it be a good thing for your world?"

[It's not like that. At the very least, there are tens of thousands of "Vampires" in this world. If the girl named Himegami, the carrier of "Deep Blood" from your side, comes here, the vampires will flock to her, and then we'll be in a crisis. We’ll need to sacrifice the girl's life to save the extinction of the vampires. But, what's troubling is that there's a lot of good people among the vampires. I can usually accept any outcome, no matter what, but what if someone I know, or an innocent girl dies as a result of an "outside" influence? That wouldn't be very interesting.]

Even for Kaguya, who knew about the dispute between Science and Magic, the sudden mention of a topic like "vampires" was unexpected, but--

But she, who looked at the world as it were someone else's business, dismissed it as "Of course that exists", felt relieved, and calmly accepted the request to help resolve the situation.

"Well, that's fine. I think it'll be interesting, just standing by and seeing how things develop, but I can't leave Academy City alone in this situation. So I'll help you get things back on track."

[That's a big help, thank you.]

"I'll take care of Tsuchimikado, who has come to this world. Probably because of his back and forth between the Magic and Science sides, and the outside and the inside of the City, his tolerance is quite big, as long as his sister is not in trouble. Even if he does look like that. I'm sure he'll accept this and help us."

"Ahah, that's true. Better start acting as soon as possible."

There was a slight pause here from Tsukumoya, and the presence of a certain man was mentioned.

[The troublemaker who's grasped the situation and accepted it readily is preparing to take advantage of it for his own personal gain.]

===Part 6===

Somewhere in the city | Orihara Izaya's office

"Well, even if it is Shizuo, it should be over by now."

In his office, Orihara Izaya, who was happily sitting in his chair, spinning around, talked about this, eyes shining.

"I'm having a hard time trying to make connections with the other world. Although we share the language of Japanese, there's a significant difference in science and technology, and there's 2 billion people in the Roman system alone."

Izaya, who seemed to be speaking to his assistant in the office, kept talking, half to himself, without waiting for a response.

"From a girl obsessed with urban legends named Saten Ruiko to the media queen of the other side of the world named Olay Blueshake, I was most satisfied to know someone is named "Loki". Me, I'd feel some empathy towards these types of people. But it seems he was recently betrayed, and got beaten up by his comrade. So even if he believes in what I say, he won't have any trust in me."

“If there’s someone who can trust you on a personal level, they can probably be considered a saint.”

Ignoring the sarcasm of his assistant, Izaya continued.

"In any case, with his cooperation, he managed to infiltrate part of the system in Academy City. After that, he gave a false command that relies on some condition to the most powerful Esper over there."

"False command?"

"Ahah, it's all true, up to the midway point at least. The two worlds are gradually merging together. And on top of that, add a hypothetical such as "If an important man goes to Academy City, the worlds will merge together. If that happens, the other world would be an obviously unnatural existence... For example, for the 10,000 or so clones, their existence will disappear, and other similar changes may occur." That kind of condition--"

There was a slight pause there, but he continued with a pleasant smile.

"The "strongest man in Ikebukuro", the point of deviation related to the metamorphosis of the world, rendered useless, with no chance of resurgence.... That kind of order. Additionally, I gave him the information that the man in the bartender's uniform is actually a nasty piece of work with a penchant for kidnapping young girls. Even if it is that physically overpowered Shizuo, in front of that "Level 5", who is literally beyond the stage of what you call an ability, he is nothing more than a baby."

"And who's this superpowered person?"

With a half-hearted look, the woman who was his assistant, Namie Yagiri, looked at the information in her hands.

"You write it as "One Way Road", and read it as Accelerator?"

"Yup. Well, it's the same as an animal's Japanese name as compared to its scientific name. Although names are used to represent identity, don't you think that this name suits him in every sense? And his old name is also very interesting."

"Compared to his actual ability name, "Vector Manipulation".... What is this?"

"It means what it means, literally. The ability to observe the "direction" of various phenomena, and manipulate them according to one's own will, such as kinetic energy, light, sound, heat, and electricity. The ability to trick the world, changing gravity energy into buoyancy, and in extreme cases, to manipulate the vector of time, in a limited sense.”

In the face of Izaya's exaggerations, Namie responded with a sigh.

"Even though you don't understand the concept of time very well, you still said that..."

"It's that sort of illogical ability. Although it's probably logical for a place like Academy City, in our world, it's something beyond our logic."

"Illogical ability, huh."

Namie narrowed her eyes slightly, and said with a hint of annoyance, as if she recalled something.

"That person’s "shadow" is no more logical than he is."

===Part 7===

An abandoned factory

"If I had complaints about being killed, I wouldn't have come here."

The white haired boy replied with a bored, but serious tone, saying something that reeked of self-deprecation.

"I never thought I'd hear such brave words after all this."

"....."

"You're not a normal human being. If you obediently lie back down, your chances of survival will grow."

In contrast to Shizuo, who emerged, veins bulging, the white-haired teenager kept a cold expression.

Celty, in the middle of those two people, firmly interrupted.

[No, wait a minute. Why are you doing this to Shizuo!]

"Why? It's just a job."

Speaking indifferently, the white-haired teenager lightly put his foot on the floor of the factory.

The next instant, the "action and counteraction" that existed in Celty's own brain, that common sense, completely collapsed.

The iron plate that lay on a part of the abandoned factory bounced up and began to turn in the air magnificently, as if it was dancing.

"And, if you get in the way, you'll get destroyed. I've said this before, right?"

The white haired teenager pushed the iron plate gently in the direction of Celty.

Then, as if the rotational force of the plate became propulsive force, it shot at a straight line towards Celty.

A direct hit with the iron plate that weighed dozens of kilograms onto a normal human wouldn't be something that you could shake off.

But, Celty wasn't human, and she definitely wasn’t normal.

Countless shadow tentacles reached out from her own body, and caught the iron plate that was flying at high speed.

"!"

Looking at Celty's shadows, the white-haired teenager narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...What, is that?"

If a normal person had seen it, they would have been open-eyed in shock, but the teen wasn't ordinary in any sense.

He changed his expression as if he had seen a strange cat, nothing more, and he then continued with a soft tone.

"...Do you use the same power as that #2?"

Celty muttered to herself, hearing the teenager's words--

What the hell was this #2 and #7 just then!?--

Nevermind, she had to suppress him first.

Celty immediately stretched out her shadow, and tried to wrap it around the boy's body at high speeds.

However, he dodged it with a jump that was beyond the physical limits of a human, and lightly slapped away one of the tendrils that got close with his left hand.

"...."

In an instant, the front end of Celty's shadow started spinning around, disappearing as if it had been swept into a tornado.

Uwah--

What was that feeling she felt just then!?

It wasn't a natural disappearance, as it took Celty's own will to disperse her shadows.

It was because she felt a creepy feeling, something like the flow of power being doubled and sent back in full. She judged the danger in an instant--

This guy… He really is using psychokinesis?--

This wasn't good, as this was much more powerful than even the vampires she knew.

Contrary to the anxious Celty, the teenager's body language didn't give away any signs of anxiety at all.

Maybe he had experience fighting against an opponent similar to herself before.

If that was the case, it would be impossible to maintain a dominant position here, right?

Would he allow him to surrender? To retreat? As she was contemplating that--

"Oi."

The voice of Shizuo rang out, and both Celty and the teenager's attention turned his way.

Then, Shizuo picked up the remains of the vending machine that had somehow been abandoned in this abandoned factory.

"Your opponent... Is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

In the next instant, the vending machine flew towards the teenager with substantial force behind it.

The action taken by the teenager in response was--

Ignored.

The teenager once again looked at Celty, and assumed the attitude that there was no need to respond to Shizuo's attack

However, in realty, the moment in touched the special "barrier" thinly covering his body, the vending machine jumped back like a bouncy ball hitting a wall--

Shizuo!

Although Celty hurriedly stretched her shadow out, it failed to reach him.

Those who are immersed within their own abilities shall drown in them. The overwhelming force that matched this metaphor was heading for Shizuo's body--

"Ora!"

And with that, Shizuo struck it again--

....What?

"Ah?"

Even the white haired teenager couldn't help but look back at his opponent.

This teenager, so far, had bounced back all kinds of enemy attacks with his "ability"

He had experienced multiple crises before. Such as, people who could nullify attacks, people with special energy such as the "shadow", as well as getting overwhelmed with attacks from different dimensions.

But was there anyone who could forcefully reflect an attack back by using only the force of his hands?

Although he observed a flow of a force field, he didn't think that he was using any sort of ability--

What was going on? Who the hell was this guy?

He felt that this level of sturdiness was a bit weird, never mind the fact that this was beyond the realm of humans in the first place. Although there had been battles with durable opponents before, this man's body was half the size of the leader of Skill Out that he fought before, so how the hell could he do such things that were so far from common sense?

Although he thought so, he soon realized that it was pointless.

Because even if he could get the vending machine back at him, he could just reflect it back again - totally risk free.

Just as he predicted, the vending machine bounced back at Shizuo--

And then, once again, the man in the bartender''s uniform punched it back.

"...."

Crack! Pop! Once again, the exaggerated sounds of destruction resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

Between the bartender and the white-haired teenager, a vending machine rally began.

And, the speed of it was gradually increasing.

But in the end, it finally stopped.

It wasn't because the man in the bartender uniform had run out of energy. Instead, it was because the vending machine couldn't bear the brunt, and finally broke apart in mid-air.

"...."

"...."

There was a silence, with only the sound of the bartender-suited man's breathing that echoed through the factory.

Then, the white haired boy began to take a step towards him, and he said casually.

"Honestly, people who boast of their strength I see as fools usually... But, the truly outstanding ones are enviable. Since I have no need for physical exercise over here."

"...."

"If I could have 5% of your strength...."

In the teenager's mind, the face of a certain spiky-haired teenager flashed through.

He put on a bitter face, and said with a distracted look.

"Though I probably wouldn't be who I am now in any sense."

And then, for the first time, the teenager spoke of his reason for taking that step forward.

"Although it may seem a bit unreasonable.... But for today and tomorrow, if you were to wander around freely, that guy I know may disappear from the world."

The white haired teenager continued, as he walked over, step by step.

Was it because he was in an overwhelmingly favorable position, or was it because of some other reason that he became more talkative?

"Direct reversal of the flow of brain signals. If I keep your consciousness suppressed for three days, that'll be enough. However, if you're careless, you might die... Although I'm not going to apologize, if you've got any resentments to express, I'll listen to them."

However, Shizuo replied to this with a smile.

"Although I can't understand the implications of this all, this is extremely unreasonable."

Despite the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, Shizuo persisted.

"But I can't fall like this without so much as a whimper. I'll lose my face against the spiky haired boy who beat me yesterday."

"....Spiky haired?"

Hearing that word, a bad feeling flashed through the teenager's mind.

But, thinking about it wasn't going to help, so he took another step closer.

Celty, overwhelmed by the vending machine rally, finally realized that Shizuo was in true danger.

Up to now, has Shizuo ever been pushed against the wall like this?

Whether it was getting sent flying by a dump truck, a train, a hundred people trying to cut his head off, getting attacked by a huge tiger, even though he could survive all that, he was in a truly life-threatening situation now.

Heiwajima Shizuo was about to be killed by someone who came out of nowhere.

Something that seemed as ridiculous to Celty that it could have been a joke to her was happening before her eyes, and she was having a hard time trying to understand it.

Celty looked at the Shizuo whose body was covered in wounds--

===Part 8===

Izaya's office

"To be honest, I'm still only half convinced."

Namie looked at the information in the laptop and said once again.

"Connecting with parallel worlds. That's an idea so old that even SciFi novels don't use it much anymore."

"You're the one who's delved into the mythical realm and studied the head of the Dullahan, so are you sure you can say that?"

"Eh, course I do. The head of the Dullahan is an actual thing, and it's been confirmed."

"And in fact, it's also true that people from the other world have come here, right?"

Izaya, who said this, handed over some papers to Namie.

"Kamijou Touma, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Aogami Pierce. These names don't have any sort of records in this world. These three people, who existed in Academy City, came to this world through the subway in order to transfer something."

"High school students?"

"They aren’t just any high school students. Especially this kid, Kamijou. He’s a real hero who has saved the world multiple times. It's probably only in a world of advanced science as well as magic that a person can become that sort of savior. For me, I'm very interested in the kind of state such a rare human being is living in."

Looking at Izaya, who was laughing, Namie said, bored.

"It's like you think you're a god. You don't even have all the information about this world yet, so can you really understand the information about this so-called "other world" correctly?"

Although she was still doubtful about the connection with this other world, she had experience of studying the existence of an unnatural being such as the "Dullahan" using the common sense of science, so she might not have been so doubtful if not for that.

"Ahah, the intelligence level in that world is much higher. It's a world where you can even see the memories of the dead if you want to collect it. It's even easier to get information there than in this world."

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted in pleasure, and he said something unbelievable.

"In fact, I think it's fine to let the worlds merge like this. I think it's better for them to be integrated. When a new variable or an alien existence that is completely unmanageable appears in front of them, what kind of action will the humans take? Even if it's just limited to the people in this city, if I can observe them, one by one, it'll be enough for me to enjoy this life."

"Although what you said was that you've abandoned the struggle with a kindly tone, what you just said was extremely bad."

"There are a lot of interesting people over there too. Especially the Kihara clan's way of life, which makes me wonder about new possibilities for human beings. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call it beautiful."

"I think it's sad that these children are being treated like precious specimens by people like you. ...Eh?"

While looking at the information, Namie sarcastically said that, but she frowned suddenly.

"Hey, what's this "Aogami Pierce" thing?"

In response to Namie's light question, Izaya looked up at the ceiling, and giggled.

"Ahaha, this kid's information is well collected."

Then, without looking at any of the info, he began to talk about it.

"He's an Esper who freeloads in a bakery in Academy City. Although he's the class president of Kamijou Touma's class, he's also known as one of the "three idiots", along with Kamijou and Tsuchimikado. He's a strange fellow who's over 180cm tall. He takes supplementary classes, but not because he's dumb. Instead, it's because he wants to have as much interaction with his class teacher as possible. The possibility of this is pretty high. He’s been questioned regarding his occupation 43 times… no, it would be around 40 times regarding the time from when he came over to this city."

Without pause, Izaya droned on, as if he were speaking a tongue twister about the boy named Aogami Pierce.

Instead of boasting his knowledge--- it seems like he was trying to hide something.

"Ah, yes, that guy's fetishes concerning the opposite sex really is impressive. "I have a wide range of acceptance when it comes to women: not just fallen female main characters but also foster sisters, foster mothers, foster daughters, twins, widows, senpais, kouhais, fellow classmates, teachers, childhood friends, ojou-samas, blondes, brunettes, brown-haired, silver-haired, long-haired, medium-haired, short-haired, girls wearing bobby pins, wavy-haired, twintails, ponytails, one-sided ponytails, twin braids, ahoges, curly-haired, girls in sailor clothes, blazers, judogi, kyuudougi, kindergarten nurses, maids, policewomen, witches, shrine maidens, nuns, military women, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, stewardesses, waitresses, goth girls wearing black, goth girls wearing white, girls in China dresses, frail girls, albino girls, fantasists, girls with split personalities, queens, princesses, thigh-high socks, garter belts, girls who cross-dress as guys, girls who wear glasses, girls who wear an eyepatch, girls who wear bandages, girls in school swimsuits, one-piece swimsuits, bikinis, V-shaped bikinis, bikinis that barely cover anything, youkai, ghosts, animal-eared girls, etc.- any female is within my area of acceptance." That seems to be his mantra. Although some aspects of the opposite sex aren't in my personal domain, I admit that he is also an existence that can expand the possibilities of mankind."

"That guy, and you as well, who actually memorized that all, are perverts."

Namie said with an icy gaze, flipping through the information, page by page, in contrast to Izaya reciting it.

"And then?"

"And then, what?"

"That, the real name of that kid Aogami Pierce. It's not in the file."

"...."

Orihara Izaya was silent."

It was probably the first time she had seen him with such a quiet expression.

"There are various things... When downloading information from there, that kid's information was broken in a few places."

"What the heck, you don't even know his real name, but you've got the nerve to claim that you've been collecting information well!"

"Well. Although I don't think this kid is anything special, but as a human being who loves everyone equally, let me show you."

And so, Izaya took his laptop out and connected it with a special cord.

After a long list of unusual codes floated across the screen, a data file detailing some kind of roster was displayed.

"This is the roster of students in Kamijou's class. If you compare that with other conditions, you can immediately find the real name of Aogami Pierce, or something..."

In the next moment, the screen was completely flooded with images of flowers.

At the flower garden in the middle of the screen, a cartoon image of a character wearing a bouquet of flowers on her head appeared, and text emerged from the dialogue box that extended from there.

"Stop right there! Inappropriate access behavior!"

"Ah, fuck."

Sensing something, Izaya hurriedly shut the laptop down, and cut the line.

"Fuck me that was dangerous! It was almost like I've been stripped naked on this side!"

"Are you not going to run?"

""Anti-skill", the policing unit of Academy City, won't come to Ikebukuro. I don't think I need to even mention the police force of Ikebukuro here."

After that, Izaya tried various means of getting into touch with Academy City, but--

The information about Aogami Pierce was obstructed or corrupted before he reached it, and so the key information was not obtained.

"Does that mean that this kid is actually related to some sort of super important confidential information?"

In response to Namie's question, Izaya just shook his head.

"If that were the case, the information itself would have been protected. The reason we can't get information about it so far is because, although it seems far-fetched to say this, is all by chance. No, is it possible that there's a protection system in Academy City that pretends to be like this? Well....but...."

After a brief moment of confusion, Izaya stood up with a soft sigh.

"There's no helping it. He's here in person. Let's go collect some fresh information."

Although he seemed to be whining, his expression was that of a smile.

With a face full of anticipation as if he had never seen a new "human" before, Orihara Izaya happily left his office.

After calmly watching him leave, Namie said softly.

"This is looking like the pattern where he comes back empty handed. You reap what you sow."

===Part 9===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | Station Wagon

"Isekai!? This Ikebukuro?"

Karisawa said that "it would be bad for Aogami Pierce to hear", and so she brought him back to the station wagon. After hearing the explanation from the man with the gas mask, Shingen Kishitani, Kamijou Touma accepted it, half in doubt.

"Though, now that you say it, I feel like I was involved in a similar incident yesterday..."

"You're the one who's in the other world to us. The company I belong to, Niblo, has been conducting various investigations to this, and both the technological might of Academy City and the magic outside of it are excellent. The idea of sending a corporate spy there was on my mind, but I thought it would be impossible to hide the discrepancy since we're of a different world, so I cancelled it."

"If it were you, you probably won't feel any sense of being out of place even if you were walking around the research area..."

The right hand of Kamijou clenched tightly, after Shingan said that, and stared at him.

"Whoa!? What!? What's the matter!?"

"Mhm. That's the "Imagine Breaker" that's become a topic of conversation over there. So. Since you're here in this world, wanna try dissecting it?"

"I refuse!"

Shingen, a fully grown adult, proceeded to prostrate himself while in the back seat of the station wagon before Kamijou, who had merely given the only sensible response.

"Please think about it!"

"Although there have been various people who have turned their sights on this right hand so far, this is the first time I've heard of such a direct request from someone sitting right in front of me! How!? Don't tell me that this is how this world operates!?"

Facing the confused Kamijou, Karisawa replied.

"Well, this guy is pretty special. His son is a special guy who likes girls who's got nothing above their neck."

"What kind of hobby is that!? Even Aogami Pierce's list of fetish doesn't include it!:"

"Ah, I guess I'll put it in the category of "not a human" for now."

Putting aside the Karisawa who calmly roasted someone, Shingen pressed on the subject of Kamijou's right hand.

"Money isn't a problem, we've got all the money you need! It's not as if we're going to cut that hand off and take it away. As long as we can do all sorts of experiments with you under anesthesia, we can guarantee a minimum of 20 million yen!"

"Twenty million!?"

After hearing the exact amount, Kamijou's brain circuit short circuited for a while--

Damn it... if this was about a billion or two, something that's extremely far from the reality Kamijou knew, it wouldn't have any effect, but when it comes to the ten thousands of yen, it felt surprisingly realistic...!--

Ahhh.... Speaking of this, how much would the repair of his dorm cost? With that big hole caused by Birdway and Lessar...---

And, that much money would render his food problems...

It seemed like the magic of money couldn't be dispelled by his right arm, and Kamijou staggered drunkenly in delusion--

Eh? Wait a minute. Food expenses?

The moment he thought of that word, "food", his mind went straight to, "Touma, where's the food", and the scenario where she made her way through 20 million yen worth of food in half a month. Kamijou couldn't help but shake his head vigorously as he thought of that.

Nononononono, he needed to pull himself together!--

If he believed that money on that sort of magnitude could have any effect on his misfortune, he had to destroy that illusion of his!

Kamijou slapped his face with his right hand, and awakened his consciousness with the sensation and clarity that came with the pain.

"...Well, better forget about it. Knowing me, the 2nd day I get that amount of money, I'll need to pay a 20 million yen compensation, or something will eat it, etc. That's my fate."

Although he hadn't yet given up on life, he had given up on his own fortune, and faced with the Kamijou who carried such sadness in his eyes, Shingen shook his head in pity.

"Ah... So that's the case. It's nothing, even if you hadn't said that, I understand. If you can't save someone who was in crisis during the time when your freedom of use of your right hand was taken away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life, right...! How noble!"

"Ah, no, I'm not thinking about such a grand thing..."

"Anyway. We'll want to avoid the cause that will be caused by the merging of the worlds. If all the people of the Academy City group, including you, can go back, the distortion will be more or less reduced, right?"

Nodding vigorously, Shingen once again began to explain the situation

"Actually, a boy who called himself Jörmungandr was raging all over the place with huge wounds covering his body, but apparently a group of vampires somehow appeased him, and there was also a woman who called herself Hel who could control the 'cause of death,' but a gang of immortals managed to calm her down."

"No, I don't get it at all, even if you tell me that."

Ignoring Kamijou, who was tilting his head, Shingen continued.

"Then, there's also...two people who are also confirmed to be here."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"One of them, I hear, is someone you know quite well."

At that instant-- The window of the station wagon made a clanging sound.

Looking over, what he found was Tsuchimikado, who was looking confused.

"What's wrong, Tsuchimikado?."

Kamijou opened the window of the car and looked over, while Tsuchimikado whispered.

"Ah... Just now, the boss gave me an order, nya."

"Order?"

"It seems like... someone's impersonating the Board of Directors, and are issuing false orders.”

A stuttering Tsuchimikado finally managed to spit out the true identity of one of the “visitors of Ikebukuro.”

"As a result of those false orders, the "1st Ranked" came over here, and because communications are unstable, I can't connect to him... so we'll have to get in direct contact with him and drag him back before shit gets real."

===Part 10===

Abandoned Factory

"....?"

The white-haired teenager stopped in his tracks, as he felt a powerful change in the flow of power behind him.

Turning back--he found half the factory filled with "darkness".

It was the large amount of shadows that Celty Sturluson sent forth, swallowing up the entire abandoned factory.

Shizuo, who saw this, shouted out!

"You fucking idiot... Celty! This is my fight, so hurry up and return it to me!"

[I refuse!]

"Wh..."

Seeing Celty, who was typing in words with an unprecedented forcefulness, Shizuo couldn't say anything--

Honestly, it was impossible to understand what was going on--

Because it was not understandable, they had to stop this situation in order to understand it--

If there was any chance of stopping it, it would only be herself.

Celty, who was calmly weaving those words in her mind, wanted herself to calm down.

However, the passion that came out was completely uncontrollable--

The most important thing was....

The headless horseman, Celty Sturluson, clenched her fists--

How could she stay silent as she saw a friend being treated like that, right in front of her eyes!

For her, this was an extremely rare emotion.

Pure "Anger"

That was to say, a clear "hostility" towards the boy in front of her.

She didn't think she could win.

Her opponent was an existence that was outside of common sense, even to her as a Dullahan.

And she feared that he hadn't even shown his full strength yet.

Even so, the option of abandoning Shizuo there and running away on her own did not even exist in the mind of Celty at the moment.

She was a Dullahan. A fairy who didn't become a human.

As a result of her integration into human society and learning about humans through various mediums, the "human" heart that had developed inside her had made up its mind to attack the threat in front of her.

And since that was the case, it didn't matter if that "ordinary human being" made fun of her for being tactless.

"You don't have a head, but you still make such a determined face. Well, at least it shows that you understand the situation better, as you're not getting on the ground and begging."

And after those words dripping with sarcasm--

The white haired teenager manipulated the vectors of the wind around him, and instantly whipped up a tornado.

He compressed it into a blade of wind, and shot it straight at Celty.

However, the protective shadows completely blocked the wind, and moved forward, through the new shadows being generated from within.

The shadows had taken root in every corner of the factory, and the half-hearted wind attack probably wouldn't budge at all.

"..."

Bang! The white haired boy understood the situation. Bang! And he tapped the floor with his foot.

After that, he somehow manipulated vectors to allow the steel in the abandoned factory to float, one by one, and then as if they were being pulled to his side, they flew.

And then, as if to dust off the steel off his body, he knocked them, one by one.

The simple action made the iron accelerate like a cannonball, and with the momentum of a rain of bullets, they flew towards Celty.

However, all of them were absorbed as if they fell into a swamp, and the shadow continued to expand, like a giant slime.

"Tch... it really is the same sort as the #2!"

While clicking his tongue, the white haired boy raised his hand to the sky.

The wind began to compress in front of him at a high density, creating a small body of plasma.

Just as the teenager was about to throw the plasma at the "shadow" without hesitation--

"Take this!"

Shizuo threw one of the nearby chunks of iron, the same way he had through the vending machines before.

However, if it were only on this level, the teenager would not panic and misfire the plasma.

"Watch and learn, old man."

Of course, his reflection worked properly, and bounced the iron back just like before.

However, it was a little different than before.

Shizuo, after throwing the piece of metal, burst forward towards his opponent himself.

Then, in the same way, he hit the iron back at him.

If that was it, the results would not differ from before.

And because there was no difference--

Shizuo hit the piece of iron into the ground.

"!"

The piece of iron completely destroyed the ground, and stabbed itself into the underground warehouse of the factory.

And the white haired boy started to fall.

If it was only this, it wouldn't be considered on the level of a crisis.

However, when he felt that the ground in front of him was darker than he thought, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He sensed it.

Was it that Celty read Shizuo's intention, or was it that she was prepared to take hold from the very beginning- passing through the cave where half of Shizuo's body had been buried into, she filled the ground with a number of large shadows.

Then, just a moment before he was going to escape from the air through vector manipulation--

The shadows that covered the top, bottom, left and right of the abandoned factory wrapped up the boy completely.

"...What's this, huh?"

What was in front of Shizuo's eyes was a giant sphere that was about the size of a small car.

It didn't make contact with the ground, but it was completely stationary in the air.

[For the time being, I kind of locked him up....]

Instead of having the shadows directly twisting on him, it was akin to being locked up in a soap bubble.

Judging that he could manipulate kinetic energy freely, she didn't move the sphere immediately, but just kept it stationary in the air. Of course, if he kicked at the walls, he would be able to generate energy, right? So that was why Celty divided the sphere into dozens of layers, and wrapped it up like a Russian matryoshka doll.

Even if an inner layer was destroyed, a new one could be generated from one of the outer layers to cover it immediately. Although she had prepared for this specifically, nothing happened yet.

If this was ordinary matter, no matter what kind of technique was used to construct it, as long as the teenager used his ability, he would be able to tear it apart easily.

However, this was no ordinary matter that wrapped up the teenager.

It was "shadows"

Originally, shadows were areas where there was no light, and since they weren’t even considered matter, they didn’t have mass, or thickness.

Celty was manipulating the "shadow" as if it were an object with mass - the important thing here was that although "thickness" could be created through this, the concept of "thickness" could also be ignored.

This was something Celty herself did not realize, that she was actually able to materialize her shadows with varying degrees of thinness.

In other words, it could be kept at zero thickness, but also could be stacked infinitely to increase its strength.

Therefore, if Celty Sturluson had actually knew about this--

The "Shadow" could be a spear and a shield more powerful than any other material on this planet. It could even be the thread used to connect Earth and Mars together.

It was a power that had completely surpassed the common sense of science and the laws of physics. Celty herself was not able to understand it properly. It was a shadow of absolute strength that was created unconsciously.

In order words, she was able to do this because of the anger she felt.

If the underground doctor, who lived with her, knew about this, there would be no doubt that he would be jealous of Shizuo.

"This, how are we going to deal with him?"

[I don't think he can be defeated by physical means. Let's just wait for him to enter a state of hypoxemia.]

Celty made the density of the shadow bigger than usual, thus blocking the supply of oxygen by blocking the air.

This "suffocation attack" created by the interweaving and overlapping of various special conditions could be said to be one of the rare weaknesses of the invincible reflection.

If it were a normal person, this would be enough to decide who was the winner, and the loser. But--

This young man was the existence known as the #1 of Academy City -- [Accelerator]

He was another existence that wasn't ordinary, even within the category of Espers.

Bang..... Celty and Shizuo felt the sound of the air shaking.

In the next instant, alongside a violent sound of destruction, the top of the black sphere was torn by something unseen.

"What!?"

This....

Next to Shizuo who shouted out loud, the headless Celty's "vision" felt it.

From the top of the sphere, two colorless wings grew out--

....He hasn't even shown his full strength yet!

The thing that destroyed Celty's shadow, something that ignored the laws of physics, was indeed something "from another dimension" that also did not obey the laws of physics.

What was this... this thing, it was almost like...!

Celty probably associated the pair of wings with something else.

Just before she continued to think about it, the crack of the sphere widened, and the invisible wings, (were they white or black?), were rendered in another color for just a moment--

"Please don't fight over me anymore! Says Misaka as Misaka remembers the lines she recently saw in the morning at the theatre, and tries to pretend to be the heroine in the swamp!"

Such words, which were completely incompatible with the atmosphere of the scene, resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

When Shizuo and Celty looked over, there was a girl of about 10 years of age standing there, with an ahoge on the top of her head.

"A kid...?"

In contrast to Shizuo, who frowned, Celty, who saw who the girl was, panicked and took out her PDA, pointing it at her.

[I told you to wait near the motorcycle!]

"Who is it?"

Before answering Shizuo's question, Celty typed something in order to ensure the girl's safety.

[It's dangerous! Get out of here!]

But the girl, looking up at the black sphere, asserted with her hands crossed.

"It's not dangerous anymore, says Misaka as Misaka tries to send the words of objective truth to the strange sphere with hopeful observation."

The young girl had the voice of a child, but with the words of an old man.

Then, in the next instant, the "transparent wings" disappeared completely from Celty's vision, and the voice of a teenager who had become tired in every sense came from inside the sphere.

"Oi... I'm no longer in the mood for messing around. Hurry up and get rid of this damn ball."

A few minutes later.

After the shadow cage was lifted at the urging of the girl who called herself Misaka, the boy stared at them but didn't attack.

"Why are you here, you idiot?!"

“Because of numerous reasons, announces Misaka, Misaka somehow came into this world, but there were also signals from a satellite that talked about how several people were involved in a conspiracy."

"Say it so that I can actually understand."

The teen said, annoyed. Shizuo had to have suppressed his anger and urge to interject from behind.

"Hey...Although you guys seem to be pushing the topic on your own over there, I'm totally not convinced...."

Probably because there was a kid in front of him, he held back desperately. But the moment Celty tried to calm Shizuo down, whose face was twitching with anger--

"The reason is Orihara Izaya."

Because of what that girl said, Shizuo's movements halted.

"Misaka says as Misaka tries to convey this crucial piece of information that's at the core of everything."

"What are you on about, Last Order?"

Then, the girl named Last Order weaved around Shizuo's back and continued.

"It's all lies! About this person wandering around and the network, they're lies! They're all false orders given by that person named Orihara Izaya, pretending to be Academy City's Board of Directors, says Misaka as Misaka tries to peek at a certain person to see if his reaction is different than normal when he sees Misaka hiding behind this bartender, as Misaka peaks Misaka’s head out to confirm."

"Cut the bullshit and tell me."

After a few minutes, after the girl had explained everything, Celty's shoulders slumped--

In the end, there he was again, with his usual evil plans!

The man who did this thing purely because he hated Shizuo was none other than Orihara Izaya.

She understood this, but this time she actually really wanted to beat him up.

However, above that, there was a worry.

If she had that kind of thought, what kind of boiling state was Shizuo's mind in right now?

"Seriously, anyway, you should say sorry to the person you hurt first, Misaka says as Misaka thoughtfully teaches you the common sense of society."

Faced with the teenager who kept his face stiff, the young girl urged him to apologize to Shizuo and the others.

Just before the teenager said something, Shizuo said.

"Ahah... No, no need to apologize...."

Even though the #1 kid didn't use his ability, he could feel that Heiwajima Shizuo's anger vector had completely switched direction. But it also increased by several times then when he was facing him.

"Do you know where that fungus Izaya is?... Girl."

The girl answered without panic to the face of Shizuo, who was seeping with a ghost-like anger.

"Although I don't know why, because Hikoboshi II has also come to this world, I can observe his location in detail if I connect to the network! Misaka says confidently."

===Part 11===

——

Distortion.

The reason for all this was the distortion of space-time.

For example, even if Yumasaki or Karisawa went to Academy City tomorrow or yesterday, and met Index, but didn't realize it was her, that could be explained by that phrase, that it was all caused by the distortion of space-time.

In the past, when Yumasaki was thrown into the other world called Dengeki Gakuen, there had been a miracle, where he had met Index, and Burning-Eyed Shana themselves - perhaps the Yumasaki who went to Academy City was actually the Yumasaki from before in that point in time, so during his time in "that other world", that was why he judged Index to be a cosplayer.

And in this situation with distorted space-time--

Yumasaki and Karisawa were still going their separate ways.

"So, if you get Shokuhou-chan to remove the psychological scars of Awaki-chan, would it allow her to become a Level 5? Kamijou, try doing that please."

"What good would that do to Misaki-chan, huh?"

"Nonono, what are you talking about! And who's Awaki!?"

"She's a shotacon girl!"

"Even if you say that!"

While Tsuchimikado was trying to find out where Accelerator was, this argument continued. Shingen left the station wagon, saying that he had to go back to the office to report on the situation, and Aogami said that he was going to meet some girl on the Otome Road and left, so only Kamijou was left to savor this unreasonable situation--

Why do these people know so much about Kamijou and Academy City?

"Actually, I have even more questions..."

When Yumasaki tried to take out some books, he accidently dropped his backpack, and several Light Novels dropped out of the opened pack.

"Huh? What books are these?"

Seeing the cover that said "A Certain Magical Index," Kamijou frowned.

Index of Forbidden Books. A word that he often heard. So adding that "Index" on there was pretty redundant.

T/N: The Japanese title reads: "Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku", with Kinsho Mokuroku, with that meaning "Index of Prohibited Books", but there's Furigana above those Kanji, which tells the reader that it's supposed to be pronounced "Indekkusu", so that's why it's redundant

And, the cover art of these books of the characters all matched with the people he knew, even the outfits.

"Ah, this is..."

While Yumasaki was thinking of how he should explain it, Kamijou picked up one of the books nearest to him, and turned the pages noisily.

Then--

"W....what the hell is this!?"

Electrical current swam throughout the grey matter in Kamijou's brain.

Actually, it was the same kind of shock, as the time when he was gently hit by Misaka Mikoto's electrical attacks.

After seeing the word "Kamijou" in the novel, reading it with a frown, he found that it was as if his previous experiences in the past had been recorded in the form of a novel.

"This, what the hell is this!? Is it some stalker's diary or something? Did I make some enemies in some kind of strange organization unknowingly!?"

"Ahhhh... That.... That's.... something like the Akashic Records. About the Akashic Records, maybe Index or Birdway can explain it in more detail."

"Wait a second! You not only know Index, but also Birdway!?"

In the book labeled Volume 2, the events relating to Himegami and the Misawa Cram school were described.

Then, it suddenly occurred to Kamijou--

Hmm? This means...--

Wouldn't the first volume... be about the events before he lost his memories?

Moving his eyes down, he found a book with no number after the title, lying on the floor.

Gulping, he slowly stretched his arm out, but--

Karisawa held her hand out.

"No."

"Hey..."

This book was a very good example of the kind of book that could be used to make a person's life easier.

Putting that book away in his backpack, Yumasaki, with a serious face, said.

"Kamijou, we'll also be talking according to the situation. About your past, just like the flower on Uiharu's head, it's a sacred area that must not be touched. So I'm sorry."

"Hey, so my past, though I don't get it at all, it's on the same level as the "flower on the head" or something...?"

"After all, we're just mere spectators. Even if we can cheer you on, we don't have the right to change your life."

Karisawa said, hugging the Kamijou who had no choice but to calm down.

"It's alright, even if you don't have your memories, there are still people who love you. No matter what happens to them, we're the same. Who we love is the ‘you’ who can move forward now!"

"That's right, in this city, there is someone who has lost her head, not to mention her memories, and that person is now living a fulfilling, loving life."

"...."

He didn't understand what all this was about.

Although this was the case, he could feel that the warmth in their words was genuine, so Kamijou said this, though he was still confused.

"Thank....you."

"Ooooohhhhhhhhhh! Kami-yan!"

Completely destroying the fantasy-like atmosphere, from outside the station wagon came the voice of Aogami Pierce.

"What's wrong, what's wrong!?"

After Kamijou opened the car door, it revealed the tearful Aogami Pierce."

"You listen to me, Kami-yan! Even if I talk to the girls on Otome Road, all they say to me is that "Wow, that's so cool, this cosplay suits you"! What??? Did someone steal my iconic hair and earrings that I've put so much faith into! I didn't think it would be so humiliating to be asked if it was a cosplay or not, but this seems to have awakened a new fetish in me, ohonononononoononono."

"Okay, just calm down! The one feeling embarrassed is me now!"

Kamijou was made aware of the eyes surrounding them and used his hand to press on Aogami Pierce's mouth.

Pushing Kamijou's hand away from him, and complaining to Yumasaki, whom he had just established a friendly relationship with, Tsuchimikado sighed as he watched Aogami Pierce running around.

"Not good, nya. The line with Hikoboshi has become mixed up, and so I can't figure out where that guy is."

"Are you saying that there's others communicating? With that satellite?"

"Well, there's a lot of confusion over on the other side as well. Even so, if we don't find Accelerator soon..."

"You want me to tell you what?"

Kamijou and the others looked back at the place where the voice suddenly appeared, and there stood a man wearing a black fur coat.

"...Who are you?"

"An informant that's just passing by. You guys are worried because you can't find where Accelerator is, right? Then allow me to sell you that information."

"You... know about what's going on?"

"Sort of. Honestly, I've already looked into the situation. After all, this incident is of great interest to me as well."

The man who called himself the informant looked at the teenager near the door of the station wagon, expertly weaving his words together.

"There's just one thing, to be honest. Although I’ve collected all kinds of information, I don't know why I can't get the real name of Aogami Pierce over there."

With a self deprecating smile, the informant continued.

"Although it isn't a big deal, I'm pretty unsatisfied having such a hole in my information. If you can tell me this, I'll give you the information you want."

"What, what? It's not such a big deal. I'm not even listening, and you're talking about it so casually?"

Aogami Pierce, who heard his nickname being called, started to listen to the conversation midway, saying to the informant, determined.

"Oh, tell me my real name, Kami-yan! With gusto! Let this second-rate informant, who doesn't even know my real name, see the cruelty of reality!"

Aogami Pierce, who was pointing a finger at Izaya with a strange pose, Kamijou could only respond with silence.

"...."

"Kami-yan?"

An unprecedented cold sweat seeped out of his face, and Kamijou said some words, as if he were talking to himself.

"Once, despair was inflicted."

"?"

"That was when the whole world became my enemy. Even you and Fukiyose tried to kill me. Imagine it as some sort of dream."

"Hey? Ah, so you're talking about a dream?"

"In such a horrible, horrible situation, to you who tried to kill me... I called you ‘Aogami Pierce’... Even in such a situation, I could only use your nickname..."

"What are you talking about, Kami-yan? What are you trying to say?"

"Hey, wait, you guys, are you serious!? Are you kidding me!? Nononono, really, are you guys trolling me?"

Aogami Pierce accepted his friend's reaction as a joke, standing in front of the informant.

"Fine, I'll do it myself! Dig the shit out of your ears, and listen to me carefully!"

Aogami Pierce took a big breath, getting ready to say his name out loud to all these people around him.

"My name is..."

And in the moment after that, space-time distorted.

To be precise, it was an attack that gave the illusion of space-time distortion, that wrapped up an entire space.

The one that flew here, aiming at Orihara Izaya, crushed the asphalt beneath him, blowing the body of the Aogami Pierce next to him away, through the pressure of the wind alone.

"Arghhh--!?"

Looking at the Aogami Pierce, who was rolling around, grunting, Kamijou went after it with his unsteady body.

He glanced to the side -- A small impact crater had been created, and a man in a bartender's uniform with a face that looked like it belonged to a demon lord was standing in it.

Because of the overwhelming sense of pressure, Kamijou continued to chase after Aogami Pierce, as if he had seen nothing.

The man who had dodged the impact just in time howled like a monster.

"I don't know if this world is distorted or whatever... But you're ready to have your body squished into a ball, right...? I---Za----Ya----Kun------ OOOOOOHHHHHH!"

===Part 12===
"Goodbye, and thank you so much for today, says Misaka as Misaka shows kindness in the place of the cold edgy guy."

[Ahah, take care on your way back.]

Celty entered that text gently, to the girl who was smiling innocently.

Then, she took a look at the boy named Accelerator.

He manipulated Shizuo's strength, which far exceeded that of a normal human, blowing his body directly towards where Izaya was. Although this was Shizuo's own request, Celty couldn't help but think that this kid who could do this was so far beyond common sense that it wasn't even funny.

At the same time, if that girl hadn't arrived, who knows what would have happened.

Shingen suddenly said "You should accompany this child to find someone" and then because of this girl "Felt that he was this way, thought Misaka as Misaka tried to look for that person's distinct traces of AIM surrounding him", Celty followed those ambiguous instructions and ran up and down the streets.

When she came into the abandoned factory because of Shizuo's guttural roar, she told the girl to wait at the motorcycle, and so she went to see what was going on, but ended up getting involved in it--

After all, she didn't know about the white hair... So she didn't think that it was the person that the kid was looking for.

"Why are you staring over here... Uh, oh wait, you've got no eyes."

The girl began to lecture the teenager when he said such things to Celty--

Ignoring the lecturing, he said this to Celty.

"....Oi."

[What?]

"About your power... There should be a better way that you can use to kill me in an instant, right? Why didn't you use it?"

Celty responded after thinking a little, typing out the text.

[Why do you think... Wouldn't it be better to settle things without killing anyone? No one would lose any sleep at night because of it.]

Hearing that, the teenager frowned, muttering.

"Even a monster like you is this indecisive."

After that, with a slightly unimpressed expression, he messed with the girl's hair.

"We're going back. This isn't my city."

[Nonsense. As long as you don't go crazy like before, Ikebukuro welcomes you]

The teenager didn't respond to Celty's words.

As if to replace the reply, he once again ruffled with the girls' hair.

It was as if he was claiming that the place where the teenager would go was the place where he belonged.

===Part 13===

Ikebukuro station | On the subway

"Ahh, what bad luck. It's the same as yesterday. I didn't even finish one of the external research..."

After all that chaos, Kamijou and the others got on the same subway they took here because of Shingen's urging.

After that, they got caught in a fight between the man in the bartender suit and the informant, and when they managed to escape, they found out that Accelerator had already gone back to Academy City, so everything was settled.

"Honestly, I have no idea what just happened, but suddenly everything is alright now... Well anyway, if it's all solved, then it's for the best..."

Kamijou, who got involved in the incident, and yet didn't become the center of it, felt the fatigue coming on, after relaxing for a bit.

Speaking of which, was it really all over?

Although he wasn't so sure about it, once you got on this subway, people of the "Academy City World" would automatically go back to the original world.

Aogami Pierce, who did not understand what was happening, and Tsuchimikado, whose last encounter with Kamijou was a little earlier back in time. Each of them would go back to their respective times and places, across the distorted space-time.

No matter if it was a distorted path or not, all one could do was to move forward.

Suddenly, Kamijou, who had made his mind, felt a sense of unease, and said,

"I feel like I've forgotten something... What could it be?"

===Part 14===

Hikoboshi II | Satellite Orbit | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory

[We've finally solved the problem]

In response to the message from Tsukumoya Shinichi, Kaguya maintained her floating position as she replied.

"The scale of the merging seems to be larger than expected."

[Yes. So there's nothing better than getting in touch with you, who can observe the earth from the most objective perspective, and getting your assistance on top of that.]

"But the important thing is that I'm still here in this world."

[If the distortion of the Sky by Fire can be resolved, you should be able to return to your original world in a few days.]

"I said that I couldn't leave Academy City on it's own, but I don't really care about it. Looking at a different Earth is a good way to pass the time. It's like a spot the difference game."

To the not particularly troubled Kaguya, Tsukumoya Shinichi told the truth.

[Well, also, since you think it's fine like that, then I better not say anything more...]

[But your presence here has sent the surface into panic.]

===Part 15===
Somewhere on Kawagoe Street | Shinra's apartment

"Celty! You're back! What a day it's been today!"

[Really!... Suddenly something unbelievable has happened.]

When she finally returned home, she found a paper bag on the table.

[What's this?]

She took a peek with her hand, and saw something that looked like a wine bottle in some special packaging.

"Ahhh.... That seems to be something that my dad's guest forgot. He says that he wants you to send it back through the subway tunnel tomorrow..."

[???]

Why did she have to go through the subway tunnel to send back something that someone forgot?

Just as Celty was about to ask the obvious question, a report about an astonishing event just came, blaring from the news on the TV.

[And for the next piece of news. We have received an astonishing image. A huge artificial structure, 5,000 meters long, has appeared in the sky over Tokyo. There is no record of such a satellite being sent up, as far as we know--]

Suddenly, Celty dropped the goods onto the couch.

[Ohh... Are these aliens ahhahaguukayadshaaghdsdkgh]

"Calm down, Celty! Celty!?"

After that, she couldn't get her work done well because of the news, and the next day, she passed through the underground tunnel, confused. She arrived at "Academy City", but--

But this is another story, for another time.

===Part 16===

'''Epilogue'''

Ikebukuro's west gate park was covered in a thin, crimson, sunset.

In the corner of the park was a man with long, thin eyes, as well as a European shaped face, sitting on a metal tube bench.

Although it wasn't a rare presence in Ikebukuro, where there were many foreign tourists, the unique atmosphere that surrounded this man was a presence very rare indeed, both in Japan, and abroad.

However, a person who could detect this atmosphere would also be a very rare existence in this world.

"Can I sit next to you?"

"It's a public bench. You don't need to ask me for permission..."

The man said with a shrug, after glancing in the direction of the girl.

"Whatever."

"It's not just whatever. This side or that side, how much confusion do you think has been created? There were several conflicts in places you didn't see. Of course, you know all that, right?"

"So, is it, or is it not? After all, it would be boring if I knew everything. Life is meant to be a challenge."

"What are you talking about, cheater?"

The girl said that, sitting down violently on the bench

To this girl, the man said.

"Why did you come here? The bottle should have been returned to Kamijou Touma, right, girl?"

"It's like you asked me to come here yourself. I didn't expect that someone like you could blend in with society in general. How can you not be interested in something like that?"

The young girl, who was about 12 years old, spoke loudly. The leader of the magic cabal, the Dawn Colored Sunlight, Leivinia Birdway. To this, the man softly replied.

"Even so, he was a senior member of an underground organization. It's hard to say that he's someone with a normal status."

"It doesn't matter if it's the triads, the Camorra, or the 'Ndrangheta, to us Magicians, they're all the same."

"From how I can see it, Magicians and Espers are just the same."

"Don't get so passive aggressive. What are you, a child?"

The man of the underworld giggled at Birdway's words.

"It's not something to laugh at. Have you seriously prepared a solution to this mess?"

"Don't need to do anything. In the infinite cycle of the chicken and the egg, the chick will go on it's own way."

"Are you going to play this game of words to deceive your way through? If that really would work, what a chaotic play it would be."

After a little more words exchanged, Birdway slowly stood up.

"There's not much to be gained from how I live my life. It's time for me to return, Alchemist."

"Yeah? I'm sorry to see you go, but I won't keep you any longer."

The man named the Alchemist continued to speak to the magician girl.

"It's hard to form ties. In the end, I'd like to leave you a piece of advice, about your actions this time. Although it's something that the majority of people from this world can feel."

"What? Advice from a "being" like you would be interesting. Let's hear it then."

In response to Birdway's words, the Alchemist said with a blank expression.

"I don't think you came here because you were interested in what I was doing, but simply because you were chasing after Kamijou Touma, right?"

"Wh...."

"You're actually a brocon, aren't you?"

"...."

For a moment, the silence that seemed like that time had stood still dominated these two.

After several seconds of silence that could be described as forever, the corners of Birdway's mouth twitched, and she said.

"....If I become a magic god, I'll come over to this universe and destroy you, you bloody bastard. Keep that in mind."

"What a horrible thing to say...Fine"

Smiling while shrugging his shoulders once more, the Alchemist laughed.

"When that time comes, I'll ask Kamijou Touma for help."

===Part 17===
After the girl disappeared from the streets of Ikebukuro with an appalling anger, the man, still sitting on the bench, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself.

"A chaotic play. In some sense, maybe that's true. But where in the world can you get the words to explain this event."--

"If you could explain it with words, then a phenomenon of this magnitude can't really be truly called "Absurd"".... Ha--

This, again, was the words of something outside of this dimension, from elsewhere--

Whether he understood it or not, this incident was, in other words, something like that.

"Oh well."

After saying that, the man's figure disappeared.

The space where the man was originally located dissolved into "nothingness" - like a film reel being scattered in the air.

Then, one part of the film distorts, beginning to form a circle, and the film, which had become a shape of a mobius ring, further shifted into the shape of ∞ Infinity, beginning to rotate.

As if to say that the event neither had a beginning, nor an end, from the very start.

The view of the city, too, continued to rotate like a film.

Knock knock, click click--

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Translator's note - Here's a note on all the origins of the characters (and terms) that appeared or were mentioned:

'''A Certain Magical Index (Kamachi Kazuma)'''

Kamijou Touma, Othinus, Roberto Katze, Leivinia Birdway, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Tsuchimikado Maika, Fukiyose, Himegami Aisa, Tsukuyomi Komoe, Index Librorum Prohibitum, Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Amano Kaguya, Kazakiri Hyouka, Accelerator, Meigo Airsa, Aleister Crowley, Saten Ruiko, Olay Blueshake, Utgard Loki, Misaka Imouto, Sogiita Gunha, Kakine Teitoku, Komaba Ritoku, Kihara clan, Aiwass, Uiharu Kazari, Lessar, Jörmungandr, Hel, Last Order, Musujime Awaki

'''A Simple Series: Kamachi Kazuma'''

[Absurd]

'''Durarara!!! Narita Ryougo'''

Yumasaki Walker, Tsukumoya Shinichi, Celty Sturluson, Heiwajima Shizuo, idk who this is, Karisawa Erika, Kyohei Kadota, Saburo Togusa, Shingen Kishitani, Shinra Kishitani, Orihara Izaya, Namie Yagiri

'''Vamp!'''

Viscount -- Gerhardt von Waldstein, The Organization

'''Baccano!'''

Prohibition Era Groups, Alchemy of the Abyss, Alchemist (Ronnie Schiatto)

'''Shakugan no Shana'''

Shana

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IndexVSDRRR Crossover Ikebukuro Chapter

2021-04-03T01:47:36Z

SandyBoi:

==Ikebukuro Chapter==
Translation: botman/Dracoslayer123

Edit/Proofread: Dracoslayer123/Pablusky/SandyBoi/Fullmetal
===Part 1===

Tokyo | Ikebukuro | Summer

"Such misfortune..."

Kamijou Touma, under the sweltering sun, spoke his catchphrase.

However, there was just one thing that was different from normal.

He was neither in his usual stage known as "Academy City,” nor in the sky above Russia, nor in the eternal darkness made by the Magic God.

It was a place that wasn't that far from Academy City. He was in a city only a few kilometers to the northeast of one of the entrances of the "Outer Wall.”

Ikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo.

Although it couldn't compare to Academy City, Kyoto, or Akihabara, it was one of the most famous cities in Japan.

"Ikebukuro, huh... Come to think of it, I don't think I've been to many cities in Japan apart from Academy CIty..."

Kamijou deliberately added the word "Japanese" because he remembered that he had been to several cities outside of Japan in just the past few months. It was ironic that he had never been to a much closer city in Japan, yet he had been to Russia and Italy.

"Though if I wanted to shop, I could just do it in Academy City..."

At that moment, something similar to a news commentary could be heard from the side.

"...President to be at the summit..."

When he turned around toward the sound, he saw a prototype laptop displayed in an electrical appliance store, converting the news images from the TV to high definition and then broadcasting them.

The news of the summit between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Japan came on, and at that time, Kamijou tilted his head and said,

"Huh? He’s not that old guy?"

After a while, Kamijou, surprised at the appearance of a man who looked nothing like the Hispanic president Kamijou had known, suddenly noticed something and said,

"His approval rating didn’t drop because of that incident in Denmark...right?"

After he spoke with such anxiety, he heard a sudden beeping sound in his head.

Then, in the next instant, he had a question about what he had just said.

Huh?

"That incident in Denmark…” What was that again?

"Well, that old guy was really one of a kind... I guess he finally got the sack."

Kamijou, who easily accepted his acquaintance's sacking even while cocking his head in worry, started walking forward, and then sighed deeply once again.

"Why on earth would I want to spend my hard-earned days off on something that feels like what an envoy would do?"

In the bag hanging from his hand, there was a cylindrical protective case made of stainless steel and some sort of cushioning material.

It seemed to have been found at a station at Academy City, and after being bounced between various organizations, it ended up in the hands of the troubled Kamijou as usual. And now it had to be sent back to Ikebukuro.

“Anyway, all you have to do is casually walk around with it. It’s bound to be reclaimed soon enough thanks to the law of causality.”

"At least, that's what Birdway said, but I really don't get it. That bartender guy beat me up so bad yesterday that I can't even straighten my back anymore, and she had the nerve to oh-so-politely help me fill out my application to exit Academy City? No matter how you think about it, it can’t be anything other than her using me. Speaking of which, isn’t she spending way more time in Japan than in England…?”

Whining, Kamijou took a look at the box. There were signs that it had already been opened, but there was no way to know if the person who found it had drunk any of the "something" inside. As the transporter, Kamijou, who was a minor, didn't even think about the option of "drinking" the thing.

"Ahhh, seriously, will there never be a chance for me to relax other than on a hospital bed...?"

Beside the sighing Kamijou, one of his classmates opened his mouth with a happy smile.

"Don't say that, Kami-yan. I'm looking forward to it, you know? Ikebukuro is filled with a different flavor of chaos than Akihabara. The mere mention of the word "Otome Road" alone transforms my heart into a great-journey-gangster-gold-mine!"

The boy who spoke such nonsense was none other than Aogami Pierce.

Just as his nickname suggested, he was a blue-haired boy with perpetually closed eyes and pierced ears.

Although this bad friend of his had also applied to leave Academy City, it seemed as if he had applied to go out in the name of "external training experience instead of supplementary lessons," and in order to meet the requirements, he had to have a tutoring partner.

"Anyway, I'm going to leave the tutoring to you… or should I?"

As Kamijou expressed his unease, another fellow student smirked mischievously at him.

"Nyaa~ As soon as I said I was going to Ikebukuro, my step-sister told me to "hurry up and go to the butler cafe to have the essence of a gentleman carved into your spine." But before that, I should pop into a cosplay cafe, and in there, I'll think about world peace and the safety of my sister: that's the real essence of being a gentleman!"

The upbeat boy with dyed blonde hair and a Hawaiian shirt was Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

These three were a group of delinquents known as the "Delta Force" (“Idiot Trio”), famous among their classmates in a very small subsection of Academy City. Because Kamijou was always covered in blood, their characteristically red, blue, and yellow colors may have given them the nickname "Academy City's traffic light trio."

Those three were striding through the streets of Ikebukuro, but--

"Anyway, the subway to Ikebukuro was surprisingly crowded..."

The moment Kamijou said that, he noticed something strange—

Huh?

Subway?

That was strange. Was it even possible to reach Ikebukuro by subway from Academy City?

The last time he was able to leave Academy City so easily was that time on the beach in Kanagawa—

He was pretty sure...that leaving the city would require walking through the ‘gate’.

Kamijou, who had been repeatedly manipulated by various organizations, had gone to many countries like England and Italy through questionable means, having even been thrown out of planes, needing to stick a parachute landing. That was why he didn't think there was any point in formalities like "having to walk out through the gate" at all.

However, even so, he didn't think there was such a thing as being able to leave Academy City using the subway.

In order to go outside, students had to prepare an application and a guarantor. Before they went out, they had to accept the procedure of getting a nano transmitter injected into their bodies.

They say the extra security protocols were countermeasures against industrial espionage, but to students, it gave the illusion that Academy City was actually a prison and that they were applying for parole. Therefore, was it even possible that they could’ve gone through all of that and not remember any of it?

That... Eh?

In the first place, why didn’t he realize something so important until now?

Anyway, what was today’s date again?

He realized that even such simple facts had become so vague for him and was suddenly filled with unease.

"Hey, hey, it's not like we’ve been hit by some mind-altering magic or psychological esper power, right?"

Kamijou touched his head with his right hand just to be on the safe side, but didn't seem to notice any significant change.

After all, his right hand could dispel any supernatural ability and restore the world to its proper form. If his right hand, named "Imagine Breaker," touched it, any illusion or the like should have been dispelled at once. However, it seemed like his memories and vision haven't been tampered with.

He began to relax about that, but then another bout of unease arose.

"I don't think I went through any procedure, no matter how much I try to think about it. I don't even think I took a subway at all..."

Was this really Ikebukuro? He looked around in a panic, wondering if he had mistakenly gone to the downtown area of District 15.

Then, in just a few seconds, he found a subway station entrance marked "Ikebukuro station.”

"Huh? Am I even more tired than I had realized…?"

Looking at Kamijou, who was breaking out in cold sweat, Tsuchimikado whispered quietly.

"(Calm down nyaa~ Kami-yan. I also feel like something is out of place here.)"

"(Hey now, don't tell me it's some trick you Anglicans are pulling!? If I get taken away somewhere again, I'm actually going to be held back a grade at this point...)"

“(If that were the case, I wouldn't have done any of this. I would have just kidnapped you quickly, nyaa. In any case, if this is some kind of attack, panic is what they would want you to feel, so pretend like you’re totally fine. This is perfectly normal, okay?)"

"(What about Aogami Pierce?)"

Kamijou focused on his friend who was just an ordinary person, despite being an esper, and Tsuchimikado straight up gave a thumbs up.

"(That’s not a problem, nya. He’s an idiot, so he probably has no inkling as to what’s really happening!)"

"(Wait, that's true.)"

Saying something like that made one wonder if they were really friends—

Aogami Pierce suddenly stopped and said to Kamijou and Tsuchimikado.

"Hmm? By the way, we never went through the “gate,” did we?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe this guy just said it aloud!"

"Nyaa!! This guy really can't get with the program!"

Faced with inexplicable spite from his two evil friends, Aogami Pierce silently clenched his fists and prepared to defend himself while not even knowing why.

"Wait a minute! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I can definitely at least read the mood! Say if some president’s voluptuous secretary, who’s wearing glasses and has an air of maturity, and some depressed-looking, blonde, Nordic girl appeared in front of my eyes, even if they looked like mother and daughter, I would politely say "did you sisters come to see the sights around here?" while desperately fantasizing about those two as my older and younger sister. See, I can read the mood on that level of making a paradigm shift and turning it into a paradise shift!"

He was probably trying to say that he could be polite enough to refer to an older woman as much younger than she actually is, but the entire message was soiled by his later words.

"As expected from Aogami Pierce. Choosing to be the middle sibling of three instead of being a lover—I'm impressed by the depth of your skills."

"The moment you use the words "depressed-looking" and "president's voluptuous secretary" while trying to explain how you can be polite to women, you’re just proving that you really can’t read the mood…”

"No, that’s the key. By imagining our positions in detail, we can make our delusions more realistic and our hearts more satisfied."

“Oh, I see you know your stuff! See, I’ve already fantasized away and came up with this. The two sisters are actually assassin sisters who were sent here to kill me, but thanks to that lucky pervert Kami-yan, they got their breasts fondled somehow, and as a result of their mental shock, the brainwashing that had been placed on them got lifted, and the plot of escaping their evil organization begins! Then, 80 years later, surrounded by a total of 128 heroines that I met in my journeys, including eternally young mothers, maid robots, and shota step brothers, I die from pure moe overload!

“That’s a surprisingly long life you live in that fantasy… More than that, don’t just casually put other people inside your own perverted fantasies!”

"Though, Aogami Pierce... in order to differentiate each person, it's important to set up costumes for everyone! Also, is there really a need for the "shota step brothers" thing, nyaa?"

"What are you talking about! I've said this before, but no matter if its a step sister, a stepmother, a stepdaughter, twins, widows, (omitted), soldiers, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, (omitted), non-humans, ghost girls, or animal-eared girls, I can accept them all! As long as you feel attraction, trivialities like gender cease to matter, don’t they?"

“Well, homosexuality is indeed a form of love, but the moment you do anything with a child, it’s a crime whether or not you’re a man or a woman.”

“Mmmm, and the dream that allows us to bypass the wall known as the law is called the second dimension. After all, I firmly believe that as long as it’s only in 2D, even lolis and shotas are totally acceptable. Of course, if you bring that dream over into the 3D world, you’re really suspicious.”

“You know, I had a phase where I thought like that as well, but now that I’ve seen some guy who manages to build a harem with every single girl in his class, his loli teacher who looks like she’s still in grade school, some little nun he found somewhere, and the ojou-samas in some fancy middle school, I’ve come to realize that the wall between 2D and 3D is basically nonexistent.”

“Exactly. And then he always uses the “I like older women” card to spread the fake news that he doesn’t have a harem or anything like that, like he’s some kind of messenger from hell! What’s more, even though there should be no way he could develop a relationship with her, he’s been calling my sister by her first name from the very start, nyaa!”

"Hey, watch it."

Because the debate seemed to be perpetually ongoing and because he felt like he was being insulted to his face, Kamijou decided to change the subject by voicing a concern he had had for some time now.

"Anyway... Who in the world are you?"

The three of them focused their attention to one place where there was a man who had somehow so naturally joined the conversation.

"Ah, hey guys. I'm Yumasaki Walker."

The teen, who seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type, cheerfully gave out his name.

"Wow, to see the Kamijou Touma in the flesh, it's such an honor to meet you!"

===Part 2===

Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory.

A young woman strongly felt that something was very wrong.

The shape of a certain city on Earth had become completely different from what it had been just a few hours ago.

The person floating weightlessly in space while curled into a ball was a girl who was probably in her late teens.

That alone was anomalous enough for "this world,” but the fact that she was wearing a junihitoe made that fact all the more so.

However, for the "world she resides within," what she was wearing wasn't anything too special.

It may be that the only thing that had become abnormal was our benchmark. At least, it was this girl who noticed the abnormality just now.

To her, the Earth, including its seven billion people, was just “something to observe."

Whether it was a war on the surface, the disappearance of national borders, or even a nuclear explosion, it was merely someone else's business to her.

For her, who was, in a sense, watching a live documentary while in the luxury of a first-world environment, such a disturbance would not go unnoticed.

Having a unique life rhythm, she woke up a few hours ago and found that the earth had changed significantly between the time she had gone to bed and the time she had woken up.

The only place she had been "connected to” on Earth—Academy City—had disappeared from Japan.

Although the surface of the earth looked like a neat little collage, to make a collage of its scale in real time would require a being on the level of a god, a demon, or someone who had completely surpassed the boundaries of esper powers.

Located in the western part of Tokyo, the isolated circular world of Academy City contained 2.3 million people.

The developed city within that circle had disappeared, replaced with a completely different topography.

After about 0.5 seconds of her debating whether to try contacting someone in Academy City to judge whether this was some sort of "attack” or if it was too rash to reveal her location just like that, a communication signal came to her as if it had been deliberately timed.

It had all the right codes and the same patterns as the hidden line she usually used, but the voice was of a man she had never heard from before.

[Hey.]

"Yo."

The girl, named Amano Kaguya, who spoke back in a rude way that was completely contrary to her appearance, did not show any particular worry about the disappearance of an entire city.

"So, who are you?"

[Ah, sorry, I'm Tsukumoya Shinichi. Nice to meet you.]

"That name doesn’t show up in either my memory or my records. So, what do you want from me, a person in space who has deliberately abandoned the Earth? Though in this situation, it seems more like I've been abandoned by the Earth."

[To be honest, in your eyes, your situation isn’t something to be so pessimistic over, right? You’re basically embodying that saying about how if there is a god that throws you away, there is a god that picks you up.]

"Using the word “god” to represent the people of Academy City? I see you really are an outsider."

As if she had figured something out, she smiled and spat out the words that got directly to the heart of the matter.

"Before we talk, I just want to confirm one thing... Are you a human being?"

[Well, I'll just say this. I sort of emphasize with Kazakiri Hyouka of Academy City.]

The man named Tsukumoya replied in a voice whose emotion could not be read, which was not to say it was emotionless.

It was like a voice that had mixed together and averaged the happiness, anger, and sadness of millions of people.

[If she is considered by someone to be "human," then I guess I could also be regarded as some nameless human.]

===Part 3===

Celty Sturluson was definitely not human.

She was a "Dullahan,” who were fantastical spirits who lived between Scotland and Ireland—and who visited the houses of the dying to declare their deaths.

They visit the house of a dying person with their severed head in their arms, in a two-wheeled carriage drawn by a headless horse called the Cóiste Bodhar. And if you carelessly opened your door, you would be showered in blood. As the main example of ominous harbingers along with banshees, they have been passed down various European mythologies and folklore.

Some stories claim that they were actually figures of fallen Valkyries from Norse mythology, but whether that was actually the case was unclear even to her.

It was not that she didn't know.

Precisely speaking, it was that she could not remember.

She had been robbed of her "head" in her homeland, and her memory of her own existence had disappeared from her.

In order to retrieve “that,” she had come to this place called Ikebukuro, following the faint signs of her own head.

The headless horse transformed into a motorcycle, the armor into a skintight suit, and lingered around the city for decades.

In the end, however, she was unable to get her head back, and her memory had not been restored to this day.

She already knew who stole her head.

She also knew who the person was that prevented her from finding her head.

However, in the end, she had not been able to find the whereabouts of her head.

Celty, now, thought that even if that was the case, it was okay, since she could be with the person she loved.

It was because she was able to live with people who loved her, and who accepted her for what she was.

If that was what happiness was, she reckoned she'd be better off living how she was living now.

A headless woman who hid her firm determination in her heart, replaced her non-existent face and expressed her will through her actions.

That was it -- the existence of Celty Sturluson.

Then, and now.

She was in an abandoned factory on her home turf of Tokyo, confronting "something" even less human than herself.

"So...? Who are you, and where did you come from?"

Even though he was talking like a gangster, there was an air that was completely different from that of normal street urchins.

"Though, it doesn't matter anyway. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too."

She realized he must have gone through many kinds of hell, where he had to kill or be killed.

And that was a number that couldn't be counted using 2 or 3 digits.

The boy who was staring at her fiercely had a neutral face, but he was nothing more than a "boy"

That's right, he looked like a human being from the outside, as if he were a teenager.

He had beautiful pure white hair, that didn't look like it had been dyed.

No matter from where you look at it, it looked so natural, and yet everywhere you looked, it seemed to be full of some sort of scientific chemical, that sort of mysterious white.

Apart from that, he did look human in appearance, and didn't feel anything less than human.

The problem was, the actions he took, and the results of those actions.

A part of the floor of the abandoned factory was covered with steel plates, but there were many "human-shaped holes" in them.

To be more precise--

Heiwajima Shizuo. Half of his body was stuck in the floor of the abandoned factory, and he was not moving.

Although his body was still upright, his head was hanging slightly down. It was impossible to tell whether he was still conscious or not.

When Celty came into the factory for whatever reason, she heard a loud noise, and took a look inside. What she saw was the impossible to understand scenario of the man widely regarded as Ikebukuro's strongest, buried in the ground.

That "boy" -- The one who buried Heiwajima Shizuo into the ground, staring hard at her and said those words just now--

Even if he asked who she was and where she came from....---

She... she was the one who wanted to ask that!

Celty, who came just in time to witness the moment of Shizuo being buried into the ground.

Shizuo's body was hit by the teenager countless times with the metal plate, and as he finally stood up, several tons of industrial machinery floating in the air came crashing down at high speeds.

In the next instant, the industrial machinery was violently compressed, and Shizuo's body was driven into the ground like a nail.

"...Say, what the heck is going on with this product? From my experience, it should be the human body that would be compressed."

Startled, the boy shrugged and said to Celty.

"This isn't some cartoon about a mouse! I've blown so many people away so far, but this is the first time I've seen a guy who can hit a man-shaped hole in a metal plate. This is clearly beyond the scope of an ability that strengthens the flesh. It also doesn't look like he's got nitrogen or oxygen armor, or anything like that."

With a bored sigh, the white-haired boy asked Celty.

“Are you a “gemstone” or something? While I’ve heard that the “#7” is something like that, but at least now it makes sense why I was brought into do the dirty work—”

"Gemstone"? "#7?" What was he talking about?

"Don't play dumb."

Seeing Celty who seemed to have major doubts about it all, the teenager clicked his tongue and continued.

"I can tell from your outfit that you're related to Academy City. How can someone from outside the city have a suit that absorbs 100% of light?"

Facing the agitated teenager, Celty took her PDA out, and entered text with great trepidation.

[What's Academy City? Are you talking about Ōizumi-gakuen?]

He probably was thinking that he was being made fun of when he was shown the text, and so the boy silently reached his hand out and touched Celty's helmet.

"I can't sense the flow of blood in your vessels, or the movement of your muscles, so this is another type of special equipment. But it's been a long time since I've been played for a fool like this!"

The complaining teenager who had a cold tone--

Just like that, he blew the helmet off of Celty's head in an instead--!?--

Wha, wh-wh-wh, what was going on!?

Celty couldn't understand what was happening.

He didn't use gunpowder or anything like that. The helmet merely bounced off, as if it moved by itself.

If Celty had a head, she would have stared, eyes wide.

Similar to how the boy in front of her was looking at her.

"...Ah?"

Furrowing one of his eyebrows, the boy said.

"I thought I had overexerted myself and chopped your head off... What's this all about?"

[I, I know now! You're that, aren't you, a vampire! There are vampires I know who can use this kind of ability with your mind!]

"It's not Psychokinesis."

The white-haired teenager dismissed the vampire or whatever she was saying as a joke, and continued.

"What's up about that body of yours? Long range manipulation?... Doesn't seem like it either."

Facing the presence of something that had nothing from the neck up, the teenager maintained his hostility, and continued questioning.

"...Hey, I'll ask one more time."

"Who are you, and where are you from?"

That moment--

Creak. An exaggerated sound could be heard from the abandoned factory.

Then, as if it was from the depths of hell, the dull sound made the surrounding air stir.

"Oi..."

As Celty and the boy looked towards the source of the sound, the man in the bartender's uniform appeared, half of his body buried in the ground, craning his neck, looking relaxed.

"To be honest, I don't know what you've done to me... but you made me a bit dizzy."

Although he gave the impression that his body was all battered, he put his hands on the ground, pulling his body out, which had been knocked into the ground, with just the force of his palms.

"I don't know what happened, but I was blown away by the force of the blow.... Then, for some reason, my blood pressure suddenly shot up, and a headache came on..."

The white haired boy frowned at Heiwajima Shizuo, the man in the bartender's uniform, who continued to twist his neck by gently pressing on his head.

"Although I've used quite a bit of energy to force your blood flow backward, in the end, you've just got a headache. Are you really human?"

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't matter how you did it. After all, I've been done to death by some corrupt politician using Aikido or something... The important thing isn't that."

Shizuo, who had his blows all reflected back to him, was wounded by his own wrist, and then had his blood vessels and internal organs ruptured by the manipulation of the vector of his blood flow. Even then, he said it was trivial, with his voice boiling in anger.

"If it's just me, then I'd let it go. Although I don't know why, I suddenly succumbed to provocation and was beaten, but even this wouldn't make me so angry."

"Is that so!?"

Shizuo, who was staring at the white-haired boy with the face like a demon, continued without acknowledging Celty's surprised words.

"But, you smashed the helmet of my friend, who just happened to be walking by..."

"So you're saying, even if you get killed you won't have any complaints?... That's what you mean, right...?"

===Part 4===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | A parking lot.

"It's Kamijou Touma..."

In front of the station wagon, she dropped the things she bought onto the floor and said, stunned.

"Hey? That..."--

Had he met her somewhere before?--

No, was it an acquaintance from before his memory disappeared...!?

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

It was a woman in her early twenties who was making that strange sound.

The moment their eyes met, an unprecedented light shone from her eyes, and then they made a strange sound.

"Kami...K-k-k-kami, Kamijou!? It's Kamijou, right!?"

"Eh? That's me, yes."

"I,I-I-I-I-I, I'm Karisawa Erika,it’s a real pleasure to meet you for the first time and please take good care of me!"

The woman named Karisawa Erika, who was holding the hand of the confused Kamijou, called out as she waved her hand back and forth.

"Alive! And walking!"

"Seriously, Karisawa, you're acting like a kid who met his dead grandmother using a time machine!"

The man named Yumasaki said that he'd "make sure someone would meet him,", so Kamijou and the others came to the station wagon, but--

"Hey... What the heck is going on here?"

"This isn't a high-precision cosplay or anything like that... It's the real deal! The real thing is right in front of me!"

"No, I don't get it at all.... Hey, why are you crying!?"

Kamijou Touma was swept deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of confusion as he stood in front of Karisawa, who began to spill tears.

"Karisawa's emotions are peaking."

"Haha, this is the first time I've seen someone this happy!"

In the wagon where they could hardly hear their conversations except for Kazawa's screams, the two men, Tokusa and Honda, tilted their heads and said.

"Who's that guy, Kadota?"

"I feel like I've seen him before... Judging by Karisawa's happiness, he's probably some young Seiyuu or something, right?"

"Ah! That's probably it!"

"Well, it's not a good idea to disturb them. Let's give them time to talk."

The two people in the driver's seat and shotgun who were nodding to each other, silently got out of the car, and left the parking lot.

Kadota didn't notice it.

That boy, in the novel that Yumasaki and Karisawa highly recommended and read- he said that he was "a good guy with backbone", the protagonist Kamijou Touma himself.

On the other hand, this Kamijou, the protagonist, was surrounded by his two evil friends, eyes closed, laughing.

"Heh heh.... Hahaha! Kami-yan... has finally learned the hax skill of "The big sister who he met for the first time but has already been flagged down"...?"

"Nya, besides, I like the "elder sister" trope anyway, nya, Kami-yan must be loving it, though I don't understand it well, the talents he has are only for the sake of getting popular..."

"Nonononono, nononono! It's not like that!"

Even if he wanted to defend himself, Kamijou could only keep saying "No," as he didn't know what was happening, but--

This was cut off by the woman named Karisawa.

"Well, it's obvious at first glance though! You must be Aogami Pierce, and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, right? Wow, that's amazing... it's the same as my imagination! You're both so tall!"

"Gwah!?" "Nya!?"

Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who did not expect to receive pieces of the flag themselves, looked at each other, and panicked.

Leaving the two in their bewilderment, Karisawa decided to take advantage of when Aogami Pierce asked Yumasaki, “What kind of flag is she raising with me?” and said something that rang all sorts of alarms in Tsuchimikdo’s head.

"Well, you know. Tsuchimikado, you started wearing sunglasses when you changed your appearance, but now they've become a symbol of your identity, and in reality, they look real good on you!"

"!?"

Kamijou and Tsuchimikado both stiffened up.

They remained in this state, shied away from Karisawa and the others, turned around, and whispered, shoulder to shoulder.

"{Hey! This person knows about Angel Fall! So it really is your contact over there! What are you going to get me involved in this time!)"

"(No, no, no, wait, Kami-yan, wait! I'm just as confused as you are, I have no idea who this person is!)"

"(So, then... could she be from the Russian Orthodox Church? If she knows about Angel Fall, it's unlikely she's related to Academy City, no matter how you think about it!"

"(The key thing is that we don't know. I've told you about the glasses, Kami-yan, so the information must have leaked from you somehow!)"

"(Bruh, there is a literal spy here, and he doubts· THE· Kamijou Touma!? Obviously you’re more suspicious than I am!)"

"(Why would I be surprised if it's the information that I leaked, nya?)"

While they were throwing out their suspicions like this, Karisawa, who was approaching behind them, unnoticed, said this with a refreshing smile.

"It's alright, I'm not a spy for Gremlin or the Kihara family! At least, I'm not an enemy of GROUP!"

"I can't believe it, she just casually said two phrases relating to the dark side of Academy City, nya... Speaking of that, what's that Gremlin that can be said on the same level as those two?"

"Huh?"

The sense of disharmony was wandering in Kamijou's brain--

Hmm? Tsuchimikado, was he playing dumb? --

Gremlin. Tsuchimikado was, of course...--

..... Hmm?--

When was the last time he had spoken to Tsuchimikado... When did that come...?

At that moment, Kamijou's mind began to play a flashback of Tsuchimikado's face.

He appeared in a completely different air from the current Tsuchimikado, with an expression as cold as ice...

Hmm? Strange. If Tsuchimikado was here right now... really stra....nge?

The voice of Aogami Pierce rang out as if to ride the wave of confusion that was going on in the mind of Kamijou.

"Hey, hey, Kami-yan. I just realized that I can't see Endymion in Ikebukuro."

Endymion.

The space elevator, pride of Academy City.

This elevator, which extended beyond the atmosphere, should have been visible as a thin line, even at a distance as far as Ikebukuro-- But Kamijou knew that it would never be visible now.

"...What are you talking about, Aogami Pierce? Isn't Endymion already..."

"What? Did I, uh, say something strange?"

A chill spread behind Kamijou's back.

No.

Something was wrong.

He could feel a distinctive "dislocation" from both Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

"Right! Speaking of Endymion, there's something I wanted to ask you about Meigo Arisa!"

"Oh, you've got a good eye, Arisa is related to this! I, ah, think she'll come? This Endymion concert is really something to look forward to!"

"Huh? Is it time for that concert again?"

Aogami Pierce seemed to have become indifferent to the fact that he could not see Endymion, and returned to the unique conversation he was having with Yumasaki.

On the other hand, Kamijou was convinced by what Aogami Pierce had just said.

There was something wrong after all--

There was a misalignment between himself and Aogami Pierce's "perception"--

...Arisa's concert on Endymion, it had ended, clearly!

It wasn't that those two were imposters. They were undoubtedly the real Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado.

Even so, he was sure that something was "distorted".

It was obvious that they were the real people, but something was "distorted", so what did that mean?

Thinking about this, Kamijou suddenly realized something.

It was possible that he himself might have been "distorted" with the world--

The president.

The TV image he saw when he first came to Ikebukuro.

On that note, Kamijou didn't recognize the man who was supposed to be the president.

Gradually, the sense of dissonance became clear about all this.

It was like waking up and then gradually being able to distinguish between reality and dreams, the feeling of one's brain gradually becoming clear, and waking up.

Moreover, this city named Ikebukuro, or actually, the whole of Tokyo.....

Suddenly, he turned towards Karisawa and asked.

"That! What happened to the dragon... that attacked this city before?"

"Ah! You know about that, huh? I see, I see. You've already experienced "that", right? Have you experienced that honeymoon in Denmark?"

"Dragon? What are you talking about?"

Contrary to Kamijou who nodded his head like he had figured it out, Tsuchimikado's face was full of his confusion.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Ugh, it must be Maika. I'm a little concerned about all this, but a call from a loli takes precedence over anything else, that's my 35th rule of life."

Tsuchimikado picked up his phone while walking to the corner of the parking lot. Looking at his back walking away, Karisawa said with passion:

"The fact that you can categorically say that your sister is also a loli is impressive. Having said that.... look at him, which time is this Tsuchimikado from?"

"Wait a second, explain quickly. What the hell is going on here?"

"Ahhh, mhm. Yeah, if you're unsure about a situation, it's natural that you'll feel uneasy."

Nodding her head while speaking in an understanding tone, Karisawa continued.

“Well actually, before we actually saw you, we were half-believing. We are probably the ones who could accept this the fastest, as I heard the details of the matter from the father of an acquaintance..."

Karisawa, who said this, looked at the entrance of the parking lot, and leaked out an "ah"

"Look, they're here. The person who can explain."

"Eh?"

When Kamijou looked over--

The man who was walking towards him, wearing a white gas mask in broad daylight in addition to a white lab coat, raised his hand in a friendly manner, and said.

"Aha! You're that "otherworlder"! Nice to meet you. How are you? (Written in English). Be careful not to get infected with bacteria that doesn't exist in your world and die suddenly!"

Looking at this man who greeted him with surprise, Kamijou--

"Defi..."

"Defi?"

Ignoring the "otherworlder" comment first, he shouted out what he was feeling at that very moment.

"You definitely have a connection with Academy City--!"

===Part 5===

A few minutes ago | In satellite orbit | Hikoboshi II | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Lab

"What about the "tunnel" with the other world?"

[There's a theory that the neutrino and Higgs particle experiments in both our worlds has something to do with this, but as far as I know, your world has a Magic God who has changed the world through the phases that filter the physical world, your boss has also forcibly teared apart the "thin film of the world", and our side has an existence known as the Dullahan, and began to overuse its powers. It's probably all these sorts of accidents that came together, that just happened to connect these two worlds together…]

"The accumulation of these unfavorable conditions, huh."

The girl who was near the top of the system called Academy City said with a sigh.

"Hng, let's not talk about whether parallel worlds exist or not, but this "tunnel" that just happened to be created is rather unbelievable. And it does not explain the fact that Academy City has disappeared off the earth."

Amano Kaguya, accepting the explanation of the man who called himself Tsukumoya Shinichi, nodded as she floated in mid air.

"However, the disappearance of Academy City on that side should be on this side."

[That's probably the case. However, not many people can remember and have that sense of dissonance. To fill that void of dissonance, it seems that the Earth where Academy City exists right now also has a 380 meter long aircraft named "Sky By Fire" flying around, like nobody's paying attention to it. No, maybe it's actually because of the appearance of this aircraft that you've suffered a loss.]

"I got squeezed out through that distortion, so I was transported here without going into the "tunnel"?"

[Yes, the "Sky by Fire" was originally developed by a company called Niblo in this world 50 years in the future. By connecting with a world like Academy City, which has technology a hundred or two ahead of its time, it was able to materialize in the world as a "thing that should exist". So basically, to replace that Queen of the Sky, and to achieve balance, the Princess of the Universe was chosen.]

Kaguya, who was floating upside down from the Earth, shrugged at Tsukumoya's words.

"Is that flattery or sarcasm? It's hard to read your feelings just from your voice."

[Even so, I'm still anxious right now. if the two worlds completely merge together, it'll become all kinds of bad.]

"If you look at it from the perspective of rapid development of science and technology, shouldn't it be a good thing for your world?"

[It's not like that. At the very least, there are tens of thousands of "Vampires" in this world. If the girl named Himegami, the carrier of "Deep Blood" from your side, comes here, the vampires will flock to her, and then we'll be in a crisis. We’ll need to sacrifice the girl's life to save the extinction of the vampires. But, what's troubling is that there's a lot of good people among the vampires. I can usually accept any outcome, no matter what, but what if someone I know, or an innocent girl dies as a result of an "outside" influence? That wouldn't be very interesting.]

Even for Kaguya, who knew about the dispute between Science and Magic, the sudden mention of a topic like "vampires" was unexpected, but--

But she, who looked at the world as it were someone else's business, dismissed it as "Of course that exists", felt relieved, and calmly accepted the request to help resolve the situation.

"Well, that's fine. I think it'll be interesting, just standing by and seeing how things develop, but I can't leave Academy City alone in this situation. So I'll help you get things back on track."

[That's a big help, thank you.]

"I'll take care of Tsuchimikado, who has come to this world. Probably because of his back and forth between the Magic and Science sides, and the outside and the inside of the City, his tolerance is quite big, as long as his sister is not in trouble. Even if he does look like that. I'm sure he'll accept this and help us."

"Ahah, that's true. Better start acting as soon as possible."

There was a slight pause here from Tsukumoya, and the presence of a certain man was mentioned.

[The troublemaker who's grasped the situation and accepted it readily is preparing to take advantage of it for his own personal gain.]

===Part 6===

Somewhere in the city | Orihara Izaya's office

"Well, even if it is Shizuo, it should be over by now."

In his office, Orihara Izaya, who was happily sitting in his chair, spinning around, talked about this, eyes shining.

"I'm having a hard time trying to make connections with the other world. Although we share the language of Japanese, there's a significant difference in science and technology, and there's 2 billion people in the Roman system alone."

Izaya, who seemed to be speaking to his assistant in the office, kept talking, half to himself, without waiting for a response.

"From a girl obsessed with urban legends named Saten Ruiko to the media queen of the other side of the world named Olay Blueshake, I was most satisfied to know someone is named "Loki". Me, I'd feel some empathy towards these types of people. But it seems he was recently betrayed, and got beaten up by his comrade. So even if he believes in what I say, he won't have any trust in me."

“If there’s someone who can trust you on a personal level, they can probably be considered a saint.”

Ignoring the sarcasm of his assistant, Izaya continued.

"In any case, with his cooperation, he managed to infiltrate part of the system in Academy City. After that, he gave a false command that relies on some condition to the most powerful Esper over there."

"False command?"

"Ahah, it's all true, up to the midway point at least. The two worlds are gradually merging together. And on top of that, add a hypothetical such as "If an important man goes to Academy City, the worlds will merge together. If that happens, the other world would be an obviously unnatural existence... For example, for the 10,000 or so clones, their existence will disappear, and other similar changes may occur." That kind of condition--"

There was a slight pause there, but he continued with a pleasant smile.

"The "strongest man in Ikebukuro", the point of deviation related to the metamorphosis of the world, rendered useless, with no chance of resurgence.... That kind of order. Additionally, I gave him the information that the man in the bartender's uniform is actually a nasty piece of work with a penchant for kidnapping young girls. Even if it is that physically overpowered Shizuo, in front of that "Level 5", who is literally beyond the stage of what you call an ability, he is nothing more than a baby."

"And who's this superpowered person?"

With a half-hearted look, the woman who was his assistant, Namie Yagiri, looked at the information in her hands.

"You write it as "One Way Road", and read it as Accelerator?"

"Yup. Well, it's the same as an animal's Japanese name as compared to its scientific name. Although names are used to represent identity, don't you think that this name suits him in every sense? And his old name is also very interesting."

"Compared to his actual ability name, "Vector Manipulation".... What is this?"

"It means what it means, literally. The ability to observe the "direction" of various phenomena, and manipulate them according to one's own will, such as kinetic energy, light, sound, heat, and electricity. The ability to trick the world, changing gravity energy into buoyancy, and in extreme cases, to manipulate the vector of time, in a limited sense.”

In the face of Izaya's exaggerations, Namie responded with a sigh.

"Even though you don't understand the concept of time very well, you still said that..."

"It's that sort of illogical ability. Although it's probably logical for a place like Academy City, in our world, it's something beyond our logic."

"Illogical ability, huh."

Namie narrowed her eyes slightly, and said with a hint of annoyance, as if she recalled something.

"That person’s "shadow" is no more logical than he is."

===Part 7===

An abandoned factory

"If I had complaints about being killed, I wouldn't have come here."

The white haired boy replied with a bored, but serious tone, saying something that reeked of self-deprecation.

"I never thought I'd hear such brave words after all this."

"....."

"You're not a normal human being. If you obediently lie back down, your chances of survival will grow."

In contrast to Shizuo, who emerged, veins bulging, the white-haired teenager kept a cold expression.

Celty, in the middle of those two people, firmly interrupted.

[No, wait a minute. Why are you doing this to Shizuo!]

"Why? It's just a job."

Speaking indifferently, the white-haired teenager lightly put his foot on the floor of the factory.

The next instant, the "action and counteraction" that existed in Celty's own brain, that common sense, completely collapsed.

The iron plate that lay on a part of the abandoned factory bounced up and began to turn in the air magnificently, as if it was dancing.

"And, if you get in the way, you'll get destroyed. I've said this before, right?"

The white haired teenager pushed the iron plate gently in the direction of Celty.

Then, as if the rotational force of the plate became propulsive force, it shot at a straight line towards Celty.

A direct hit with the iron plate that weighed dozens of kilograms onto a normal human wouldn't be something that you could shake off.

But, Celty wasn't human, and she definitely wasn’t normal.

Countless shadow tentacles reached out from her own body, and caught the iron plate that was flying at high speed.

"!"

Looking at Celty's shadows, the white-haired teenager narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...What, is that?"

If a normal person had seen it, they would have been open-eyed in shock, but the teen wasn't ordinary in any sense.

He changed his expression as if he had seen a strange cat, nothing more, and he then continued with a soft tone.

"...Do you use the same power as that #2?"

Celty muttered to herself, hearing the teenager's words--

What the hell was this #2 and #7 just then!?--

Nevermind, she had to suppress him first.

Celty immediately stretched out her shadow, and tried to wrap it around the boy's body at high speeds.

However, he dodged it with a jump that was beyond the physical limits of a human, and lightly slapped away one of the tendrils that got close with his left hand.

"...."

In an instant, the front end of Celty's shadow started spinning around, disappearing as if it had been swept into a tornado.

Uwah--

What was that feeling she felt just then!?

It wasn't a natural disappearance, as it took Celty's own will to disperse her shadows.

It was because she felt a creepy feeling, something like the flow of power being doubled and sent back in full. She judged the danger in an instant--

This guy… He really is using psychokinesis?--

This wasn't good, as this was much more powerful than even the vampires she knew.

Contrary to the anxious Celty, the teenager's body language didn't give away any signs of anxiety at all.

Maybe he had experience fighting against an opponent similar to herself before.

If that was the case, it would be impossible to maintain a dominant position here, right?

Would he allow him to surrender? To retreat? As she was contemplating that--

"Oi."

The voice of Shizuo rang out, and both Celty and the teenager's attention turned his way.

Then, Shizuo picked up the remains of the vending machine that had somehow been abandoned in this abandoned factory.

"Your opponent... Is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

In the next instant, the vending machine flew towards the teenager with substantial force behind it.

The action taken by the teenager in response was--

Ignored.

The teenager once again looked at Celty, and assumed the attitude that there was no need to respond to Shizuo's attack

However, in realty, the moment in touched the special "barrier" thinly covering his body, the vending machine jumped back like a bouncy ball hitting a wall--

Shizuo!

Although Celty hurriedly stretched her shadow out, it failed to reach him.

Those who are immersed within their own abilities shall drown in them. The overwhelming force that matched this metaphor was heading for Shizuo's body--

"Ora!"

And with that, Shizuo struck it again--

....What?

"Ah?"

Even the white haired teenager couldn't help but look back at his opponent.

This teenager, so far, had bounced back all kinds of enemy attacks with his "ability"

He had experienced multiple crises before. Such as, people who could nullify attacks, people with special energy such as the "shadow", as well as getting overwhelmed with attacks from different dimensions.

But was there anyone who could forcefully reflect an attack back by using only the force of his hands?

Although he observed a flow of a force field, he didn't think that he was using any sort of ability--

What was going on? Who the hell was this guy?

He felt that this level of sturdiness was a bit weird, never mind the fact that this was beyond the realm of humans in the first place. Although there had been battles with durable opponents before, this man's body was half the size of the leader of Skill Out that he fought before, so how the hell could he do such things that were so far from common sense?

Although he thought so, he soon realized that it was pointless.

Because even if he could get the vending machine back at him, he could just reflect it back again - totally risk free.

Just as he predicted, the vending machine bounced back at Shizuo--

And then, once again, the man in the bartender''s uniform punched it back.

"...."

Crack! Pop! Once again, the exaggerated sounds of destruction resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

Between the bartender and the white-haired teenager, a vending machine rally began.

And, the speed of it was gradually increasing.

But in the end, it finally stopped.

It wasn't because the man in the bartender uniform had run out of energy. Instead, it was because the vending machine couldn't bear the brunt, and finally broke apart in mid-air.

"...."

"...."

There was a silence, with only the sound of the bartender-suited man's breathing that echoed through the factory.

Then, the white haired boy began to take a step towards him, and he said casually.

"Honestly, people who boast of their strength I see as fools usually... But, the truly outstanding ones are enviable. Since I have no need for physical exercise over here."

"...."

"If I could have 5% of your strength...."

In the teenager's mind, the face of a certain spiky-haired teenager flashed through.

He put on a bitter face, and said with a distracted look.

"Though I probably wouldn't be who I am now in any sense."

And then, for the first time, the teenager spoke of his reason for taking that step forward.

"Although it may seem a bit unreasonable.... But for today and tomorrow, if you were to wander around freely, that guy I know may disappear from the world."

The white haired teenager continued, as he walked over, step by step.

Was it because he was in an overwhelmingly favorable position, or was it because of some other reason that he became more talkative?

"Direct reversal of the flow of brain signals. If I keep your consciousness suppressed for three days, that'll be enough. However, if you're careless, you might die... Although I'm not going to apologize, if you've got any resentments to express, I'll listen to them."

However, Shizuo replied to this with a smile.

"Although I can't understand the implications of this all, this is extremely unreasonable."

Despite the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, Shizuo persisted.

"But I can't fall like this without so much as a whimper. I'll lose my face against the spiky haired boy who beat me yesterday."

"....Spiky haired?"

Hearing that word, a bad feeling flashed through the teenager's mind.

But, thinking about it wasn't going to help, so he took another step closer.

Celty, overwhelmed by the vending machine rally, finally realized that Shizuo was in true danger.

Up to now, has Shizuo ever been pushed against the wall like this?

Whether it was getting sent flying by a dump truck, a train, a hundred people trying to cut his head off, getting attacked by a huge tiger, even though he could survive all that, he was in a truly life-threatening situation now.

Heiwajima Shizuo was about to be killed by someone who came out of nowhere.

Something that seemed as ridiculous to Celty that it could have been a joke to her was happening before her eyes, and she was having a hard time trying to understand it.

Celty looked at the Shizuo whose body was covered in wounds--

===Part 8===

Izaya's office

"To be honest, I'm still only half convinced."

Namie looked at the information in the laptop and said once again.

"Connecting with parallel worlds. That's an idea so old that even SciFi novels don't use it much anymore."

"You're the one who's delved into the mythical realm and studied the head of the Dullahan, so are you sure you can say that?"

"Eh, course I do. The head of the Dullahan is an actual thing, and it's been confirmed."

"And in fact, it's also true that people from the other world have come here, right?"

Izaya, who said this, handed over some papers to Namie.

"Kamijou Touma, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Aogami Pierce. These names don't have any sort of records in this world. These three people, who existed in Academy City, came to this world through the subway in order to transfer something."

"High school students?"

"They aren’t just any high school students. Especially this kid, Kamijou. He’s a real hero who has saved the world multiple times. It's probably only in a world of advanced science as well as magic that a person can become that sort of savior. For me, I'm very interested in the kind of state such a rare human being is living in."

Looking at Izaya, who was laughing, Namie said, bored.

"It's like you think you're a god. You don't even have all the information about this world yet, so can you really understand the information about this so-called "other world" correctly?"

Although she was still doubtful about the connection with this other world, she had experience of studying the existence of an unnatural being such as the "Dullahan" using the common sense of science, so she might not have been so doubtful if not for that.

"Ahah, the intelligence level in that world is much higher. It's a world where you can even see the memories of the dead if you want to collect it. It's even easier to get information there than in this world."

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted in pleasure, and he said something unbelievable.

"In fact, I think it's fine to let the worlds merge like this. I think it's better for them to be integrated. When a new variable or an alien existence that is completely unmanageable appears in front of them, what kind of action will the humans take? Even if it's just limited to the people in this city, if I can observe them, one by one, it'll be enough for me to enjoy this life."

"Although what you said was that you've abandoned the struggle with a kindly tone, what you just said was extremely bad."

"There are a lot of interesting people over there too. Especially the Kihara clan's way of life, which makes me wonder about new possibilities for human beings. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call it beautiful."

"I think it's sad that these children are being treated like precious specimens by people like you. ...Eh?"

While looking at the information, Namie sarcastically said that, but she frowned suddenly.

"Hey, what's this "Aogami Pierce" thing?"

In response to Namie's light question, Izaya looked up at the ceiling, and giggled.

"Ahaha, this kid's information is well collected."

Then, without looking at any of the info, he began to talk about it.

"He's an Esper who freeloads in a bakery in Academy City. Although he's the class president of Kamijou Touma's class, he's also known as one of the "three idiots", along with Kamijou and Tsuchimikado. He's a strange fellow who's over 180cm tall. He takes supplementary classes, but not because he's dumb. Instead, it's because he wants to have as much interaction with his class teacher as possible. The possibility of this is pretty high. He’s been questioned regarding his occupation 43 times… no, it would be around 40 times regarding the time from when he came over to this city."

Without pause, Izaya droned on, as if he were speaking a tongue twister about the boy named Aogami Pierce.

Instead of boasting his knowledge--- it seems like he was trying to hide something.

"Ah, yes, that guy's fetishes concerning the opposite sex really is impressive. "I have a wide range of acceptance when it comes to women: not just fallen female main characters but also foster sisters, foster mothers, foster daughters, twins, widows, senpais, kouhais, fellow classmates, teachers, childhood friends, ojou-samas, blondes, brunettes, brown-haired, silver-haired, long-haired, medium-haired, short-haired, girls wearing bobby pins, wavy-haired, twintails, ponytails, one-sided ponytails, twin braids, ahoges, curly-haired, girls in sailor clothes, blazers, judogi, kyuudougi, kindergarten nurses, maids, policewomen, witches, shrine maidens, nuns, military women, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, stewardesses, waitresses, goth girls wearing black, goth girls wearing white, girls in China dresses, frail girls, albino girls, fantasists, girls with split personalities, queens, princesses, thigh-high socks, garter belts, girls who cross-dress as guys, girls who wear glasses, girls who wear an eyepatch, girls who wear bandages, girls in school swimsuits, one-piece swimsuits, bikinis, V-shaped bikinis, bikinis that barely cover anything, youkai, ghosts, animal-eared girls, etc.- any female is within my area of acceptance." That seems to be his mantra. Although some aspects of the opposite sex aren't in my personal domain, I admit that he is also an existence that can expand the possibilities of mankind."

"That guy, and you as well, who actually memorized that all, are perverts."

Namie said with an icy gaze, flipping through the information, page by page, in contrast to Izaya reciting it.

"And then?"

"And then, what?"

"That, the real name of that kid Aogami Pierce. It's not in the file."

"...."

Orihara Izaya was silent."

It was probably the first time she had seen him with such a quiet expression.

"There are various things... When downloading information from there, that kid's information was broken in a few places."

"What the heck, you don't even know his real name, but you've got the nerve to claim that you've been collecting information well!"

"Well. Although I don't think this kid is anything special, but as a human being who loves everyone equally, let me show you."

And so, Izaya took his laptop out and connected it with a special cord.

After a long list of unusual codes floated across the screen, a data file detailing some kind of roster was displayed.

"This is the roster of students in Kamijou's class. If you compare that with other conditions, you can immediately find the real name of Aogami Pierce, or something..."

In the next moment, the screen was completely flooded with images of flowers.

At the flower garden in the middle of the screen, a cartoon image of a character wearing a bouquet of flowers on her head appeared, and text emerged from the dialogue box that extended from there.

"Stop right there! Inappropriate access behavior!"

"Ah, fuck."

Sensing something, Izaya hurriedly shut the laptop down, and cut the line.

"Fuck me that was dangerous! It was almost like I've been stripped naked on this side!"

"Are you not going to run?"

""Anti-skill", the policing unit of Academy City, won't come to Ikebukuro. I don't think I need to even mention the police force of Ikebukuro here."

After that, Izaya tried various means of getting into touch with Academy City, but--

The information about Aogami Pierce was obstructed or corrupted before he reached it, and so the key information was not obtained.

"Does that mean that this kid is actually related to some sort of super important confidential information?"

In response to Namie's question, Izaya just shook his head.

"If that were the case, the information itself would have been protected. The reason we can't get information about it so far is because, although it seems far-fetched to say this, is all by chance. No, is it possible that there's a protection system in Academy City that pretends to be like this? Well....but...."

After a brief moment of confusion, Izaya stood up with a soft sigh.

"There's no helping it. He's here in person. Let's go collect some fresh information."

Although he seemed to be whining, his expression was that of a smile.

With a face full of anticipation as if he had never seen a new "human" before, Orihara Izaya happily left his office.

After calmly watching him leave, Namie said softly.

"This is looking like the pattern where he comes back empty handed. You reap what you sow."

===Part 9===

Somewhere in Ikebukuro | Station Wagon

"Isekai!? This Ikebukuro?"

Karisawa said that "it would be bad for Aogami Pierce to hear", and so she brought him back to the station wagon. After hearing the explanation from the man with the gas mask, Shingen Kishitani, Kamijou Touma accepted it, half in doubt.

"Though, now that you say it, I feel like I was involved in a similar incident yesterday..."

"You're the one who's in the other world to us. The company I belong to, Niblo, has been conducting various investigations to this, and both the technological might of Academy City and the magic outside of it are excellent. The idea of sending a corporate spy there was on my mind, but I thought it would be impossible to hide the discrepancy since we're of a different world, so I cancelled it."

"If it were you, you probably won't feel any sense of being out of place even if you were walking around the research area..."

The right hand of Kamijou clenched tightly, after Shingan said that, and stared at him.

"Whoa!? What!? What's the matter!?"

"Mhm. That's the "Imagine Breaker" that's become a topic of conversation over there. So. Since you're here in this world, wanna try dissecting it?"

"I refuse!"

Shingen, a fully grown adult, proceeded to prostrate himself while in the back seat of the station wagon before Kamijou, who had merely given the only sensible response.

"Please think about it!"

"Although there have been various people who have turned their sights on this right hand so far, this is the first time I've heard of such a direct request from someone sitting right in front of me! How!? Don't tell me that this is how this world operates!?"

Facing the confused Kamijou, Karisawa replied.

"Well, this guy is pretty special. His son is a special guy who likes girls who's got nothing above their neck."

"What kind of hobby is that!? Even Aogami Pierce's list of fetish doesn't include it!:"

"Ah, I guess I'll put it in the category of "not a human" for now."

Putting aside the Karisawa who calmly roasted someone, Shingen pressed on the subject of Kamijou's right hand.

"Money isn't a problem, we've got all the money you need! It's not as if we're going to cut that hand off and take it away. As long as we can do all sorts of experiments with you under anesthesia, we can guarantee a minimum of 20 million yen!"

"Twenty million!?"

After hearing the exact amount, Kamijou's brain circuit short circuited for a while--

Damn it... if this was about a billion or two, something that's extremely far from the reality Kamijou knew, it wouldn't have any effect, but when it comes to the ten thousands of yen, it felt surprisingly realistic...!--

Ahhh.... Speaking of this, how much would the repair of his dorm cost? With that big hole caused by Birdway and Lessar...---

And, that much money would render his food problems...

It seemed like the magic of money couldn't be dispelled by his right arm, and Kamijou staggered drunkenly in delusion--

Eh? Wait a minute. Food expenses?

The moment he thought of that word, "food", his mind went straight to, "Touma, where's the food", and the scenario where she made her way through 20 million yen worth of food in half a month. Kamijou couldn't help but shake his head vigorously as he thought of that.

Nononononono, he needed to pull himself together!--

If he believed that money on that sort of magnitude could have any effect on his misfortune, he had to destroy that illusion of his!

Kamijou slapped his face with his right hand, and awakened his consciousness with the sensation and clarity that came with the pain.

"...Well, better forget about it. Knowing me, the 2nd day I get that amount of money, I'll need to pay a 20 million yen compensation, or something will eat it, etc. That's my fate."

Although he hadn't yet given up on life, he had given up on his own fortune, and faced with the Kamijou who carried such sadness in his eyes, Shingen shook his head in pity.

"Ah... So that's the case. It's nothing, even if you hadn't said that, I understand. If you can't save someone who was in crisis during the time when your freedom of use of your right hand was taken away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life, right...! How noble!"

"Ah, no, I'm not thinking about such a grand thing..."

"Anyway. We'll want to avoid the cause that will be caused by the merging of the worlds. If all the people of the Academy City group, including you, can go back, the distortion will be more or less reduced, right?"

Nodding vigorously, Shingen once again began to explain the situation

"Actually, a boy who called himself Jörmungandr was raging all over the place with huge wounds covering his body, but apparently a group of vampires somehow appeased him, and there was also a woman who called herself Hel who could control the 'cause of death,' but a gang of immortals managed to calm her down."

"No, I don't get it at all, even if you tell me that."

Ignoring Kamijou, who was tilting his head, Shingen continued.

"Then, there's also...two people who are also confirmed to be here."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"One of them, I hear, is someone you know quite well."

At that instant-- The window of the station wagon made a clanging sound.

Looking over, what he found was Tsuchimikado, who was looking confused.

"What's wrong, Tsuchimikado?."

Kamijou opened the window of the car and looked over, while Tsuchimikado whispered.

"Ah... Just now, the boss gave me an order, nya."

"Order?"

"It seems like... someone's impersonating the Board of Directors, and are issuing false orders.”

A stuttering Tsuchimikado finally managed to spit out the true identity of one of the “visitors of Ikebukuro.”

"As a result of those false orders, the "1st Ranked" came over here, and because communications are unstable, I can't connect to him... so we'll have to get in direct contact with him and drag him back before shit gets real."

===Part 10===

Abandoned Factory

"....?"

The white-haired teenager stopped in his tracks, as he felt a powerful change in the flow of power behind him.

Turning back--he found half the factory filled with "darkness".

It was the large amount of shadows that Celty Sturluson sent forth, swallowing up the entire abandoned factory.

Shizuo, who saw this, shouted out!

"You fucking idiot... Celty! This is my fight, so hurry up and return it to me!"

[I refuse!]

"Wh..."

Seeing Celty, who was typing in words with an unprecedented forcefulness, Shizuo couldn't say anything--

Honestly, it was impossible to understand what was going on--

Because it was not understandable, they had to stop this situation in order to understand it--

If there was any chance of stopping it, it would only be herself.

Celty, who was calmly weaving those words in her mind, wanted herself to calm down.

However, the passion that came out was completely uncontrollable--

The most important thing was....

The headless horseman, Celty Sturluson, clenched her fists--

How could she stay silent as she saw a friend being treated like that, right in front of her eyes!

For her, this was an extremely rare emotion.

Pure "Anger"

That was to say, a clear "hostility" towards the boy in front of her.

She didn't think she could win.

Her opponent was an existence that was outside of common sense, even to her as a Dullahan.

And she feared that he hadn't even shown his full strength yet.

Even so, the option of abandoning Shizuo there and running away on her own did not even exist in the mind of Celty at the moment.

She was a Dullahan. A fairy who didn't become a human.

As a result of her integration into human society and learning about humans through various mediums, the "human" heart that had developed inside her had made up its mind to attack the threat in front of her.

And since that was the case, it didn't matter if that "ordinary human being" made fun of her for being tactless.

"You don't have a head, but you still make such a determined face. Well, at least it shows that you understand the situation better, as you're not getting on the ground and begging."

And after those words dripping with sarcasm--

The white haired teenager manipulated the vectors of the wind around him, and instantly whipped up a tornado.

He compressed it into a blade of wind, and shot it straight at Celty.

However, the protective shadows completely blocked the wind, and moved forward, through the new shadows being generated from within.

The shadows had taken root in every corner of the factory, and the half-hearted wind attack probably wouldn't budge at all.

"..."

Bang! The white haired boy understood the situation. Bang! And he tapped the floor with his foot.

After that, he somehow manipulated vectors to allow the steel in the abandoned factory to float, one by one, and then as if they were being pulled to his side, they flew.

And then, as if to dust off the steel off his body, he knocked them, one by one.

The simple action made the iron accelerate like a cannonball, and with the momentum of a rain of bullets, they flew towards Celty.

However, all of them were absorbed as if they fell into a swamp, and the shadow continued to expand, like a giant slime.

"Tch... it really is the same sort as the #2!"

While clicking his tongue, the white haired boy raised his hand to the sky.

The wind began to compress in front of him at a high density, creating a small body of plasma.

Just as the teenager was about to throw the plasma at the "shadow" without hesitation--

"Take this!"

Shizuo threw one of the nearby chunks of iron, the same way he had through the vending machines before.

However, if it were only on this level, the teenager would not panic and misfire the plasma.

"Watch and learn, old man."

Of course, his reflection worked properly, and bounced the iron back just like before.

However, it was a little different than before.

Shizuo, after throwing the piece of metal, burst forward towards his opponent himself.

Then, in the same way, he hit the iron back at him.

If that was it, the results would not differ from before.

And because there was no difference--

Shizuo hit the piece of iron into the ground.

"!"

The piece of iron completely destroyed the ground, and stabbed itself into the underground warehouse of the factory.

And the white haired boy started to fall.

If it was only this, it wouldn't be considered on the level of a crisis.

However, when he felt that the ground in front of him was darker than he thought, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He sensed it.

Was it that Celty read Shizuo's intention, or was it that she was prepared to take hold from the very beginning- passing through the cave where half of Shizuo's body had been buried into, she filled the ground with a number of large shadows.

Then, just a moment before he was going to escape from the air through vector manipulation--

The shadows that covered the top, bottom, left and right of the abandoned factory wrapped up the boy completely.

"...What's this, huh?"

What was in front of Shizuo's eyes was a giant sphere that was about the size of a small car.

It didn't make contact with the ground, but it was completely stationary in the air.

[For the time being, I kind of locked him up....]

Instead of having the shadows directly twisting on him, it was akin to being locked up in a soap bubble.

Judging that he could manipulate kinetic energy freely, she didn't move the sphere immediately, but just kept it stationary in the air. Of course, if he kicked at the walls, he would be able to generate energy, right? So that was why Celty divided the sphere into dozens of layers, and wrapped it up like a Russian matryoshka doll.

Even if an inner layer was destroyed, a new one could be generated from one of the outer layers to cover it immediately. Although she had prepared for this specifically, nothing happened yet.

If this was ordinary matter, no matter what kind of technique was used to construct it, as long as the teenager used his ability, he would be able to tear it apart easily.

However, this was no ordinary matter that wrapped up the teenager.

It was "shadows"

Originally, shadows were areas where there was no light, and since they weren’t even considered matter, they didn’t have mass, or thickness.

Celty was manipulating the "shadow" as if it were an object with mass - the important thing here was that although "thickness" could be created through this, the concept of "thickness" could also be ignored.

This was something Celty herself did not realize, that she was actually able to materialize her shadows with varying degrees of thinness.

In other words, it could be kept at zero thickness, but also could be stacked infinitely to increase its strength.

Therefore, if Celty Sturluson had actually knew about this--

The "Shadow" could be a spear and a shield more powerful than any other material on this planet. It could even be the thread used to connect Earth and Mars together.

It was a power that had completely surpassed the common sense of science and the laws of physics. Celty herself was not able to understand it properly. It was a shadow of absolute strength that was created unconsciously.

In order words, she was able to do this because of the anger she felt.

If the underground doctor, who lived with her, knew about this, there would be no doubt that he would be jealous of Shizuo.

"This, how are we going to deal with him?"

[I don't think he can be defeated by physical means. Let's just wait for him to enter a state of hypoxemia.]

Celty made the density of the shadow bigger than usual, thus blocking the supply of oxygen by blocking the air.

This "suffocation attack" created by the interweaving and overlapping of various special conditions could be said to be one of the rare weaknesses of the invincible reflection.

If it were a normal person, this would be enough to decide who was the winner, and the loser. But--

This young man was the existence known as the #1 of Academy City -- [Accelerator]

He was another existence that wasn't ordinary, even within the category of Espers.

Bang..... Celty and Shizuo felt the sound of the air shaking.

In the next instant, alongside a violent sound of destruction, the top of the black sphere was torn by something unseen.

"What!?"

This....

Next to Shizuo who shouted out loud, the headless Celty's "vision" felt it.

From the top of the sphere, two colorless wings grew out--

....He hasn't even shown his full strength yet!

The thing that destroyed Celty's shadow, something that ignored the laws of physics, was indeed something "from another dimension" that also did not obey the laws of physics.

What was this... this thing, it was almost like...!

Celty probably associated the pair of wings with something else.

Just before she continued to think about it, the crack of the sphere widened, and the invisible wings, (were they white or black?), were rendered in another color for just a moment--

"Please don't fight over me anymore! Says Misaka as Misaka remembers the lines she recently saw in the morning at the theatre, and tries to pretend to be the heroine in the swamp!"

Such words, which were completely incompatible with the atmosphere of the scene, resounded throughout the abandoned factory.

When Shizuo and Celty looked over, there was a girl of about 10 years of age standing there, with an ahoge on the top of her head.

"A kid...?"

In contrast to Shizuo, who frowned, Celty, who saw who the girl was, panicked and took out her PDA, pointing it at her.

[I told you to wait near the motorcycle!]

"Who is it?"

Before answering Shizuo's question, Celty typed something in order to ensure the girl's safety.

[It's dangerous! Get out of here!]

But the girl, looking up at the black sphere, asserted with her hands crossed.

"It's not dangerous anymore, says Misaka as Misaka tries to send the words of objective truth to the strange sphere with hopeful observation."

The young girl had the voice of a child, but with the words of an old man.

Then, in the next instant, the "transparent wings" disappeared completely from Celty's vision, and the voice of a teenager who had become tired in every sense came from inside the sphere.

"Oi... I'm no longer in the mood for messing around. Hurry up and get rid of this damn ball."

A few minutes later.

After the shadow cage was lifted at the urging of the girl who called herself Misaka, the boy stared at them but didn't attack.

"Why are you here, you idiot?!"

“Because of numerous reasons, announces Misaka, Misaka somehow came into this world, but there were also signals from a satellite that talked about how several people were involved in a conspiracy."

"Say it so that I can actually understand."

The teen said, annoyed. Shizuo had to have suppressed his anger and urge to interject from behind.

"Hey...Although you guys seem to be pushing the topic on your own over there, I'm totally not convinced...."

Probably because there was a kid in front of him, he held back desperately. But the moment Celty tried to calm Shizuo down, whose face was twitching with anger--

"The reason is Orihara Izaya."

Because of what that girl said, Shizuo's movements halted.

"Misaka says as Misaka tries to convey this crucial piece of information that's at the core of everything."

"What are you on about, Last Order?"

Then, the girl named Last Order weaved around Shizuo's back and continued.

"It's all lies! About this person wandering around and the network, they're lies! They're all false orders given by that person named Orihara Izaya, pretending to be Academy City's Board of Directors, says Misaka as Misaka tries to peek at a certain person to see if his reaction is different than normal when he sees Misaka hiding behind this bartender, as Misaka peaks Misaka’s head out to confirm."

"Cut the bullshit and tell me."

After a few minutes, after the girl had explained everything, Celty's shoulders slumped--

In the end, there he was again, with his usual evil plans!

The man who did this thing purely because he hated Shizuo was none other than Orihara Izaya.

She understood this, but this time she actually really wanted to beat him up.

However, above that, there was a worry.

If she had that kind of thought, what kind of boiling state was Shizuo's mind in right now?

"Seriously, anyway, you should say sorry to the person you hurt first, Misaka says as Misaka thoughtfully teaches you the common sense of society."

Faced with the teenager who kept his face stiff, the young girl urged him to apologize to Shizuo and the others.

Just before the teenager said something, Shizuo said.

"Ahah... No, no need to apologize...."

Even though the #1 kid didn't use his ability, he could feel that Heiwajima Shizuo's anger vector had completely switched direction. But it also increased by several times then when he was facing him.

"Do you know where that fungus Izaya is?... Girl."

The girl answered without panic to the face of Shizuo, who was seeping with a ghost-like anger.

"Although I don't know why, because Hikoboshi II has also come to this world, I can observe his location in detail if I connect to the network! Misaka says confidently."

===Part 11===

——

Distortion.

The reason for all this was the distortion of space-time.

For example, even if Yumasaki or Karisawa went to Academy City tomorrow or yesterday, and met Index, but didn't realize it was her, that could be explained by that phrase, that it was all caused by the distortion of space-time.

In the past, when Yumasaki was thrown into the other world called Dengeki Gakuen, there had been a miracle, where he had met Index, and Burning-Eyed Shana themselves - perhaps the Yumasaki who went to Academy City was actually the Yumasaki from before in that point in time, so during his time in "that other world", that was why he judged Index to be a cosplayer.

And in this situation with distorted space-time--

Yumasaki and Karisawa were still going their separate ways.

"So, if you get Shokuhou-chan to remove the psychological scars of Awaki-chan, would it allow her to become a Level 5? Kamijou, try doing that please."

"What good would that do to Misaki-chan, huh?"

"Nonono, what are you talking about! And who's Awaki!?"

"She's a shotacon girl!"

"Even if you say that!"

While Tsuchimikado was trying to find out where Accelerator was, this argument continued. Shingen left the station wagon, saying that he had to go back to the office to report on the situation, and Aogami said that he was going to meet some girl on the Otome Road and left, so only Kamijou was left to savor this unreasonable situation--

Why do these people know so much about Kamijou and Academy City?

"Actually, I have even more questions..."

When Yumasaki tried to take out some books, he accidently dropped his backpack, and several Light Novels dropped out of the opened pack.

"Huh? What books are these?"

Seeing the cover that said "A Certain Magical Index," Kamijou frowned.

Index of Forbidden Books. A word that he often heard. So adding that "Index" on there was pretty redundant.

T/N: The Japanese title reads: "Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku", with Kinsho Mokuroku, with that meaning "Index of Prohibited Books", but there's Furigana above those Kanji, which tells the reader that it's supposed to be pronounced "Indekkusu", so that's why it's redundant

And, the cover art of these books of the characters all matched with the people he knew, even the outfits.

"Ah, this is..."

While Yumasaki was thinking of how he should explain it, Kamijou picked up one of the books nearest to him, and turned the pages noisily.

Then--

"W....what the hell is this!?"

Electrical current swam throughout the grey matter in Kamijou's brain.

Actually, it was the same kind of shock, as the time when he was gently hit by Misaka Mikoto's electrical attacks.

After seeing the word "Kamijou" in the novel, reading it with a frown, he found that it was as if his previous experiences in the past had been recorded in the form of a novel.

"This, what the hell is this!? Is it some stalker's diary or something? Did I make some enemies in some kind of strange organization unknowingly!?"

"Ahhhh... That.... That's.... something like the Akashic Records. About the Akashic Records, maybe Index or Birdway can explain it in more detail."

"Wait a second! You not only know Index, but also Birdway!?"

In the book labeled Volume 2, the events relating to Himegami and the Misawa Cram school were described.

Then, it suddenly occurred to Kamijou--

Hmm? This means...--

Wouldn't the first volume... be about the events before he lost his memories?

Moving his eyes down, he found a book with no number after the title, lying on the floor.

Gulping, he slowly stretched his arm out, but--

Karisawa held her hand out.

"No."

"Hey..."

This book was a very good example of the kind of book that could be used to make a person's life easier.

Putting that book away in his backpack, Yumasaki, with a serious face, said.

"Kamijou, we'll also be talking according to the situation. About your past, just like the flower on Uiharu's head, it's a sacred area that must not be touched. So I'm sorry."

"Hey, so my past, though I don't get it at all, it's on the same level as the "flower on the head" or something...?"

"After all, we're just mere spectators. Even if we can cheer you on, we don't have the right to change your life."

Karisawa said, hugging the Kamijou who had no choice but to calm down.

"It's alright, even if you don't have your memories, there are still people who love you. No matter what happens to them, we're the same. Who we love is the ‘you’ who can move forward now!"

"That's right, in this city, there is someone who has lost her head, not to mention her memories, and that person is now living a fulfilling, loving life."

"...."

He didn't understand what all this was about.

Although this was the case, he could feel that the warmth in their words was genuine, so Kamijou said this, though he was still confused.

"Thank....you."

"Ooooohhhhhhhhhh! Kami-yan!"

Completely destroying the fantasy-like atmosphere, from outside the station wagon came the voice of Aogami Pierce.

"What's wrong, what's wrong!?"

After Kamijou opened the car door, it revealed the tearful Aogami Pierce."

"You listen to me, Kami-yan! Even if I talk to the girls on Otome Road, all they say to me is that "Wow, that's so cool, this cosplay suits you"! What??? Did someone steal my iconic hair and earrings that I've put so much faith into! I didn't think it would be so humiliating to be asked if it was a cosplay or not, but this seems to have awakened a new fetish in me, ohonononononoononono."

"Okay, just calm down! The one feeling embarrassed is me now!"

As he used his hand to press on Aogami Pierce's gob, Kamijou was aware of the surrounding eyes around them.

Pushing Kamijou's hand away from him, and complaining to Yumasaki, whom he had just established a friendly relationship with, Tsuchimikado sighed as he watched Aogami Pierce running around.

"Not good, nya. The line with Hikoboshi has become mixed up, and so I can't figure out where that guy is."

"Are you saying that there's others communicating? With that satellite?"

"Well, there's a lot of confusion over on the other side as well. Even so, if we don't find Accelerator soon..."

"You want me to tell you what?"

Kamijou and the others looked back at the place where the voice suddenly appeared, and there stood a man wearing a black fur coat.

"...Who are you?"

"An informant that's just passing by. You guys are worried because you can't find where Accelerator is, right? Then allow me to sell you that information."

"You... know about what's going on?"

"Sort of. Honestly, I've already looked into the situation. After all, this incident is of great interest to me as well."

The man who called himself the informant looked at the teenager near the door of the station wagon, expertly weaving his words together.

"There's just one thing, to be honest. Although I’ve collected all kinds of information, I don't know why I can't get the real name of Aogami Pierce over there."

With a self deprecating smile, the informant continued.

"Although it isn't a big deal, I'm pretty unsatisfied having such a hole in my information. If you can tell me this, I'll give you the information you want."

"What, what? It's not such a big deal. I'm not even listening, and you're talking about it so casually?"

Aogami Pierce, who heard his nickname being called, started to listen to the conversation midway, saying to the informant, determined.

"Oh, tell me my real name, Kami-yan! With gusto! Let this second-rate informant, who doesn't even know my real name, see the cruelty of reality!"

Aogami Pierce, who was pointing a finger at Izaya with a strange pose, Kamijou could only respond with silence.

"...."

"Kami-yan?"

An unprecedented cold sweat seeped out of his face, and Kamijou said some words, as if he were talking to himself.

"Once, despair was inflicted."

"?"

"That was when the whole world became my enemy. Even you and Fukiyose tried to kill me. Imagine it as some sort of dream."

"Hey? Ah, so you're talking about a dream?"

"In such a horrible, horrible situation, to you who tried to kill me... I called you ‘Aogami Pierce’... Even in such a situation, I could only use your nickname..."

"What are you talking about, Kami-yan? What are you trying to say?"

"Hey, wait, you guys, are you serious!? Are you kidding me!? Nononono, really, are you guys trolling me?"

Aogami Pierce accepted his friend's reaction as a joke, standing in front of the informant.

"Fine, I'll do it myself! Dig the shit out of your ears, and listen to me carefully!"

Aogami Pierce took a big breath, getting ready to say his name out loud to all these people around him.

"My name is..."

And in the moment after that, space-time distorted.

To be precise, it was an attack that gave the illusion of space-time distortion, that wrapped up an entire space.

The one that flew here, aiming at Orihara Izaya, crushed the asphalt beneath him, blowing the body of the Aogami Pierce next to him away, through the pressure of the wind alone.

"Arghhh--!?"

Looking at the Aogami Pierce, who was rolling around, grunting, Kamijou went after it with his unsteady body.

He glanced to the side -- A small impact crater had been created, and a man in a bartender's uniform with a face that looked like it belonged to a demon lord was standing in it.

Because of the overwhelming sense of pressure, Kamijou continued to chase after Aogami Pierce, as if he had seen nothing.

The man who had dodged the impact just in time howled like a monster.

"I don't know if this world is distorted or whatever... But you're ready to have your body squished into a ball, right...? I---Za----Ya----Kun------ OOOOOOHHHHHH!"

===Part 12===
"Goodbye, and thank you so much for today, says Misaka as Misaka shows kindness in the place of the cold edgy guy."

[Ahah, take care on your way back.]

Celty entered that text gently, to the girl who was smiling innocently.

Then, she took a look at the boy named Accelerator.

He manipulated Shizuo's strength, which far exceeded that of a normal human, blowing his body directly towards where Izaya was. Although this was Shizuo's own request, Celty couldn't help but think that this kid who could do this was so far beyond common sense that it wasn't even funny.

At the same time, if that girl hadn't arrived, who knows what would have happened.

Shingen suddenly said "You should accompany this child to find someone" and then because of this girl "Felt that he was this way, thought Misaka as Misaka tried to look for that person's distinct traces of AIM surrounding him", Celty followed those ambiguous instructions and ran up and down the streets.

When she came into the abandoned factory because of Shizuo's guttural roar, she told the girl to wait at the motorcycle, and so she went to see what was going on, but ended up getting involved in it--

After all, she didn't know about the white hair... So she didn't think that it was the person that the kid was looking for.

"Why are you staring over here... Uh, oh wait, you've got no eyes."

The girl began to lecture the teenager when he said such things to Celty--

Ignoring the lecturing, he said this to Celty.

"....Oi."

[What?]

"About your power... There should be a better way that you can use to kill me in an instant, right? Why didn't you use it?"

Celty responded after thinking a little, typing out the text.

[Why do you think... Wouldn't it be better to settle things without killing anyone? No one would lose any sleep at night because of it.]

Hearing that, the teenager frowned, muttering.

"Even a monster like you is this indecisive."

After that, with a slightly unimpressed expression, he messed with the girl's hair.

"We're going back. This isn't my city."

[Nonsense. As long as you don't go crazy like before, Ikebukuro welcomes you]

The teenager didn't respond to Celty's words.

As if to replace the reply, he once again ruffled with the girls' hair.

It was as if he was claiming that the place where the teenager would go was the place where he belonged.

===Part 13===

Ikebukuro station | On the subway

"Ahh, what bad luck. It's the same as yesterday. I didn't even finish one of the external research..."

After all that chaos, Kamijou and the others got on the same subway they took here because of Shingen's urging.

After that, they got caught in a fight between the man in the bartender suit and the informant, and when they managed to escape, they found out that Accelerator had already gone back to Academy City, so everything was settled.

"Honestly, I have no idea what just happened, but suddenly everything is alright now... Well anyway, if it's all solved, then it's for the best..."

Kamijou, who got involved in the incident, and yet didn't become the center of it, felt the fatigue coming on, after relaxing for a bit.

Speaking of which, was it really all over?

Although he wasn't so sure about it, once you got on this subway, people of the "Academy City World" would automatically go back to the original world.

Aogami Pierce, who did not understand what was happening, and Tsuchimikado, whose last encounter with Kamijou was a little earlier back in time. Each of them would go back to their respective times and places, across the distorted space-time.

No matter if it was a distorted path or not, all one could do was to move forward.

Suddenly, Kamijou, who had made his mind, felt a sense of unease, and said,

"I feel like I've forgotten something... What could it be?"

===Part 14===

Hikoboshi II | Satellite Orbit | Zero Gravity Biological Impact Laboratory

[We've finally solved the problem]

In response to the message from Tsukumoya Shinichi, Kaguya maintained her floating position as she replied.

"The scale of the merging seems to be larger than expected."

[Yes. So there's nothing better than getting in touch with you, who can observe the earth from the most objective perspective, and getting your assistance on top of that.]

"But the important thing is that I'm still here in this world."

[If the distortion of the Sky by Fire can be resolved, you should be able to return to your original world in a few days.]

"I said that I couldn't leave Academy City on it's own, but I don't really care about it. Looking at a different Earth is a good way to pass the time. It's like a spot the difference game."

To the not particularly troubled Kaguya, Tsukumoya Shinichi told the truth.

[Well, also, since you think it's fine like that, then I better not say anything more...]

[But your presence here has sent the surface into panic.]

===Part 15===
Somewhere on Kawagoe Street | Shinra's apartment

"Celty! You're back! What a day it's been today!"

[Really!... Suddenly something unbelievable has happened.]

When she finally returned home, she found a paper bag on the table.

[What's this?]

She took a peek with her hand, and saw something that looked like a wine bottle in some special packaging.

"Ahhh.... That seems to be something that my dad's guest forgot. He says that he wants you to send it back through the subway tunnel tomorrow..."

[???]

Why did she have to go through the subway tunnel to send back something that someone forgot?

Just as Celty was about to ask the obvious question, a report about an astonishing event just came, blaring from the news on the TV.

[And for the next piece of news. We have received an astonishing image. A huge artificial structure, 5,000 meters long, has appeared in the sky over Tokyo. There is no record of such a satellite being sent up, as far as we know--]

Suddenly, Celty dropped the goods onto the couch.

[Ohh... Are these aliens ahhahaguukayadshaaghdsdkgh]

"Calm down, Celty! Celty!?"

After that, she couldn't get her work done well because of the news, and the next day, she passed through the underground tunnel, confused. She arrived at "Academy City", but--

But this is another story, for another time.

===Part 16===

Epilogue

Ikebukuro's west gate park was covered in a thin, crimson, sunset.

In the corner of the park was a man with long, thin eyes, as well as a European shaped face, sitting on a metal tube bench.

Although it wasn't a rare presence in Ikebukuro, where there were many foreign tourists, the unique atmosphere that surrounded this man was a presence very rare indeed, both in Japan, and abroad.

However, a person who could detect this atmosphere would also be a very rare existence in this world.

"Can I sit next to you?"

"It's a public bench. You don't need to ask me for permission..."

The man said with a shrug, after glancing in the direction of the girl.

"Whatever."

"It's not just whatever. This side or that side, how much confusion do you think has been created? There were several conflicts in places you didn't see. Of course, you know all that, right?"

"So, is it, or is it not? After all, it would be boring if I knew everything. Life is meant to be a challenge."

"What are you talking about, cheater?"

The girl said that, sitting down violently on the bench

To this girl, the man said.

"Why did you come here? The bottle should have been returned to Kamijou Touma, right, girl?"

"It's like you asked me to come here yourself. I didn't expect that someone like you could blend in with society in general. How can you not be interested in something like that?"

The young girl, who was about 12 years old, spoke loudly. The leader of the magic cabal, the Dawn Colored Sunlight, Leivinia Birdway. To this, the man softly replied.

"Even so, he was a senior member of an underground organization. It's hard to say that he's someone with a normal status."

"It doesn't matter if it's the triads, the Camorra, or the 'Ndrangheta, to us Magicians, they're all the same."

"From how I can see it, Magicians and Espers are just the same."

"Don't get so passive aggressive. What are you, a child?"

The man of the underworld giggled at Birdway's words.

"It's not something to laugh at. Have you seriously prepared a solution to this mess?"

"Don't need to do anything. In the infinite cycle of the chicken and the egg, the chick will go on it's own way."

"Are you going to play this game of words to deceive your way through? If that really would work, what a chaotic play it would be."

After a little more words exchanged, Birdway slowly stood up.

"There's not much to be gained from how I live my life. It's time for me to return, Alchemist."

"Yeah? I'm sorry to see you go, but I won't keep you any longer."

The man named the Alchemist continued to speak to the magician girl.

"It's hard to form ties. In the end, I'd like to leave you a piece of advice, about your actions this time. Although it's something that the majority of people from this world can feel."

"What? Advice from a "being" like you would be interesting. Let's hear it then."

In response to Birdway's words, the Alchemist said with a blank expression.

"I don't think you came here because you were interested in what I was doing, but simply because you were chasing after Kamijou Touma, right?"

"Wh...."

"You're actually a brocon, aren't you?"

"...."

For a moment, the silence that seemed like that time had stood still dominated these two.

After several seconds of silence that could be described as forever, the corners of Birdway's mouth twitched, and she said.

"....If I become a magic god, I'll come over to this universe and destroy you, you bloody bastard. Keep that in mind."

"What a horrible thing to say...Fine"

Smiling while shrugging his shoulders once more, the Alchemist laughed.

"When that time comes, I'll ask Kamijou Touma for help."

===Part 17===
After the girl disappeared from the streets of Ikebukuro with an appalling anger, the man, still sitting on the bench, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself.

"A chaotic play. In some sense, maybe that's true. But where in the world can you get the words to explain this event."--

"If you could explain it with words, then a phenomenon of this magnitude can't really be truly called "Absurd"".... Ha--

This, again, was the words of something outside of this dimension, from elsewhere--

Whether he understood it or not, this incident was, in other words, something like that.

"Oh well."

After saying that, the man's figure disappeared.

The space where the man was originally located dissolved into "nothingness" - like a film reel being scattered in the air.

Then, one part of the film distorts, beginning to form a circle, and the film, which had become a shape of a mobius ring, further shifted into the shape of ∞ Infinity, beginning to rotate.

As if to say that the event neither had a beginning, nor an end, from the very start.

The view of the city, too, continued to rotate like a film.

Knock knock, click click--

Translator's note/ Here's a note on all the origins of the characters that appeared or were mentioned

A Certain Magical Index (Kamachi Kazuma)
Kamijou Touma, Othinus, Roberto Katze, Leivinia Birdway, Aogami Pierce, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Tsuchimikado Maika, Fukiyose, Himegami Aisa, Tsukuyomi Komoe, Index Librorum Prohibitum, Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Amano Kaguya ,Kazakiri Hyouka, Accelerator, Meigo Airsa, Aleister Crowley, Saten Ruiko, Olay Blueshake, Utgard Loki, Misaka Imouto, Sogiita Gunha, Kakine Teitoku, Komaba Ritoku, Kihara clan, Aiwass, Uiharu Kazari, Lessar, Jörmungandr, Hel, Last Order, Musujime Awaki

A Simple Series: Kamachi Kazuma

[Absurd]

Durarara!!! Narita Ryougo

Yumasaki Walker, Tsukumoya Shinichi, Celty Sturluson, Heiwajima Shizuo, idk who this is, Karisawa Erika, Kyohei Kadota, Saburo Togusa, Shingen Kishitani, Shinra Kishitani, Orihara Izaya, Namie Yagiri

Vamp!

Viscount -- Gerhardt von Waldstein, The Organization

Baccano!

Prohibition Era Groups, Alchemy of the Abyss, Alchemist (Ronnie Schiatto)

Shakugan no Shana

Shana

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