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2026-05-08T22:33:57Z

Ultranova17: Ultranova17 uploaded a new version of File:Item2 BW3.jpg

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2026-05-08T22:24:18Z

Ultranova17: directing to GT instead of NT

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Ending

2026-05-08T22:23:14Z

Ultranova17:

“I am sincerely sorry.

“I must apologize for the trouble my failure has caused all of you.”

It’s fine. As long as you’re safe.

But even a voice on the phone can become a target? The dark side really is a frightening place. Nowhere in the world is truly safe, is it?

“The situation has been resolved, so only the cleanup remains.

“Shiokishi-sama, will that be acceptable?”

Yes.

“Good. Then I have approval and authorization from the Board. I will be handling this one with my own personal connections and possessions.”

Don’t push yourself too hard. We do have people to fight on the front lines.

“I will be fine.

“I will not let anything like this happen again. We need to make sure people know what happens if they take the dark side lightly – and its higher ups especially. Right?”

…Umm. Oh, dear. Are you drinking something by any chance?

“Of course not.

“I am sober this time.”

It was night.

One place had a very different feel from the energy of the Daihaseisai.

Everyone overlooked that one spot.

Thanks to a blown bicycle tire, Anti-Skill hadn’t been along on their usual patrol.

Even the drive recorders and home security cameras from different companies had all been silenced.

Who had gone to that effort?

The work was so perfect no one even asked that question.

“Sigh. God, this thing’s heavy.”

A woman was walking along that dark street carrying a metal stepladder under her arm.

With all the camera-equipped press in the city for the Daihaseisai, that alone wasn’t too unusual, except it did stand out late at night when no events were held. Or it would have if anyone had been around to see it.

She was in an ordinary (or maybe fairly cheap) residential area filled with short apartment buildings. In Academy City, the large dumpsters on the side of the road would automatically process garbage, but they even operated at night, which had led to a fair number of noise complaints. It really came down to the morals of the neighborhood, but when people didn’t separate out their garbage properly, spray cans could end up rupturing inside the large boxes, creating a lot of noise during the night in some areas.

“I can’t drink until the job is complete. Honestly, at least I can smoke.”

The woman wore a tight skirt suit and she placed her soft palm on the side of the stepladder. The surface seemed to peel away, unnaturally revealing a deadly weapon longer than she was tall.

It was a Metal Eater Trial .50 caliber anti-tank rifle.

The monster fired absurdly large bullets and even had a full-auto mode.

It had been hidden so it couldn’t be seen.

In addition to simple camouflage, she had made full use of optical illusions that tricked the brain.

All her skill as a disguise expert had gone into it.

(If you hide things too much, people will want to see inside the box. But whether it’s a stepladder or a chain-link fence, people assume you can’t hide anything in something with gaps you can see through, so they let their guard down. Really, it’s one of the standard assumption-based tricks stage magicians use.)

…That said, applying makeup to a weapon wasn’t an unusual idea. In past wars, bricks of explosives had been painted like actual bricks or coal to disguise them and just about any sniper would spray paint their gun with camouflage.

The woman whispered while focused on her wireless earphones.

Her target was a black luxury car.

“Do you think your diplomat plates make you untouchable? I sure hope you aren’t relying on that cheap myth in Academy City’s darkness.”

“!?”

“I can’t believe you would sell out a voice on the phone fairly deep in the dark side and even try to take her life. Humans contain such depths. I’m really starting to think the final dungeon for humanity isn’t the deep oceans or space – it’s the psychological world. I have no idea what you were thinking. But it does seem you want to become the kind of horrific corpse that will go down in the history of crime.”

The other side of the phone call was a mere 10m ahead of her. She heard something from inside the thick black luxury car that was motionless thanks to an ''incredibly unnatural'' malfunction.

Maybe he was begging for his life.

She ignored it and pulled the trigger.

She didn’t have to worry about the noise. The car’s bulletproofing was only designed for 9mm handguns, so firing 12.7mm anti-materiel rounds into it at full-auto turned it to Swiss cheese in less than a minute. In fact, over half of the car’s 2-ton weight was gone.

.50 caliber, 12.7mm. That she wasn’t flipped over onto her back from firing those on full-auto while standing upright suggested she was using several forms of technology, including an extra-large muzzle brake.

The muzzle flashes shined bright like camera flashes at a press conference and the reflected light tore through the shadows.

The woman was Hanano Choubi.

“Well, that was boring. It’s always like this with them. Since it’s an electric car, I thought maybe he’d be electrocuted.”

She tapped her ear to switch off the ultra-precise noise canceling in her closed wireless earphones. The one flaw of the Metal Eater Trial was the noise caused by the ridiculous amount of powder it used. She hoped that would be fixed before the finalized version.

At any rate, she only had to leave this place and her job was complete. She would retrieve the stepladder, hide the giant gun in it, head back to safety, and start drinking. It was late, but she still wanted to eat a giant pile of fried chicken and fries. Days like this made her want to treat herself to the cheapest and most unhealthy luxuries.

And that would have happened.

“Uh…”

If she hadn’t heard an impossible groan.

What had been a thick door (and now more resembled a honeycomb or sponge) creaked. A bloody man rolled out. Probably the driver. He had likely been hit by the sharp metal fragments torn from the car rather than the bullets themselves.

Hanano didn’t hesitate to aim the Metal Eater Trial at him, but then someone emerged from the side.

A small figure.

It was Academy City’s #6. AKA the Dark Side’s Bane.

And she could only see a vague outline even at this close range?

“Please wait.”

“?”

“That man is only an embassy worker. He had nothing to do with this case and he isn’t even aware of Academy City’s seedy underside. You have achieved your revenge. The dark side has no shortage of cruel people, but no one is going to try and take advantage of your situation after this. There is no need to shoot an unrelated innocent.”

A short burst of explosive blasts followed.

Hanano Choubi had blown the collapsed man’s head off with three shots. Just to be thorough.

She belatedly realized she hadn’t hit the switch on her earphones, so the noise canceling must have been made to automatically switch on and off in certain conditions. Electronics didn’t come with paper manuals these days, so people often didn’t know every available feature.

The voice on the phone spoke in a kind voice like she was talking to a lost child.

“I decide who I kill. No one else.”

“…”

“This was my revenge, so that choice is my privilege. I need to eliminate any and all ''lingering concerns'' if I’m going to fully enjoy a healthy and peaceful tomorrow. I want to end it all today. Isn’t that how revenge works? I’m not interested in advice from an outsider who has never been hurt like this. It’s always like this.”

For a while, the #6 said nothing.

It took a full five seconds.

“”Are you…taking this lightly because ''it has already happened''?”

“?”

“Looking at the timeline, you cannot die ''here''. So do you think you are safe no matter how far you stray?”

She didn’t understand.

But hold on.

Hanano Choubi held one of the deepest positions in the dark side, but she didn’t understand this? When it was related to Academy City? Could that really happen?

Or.

…Was her position really as deep as she thought it was?

The small figure spoke.

“The thing is, no one can prove that Item’s voice on the phone is actually Hanano Choubi. She’s only an unclear voice coming from a machine, so the real one might be someone else entirely. Or things may be ''adjusted'' to make it that way. Discussing the past doesn’t necessarily confirm anything. You have no objective proof, so you may have already ceased to exist. …The truth is a malleable thing, so it cannot be used as a sword or a shield.”

“Wait…what are you talking about?”

“Two Wings.”

The voice was quiet.

But it seemed to pierce deep into a distortion of the world.

“Did an attack helicopter by that name exist? You can’t just let this slide. Look back further in the past to a conversation with a black market doctor. At the very least, Mugino Shizuri had already mentioned the Six Wings name ''in this same timeline''. Before the Two Wings was ever mentioned.”

Hanano Choubi of course had no idea what the #6 was talking about. She didn’t even feel like the small figure was speaking to her. It was more like they were talking to themself or ''to someone who wasn’t here'' and she was simply caught in the middle of it.

But despite feeling left out, a cold sweat dripped from her brow to her nose.

''This was bad.

''Really, really bad!!

“Like I said, the truth is a malleable thing, so it cannot be used as a sword or a shield. Have you forgotten the basic fact that we produce supernatural phenomena by distorting quantum physics which are vague and uncertain enough already in their rejection of Newtonian physics? Observation can change the world. It can be affected from the outside. And Academy City has raised a ton of those monsters.”

The small figure took a step forward.

The .50 caliber weapon was useless.

Hanano Choubi seemed paralyzed.

The small figure held out a small palm.

And Academy City’s #6 whispered while viewing some other far distant place.

The person known as the Dark Side’s Bane spoke.

“''I will bring you into this absurd distortion.''”

<noinclude>
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Ending

2026-05-08T22:22:56Z

Ultranova17: navbar

“Hi. Hanano Choubi here. Eh? Do my job? I did. I got Item all worked up and chucked them outside the city. ''It’s always like this with you.'' You seem on edge. Did something happen with the higher ups?”

“I have a warning as the Brain of one of the Board members. Item’s position still isn’t stable. I’d say the negatives outweigh the positives here.”

“Even though they dealt with the Mugino Family problem?”

“Even though.”

“The confusion caused by the Mugino family head will be resolved in about a week. A week is a very long time for Academy City, though. Malt and agar, huh? Top rate culture media? That’s going to cause some volatility in the stocks related to pharmaceuticals, so I’d pull out now if I were you.”

“Ahh!! Why would you tell me that!? Now that I know that, it counts as insider trading! …I was already planning to sell that stock soon, but am I stuck with it until all of this settles down? Do you have any idea how much I could lose from this!?”

“I did it knowing full well how much. It’s called lashing out. I am the Board’s Brain. Do you really think I would accidentally let information slip?”

“You really are upset about something. But it doesn’t seem like it’s related to your work. Oh, is it about that pointy-haired boy?”

“…”

“God, you’re a pain in the ass! Stop taking it out on me when it’s hot out and some younger boy won’t give you the time of day. …Wait, what was that click? It wasn’t the phone, so- how did you locate my hideout, ''Kumokawa-sa''- gyahhhh!?”

“In the end, it’s tooooooo hoooooot!!!”

“Then why did you invite me to a sauna? It’s super hard to refuse when you’re new to the team like I am!!”

It was September.

The weather was cooler than during summer break, but when the sun was in the right mood, the midsummer heat could still return. And yet the blonde-haired blue-eyed girl had grabbed Kinuhata (who looked bored without any friends outside of the dark side) by the hand and dragged her to the sauna. However, this sauna was not a hangout for old men. It was a sweet smelling place built as part of a women’s sports gym.

This was apparently normal for Scandinavian girls.

It was really hard to decide if she was serious or joking. And Kinuhata didn’t know the blonde girl’s actual nationality.

It was just the two of them today.

Frenda sat on the wooden bench in the strange sauna that was advertised as being authentically Scandinavian yet used Japanese cypress wood.

“What I want to know is why you’re in such a bad mood. Here. In the end, I’ll fan you with this☆”

“That’s so damn hot it’s gonna burn me!! Do you really not know that only makes it worse!? I’m starting to think your claim of being Scandinavian is a super lie.”

“It’s not a ‘claim’. Fan, fan.”

“Gyahhhhh!?”

Frenda set down the fan and opened the front of her towel to use it to fan.

Was this what happened when the north wind and the sun joined forces?

The (oddly sweet) heat wave threatened to burn all of Kinuhata’s skin.

Tightly covering herself with her towel to protect herself, Kinuhata sweatily continued speaking.

“Anyway, let’s make that the last time we play tag. This wasn’t just a little dangerous – it was super dangerous.”

“Again, I was forced into that position.”

(Naked and sweaty) Frenda retied her towel with practiced ease.

She stared blankly at the joint thermometer and hygrometer on the wet wooden wall.

“Also, it didn’t feel like I was going to die there. Almost like it isn’t my time to die yet.”

“?”

Not her time?

She had been all alone and hunted by Academy City and the Mugino Family and it had ended in a battle against Academy City’s #4 Level 5. Kinuhata hadn’t been in Item for long, but she couldn’t imagine much greater danger than that.

Frenda herself, however, remained carefree.

At least on the surface, anyway.

“I mean, you know how my greatest weapon is my ability to make friends with anyone? In the end, Mugino Shizuri is no exception there.”

Something froze solid.

Even though they were inside a sweltering sauna.

“I’m going to continue making friends with as many people as possible in my daily life. Just in case I do get caught in some real trouble someday, I’ll go around saving people to leave a good impression. And then, at the last moment, they won’t be able to do it. I’m pretty good at that, right? You know what I mean, don’t you, Kinuhata?”

“Super I guess…”

“That villa area was wide open with no cover. Ordinarily, there’s no way I could have directly faced Mugino there and lived to tell the tale.”

“…”

Mugino had briefly hesitated.

Even if it had been a subconscious thing.

The #4 Level 5 power was a masterpiece of science, but it was ultimately wielded by a human. So that possibility did exist.

But.

The nature of that fact changed greatly depending on if it was a naturally-occurring miracle or if it was an intentional calculation.

Item was from the dark side.

Did that fact change when they left Academy City?

“You super shouldn’t tell Mugino that.”

“She knows. She has for a long time. I’ve been with Item for a while now and Mugino’s been saved by my extensive friends list more than once.”

Surely you haven’t forgotten how Butler Mujinayama trusted in his righteousness and remained loyal.

But that allowed Mugino Sakuya to drag him into her coup and, because he also worried for Shizuri, he was shot in the back by Sakuya herself.

Trying to get along with anyone and everyone could shorten one’s lifespan.

Especially on the dark side where the division between enemy and ally was stark and you were often forced to take one side or the other.

“''I can be anyone’s friend.''”

Frenda Seivelun said this in her towel.

Cutely.

But also with a self-deprecating smile that resembled succumbing to a peaceful death.

“''In the end, I end up being everyone’s friend.''”

[[Image:Item4_BW7.jpeg|thumb]]

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item4_Afterword|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item5_Illustrations}}
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Ending

2026-05-08T22:22:35Z

Ultranova17: navbar

“Memo, memo. I can just convert my voice to text for my report.”

That would lead to a festival of mistakes, so instead of relying on the automatic speech recognition, I would prefer you typed out your report by hand.

Please do not make reading your unfortunate grasp of Japanese any harder than it already is.

“Oh, shut up. You’re not the top of this city – you’re just just the Board Chairman’s secretary. So stop trying to boss me around. Fuck, you’re not even human.”

My speech algorithm has applied your usage of the word “fuck” to my deep learning.

And just so you know, you foolish drunk with a beer in hand, word of this will reach the Board Chairman.

“Wait, wait, wait! I’m sorry!! Eek! I’ll sober up real quick and get my prostration on in front of the webcam, so anything but that, you superhumanly perfect AI secretary!!!”

So you view the Board Chairman as someone who warrants tears over a minor infraction like this? Then I recommend creating your report in the proper format. Strongly recommend.

“I’m doing it now, okay!? ...Huh? I’m trying to transmit my report, but it’s being rejected. First the higher ups ask for it and now this?”

Warning!

The Windowless Building’s security level has just been increased.

The Windowless Building will no longer allow access from this sloppy and unstable communications route. Please use the official process going through Spark Signal.

“Wait, does that mean the higher ups are still on alert?”

I do not possess the authority to answer that question. Also, I do not recommend a fucking agent like you attempt any valueless and reckless speculation. Fuck you.

“Does this mean it isn’t over yet? …''It’s always like this, I swear''.”

It was the middle of the night.

More specifically, this was an empty street in District 1.

“Hey, Mugino. In the end, the Criminal Real Estate just contacted us. Our runaway lives are finally over. We should be able to find a place to sleep.”

“It’s 3 in the morning. Does the real estate industry really operate that late?”

“Website forms are scary things. They completely eliminate the concept of business hours,” said track suit girl Takitsubo with no noticeable expression.

It was just business for the Criminal Real Estate. They hadn’t been able to do business with Item before due to an unnatural warning icon appearing on their account, but Item had originally been excellent customers who rented plenty of ultra-pricey apartments and resorts. Now that Item had done enough work to get that warning icon removed, there were plenty of recommended locations for them.

“Super what should we do for our next hideout?”

“I want somewhere convenient for shopping,” said Takitsubo. “We should be able to get most anything in District 7.”

“Ehh? In the end, can’t we just use online shopping and bike delivery services for all that? Keep in mind it’s nearly September and fall. I want a district with plenty of good food!! By which I mean District 4!!”

“Academy City is a densely-populated walled city, so if you need something, you can easily head out and go there. Isn’t there anywhere quiet we can stay?” said Mugino.

Item had lost most of their support team delinquents during the execution squad’s thermobaric bombardment. No one had died at the Reserve Meal cold storage warehouse, but there was still plenty of evidence they had to cover up.

(It’s going to be expensive, but I guess we can hire an outside cleanup crew. There was that corpse specialist Hanatsuyu Kuchikusa. It’ll probably be fastest to contact her first and have her introduce us to other people she knows.)

Mugino was working out some calculations in her head, which caused her to lag behind the others.

Frenda waved from a bit up ahead.

“Mugino! In the end, can I come up with a schedule for viewing possible new hideouts?”

“Go ahead.”

With that, Mugino looked up into the night sky.

(Hey.)

She didn’t say anything out loud, but she was speaking to someone in her head.

She pictured someone who wasn’t here right now.

(I managed to survive, you shitty Class Rep. Is that what you wanted?)

Mugino sighed.

And the very next moment, her right knee went limp and her vision dropped straight down.

This was not a case of the accumulated damage catching up to her or some bleeding inside her skull.

Something had clearly happened right this instant.

And despite all her experience as a Level 5, Mugino couldn’t figure out what had happened.

The threat wasn’t over yet. In fact, the true threat had only just arrived.

“Kah…”

She couldn’t even get out a shout. Her eyes were the only thing she could still move.

She spotted a strange silhouette. It had the outlines of a small child, but those outlines were wavering and distorting, never staying put for long. She tried staring at it but could only see darkness.

Was there really something there?

There hadn’t been any footsteps. She hadn’t even sensed anyone’s presence until right before it happened.

How had they gotten so close? Had they used a teleportation power? Or a psychological power capable of messing with perception or memories?

They hadn’t touched her and nothing had flown in from long distance. Mugino had simply fallen to her knee. Something was wrong with her equilibrium. Was the change in the outside world or deep within her brain?

But aside from all that…

(It’s them…)

“Are you the Dark Side’s Bane!? The #6!!??”

“I did not approach you.”

They spoke with a voice of disinterest.

Was that shadow really even looking at Mugino?

“You came to me. Mugino Shizuri, you thoughtlessly entered a territory you should have stayed out of. I am the Dark Side’s Bane. You knew that, so you should have kept your distance. This tragedy is the natural result of your actions.”

“Gahh!!!” roared Mugino.

Violent beams of light surged from her wounded palm.

That was all.

Meltdowner veered off course shortly before reaching the strange shadow and burst into particles.

This was not the imitation justice she had fought before.

Evil’s attacks could not even reach true good.

“Wha-?”

“You are the strongest when it comes to simple destructive force, but that also means you only have one card in your deck.”

They did not brag.

Others might bow before the Level 5s, but as another Level 5, the #6 was not cowed.

“You have no surprising tricks or clever applications. So once someone breaks free of the initial fear, they only need to learn that one attack. You are the most tedious of the Level 5s. Even the Railgun and Mental Out scare me more than you.”

“Kh.”

“''Which is why you will be destroyed by betrayal from one of your own.''”

That was a dangerous prophecy.

It had no basis, but when it came from the #6, it did bring some fear.

“Humans can adapt to any stimulus. One-note, unchanging fear cannot mentally bind people forever. The time will come when it all unravels. The only question is whether it will happen sooner or later.”

What was their power?

Mugino doubted it was ''only'' some kind of defensive power. That had only been an uninteresting sliver of their power. But in that case, ''what did the #6 see right now''?

This was the fear they had mentioned.

A bottomless fear.

“Do you see now why you are taken lightly and will one day be betrayed?” asked the #6. It wasn’t even clear where that small shadow’s mouth was. “Traitors will themselves be betrayed. You are ruling everything around you with fear, but there is no trust there. No one sees enough value and weight in it to keep their promises.”

“…”

She wasn’t able to respond to these accusations. The #6’s attack was probably already complete. Otherwise, she doubted the #6 would so readily appear before a target, even as this indistinct shadow.

Their appearance and name were unknown. The #6 had always been so careful that they had practically become a legend.

So when they showed up, it was best to assume this was checkmate.

“Now, after I crush you, what should I do with the rest of Item?”

Takitsubo, Frenda, and Kinuhata were nowhere to be seen.

She had fired so many beams and torn away pieces of the city, yet no one seemed to have noticed. Not even Takitsubo who excelled at searching out enemies and gathering intel.

Was it a strange coincidence?

Or was this an application of the #6’s power?

“Are you entirely to blame for this case growing to the point that I had to make an appearance, or is Item as a whole to blame?”

Mugino’s focus rapidly grew to a boil.

“Do I need to wait for the next case to make a decision? But letting innocent people come to harm for that would violate my justice. In that case, it would be safest for the world as a whole if I eliminated all four of you now.”

“Go…”

Mugino clenched her teeth.

And she finally got out a roar.

“…to helllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!”

Thick beams flooded not just from her palm but from her entire body. They melted asphalt, cut down a wind turbine at the base, and flew right past the #6.

That small shadow could not react.

She was prepared to lose control.

She was willing to obliterate her own body if necessary.

“Justice? Is that what you call it when you choose whose lives to take? Good and evil don’t matter to you! You just care about your peace of mind!! I’m not about to call myself one of the good guys. That’s never happening. But because I’m on the bad side, there’s one thing I’m certain of: ''you’re nothing but a killer''!”

“Hm.”

“Billions of people might love you and history might praise your name, but that fact will never change. I’m not letting someone like you get at my teammates!!”

The #6 responded with great interest.

“Come to think of it, you chose not to kill at the very end this time. Meltdowner is a tedious Level 5 power that relies entirely on the initial impact, but perhaps you still have a minuscule chance of receiving an unexpected blessing.”

This result may have been a possibility left to her by someone who was now dead.

The detective.

No, the Class Rep. Shiratori Okibi.

A possibility Mugino had killed herself.

“Foster that feeling. With great care.”

The #6 said something strange.

Almost like they sympathized with Mugino.

“If you do, something could possibly change. Meltdowner, you possess an incredible amount of energy. ''You only need make good use of it.'' The odds are extremely poor and it may be easier on you if I did not present you with this hope that will almost certainly amount to nothing.”

To put it another way, their emotion of disappointment had ''shifted'' for just a moment.

“The path you four walk is far too dangerous to be relying on luck and asking for a miracle. If you do that, ''you all could lose your lives at an even earlier point''. But on the other hand, there is a chance…”

“Shut your trap, you killer who doesn’t even have the decency to be a villain!!”

This time, Meltdowner directly struck the #6’s small shadow.

She broke through the mysterious defenses without actually understanding them.

The shadow spiraled around.

And that was it.

It vanished into thin air.

Mugino could tell the beam hadn’t actually burned through or destroyed anything.

There was no questioning it.

They were clearly better than her.

“''I’ll fight back.''”

So the loser howled alone in the darkness.

It didn’t matter what was awaiting her.

It didn’t matter what the #6 – the Dark Side’s Bane – was after.

It didn’t matter what kind of cruel tracks Academy City had laid out for her.

“''Railgun!? Mental Out!? Who gives a shit about those rankings and hierarchies!? Maybe it means turning my back on the changing times and going down in history as an irredeemable villain! But I’m Meltdowner, one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s! Whatever you might try, Item will use our own power to protect our hoooooooooome''!!!”

Her statement was entirely meaningless.

Quantum theory said an individual human’s observations could influence microscopic physics and the macroscopic world was composed of such things.

Academy City could freely wield that theory, but the result here had already been determined.

''Everyone already knows how it ends.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Afterword|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item4_Illustrations}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending

2026-05-08T22:22:12Z

Ultranova17: navbar

“Okie-dokie! The District 14 lab has been shut down like you asked. Top priority access to the Hula Hoop particle accelerator reverts back to the official control center. Really, no one needed the thing anymore once they carelessly kicked Ainame Caroline out, so this was just eliminating a lingering money sink.”

“What about Meltdowner Mugino Shizuri?”

“She’s doing fine. Mugino Shizuri’s Angelica would let her slice up DNA from an industrial approach and Takitsubo Rikou could reach the point of rewriting Personal Realities via their AIM Diffusion Field. They start at different places, but they have the same ultimate goal. That’s no coincidence, is it? It’s almost cruel, really. The whole thing is a comparison test between similar espers to determine which one to ''prune'', similar to what happened between Shokuhou Misaki and Mitsuari Ayu, right?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Eh? Ah ha ha. Don’t even try to deny it at this point. I already know everything. ''Once one or the other is perfected as a Level 5 capable of creating more Level 5s, we don’t need the other one anymore.'' Isn’t Item a stress cage where they’ll push each other to greater heights until one wins out? You even faked that whole false charges case so the one could save the other and build solid bonds between ''the two enemies''☆”

“Do not make me repeat myself.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, should I continue to monitor Item like normal?”

“Yes. I am certain I can get a majority of the 12 on my side. And this city’s king agrees with me as well. Even if there are a few opposing votes, there will be no major move against us.”

“When it’s all fated to fall apart sooner or later, I almost feel sorry for Mugino with how hard she’s working at holding it together.”

“(Clink clink)”

“Heyyy, is that silverware tapping against a plate? Th-that’s rude, you know? And I will remind you that I did produce results here, so please don’t ''eat me''. Heh, eh heh heh. Okay, Nya-Nakimoto-shan?”

It was August 9 in District 13.

The typhoon was gone and today was a festival day. Festivals dedicated to one’s ancestors and the gods were a rarity in Academy City where a belief in science was so common, but some of the traditions were still enjoyed without any belief in the religious concepts behind them. The wooden scaffold for the bon dance, the rows of paper lanterns, and the giant Japanese drum had been carried in from District 12 which was dedicated to religion (which in this city, meant studying it scientifically).

“Onee-chan!”

Frenda saw her 7-year-old sister running toward her. She couldn’t have gotten the yukata on herself, so her cosplayer dorm manager must have helped her get dressed. The yukata hung straight down around her like a single tube and it was slipping off of her in worrying ways as she ran.

But the princess of the family was oblivious to this. She held cotton candy in her right hand and her goldfish scooping prize in her left hand and she leaped into her big sister’s arms with a beaming smile.

“Yay! In the first place, I caught you, Onee-chan!! Now you have to join us☆”

“Wait, you’re getting cotton candy on my clothes!”

“In the first place, Japanese festivals are great! You can buy anything just by showing them your Nyaon money phone! Nyaoooon☆”

“In the end, when did this high tech stuff work its way so deep into Japanese traditions? Curse those festival stands for using e-money to trick elementary schoolers into spending money without realizing it.”

“Heh heh heh. They say this is supposed to mimic what a temple festival is like. Now I’m going to bon dance the night away! In the first place, hold this, Onee-chan! I need both hands free!”

“Yes, yes. Wait, can you really keep this goldfish? In the end, looking after a living creature is a lot of responsibility.”

“Heh heh. I’m doing just fine with Michelangelo and Geraldine, so I’ll be fine.”

Oh, right. She already had those rhino beetles. They wouldn’t fight with the goldfish and neither animal needed to be fed several times a day, so they could be left alone at the dorm all day. They didn’t need to be taken for a walk, so maybe Frenda could trust her sister on this one.

The younger sister’s classmate hesitantly spoke up. She had her yukata done up properly to show off her nape and she hid her mouth behind a fan, giving quite the graceful appearance. Frenda found it quite rude for a 7-year-old to show her up like that. How elegant did she think she was?

“E-excuse me. The teachers are calling for us.”

“Okay!! Then let’s go, Azumi. I watched tons of example videos, so I know I can do it. In the first place, how can they do the Japanese bon dance without me!?”

This program had each class at their school dancing together, so Frenda didn’t have to worry about her sister taking part. And she didn’t have to act like a dad at an athletic festival because one of the teachers was bound to take a video to record the event.

Then she noticed a familiar face standing next to her.

The sexy girl in a yukata was…

“Huh? Now this is a rare treat, Mugino. In the end, it’s unusual to see you at a seasonal event like this.”

“Speaking of unusual…what are you wearing?”

“A yukata, what else? In the end, it’s the latest from Demeter & Aphrodite.”

Frenda spread her arms and showed off her outfit. Despite being a yukata, it had a miniskirt, it bared the shoulders in the oiran style, and it was decorated here and there with frills and lace. It had the same vibe as extremely nice avocado sushi made by a traditional sushi chef as a collab with something else. It left the history and tradition in tatters, but the design itself wasn’t bad, leaving no real room for complaint.

“My sister is trying out the bon dance over there, so in the end, we can talk now if you want.”

“About what?

They walked around behind the boxy park management center because it felt like the right thing to do.

There, the two dark side girls continued their conversation.

“Really, it’s just weird to see you of all people participate in the summer festival. In the end, you dodged the question before, but this isn’t your usual routine. And if you aren’t acting like your usual self, it tells me your usual flowchart has broken down. I get the feeling you’ve taken more unseen damage than you’re even aware of yourself.”

“…”

“In the end…”

If Mugino had wanted a change of pace, she had to be carrying some kind of weight inside.

Frenda Seivelun came out and said it.

She gathered her resolve.

“You’re just forcing yourself to go on, aren’t you?”

She felt a soft impact.

Mugino Shizuri had pressed her forehead against shorter Frenda’s flat chest.

She stayed that way for a while.

Until…

“I hate it.”

The Mugino who spoke here was one Frenda normally never got to see.

''“That’s a small price to pay for killing you.”

She had thought that was the right thing to do.

To get payback for Tachiuo Mary who had fought fair and square and been trampled on by the very person she had wanted to be with.

And to save her teammates Frenda and Kinuhata who had graffiti burned into their brains when they were already out of the fight.

Mugino had needed to settle things with Ainame Caroline no matter what.

Half measures wouldn’t have been enough.

Even if she ended up at the very bottom of the dark side, she had chosen the best possible option.

And yet.

Even so.

''“Say what you want, it’s all a million times better than letting someone as dangerous as you go free.”

She understood all that.

But it didn’t matter.

That Level 5 could not deny that she envied an imaginary version of herself who hadn’t done the right thing.

In the end, that monster had only been a girl.

Mugino refused to accept that anyone out there could perfectly control her emotions.

“I hate it so much. What do you mean my power won’t grow anymore?”

Perhaps that was a cruel thing for a Level 5 to say to a Level 0.

But Mugino couldn’t stop herself.

Her muddy feelings gushed out. She couldn’t help it.

“That lab in District 14 – that giant building – contained my future. I went there today and it was gone without a trace. It wasn’t just temporarily closed!! Hula Hoop is nothing more than a particle accelerator now… I have no idea where Meltdowner research is being done anymore. And it’s supposed to be my power! No, I bet the adults didn’t move anyone anywhere else!! There won’t be another lab!!!”

She had known this would happen.

So she would have avoided reporting it to the higher ups and worked out a plan to avoid this.

But even so…

“I have the digital cassette. I have all the data needed to complete Angelica. ''But that’s meaningless''. I have the data, but there isn’t a single adult out there who can make use of it!! What the hell? It’s not that I didn’t have the talent or that I failed to do the work. What did I do to deserve having my future stolen from meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!???”

Her beautiful face crumpled up.

Large tears spilled out.

That never should have happened.

But this blow was so powerful it made it happen anyway.

The large fireworks bursting overhead could not fully drown out her voice as she wept like a small child. The Level 5 who ruled everything through fear and charisma was nowhere to be found.

Even though she had defeated a powerful foe, survived that nightmare of a night, rescued her teammates, and brought peace to the world.

This wasn’t the face of a winner.

Winners didn’t cry like an abandoned child.

She had solved everything and defeated the enemy, but the ultimate loser was Mugino herself.

Or was the unfair halting of her research a financial issue or related to Academy City politics?

That little researcher had been confident her curse would come to fruition.

And so she had sneered at the survivor from the verge of death.

''“Then laugh. Because you’ve just nipped all your future possibility in the bud by siding with the good guys☆”

Could the Angelica research data have been so complicated that only a genius researcher like Ainame Caroline could make use of it? Was that why none of the adults had tried to take her position after she was gone?

Mugino had killed the genius with the one and only path left for her.

Who was it that had actually fulfilled the curse?

“…”

Frenda had asked her to open up, so the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl simply listened.

She placed her arms around Mugino and rubbed her back just like when she comforted her little sister.

“I defeated that villain and protected the city and this is the thanks I get!? Are you saying I brought this on myself!? Is it supposed to be my just deserts!? But someone had to stop her. She really was a step away from completing Angelica. We were the only ones who could have stopped that villain!! So why does it have to lock away my future? You work and you work, but this world doesn’t reward you for iiiiiiiiit!!”

The girl burying her face in Frenda’s chest was shaking intermittently.

She was sobbing.

And sniffling.

This was no more than a girl who had hit a significant roadblock in her life.

“…”

Frenda understood the pain of having your path as an esper blocked off. As a Level 0, she had been faced with that one right at the starting line, so she knew just how merciless and unforgiving that precipice was. If anything, she may have been lucky she had faced it and gotten over it when she was still little.

What did it matter if it was ugly?

If they couldn’t open up to each other like this, they weren’t true teammates. Item trusted their lives with each other, so Frenda had to view this display of vulnerability as growth.

Ainame Caroline had said Mugino would never grow past this point, but Frenda refused to accept that.

''Go to hell.

''Go to hell, cruel world. Then what do you call this miracle happening before my eyes?

This wasn’t an issue for Mugino alone.

If all of Item worked together as a whole, they had endless potential for growth. So it was up to Frenda to help support Mugino here.

She had to repay Mugino for the trust shown by letting her see these tears.

So…

“It’ll be alright, Mugino. We can all get stronger together.”

Frenda Seivelun gently hugged the lonely girl who was working so hard to silence her sobs but continually failing.

She leaned toward Mugino’s ear.

And she said something she never should have.

She spoke the fateful words that could become “one of many factors” down the line.

“''In the end, I swear I will never betray you.''”

[[Image:Item2_BW7.jpg|thumb]]

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Ending

2026-05-08T22:21:49Z

Ultranova17: navbar

“Mugino.”

“Yeah, I just heard about it from the support organization too.”

“On July 14, only two charred corpses were found at the super site of the explosion. It took so long to report back to us because the remains were burned and blown into so many pieces they had super trouble determining how many people they belonged to.”

“In the end, they finally finished salvaging the records from the AI air conditioner that tracks people’s locations. Inoue Laspezia and Waniguchi Nokoba entered the room they were using as a cell at 8:21 PM on the 14th. And the explosion was seen from the outside at 8:30.”

“So there was a super lag of about 10 minutes until the explosion?”

“That’s more than enough time for someone to slip out before the explosion.”

“But in the end, Hanano was being confined there. And both Inoue and Waniguchi were in the room with her. She couldn’t have won in an esper battle, so how could she have taken them out?”

“I can think of plenty of methods. ''Remember, there’s no rule saying she had to detonate the bomb as soon as she pulled it out.'' If she used the wires around the faucets to remove her handcuffs and then combined the wires with the outlet to give herself an electric attack, she could have placed a time bomb in front of the incapacitated pair and then snuck out.”

“…”

“So, Mugino, is that also why her coffin was empty?”

“Hold on. In the end, who were the couple crying at her coffin?”

“According to the support organization, they super can’t contact them. It’s super unknown if they were even ordinary people.”

“Hanano Choubi. Who were you really?”

The date was July 31.

The location was District 3, where a world-famous construction company had its headquarters. Most recently, the company was gathering attention for cooperating in the construction of the Endymion space elevator. A girl entered through the staff entrance and took a special elevator up past the 50th floor to reach the very top floor.

That girl was Hanano Choubi.

Her short-sleeve sailor uniform was unusual for the building, but no one stopped her.

Not even one.

Well more than 10 secretaries were working on the top floor, but there was a secret passageway to the back of the floor which couldn’t be seen from their front office. In fact, the army of beautiful secretaries didn’t even know who it was who paid them.

The entire construction company was an elaborate front.

It wasn’t uncommon for an impressive-looking HQ building to only perform work like performance appraisals and general affairs without doing any actual work. For example, a construction company would hire an external design office for its design work, store their cement, steel beams, and other equipment in a giant warehouse, and let all the hard work take place at the construction site. In other words, there was surprisingly little to do at the giant HQ building. On the inside, it had become a place that existed solely to make the company look impressive. And when there was such a massive gap on the inside, it was perfect for hiding things.

For example, the entire president’s office could be remade into an office for a dark side executive.

Of course, doing that required threatening the real president into never being around.

“Nyan, nyan, nya-nyan, nyahhn♪”

Hanano Choubi had finally arrived to the safety of a closed room.

She nyan-ed a popular song as she walked across the large space like she owned the place.

“Phew, I’m exhausted.”

She reached a hand to the top of her head and grabbed her hair. No, she grabbed a wig, threw it off like a hat, and removed her eyebrows and eyelashes as well. She exposed a smooth face like an incomplete doll as casually as removing her clothing. Then she removed ''a different premade set'' from a small bag and applied this new face.

That transformed her.

Although in this case, it may have been more accurate to say she returned to her original appearance.

She was short, but she lost the color of an adolescent girl. She now looked older – in her mid-20s. The woman with shoulder-length flaxen hair looked horribly out of place in the sailor uniform. She cheerfully reached into a minifridge like you would find in a hospital or hotel, pulled out a tall 500mL can of beer, and pulled over the small paper box and ashtray sitting on the desk. The box was a pack of menthol-flavored cigarettes.

Yes. Technically speaking, Hanano Choubi wasn’t even a Level 0.

Everyone in Academy City knew ''adults could not use esper powers.

She opened the pull tab, took a sip, and glared at the side of the can.

(Oh, damn. This isn’t the kind without any sugar or purine. I didn’t even notice when I bought it. And I’m getting old enough I need to start paying attention to that.)

But she had already opened it, so it was too late.

With the chilled beer, she wished she hadn’t cooled off so much in the air conditioning.

Then she shook the pack of cigarettes, pulled one out, and lit the oil lighter with her thumb.

The refreshing summery menthol flavor once more took over in her mouth. She could acquire the most luxurious products if she wanted, but she preferred this cheap chemical deception. If this flavor couldn’t make her smile, she could never have gotten along with the dark side of Academy City, which had taken science well past a lethal dose.

And the cigarette held in the corner of her mouth tasted all the better when it had been a month since she had last indulged.

To ensure her character remained intact, she had made sure to keep up the act even when no one was around to deceive.

(I even spent three months in a random school’s theatre club to get in character and prepare the necessary paperwork, but unlike that rehearsal, I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes when performing for real.)

She had also prepared a small incident.

With everything from the school life to the molester angry at getting called out, it hadn’t been easy setting up a profile that raised no eyebrows after ending up in the dark side. But when the setup was done right, everything else would go smoothly.

“Bwehh… This canned beer and smoke are exactly what I needed. Every year, my tastes are more like an old man’s. I could see myself playing golf at this rate.”

She puffed the cigarette with obvious familiarity, leaned back in the leather chair, and looked up toward the ceiling.

All she did was stare blankly like that. Waste was the greatest recreation and it tasted all the sweeter when it was time you were wasting. On the dark side, death was a constant companion and everyone was always trying to work out each other’s powers in esper battles, so they could never imagine someone throwing pieces of their lifespan into the fire for their own enjoyment.

(I used that tracking perfume because I thought it would look unnatural if I didn’t make any attempt to resist, so I was sweating a little when she pointed out it was too ''grownup and expensive''. But everything else gets a passing grade, I would say.)

She grabbed the beer can and chugged the rest.

While she felt the intoxication catching up to her, she grabbed her phone in order to face reality a little.

“I see, I see. Wow, I got a lot of messages while I was away. I keep scrolling, but the list of new emails never ends. Sob.”

She had the makings of a nightmare there.

She could only pray the intoxication didn’t make her violent.

Several colors of cellphone were lined up atop the heavy ebony desk. They were more than just 10 and they were connected to the many cables attached to a power strip. Each of them had an anti-trace device and a voice changer program included.

She rapidly scanned through the information provided on the small screens and focused in on one of them.

That one reported a death.

“One of my decoys has disappeared. Heh heh. How thoughtful of you, Mugino-san.”

A link of the command chain had been destroyed, but the damage didn’t reach this high.

That was how the dark side worked. If you failed to question the answer you worked so hard to acquire, you would never move past that point.

“But not thoughtful enough. Letting the blood rush to your head when a friend is killed is only a virtue in the sunny world. Eh heh heh.”

You earned quite a few grudges in this line of work. If the on-site workers could discover your identity with just a bit of digging, you could never truly serve as a voice on the phone. A go-between was an expert at controlling access to information and preserving its safety.

The real one was elsewhere.

Yes, they should have been suspicious from the moment Hanano Choubi made it through the elevator and front door to hesitantly step inside the Fifteen Bells apartment.

Not many people had access to top secret data like Item’s handprints and eye scans. Her ability to spoof them meant she came from somewhere very, very deep in the dark side.

Her greatest weapon was these phones. She grabbed one of them, unplugged its cable, and called someone. She naturally sank lower into the chair. …Although that was a minor violation of etiquette compared to the cigarette in her mouth and the alcohol in her system.

“Yes, yes, Hello, hello. I have settled the entire incident we were talking about. I was right to infiltrate the team personally. The odds were admittedly low, but there was always the possibility the two Items would talk it out and join forces. So I thought it would be best to ''kill'' one of their own to motivate them with anger.”

That was why she had asked Frenda Seivelun for the liquid explosive.

And it was why the most powerless girl had shouted from the ceiling of the Colosseum to get the fighting started before either Item could do anything else.

And it was why she had triggered that final explosion.

The 5th girl – the odd one out – had set it all up.

“Yes, of course Mugino Shizuri’s Item won. They were the one with a real Level 5, after all.”

There was only one person she could be speaking with now.

Was it an honor to directly speak with that person, or did it feel like being the poor department head who had to babysit their superior? Each of the few real voices on the phone had their own interpretation.

“I won’t ask why this had to happen. I never do. But I’m sure it wasn’t just ''anything as common as'' stepping on someone’s toes or violating a taboo. Yes, yes, I know. No looking into it. Academy City is supposed to be a city of science, but the people at the very top sure do have a mythical quality to them. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Will I end up dead if I poke my nose into that any further? Ah ha ha.”

Her flowing report continued without delay.

She was not interrupted by any questions. She guessed this report wasn’t really necessary and the person she was speaking with already knew it all. By using ''a mysterious surveillance technology'' beyond just the cameras and security robots. Whatever it was, it was much nastier and covered every nook and the cranny of the city.

So this was less a report and more a test.

If she hid anything important, she would lose their trust and immediately lose her job, if not her head.

Maintaining the dark side’s excellent infrastructure had some very high maintenance costs. And in this case, the cost was in lives rather than money.

The menthol cigarette wiggled in the corner of her mouth while she laughed and finished her report.

Her eyes were on the Windowless Building located several districts away.

“Yes, I await my next instructions.”

After finishing the report as planned, she hung up and tossed the phone onto the desk.

With all of that done, she had finally completed one cycle.

She leaned back into her executive chair, raised her arms as high as they would go, and stretched.

As long as she remained reliant on this chair, she would never reach the actual top.

“Ugh. I appreciate being trusted, but it’s not great when success is simply expected. I work my ass off and don’t get anywhere closer to a promotion.”

She didn’t know what a promotion from her position would mean. It was possible she was already on the edge of the cliff and one more step forward would send her tumbling down.

(Would the next step up put me the Board of Directors? ''Now there’s a funny joke.'' I’m sure they have unimaginable power, but I’d never want to be one of them.)

But she was glad Mugino’s Item had won.

If she was being honest, Ibotanokikouji Kaede’s Item had been good at what they did, but they had thrown money around a little too indiscriminately. Villains of that sort made connections with the corrupt adults of the dark side behind the voice on the phone’s back, so there was always a risk of them working their way into the adult chain of command and striking back.

That was what she had meant by stepping on people’s toes and violating a taboo.

That wasn’t a pleasant thought for the voice on the phone who controlled all of the dark side by sending out instructions from a position of safety. Once the connection went both ways, her life could be threatened too. She was the only one who should be sending out terrifying surprises. She couldn’t have them coming back up at her.

(But. ''I doubt that was the only reason they had to be killed.'' Hm, did I feel the need to get some alcohol in my system before making that report because I still have some lingering attachment to those four? What is wrong with me? Do I want to start drunkenly analyzing my actions until I’m so depressed I get an urge to jump off the building?)

But she was through with that sentimentality.

Now was the time for rational analysis.

For example, the Dark Matter appeared to be plotting something in secret.

For example, the Mental Out had one foot in the dark side yet showed no sign of being corrupted by it.

Those monster children were getting involved in the adults’ plans, but no matter how useful they could be, that wasn’t her style. She preferred her pawns to be cut off from the network and isolated. Just like Item.

The isolated strongest was the best form of the dark side. It was incredibly cost effective.

It was a laughably good deal for her.

(In that sense, ''the Item member who frightens me most is Frenda Seivelun because she’s so sociable and unpredictably makes friends in just about every industry.'' I have a much better feel for her now that I’ve met her in person. I need to add a ‘caution’ tag to her file and I may have to do something about her eventually.)

But what to do now?

Hanano Choubi crossed her legs in the executive chair like she belonged there.

She shoved the shortened cigarette in the ashtray, making sure to put it out.

She wouldn’t allow a single ember to remain.

No, this was only someone who had used that name for a while. And now she whispered alone with a thin sneer on her lips.

“Honestly, ''it’s always like this with you.''”

[[Image:Item_BW7.jpg|thumb]]

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume13 Afterword

2026-05-08T22:20:33Z

Ultranova17: navbar

==Afterword==

If you picked them up one at a time, welcome back. If you bought them all at once, welcome.

This is Kamachi Kazuma.

As Dion Fortune said in the last volume, this one was something of a reunion. So I included or mentioned characters both old and new. The Level 5s, the Anglican Church, the Amakusas, the Saints, the Former Agnese Forces, the Kiharas, the Magic Gods, an artificial demon, a great demon, the Golden magicians, R&C Occultics, the Transcendents…so many different categories made an appearance in this one book. Do you remember them all? You’ve processed all those characters and pieces of worldbuilding to reach this point. Even as I write this, I’m trembling at how much of a bother this is going to be for Haimura-san as he does the illustrations!!

Necromancer Isabella Theism first appeared in an anime bonus novel. Since that has been released as an ordinary light novel now, I decided it was alright to include her in the main story and made her an enemy boss. I thought she could be used to continue focusing on the previous volume’s question of whether Kamijou Touma is alive or dead, so I had her play the role of the magic side necromancer. Oh, and if you want to know what Accelerator meant when he mentioned “the necromancer I know”, you should check out a certain manga from Dengeki and its anime! There’s plenty of the kind that directly control dead bodies in there.

As for Kihara Goukei, that was me going “Ha ha, did you really think a member of the Kihara Family would be taken out that easily?” So I let everyone’s Madame Gou run wild this time. As a kind scientist who specializes in human life, she might remind some people of Kihara Kagun. Kihara Goukei is a researcher (can she really call herself that when she steals the tech?) only gathers forbidden scientific knowledge, but she may have turned out like him if she had entered the realm of magic. She’s probably been gathering and making use of tech created by people like Kihara Byouri and Yakumi Hisako.

Kamijou Touma never was able to meet up with the frog-faced doctor and is still officially considered dead, but his return to society has begun after saving his classmates, I guess?

Personally, I think even the dead could be accepted pretty easily as long as they aren’t harmful. The stereotypical example is people fearing that they will be cursed by a dead person, so they make them harmless by worshiping them as a god.

Speaking of Kamijou, I think the highlight for him this time was his futile struggle even after losing. He’s willing to risk his life to win, but he won’t just give up because he’s lost. Hes found something he refuses to give up on even if it means losing and dying. I think that is another form of growth, but what do you all think?

I give my thanks to my illustrators Haimura-san and Itou Tateki-san and my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, and Hamamura-san. Academy City taken over by the magic side is an unprecedented situation, which I expect made the illustrations a challenge. Thank you yet again.

And I give thanks to the readers. With dark Moina Mathers riding around on a giant black cat, Qliphah Puzzle 545 nearly dying, and everything with Kamijou’s classmates or the Transcendents, I expect every reader found a different thing they liked best. All I hope is that you found something like that yourself. Thank you for continuing to read these books!!

It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be opened.

And I lay my pen down for now.

Come to think of it, was this Shokuhou’s first time shouting “Huhhhh?” in the main story?

-Kamachi Kazuma

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume12 Ending

2026-05-08T22:20:15Z

Ultranova17: navbar

One apartment was far, far removed from all the conflict out there in the world.

A completely unwanted room sharing situation meant Hamazura Shiage barely ever got to be alone with his girlfriend, but Mugino Shizuri and Kinuhata Saiai both happened to be out today.

Which meant it was time to flirt his heart out.

Oh, how glad he was he didn’t stand out! He was sick and tired of global mysteries and fighting to save people’s lives. He had an amazing girlfriend and he didn’t need anything else. As far as he was concerned, he was winning at life!!

“This is the best part of the shopping show, so be quiet, Hamazura.”

“…”

Track suit girl Takitsubo Rikou’s expressionless rebuke silenced Hamazura Shiage. The black bob cut girl’s eyes were glued to the TV without so much as a glance for her boyfriend.

Did she not like him anymore?

“What are you so focused on? …A high frequency diet machine? Ha ha ha. It’s supposed to destroy your body’s fat cells with an electric current? If the current was powerful enough to do that, I bet you’d need a medical license to operate it, so this is nothing but a fak- gweh!”

His comments earned him a square couch cushion to the face.

Repeatedly. With the cushion clutched in her hands.

“Mh.”

“It’s not like you were going to buy it, so why are you so mad at me!?”

“I don’t like spoilers, Hamazura.”

“About a health product!?”

“If I did buy and use it, my dreams probably would be shattered. It’s best to admire health products from afar, enjoying fantasies of yourself after they work.”

“…The people who say that are the first ones to pick up the phone.”

He blamed the warm air from the air conditioning for making his usually kind girlfriend like this.

It was raining outside, but the balcony had a roof and he doubted it would blow into the room.

So Hamazura tried opening the curtains.

“Hi, excuse me.”

Someone suddenly entered from the balcony.

Just slipped on in.

On this high floor.

Hamazura’s eyes widened and shouted, but time still felt frozen for him.

“Ahhhh!!”

The intruder had short red hair and white skin.

She wore a fluffy white dress that made her look like a ballerina or figure skater. And a black box the size of a soccer ball floated next to her.

This was Dion Fortune.

“H-h-h-how did you get here?”

“I am technically Archbishop of the Anglican Church, you know? Only an interim to prevent chaos until a proper successor can be chosen, but even if it’s only for show, my authority is very real. Which means I can pull some strings with the Academy City diplomats. And Kamijou Touma’s funeral was today, after all.”

He didn’t want to hear this.

Could she please stop talking?

Each secret that entered his ears made him feel like he was sinking deeper into quicksand. But the question was what kind of trouble he was being dragged into!

“I never did think Aleister, the quintessential terrible human, could actually suppress Great Demon Coronzon for long.”

“''Coronzon''?”

His eyebrows twitched.

Most anything related to the magic side was none of Hamazura Shiage’s concern, but there were a few individuals there he had a link to.

This was one of those.

He had worked with her in the UK but ultimately failed to save her. He had no idea what would have happened to Takitsubo Rikou, Dion Fortune, or himself if not for her.

Maybe she was evil.

But he still couldn’t just give up on her.

“A major Anglican unit is approaching the outside of the wall with help from the Amakusas who know a lot about this Eastern island nation, but who knows how much help they’ll be. If Coronzon, the 333 of dispersion, is serious about this, I imagine they’ll only give her more victims without accomplishing much of anything. If they use any ordinary methods, anyway.”

Wait.

Please wait a minute.

“That’s why I want your help, Hamazura. This is your business as much as it is mine. I doubt Kamijou Touma’s voice will reach Coronzon. So. Our help is needed to pull off a man-made miracle.”

The puzzle pieces fit together.

Hamazura Shiage.

He was the other possibility who could find success where Kamijou Touma and Accelerator could not.

He had an intensely bad feeling about this.

“Um.”

“Yes?”

Takitsubo silently elbowed him in the side, but it did no good.

He knew this question was as good as admitting defeat, but he was ultra terrified of not asking.

The idiot succumbed to the fear welling up within him.

Hamazura Shiage opened his mouth while dripping with sweat.

“Wh-what were you thinking we should do?”

“Have something of a reunion☆”

<noinclude>
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Ending

2026-05-08T22:19:59Z

Ultranova17: navbar

They were in District 7.

Specifically in a room located in an inconspicuous part of a certain hospital.

“Doctor.”

“Yes?”

“I know we do this every time since it’s our job, but the work is so much harder in Academy City. With students making up 80% of the population, cases like this are a lot more common. Working in this city is so psychologically taxing I’ve heard people in our field tend to retire after around ten years.”

“I know it isn’t easy, but it is a necessary job.”

“Still, it’s so much more painful when the deceased is a minor.”

“How is he?”

“Done. The embalming is complete. I’ve added the makeup to his face and put the stuffing behind his eyelids so his eyes don’t sink in. It’s January, so the embalming should be fine without dry ice. And there was no sign of any maggots or roaches crawling into his throat or lungs to stay warm.”

“Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me, doctor? You’re the one who sewed back together such a badly damaged body. Professionally speaking, I really would have recommended an empty casket for this one. We only really need to sew them back into one piece, but you did it like you were healing a living person.”

“I just couldn’t bear to give up on him.”

“I know what you mean.”

“…But his heart really has stopped.”

“That isn’t your fault.”

The frog-faced doctor and a specialist walked to the morgue’s exit.

Just once, the doctor looked back.

“…”

But that was all.

No miracle occurred.

The only sound was the solid click of a switch flipping off.

Late at night, on January 7, only a chilly darkness filled the morgue which smelled faintly of incense.

<noinclude>
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Ending

2026-05-08T22:19:36Z

Ultranova17:

He woke up in an empty white space.

He sat up.

White – everything was white. Not even the concept of a horizon existed in this silent place.

It was like a bad joke.

Still sitting, ''Kamijou Touma'' looked down at his hands, at his surroundings, and thought.

What was this place?

Was there really more after what he went through?

He hadn’t seen this any of the times Othinus had killed him.

He had thought death was a lot emptier – that what came apart could never be repaired, preventing any hope of salvation.

Yet he found himself…somewhere.

He saw no damage or red stains on his clothes. He tried moving his body around but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. This wasn’t just his sense of pain numbing over. As far as he could tell, he didn’t have a scratch on him. Which, in this case, was odd. Hadn’t he been so badly beaten even his bones and organs were damaged?

Kamijou Touma was here.

But it didn’t feel real. He didn’t feel like a physical being. Weight, thickness, warmth, scent, or color… He was definitely here, but he just couldn’t accept this as reality.

Almost like he had become one of the illusions he had spent so much time negating. He realized it was painfully silent here, but he couldn’t hear his heartbeat. Or his breaths.

He glanced down at his right hand.

What had happened to ''that''?

Was it still in there?

Aleister had said it moved from host to host whenever the old one died or was destroyed. Before him, it had been in an arrow created from a holy man’s right hand.

Imagine Breaker.

What if, hypothetically, he no longer existed? Was an illusion allowed to possess it?

“Could this be…?”

Maybe it was strange for Kamijou to suggest this since he was from a city of science and his worldview was formed there, but the thought naturally came to mind.

(''The afterli-'')

“My, my.”

He heard a graceful voice.

He didn’t know her directly, but she had made the occasional appearance at some important scenes.

Just as Kamijou was wearing his clothes, she was wearing a hodgepodge of clothing including an ancient witch’s hat and something like a modern racing swimsuit. She even had glasses on.

He didn’t know how it worked, but it would have been awkward if they were both naked.

She stood in this white void like she belonged there.

How abnormal was that?

She made it look so natural it was hard to tell, but she must have broken the rules in a big way to pull it off.

The woman who was fixed in this place spoke to the boy who was fixed in this place.

“It is ❌ ⌚ for you to be here yet, is it?”

“Aren’t you the other one? Um, Kings…oh, right. Anna Kingsford?”

“🎯.”

Why was she here?

Was this place really so easily accessible?

“I quite like that you view me as ‘the other one’. You do ❌ see either of us as superior. You naturally view us both as a real Anna. Seeing it that way might save her more than anything, while also tormenting her more than anything. But you saved her in a way I could ❌. I am impressed, benevolent one.”

Each question that came to mind led to another, quickly saturating his brain. Thinking about this normally wasn’t going to work. While his eyes widened, Kingsford elegantly held a hand to her mouth and laughed.

“Did you forget?”

“Forget what?”

“Or perhaps you did ❌ know in the first place.”

The other Anna neatly laid out the information.

She seemed like a calm and gentle teacher.

As a high school boy, she made him think of a liberal arts teacher, but not quite like an English teacher.

“I am ❌ more than a preserved corpse rigged up to move. Thus, I have ❌ forced my way in here – this is where I belong. So by stopping the ⚙️ parts and bidding a 😢 goodbye to the 🌍 of the living, I can visit here any time I want. ...First I come back from the ☠️, then I get killed, then I put his mind at ease, and now I’m saying goodbye again – I have put Aleister through a lot. Well, he should accept it since it is for you. Besides, I am meant to be ☠️.☆”

“…”

“And I predicted this outcome from the beginning.”

She said it so easily.

He had struggled so hard to reach this ending within the psychedelic world of unpredictable Alice, but this other Anna came out and said this was well within her expectations.

He was glad she was a good person. She would make the worst kind of evil villain. And if she was a detective, he would definitely punch her for letting so much crime go unpunished. When someone had brought trouble to other people’s lives, Kamijou wasn’t the type to let them off easy just because they were a girl. This woman might make the perfect dorm manager, but he would harden his heart and do it anyway!!

“❌ one can escape their own choices. You had already passed the final branch before I was even brought back as a preserved corpse, so not even I could have intervened. You had ❌ choice but to ☠️.”

The expert spoke to speechless Kamijou.

She seemed to be viewing his life and scoring it.

“But at the same time, all people deserve to be set free once they have received their punishment. Simply put, you made a mistake, but you do ❌ deserve to be criticized for it now that you have died for it. You have atoned for your sin.”

“I...have?”

“You have indeed, Kamijou Touma. Even as your life slipped away, you did ❌ hesitate to try your very best to save Alice Anotherbible even though she was the cause of it all. That service was truly praiseworthy. I, Magician Anna Kingsford, guarantee it. And I am ❌ strong willed enough to sit idly by when someone is ❌ rewarded for their efforts.”

“What are you talking about?”

“How long are you going to hold it all inside? As you can see, this place is ‘outside it all’. After everything you have been through, I would expect you to be searching out god to give him a 🧩 of your mind. Are you just going to accept that you ☠️ed? Seeing you be this obedient is honestly pissing me off. 😠.”

“Hold on. Don’t just make decisions for me! I sense some kind of great power in you. Which is giving me a really bad feeling about this!!”

“Besides, first years in high 🏫 are only 16 in your country, aren’t they? You seem awfully accepting for someone right smack in the middle of their rebellious phase. Isn’t there anything you still want to do?”

“Oh, come to think of it, it is almost my birthday.”

“Which would mean you’re still only 15! Then you definitely should ❌ be giving up so soon!! How sad. This isn’t just an outdated 19th century way of thinking, is it!?”

“I said wait! Nothing you say can change the fact that I’m dead, can it!? What are you even trying to do in this literal dead end!?”

“I am trying to serve those around me.”

She brought her hands in front of her large chest and pushed just the tips of the fingers together.

The expert smiled as she spoke.

“As an expert, I have a secret technique you could call a Hell Tour.”

“…”

“My, my. If that does ❌ mean much to you, what if I called it a Jailbreak?”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………Wait, really?”

“Yes, really. If the 🌍 cheats you, you cheat it right back. That is how magicians did things in the 19th century. Have things really changed that much?”

He was speechless.

It couldn’t be.

Was this woman really saying she could manipulate ''this place'' as she pleased?

Could magic really do that?

In that empty world of white, Anna Kingsford reached a slender hand out toward Kamijou who was still seated.

Her right hand.

“Now, how about you kick out this shitty predetermined ending and join me in making a comeback?”

…So what part of this was a lie?

The unfortunate boy refused to fully believe this offer. To him, it sounded far too good to be true.

[[Image:GT Index v10 BW8.jpg|thumb]]

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Ending

2026-05-08T22:19:21Z

Ultranova17: navbar

Her torso had been sliced clean through.

She had been dumped on the ground and abandoned.

And.

“Sigh.”

The clock struck midnight and January 6 began. Death hung thick over one corner of District 12 where a silly-sounding voice could be heard.

It came from Anna Kingsford.

“Okay then. It’s about 🕛 I reconnected my 🧩s and got moving again.”

She had been sliced in two.

Her torso had definitely been bisected.

But Anna Kingsford was already a preserved corpse being moved by the machinery inside her.

''She had been killed? What did that matter?

''She wasn’t alive to begin with.

“What a pain.”

Christian Rosencreutz had made a mistake at the very beginning.

And, most likely, that was why he had been killed at the hand of the very girl he had killed himself.

“You are a surprisingly sensible person to assume ☠️ing someone once is enough to eliminate the possibility of counterattack, CRC…or the man using that name. But you can ❌ peer into the true depths of 🪄 with such shallow 💭.”

That he fell for that may have been further proof he had only been using the Rosencreutz name.

Plus, the true Rosicrucians preferred to avoid naming themselves such.

Saying nothing and going into hiding would be the safest option now, but the expert who could not be stopped by a little thing like death was not interested in her own safety.

She had made a show of dying to remove everyone’s attention from herself so she could carefully observe CRC and work out a weakness, but that was no longer necessary.

Instead, it appeared the nun and the little god were in trouble after approaching the truth.

(Honestly. You are going to get yourselves ☠️ed, young ones. Feigning ☠️ requires a fair amount of direct 🔥power or you risk being ☠️ed off without anyone the wiser. You remind me of the second victim in a murder mystery who 👁️s something they shouldn’t have, does ❌ share this vital information with anyone, and goes to confront the murderer on their own.)

It was unnatural for her to be an active part of this world in the first place.

She was willing to sacrifice herself if it would save those two who had happened across a deadly threat.

Anna Kingsford was the opposite of CRC.

Her actions were driven by just one thing.

“Serving those around me.”

It was time for the counterattack.

Everyone had to be sick of bloody tragedy by this point.

She had an announcement for all the people who didn’t want to see the world fall any further into red and black.

That expert was willing to show them the kind of magic that protected people’s lives and made their dreams come true.

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Ending

2026-05-08T22:19:03Z

Ultranova17: navbar

He had defeated Transcendent Mut Thebes, but it didn’t end there.

For one, fighting and winning was not his goal.

This was all meaningless if he couldn’t save this life.

He wanted to hold the little wicked woman in his arms, but he couldn’t let his right hand negate Aradia’s ointment which was slowing the Shrink Drink’s effects. So he left her with the witch goddess.

Kamijou still held the Shrink Drink spear in his left hand while he nervously walked out ahead to ensure the coast was clear for Aradia whose hands were full.

With Anna Sprengel down, they could no longer use the high-tech mobile combat vehicle. They had to do the rest on foot.

Aradia occasionally glanced into the night sky while running by his side with Anna in her arms.

Clouds covered the moon.

That witch goddess lived in nature, so did she receive some kind of message from those thick, dark clouds?

“We just need Alice.”

Seeing the arms dangling limply from the girl rocking in Aradia’s arms was enough for Kamijou to feel a painful squeezing in his chest.

Was that really the same wicked woman?

Was that really Anna Sprengel?

His Imagine Breaker and Good, Old Mary’s resurrection were not enough to heal the wound caused by the Shrink Drink.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The boy refused to give up no matter what, so he stared into the darkness ahead and kept his feet moving.

He and Aradia pressed their backs against a building wall until the headlights passed on the main road. Then they checked to make sure the convoy of Academy City tanks and armored vehicles was gone.

No matter how dangerous she was, he swore he would never give up on that little wicked woman.

They continued running.

They knew exactly who they needed to see.

“''We just need Alice Anotherbible''!!!”

By then, the situation had already changed.

The boy did not yet know the darkness of the despair that replaced optimism.

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Ending

2026-05-08T22:18:46Z

Ultranova17:

“…”

That ''human'' didn’t move for a while.

He stood stock-still, unable to do anything.

“Kee hee. Ee hee. Ha ha ha. Ah ha ha ha!”

Mocking laughter filled the air.

It came from the great demon who had lost most of her territory when her flowing blonde hair was cut short.

“Yes, yes, this is such a delight!! It has been far too long since I’ve seen that look on your face!!”

The preserved corpse sighed next to him.

That was Anna Kingsford.

“One 🗣️ to me and I could have solved everything.”

“I couldn’t…”

He responded with his head lowered and his voice vanishingly quiet.

“I couldn’t possibly do that.”

Aleister hadn’t been considering anything extra this time. He had simply noticed Anna Sprengel and the Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal moving to make a mess of Kamijou Touma’s life, so he had come to Academy City to stop them. That was truly all he had wanted to do.

He said more.

He could have stopped. The truly smart knew not to speak on and on for no reason. Anna Kingsford had already proven that with her own way of life.

“I’ve only done the right thing this time.”

More and more words spilled out of him.

“If I hadn’t crushed those executives during the war in Los Angeles, R&C Occultics wouldn’t have fallen. Melzabeth and Helcalia would have wasted their lives on meaningless revenge.”

Once it all broke down, this was who that ''human'' really was.

Everything he held inside burst out through the small crack that had formed.

“I said I would deal with Academy City’s dark side, but he rejected that and charged into the depths of the darkness himself!! What the hell!? Didn’t he hear what Alice said!? She told him plain as day that he would die!!”

He spat out his resentment like it was his own blood.

He was used to unfair treatment. In fact, it was unusual for things to go his way. That was a lesson he had learned long ago.

“Then he goes and dies multiple times in Shibuya! And after all that, he didn’t even notice Anna Sprengel approaching!! If I hadn’t woken Kingsford and sent her after Miss Sprengel, he would have lost Aradia and everything else too!!”

Kihara Noukan didn’t say a word.

He simply looked away from his old friend and lit a new cigar.

“I wanted to save Kamijou Touma… For once in my life, I wanted to be the one who saves someone! That, dammit, that really was all I wanted!! Why!? Why does this always happen to meeee!?”

Even when you start with kindness and have the ability to act on that kindness, sometimes it doesn’t work out.

The ache he felt in his chest came from the hostility he felt coming from someone he had gone to such lengths to help.

Miss Sprengel could not be contained by a prison cell.

The only way to capture her without killing her was to at least take away her arms and legs.

But the boy with ordinary sensibilities hadn’t understood that.

He wasn’t here anymore.

“Hee hee hee.”

Anna Kingsford leaned gently against the ''human''. Just like an older sister seeking attention from her shy little brother.

That was probably something that Aleister had never been able to find.

“What do you want?”

“Now, now. Do ❌ be like that.”

Until now, Anna Kingsford had only seen Aleister as a temporary traveling companion while she served those around her. She would obey him as long as it aligned with her purposes, but she would eliminate him and gain her freedom as soon as he stood in her way.

In fact…

If Aleister had panicked and ordered her to attack that amateur high school boy, Kingsford would have easily defeated Aleister and sided with the pointy-haired boy. She was the sort of expert who showed no mercy to that sort of wicked magician.

But Aleister hadn’t done that.

No matter how much it made his heart ache, he had said he couldn’t do that.

That appealed to her.

Even if he was hopelessly awkward. Even if the magic he was so desperate to make use of seemed like little more than a crude game to someone who had mastered that path as much as she had.

It appealed to her so much that she wished she had accepted him as ''one of her troublesome children'' even earlier than this.

And so Anna Kingsford smiled.

That great goddess of wisdom smiled and spoke.

“For now, cry your eyes out, Aleister.”

[[Image:GT_Index_v07_337.jpg|thumb]]

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Ending

2026-05-08T22:18:31Z

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume6 Afterword

2026-05-08T22:18:13Z

Ultranova17: navbar

==Afterword==

If you picked them up one at a time, welcome back. If you bought them all at once, welcome.

This is Kamachi Kazuma.

This time, it’s December 31, the countdown to the end of the year!! From the moment the word “countdown” came to mind, I knew the story had to be set in either Shibuya or New York! And since I hadn’t resolved the 49-yen New Year’s Tokyo survival life within GT5, I decided to make it a part-time job story. From that starting point, I built up a story that could fit the main theme I wanted to do: What are the members other than Alice like and how strong are they?

Shibuya appeared in Intellectual Village and was passed through in Boo Boo. I honestly went back and forth a lot on whether I wanted Kamijou running around Shibuya or Akihabara. They’re polar opposites! I think it would have been entertaining in a different way to have Aradia and the Bologna Succubus jumping between Akihabara’s buildings. But I went with Shibuya because I preferred the idea of no one noticing the danger even though two strangely-dressed magicians are slinging extreme spells at each other in an ordinary city. I will let all of you decide if I made the right decision there.

This one revealed that the Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal are all magicians strong enough to rival the entire magic side and their goal is to make the world a better place. But if you compare them to the Magic Gods who are satisfied creating an ideal world on their own, you can see how they have basically min-maxed their diffusion and destruction skills. The irritating thing for them is that they can destroy everything with ease, but they can’t remake it all afterwards. They’re so reluctant to play their one and only card that they were even caught in Othinus’s destruction of the world and killed. (Because if the Transcendents had killed Othinus in that dark space, they couldn’t have remade the world like she did.) With that in mind, can you see why they’re so terrified of Alice whose innocence makes her impossible to predict? She has the destruction button right in front of her, after all.

Aradia, the Bologna Succubus, and Good, Old Mary.

I designed them so you could compare them and make some good guesses about the average and basic specs of the Transcendents. And after working that out, it might be a fun mental exercise to also imagine just how extraordinary Alice was for what she did in GT5 and what the difference is between a standard Transcendent who uses their great charisma to start a cult or riot vs. Anna Sprengel who created the giant IT company R&C Occultics and used it to mess with the entire world.

I give my thanks to my illustrators Haimura-san and Itou Tateki-san and my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, and Hamamura-san. This one had the Transcendents! And a second Anna!! All the magic side characters with a weirdly powerful presence about them must have made this one tough. Thank you again for everything.

And I give my thanks to the readers. How long has it been in real time since my debut novel? And in the story we’ve finally reached December 31!! Yes, the endless in-story year is finally over!! …Ahem, thank you all for staying with me to the end of that year. I hope very much you will see Kamijou Touma and the rest in the new year as well.

It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be opened.

And I lay my pen down for now.

Did you notice I changed how I spell Lucifer?<ref>He used to spell it ルシフェル(Rushiferu), but changed it to ルシファー(Rushifaa) in this volume, which is based more on the English pronunciation.</ref>

-Kamachi Kazuma

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Ending

2026-05-08T22:17:40Z

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Hamazura Shiage was propped up on her shoulder.

He finally managed to emerge into the open world with the help of track suit girl Takitsubo Rikou. The track suit boy and the girl who had lent him her jacket had been free to do what they wanted, but they had come with Hamazura and Takitsubo for some reason.

He had chosen not to pass through the Vanishing Tunnel known as ''Academy City’s Greatest Taboo''.

They had climbed the long, long stairway back into the city.

“Hamazura.”

Anti-Skill was waiting for him.

Fortunately, it was Yomikawa Aiho.

He pulled away from his worried girlfriend and put his hands in the air.

“I realized it wouldn’t work.”

“…”

“I knew I could never escape the dark side if I kept walking through the darkness down there. Even if I left Academy City and found a safe world with a warm house and comfort, I could never escape from the dark side’s shadow. So I came here to break free.”

He looked Yomikawa in the eye.

“I will make up for my crimes.”

It was a simple statement.

He had lost his temporary goal of escaping to safety ever since he threw out the Coin of Nicholas. He had stepped away from the direction defined by the assumption that he could escape as long as he had that coin.

He had chosen a new goal for himself.

“But now it’s my turn to lay out the accusations for the things I was forced to do against my will. I broke the law, but I was a victim too. I’m not giving up. I will use my rights to do what I can in this city. Because I’m never finding freedom otherwise.”

“That’s the right way to do this.” Yomikawa sounded relieved. “I’ve honestly had enough of this myself. Way too much has happened today and I doubt I have the full picture from just my point of view. I would appreciate it if you gave me a hand. I want to cleanse this city.”

“Takitsubo comes first. Can you arrange for her to get dialysis? And if possible, can you help the kids heading outside the city on a train?”

Hamazura Shiage felt like he had found a new beginning here.

''Bang!!

Until a dry sound reached his ears.

He had an odd almost-smile on his face.

His body tilted diagonally. He could not support his own weight any longer, so he collapsed to the wet, snowy ground.

It had come from straight ahead and at point-blank range.

The handgun that smelled like fireworks remained in the Anti-Skill officer’s holster. The safety was even on. No one had touched it, yet the lead bullet had shot out. Yomikawa Aiho herself looked shocked.

Hamazura understood. He recognized this cause of death.

It seemed fitting to him.

The dark side was the dark side. You could not assume you would survive just because you started categorizing yourself as beneficial and the others as harmful.

(I guess this is my punishment for thinking I was a good person after relying on violence.)

Yomikawa had not done this. He understood that immediately. He had simply assumed this was over when it was not. Some unseen force was likely at play. Yomikawa Aiho’s greatest conviction was her refusal to aim her gun at a child, so it was such a cruel irony for her gun to malfunction like this.

He felt bad for doing this to her.

He wanted to say so, but his tongue refused to move.

Takitsubo Rikou was shouting something from nearby, but her voice sounded so distant. He could not feel her shaking him, so he could guess he was in a bad enough state that she was hesitant to move him.

''Good,'' he smiled.

He felt it was a win that ''this'' had not been aimed at his girlfriend or the gym clothes kids.

And…

(Sorry.)

His thoughts turned to something else while time slowed to a crawl for him. He smiled and accepted it. He had never carried out his very first promise in this entire mess. He felt that kind of sloppiness was just like him.

(I never did get that ''charm'' to your sister, did I?)

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Afterword

2026-05-08T22:17:07Z

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==Afterword==

With that, it’s time to introduce myself anew. This is Kamachi Kazuma.

A numbering reset!! This marks the start of the Genesis Testament series. We start with a shaken world now that the old leaders of Lola and Aleister are gone, and since the numbering has been reset, we might as well make it so you can enjoy the story starting from here.

The special event here is Christmas Eve!! I hear it can be overshadowed by Halloween these days, but you still want to do something fun then, don’t you? The time of year puts it during winter break, but I still included his homeroom teacher and his awful classmate to give it more of a school life feel.

This doubles as a Volume 1 that has to explain the series as a whole, so I included a dynamic esper powers battle and went on to include magic as well. You have to have both science and magic for this series, right?

And the focus was on angels, which are actually focused on a fair bit in this series.

I-I finally used German words in a battle, but don’t laugh! Since they once had their No. 1 Temple in Germany, I thought that would be the simplest hint. Not to mention the R&C name that doesn’t even try to hide it. Although that uses the English spelling. I imagine a lot of people saw it coming from the moment they saw the Table of Contents.

In the battle against Maidono Hoshimi, I think summoning a high-speed unmanned freight train to throw at her enemy stands out above even moving the ground and skyscrapers around. And I thought I could show off her complex by having her insist that her power is stronger than the Railgun in terms of pure destructive power.

Also, I especially like how you can see just how twisted Academy City is in how Kamijou saying that he “certainly wouldn’t want your power” so thoroughly shattered Maidono’s pride. Yes, no one is going to look up to you if you ''only'' have destructive power. Who children admire can become a piercing attack when it works against you. And no matter how much money is moving behind the scenes and no matter how much risk of death there is, that admiration is what matters most to the people on the front line. Level 5 and 6 are no more than a standard used to gather admiration based on a common set of values, so they do not always seem like a necessary goal to the people who have seen a wider variety of viewpoints after fighting so many deadly battles in the past.

She cannot use chopsticks.

She cannot do what she had always taken for granted.

That was a bombshell that threatened to eliminate the value of all the pride that Maidono (who was once the class rep who could do everything impeccably) had stored up.

To put it another way, no matter what your official Level is, you win in the end as long as you become someone people admire. Take that into account, and you should have an easier time seeing what Kamijou Touma and Accelerator are trying to accomplish no matter how much it harms them and their everyday lives. There is no reason to push themselves so hard and they could safely retire, but they choose not to. It’s a simple thing, but I think the way they risk everything to have their way is the most entertaining part of the children’s society.

Online fortunetelling and online stores for magic goods might seem absurd, but there are actually some sites just like that. Sending not just your own information but information on your crush seems really dangerous to me, but I guess everyone has different values. Partially because the setting has almost always been in Academy City or London, I thought it would be fun to have a magic cabal run amok using the internet as their base and keeping the location of the headquarters a mystery. This is an age full of dangerous toys like herb mixing and 3D printers. …Just like VR goggles, 3D printers are interesting from a technical standpoint but seem to still be a step away from really taking off.

About Accelerator, this was the answer that naturally came to me when I was wondering what he would want to do first if he gained the absolute authority of Board Chairman. If he had no one standing in his way, he would obviously want to crush the dark side and lower that burden from his shoulders. In NT22 Reverse, he regretted that he could not be the kind of #1 who made a good example for everyone, but that is all the more reason why I think he would do exactly that once he had the freedom to do what he wanted. How did you like it?

And then there was the sticky little girl who came in for the attack. I debated with myself on whether to have her do that last part while still small or in her proper form. To be honest, she would not have appeared in the Prologue if this were NT23. I think it would have been enough of a surprise for her to show up at the end to reveal that the villain who had made a move on him outside of Academy City had now made her way inside the city. But with the numbering reset, I tried to make it work as a single closed loop within this one volume. As far as playfulness goes, she is on the same level or even greater than Aleister and Othinus in their prime, so I do think this was the right answer. It seems wrong for Anna to be seriously scheming in the shadows. But unlike Leivinia who has a playful side but also makes her authority known as her organization’s boss, I wanted to make Anna more decadent and “sticky”. …But in that sense, Fiamma of the Right was more the serious schemer type. Maybe his life went off the rails because he did not have enough playfulness in his heart.

I give my thanks to my illustrators Haimura-san and Itou Tateki-san and to my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, and Hamamura-san. This day only comes once a year. Yes, it is Christmas Eve, which has to be a real pain for drawing backgrounds!! …I really am sorry for all the trouble I cause you. I do hope you stick with me, though.

And I give my thanks to the readers. How did you enjoy Christmas Eve in Academy City? On this special day, I do hope you were turning the pages while wishing happiness for the characters. I am truly grateful you continue to read these books after all this time.

It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be opened.

And I lay my pen down for now.

You and junk food really are a perfect match, Kamijou Touma.

-Kamachi Kazuma

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2

2026-05-08T22:15:25Z

Ultranova17: Created page with "{{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Prologue}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth8}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth7}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth6}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth5}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth4}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth3}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth2}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Depth1}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Epilogue}} {{:Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:MvM2_Ending}} <noinclude> {{Toaru Nav|prev=To..."

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM

2026-05-08T22:14:46Z

Ultranova17:

==Novel Illustrations==
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6

2026-05-08T22:13:53Z

Ultranova17: Created page with "==Novel Illustrations== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Illustrations}} ==Opening== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Prologue}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter1}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter3}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter4}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Epilogue}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Afterword}} ==Ending== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Ending}} <noinclude> {{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru M..."

==Novel Illustrations==
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5

2026-05-08T22:13:18Z

Ultranova17: Created page with "==Novel Illustrations== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Illustrations}} ==Opening== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Prologue}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter1}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter2}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter3}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter4}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Epilogue}} {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Afterword}} ==Ending== {{:Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Ending}} <noinclude> {{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru M..."

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Template:Toaru Nav/Side Stories

2026-05-08T22:12:21Z

Ultranova17: adding all missing stories to nav

{| class="mw-wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:100%; text-align:left; margin:1em auto 1em auto; clear:both; font-size:100%; background:#E6F2FF"
! style="background:#cee0f2; width:100%;" align="center"|<span style="float:left;" class="plainlinks"><font style="font-size:10px; font-family:tahoma;">[[{{fullurl:Template:Toaru Nav|action=view}} v] [[Template Talk:Toaru Nav|d]] [{{fullurl:Template:Toaru Nav/Side Stories|action=edit}} e]]</font></span>[[Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament#Side Stories|Side Stories]]
|-
|
{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume SP|Volume SP]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume SP Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume SP Chapter1|Stiyl Magnus]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume SP Chapter2|Mark Space]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume SP Chapter3|Kamijou Touma]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume SP Chapter4|Uiharu Kazari]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume_SP_Afterword|Afterword]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1|Railgun SS1]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter5|Chapter 5]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter6|Chapter 6]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter7|Chapter 7]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS1_Chapter8|Chapter 8]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |Kanzaki SS
! style="background:transparent;" |Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2|Railgun SS2]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter5|Chapter 5]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter6|Chapter 6]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter7|Chapter 7]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS2_Chapter8|Chapter 8]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Road_to_Endymion|Road to Endymion]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Endymion_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Endymion_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Endymion_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Endymion_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Endymion_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Endymion_Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |Necessarius SS
! style="background:transparent;" |Illustrations - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On|Virtual-On]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Preface|Preface]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual_On_Afterword|Afterword]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Kagaku_no_Railgun_SS3|Railgun SS3]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter5|Chapter 5]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter6|Chapter 6]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter7|Chapter 7]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:RailgunSS3_Chapter8|Chapter 8]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker|Biohacker SS]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker_Chapter5|Chapter 5]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Biohacker_Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS|Agnese SS]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter5|Chapter 5]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter6|Chapter 6]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter7|Chapter 7]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:AgneseSS_Chapter8|Chapter 8]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun|Railgun LN]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Afterword|Afterword]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item|Item LN]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Ending|Ending]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2|Item LN 2]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending|Ending]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3|Item LN 3]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Ending|Ending]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4|Item LN 4]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Ending|Ending]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5|Item LN 5]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Ending|Ending]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6|Item LN 6]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Ending|Ending]]
|-
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM|Mikoto vs Misaki]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter5|Chapter 5]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter6|Chapter 6]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter7|Chapter 7]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Epilogue|Epilogue]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2|Mikoto vs Misaki 2]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth8|Depth 8]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth7|Depth 7]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth6|Depth 6]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth5|Depth 5]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth4|Depth 4]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth3|Depth 3]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth2|Depth 2]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth1|Depth 1]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Ending|Ending]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Railgun_Cold_Game|Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Toaru_Jihanki_no_Fanfare|Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Toaru_Love_Letter_SS|Toaru Majutsu No Index: Love Letter SS]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Railgun_PSP_SS|Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: A Superfluous Story, or A Certain Incident’s End]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:NT_SS|Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament SS]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Misaki_SS|Toaru Majutsu no Index: Shokuhou Misaki Figurine SS]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Summer_SS|Toaru Majutsu no Index: A Certain Midsummer Return to the Starting Point]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:NT17_Bonus|Toaru Majutsu no Index: Using Final Bosses to Determine a Sociological Threat]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:NT18_Bonus|Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament Bonus Short Story]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:NT19_Bonus|Toaru Majutsu no Index: Thus Spoke the Kumokawa Sisters]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual-On_SS|Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Vooster's Cup, The Day Before]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Virtual-On_SS2|Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Misaka Mikoto's Dangerous Tea Party]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Kagun_SS|Toaru Majutsu no Index: Birthday Through the Glass]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:NT20_Bonus|Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament 20 Bonus Short Story]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Dengeki_25th_Leaflet|Toaru Majutsu no Index: Misaka Mikoto’s Teamwork]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:KuroyoruSS|A Certain Magical Index: Genesis Testament SS]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Mental_Out_SS|A Certain Scientific Mental Out: The Queen’s Play]]
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! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" colspan="2"|[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GoldenSS|A Certain Magical Index: Genesis Testament SS2]]
|}
|-
|}<noinclude>
{{Nav Doc|seriesname=Toaru Majutsu no Index: Side Stories|navname=Toaru Nav/Side Stories}}[[Category:Templates]]</noinclude>

Template:Toaru Nav/Majutsu GT

2026-05-08T22:08:10Z

Ultranova17: GT15 nav

{| class="mw-wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:100%; text-align:left; margin:1em auto 1em auto; clear:both; font-size:100%; background:#E6F2FF"
! style="background:#cee0f2; width:100%;" align="center"|<span style="float:left;" class="plainlinks"><font style="font-size:10px; font-family:tahoma;">[[{{fullurl:Template:Toaru Nav|action=view}} v] [[Template Talk:Toaru Nav|d]] [{{fullurl:Template:Toaru Nav/Majutsu GT|action=edit}} e]]</font></span>[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:_Genesis_Testament|Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament]]
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1|GT Volume 1]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume1_Afterword|Afterword]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2|GT Volume 2]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume2_Ending|Ending]]
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3|GT Volume 3]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume3_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4|GT Volume 4]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume4_Ending|Ending]]
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5|GT Volume 5]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume5_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6|GT Volume 6]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume6_Afterword|Afterword]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7|GT Volume 7]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume7_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8|GT Volume 8]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume8_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9|GT Volume 9]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume9_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10|GT Volume 10]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume10_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11|GT Volume 11]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12|GT Volume 12]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume12_Ending|Ending]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13|GT Volume 13]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume13_Afterword|Afterword]]
|}
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14|GT Volume 14]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Afterword|Afterword]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume14_Ending|Ending]]
|}
|-
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{| style="text-align:left; font-size:85%; background:transparent; width:100%"
! style="background:#cee0f2;" align="center" width="80" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15|GT Volume 15]]
! style="background:transparent;" |[[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Illustrations|Illustrations]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Prologue|Prologue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Chapter2|Chapter 2]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Chapter3|Chapter 3]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Chapter4|Chapter 4]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Epilogue|Epilogue]] - [[Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume15_Afterword|Afterword]]
|}
|}<noinclude>
{{Nav Doc|seriesname=Toaru Majutsu no Index: Genesis Testament|navname=Toaru Nav/Majutsu GT}}[[Category:Templates]]</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GoldenSS

2026-05-08T22:04:33Z

Ultranova17:

==Genesis Testament – A Certain Magical Index SS==
[[Image:GoldenSS_cover.png|thumb]]

It was the late 19th century.

The Isis-Urania Temple was located in a corner of the British capital of London. Or an apartment that went by that name was.

This is the story of the era before Aleister came knocking at that door. The story of, in some ways, a more peaceful time.

Mina could be succinctly described as a diligent and sheltered young lady who was therefore easily deceived.

Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman had always seen it that way.

That was, in fact, Annie’s impetus for joining the Golden cabal.

She was worried about Mina.

She couldn’t let that clueless girl get anywhere near the topics of Asian teas or New World harbor construction. She would undoubtedly fall prey to some get-rich-quick scam. She deserved to live a life free of those uglier parts of the world. Taking over the family business could fall to her older brother who loved all that complicated stuff while Mina married someone she truly loved. No, she didn’t even need to marry. ''She should just forget matters of gender and choose to spend her life with me instea-

“Mina, do you take Mathers to be your lawfully wedded husband and accept the new name of Mina Mathers?”

“I do. I am overjoyed that all of you in the Golden cabal would hold this ceremony for us.”

…

Annie puffed her cheeks out all on her own. She was also a bit teary-eyed.

A wonderfully blissful scene played out before her eyes.

(…)

It was dazzling. The light was so bright she thought it would kill her. At this point, she wished she could just turn into a slug.

(I didn’t join the cabal to hand my cute Mina over to that sketchy man!!)

William Wynn Westcott sternly read through the newspaper.

He was one of the three founders of the Golden cabal.

“Jack the Ripper, huh?”

That was also happening at this time. The gruesome serial killings had greatly stimulated the people’s baser emotions, but they ironically also helped ring the alarm about the British Empire’s stratified society. They proved that poverty and fear existed even in the country praised as the top of the world.

Jack the Ripper’s aims were of course unknown.

Psychology was still in its infancy, so they would have a hard time working out his identity.

“It’s sad, really. This has caused such an uproar, yet the famous Scotland Yard has no leads on a culprit. Even this article is only taking about it like it’s a thing of the past when the killer might still be walking these streets with us.”

Whatever his purpose, the explosive power of the killer’s wicked mind had shaken the public as he worked toward achieving it. He had created a colossal social phenomenon well beyond anything a single criminal was capable of. To put it in Golden terms, he was a dangerous creature who specialized in harnessing Qliphothic forces. The sooner he was caught, the better.

The Isis-Urania Temple – or the apartment that bore that name – was yet again thick with the scent of cheap oil burning. The lamp on the table had no deep meaning related to ancient Egypt or the rose and the cross – it was simply a way to cut down on operating costs. They wanted to pay as little as possible for electricity and other utilities.

The Lady of the Masquerade Ball, who wore a gaudy red party dress and kept her mask on even in the cabal’s secret base, lounged on the sofa and puffed on a long, skinny pipe. Her other hand held a brandy glass. It was still morning, but she had gone for a double. This was the side of the famous actress she kept hidden from the audience. The smooth mask had no eyes or mouth, yet the end of pipe and the edge of the glass somehow passed through. Almost like the mask itself were made of smoke or liquid.

She gained a Lilith-like glow when inebriated and she spoke while lying on the sofa like a feline beast.

“Oh? Mr. Coroner, I didn’t realize you were assigned to East End.”

“I’m not, which is why it’s so frustrating. I would get it if this was some one-man war against the wealthy or against the soldiers laying waste to the colonies, but he’s only targeting women who sell their bodies. They’re in a precarious enough position as it is, so this is absolutely unforgivable. How does getting rid of them improve the country? He must not understand the structural problems that force those women into that line of business in the first place.”

As you can see, Westcott had a generous and caring heart, had social status, liked detailed work, and had a ton of friends and acquaintances. His serious nature did lead to some awkwardness, such as bringing up the reasons women might sell their bodies when speaking to a young woman, but he had some ineffable quality that led those around him to only laugh and forgive him.

Simply put, he was made of charisma.

Without him, the collection of eccentrics that was the Golden cabal would have fallen apart before it got off the ground.

“Will this do, Annie?”

“If this were my theatre, I would want to place a crane on the ceiling.”

“Hee hee. We are still in the planning phase, you know?”

They were discussing the catacombs…which was a special room where only the VIP magicians would perform ceremonies.

However, they didn’t actually have to grab a shovel and dig out an underground space. “Catacombs” was only a name. They would be making it collapsible so it could even be transferred if they had to move locations.

Knowing this was the wold’s largest magic cabal’s ceremonial ground, one might picture some creepy stone ruins full of skeletons, like the Paris Catacombs, but instead the walls and floor were painted in primary colors and it was full of symbolic weapons made by attaching powerful magnets to the end of wooden sticks or coating clear glass with blue paint.

The light on the ceiling was electric.

They would use anything available to them. That was the way of things in an age before magic and science were split. Mina had graduated art school, so she gave form to the images in Mathers’s head, but they also had help from Annie and the Lady of the Masquerade Ball.

They created a ceremonial ground that used the logic of stage contraptions.

And this was no school play – those professional performers refused to cut any corners.

The Mathers couple’s home was in Paris, but they were visiting the London temple for this job. Annie couldn’t be more delighted at the chance to spend time with her old friend.

“I may have gotten a little carried away.”

“Oh? Mina, remembering your school days?”

“I made some daring alterations, so I hope the 1st temple in Germany won’t be mad.”

“It should be fine. There’s plenty of occult stories about high-tech things too, like cameras stealing your soul or absorbing your life energy, school anatomy models running around at night, or hearing strange voices on the telephone. And there are plenty of stories of ghosts appearing on the stage too.”

Not only that, but the Golden cabal weren’t the only ones to use a stage performance to boost a mystical ceremony. The Christian pipe organs and choirs wouldn’t have taken that form if someone hadn’t designed it for that purpose.

When a magician donned mythological garb and took the stage, they temporarily cast off the bonds of reality.

Here, they could become the disciples who discovered CRC’s preserved corpse.

“Mina, don’t you want a stage elevator? One of those things that lets an actor – bam! – shoot up from below the floor. Should I bring you the designs?”

“The landlord will cry if we modify the apartment that much.”

Lately, Arthur Edward Waite was the center of attention. In the name of testing out the accuracy of the tarot cards he was prototyping and improving, Edward Berridge, John William Brodie-Innes, and others would often gather around the table together. That Waite didn’t realize things were only running so smoothly because of Westcott’s assistance showed it would be some time before he caught up to the founder.

Waite was currently interpreting the card Mina had turned over. Westcott would respect his independence but provide a subtle hint if he ever ran into trouble.

“The obvious interpretation would be the lunar forces: dreams, fantasies, and the occult in general. The Hanged Man next to it refers to another plane of existence. In this case, perhaps the astral plane. And this card refers to a woman. Since it’s the High Priestess, probably one younger than yourself. Like a younger colleague or sister.”

“My.”

“But, madam, this Tower card worries me. It says to watch out for an apprentice. Destruction, disgrace…this may mean you will get into a fight later on. But the combination of another phase and a fight is an odd one.”

“Mina!!”

The door burst open and Mathers entered.

The idiot who stood out even among those eccentrics raised his voice.

“What is the meaning of this? I hate to say it, but you must be possessed by an evil spirit. How else do you explain this horrendous lack of red? I can’t bear to see it. The deplorable state of the eggs on this plate tells me the 5th sphere of Gevurah – that is the power of Mars – is weakening!!”

“Oh, dear, honey. I forgot you will only eat a fried egg if it has been cooked on both sides until the yolk is firm.”

“If you’re just going to complain, then make your own damn eeeeeeeggs!”

Why couldn’t that man just ask her to cook the eggs a little more? His dramatics gave Annie a headache.

“Mina, if you keep spoiling that unemployed loser, he’s only going to get worse.”

“But, Annie, nothing is more fun than looking after a husband who is deadly incapable of taking care of himself☆”

“You’ve taken the loving wife routine so far you’ve turned into a downward spirallllll!!!”

Mathers knew how to box and fence, he was fluent in both Latin and Hebrew, and he had mastered numerical codes. He was talented in just about every field, but he was nightmarishly lacking in common sense, cooperation, and the ability to earn money with a hard day’s work. Heaven had blessed him in one way while cursing him in more than one way, so with the exception of Mina and Westcott, he could only speak with people by sandwiching his words between arguments.

Anna Kingsford’s death had been a tragedy.

That expert was said to have been the only person capable of getting Mathers to obey her word and of silencing him with her fist.

If only she had passed on that secret before she died.

Recently, the Lady of the Masquerade Ball had invited a few members of the Golden cabal to form a smaller group of friends.

It was known as The Sphere.

Being the world’s largest magic cabal had its downsides. When enough people were gathered in a single large room, they tended to split into smaller groups.

In terms of the latest fad of psychology, this may have been the result of Thanatos, the mental drive to modify old traditions and organizations.

…And as dramatic as this might sound, this is a phenomenon commonly seen at pub tables.

One day, the great Mathers arrived at the Isis-Urania Temple (which reeked so bad of burnt lamp oil that they all might have died if not for the fireplace chimney).

What he said came out of nowhere.

“I am one of the chosen nobility meant to protect the common people.”

<span style="font-size:125%">“You’re what???”</span>

Sensible Annie’s (ice cold) retort did not lead him to correct himself.

The look in his eyes was concerning. Such a dark look.

His pupils were fully dilated.

''I shouldn’t have reacted,'' realized Annie, regret plain on her face. It was the late 19th century. The ironclad rule of just ignoring troublesome people had yet to be invented.

Besides, she had noticed before that man was doing something off separate from the cabal.

“Really, I can’t believe it took me so long to realize I have noble Highlander blood flowing through my veins. Oh, sorry if I confused you all, but you can rest easy and henceforth refer to me as the Count of Glenstrae!! Yes, show me the honor I am due, commoners!!!”

Nobility? What was this unemployed loser talking about???

…Perhaps his mind hadn’t been able to bear spending such a long time without a job.

But if so, why didn’t he just get a job?

Annie Horniman chose to discuss it with someone who would understand. She tugged on the woman’s clothing.

“Mina, excuse me, Mina, Mina. Um, I believe your husband is mentally worn out, so it would probably be a good idea to send him to some quiet old castle or retreat up in the mountains. Preferably forever.”

“Hee hee. Oh, my. Honey, you have such an active imagination. Look, your dreams and fantasies are dripping out. Do you even need your wife to wipe your mouth off for you, you spoiled thing?”

“Not even this breaks her loving wife routine? But if this gets out, it’ll do some real social damage!”

Annie’s family had made a fortune in the tea trade and she too had a talent for making money. Enough that she would go on to build a large theatre.

So she was the one funding the Mina couple’s lifestyle. Not for unemployed Mathers, but to support her adorable Mina! But if that unemployed loser started ranting about being royalty or nobility in public, it could damage Mina’s reputation, not to mention Annie’s for supporting them!!

Tarot cards had been around for a very long time. The names and the number of cards varied. Arthur Edward Waite must have been dissatisfied with the accuracy of his prototype version with altered numbers and symbols because he toyed with a few of the cards while sipping on a glass of whisky.

“The thing is, Westcott.”

“Hm?”

“I really like you.”

That alone was enough to know what kind of magician he was.

Overall, there were two lines of thinking within the Golden cabal.

But this wasn’t anything as cool as an inner circle and outer circle or a first legion and second legion.

Quite the opposite.

One group wanted to master magic and change the world. The other saw magic as an attractive topic to inspire enjoyable conversation within the group,.

As the world’s largest, the Golden cabal was not lacking in members. Some like Coroner Westcott and Doctor Berridge had official authority and social status. Some like Annie and the Lady of the Masquerade Ball were part of the gaudy world of the performance arts. They also had a few world-famous poets and scriptwriters. Even Mina Mathers was the daughter of the Bergson family (although the gentle wife was unaware of the privilege this brought her). Whatever industry one might be working in, involving oneself in a shared secret wasn’t a bad way to build up connections.

From that worldly viewpoint, Mathers was an exceptionally unattractive person to hold a central position in the cabal.

For him, magic was everything.

Calling him focused or dedicated sounded nice, but that magical genius had next to no official titles. He had no money and no social standing and his frequent bizarre behavior only served to cause a scene. But he wasn’t some mystical person who got by without working. Technically speaking, he did work. Because Annie would find open positions for him. But that never lasted long. He would be unemployed again in no time. And now he was claiming to be a descendant of Scottish nobility.

Westcott’s letters were actually of dubious validity, yet not a single person in the cabal believed Mathers’s bloodline delusions. Because nothing he said could change that he had been born to a middle class London office worker.

His wife Mina kindly went along with it, but there was no way of knowing what she actually thought. Knowing her, she might actually believe him. Then again, she was the daughter of the Bergson family who had thrown out that position by marrying Mathers, so she may not have cared at all about the class system of Queen Victoria’s British Empire.

“I can’t divorce myself from public life to pursue magic to the extent Count Glenstrae has. And I can’t pursue my dreams to the extent his wife does.”

“You shouldn’t compare yourself to them. Not everyone can live that kind of life. They are unusual even for the cabal.”

“It’s the same with these cards. I talk about using them to package or categorize the Sephiroth, but fortune telling is really all about utilitarian benefit, isn’t it? Pence, shillings, pounds… I am nothing more than a silly man who can’t stop thinking about numbers. No matter how hard I try, I doubt I can ever live as a magician like you.”

“Do you feel bad for living a comfortable life?”

“There is a 7=4 who insists any magician who focuses on worldly money is second-rate.”

“That’s just sour grapes over being unemployed.”

Only another 7=4 would openly talk about Mathers that way. And as a skilled magician who also had real social standing, Westcott was a different sort of monster.

Arthur Edward Waite shrank down like he wanted to disappear.

“I’m ashamed of it, but I just can’t stop making money. Once these cards are complete, they will make me a fortune. I am certain they will continue to be produced and sold long after I am dead. They will continue turning a profit until people no longer fear their vague fortunes and futures.”

He was approaching an invention that, in a way, was more incredible than some magic spell, but that didn’t mean he was proud of it.

This hinted at the real meaning behind what he had said.

Westcott and Mathers.

Two of the three founders.

“That’s why I like that the cabal is led by someone who can compromise with the real world.”

“No, no drinking.”

Mathers (who was a drinker but had no money) was despondent.

But Westcott did not back down.

“You can get drunk after we gather our thoughts on the Secret Chiefs. I have discovered and deciphered all of the original code books. You are supposed to create various ceremonies based on them that anyone can read. Wasn’t that the plan?”

The Secret Chiefs were mysterious beings said to grant permission to establish a magic cabal, and everyone had their own ideas about them. Westcott said one could borrow their power by asking a priestess in distant Germany. Mathers said they were incorporeal beings but boasted he could directly contact them. Some magicians even said they were ordinary people who walked on two legs and drank coffee in the city.

Old gentlemanly Westcott sighed.

“If using your head is so displeasing to you, then how about you visit remote Tibet and search for the Secret Chiefs in the physical world? Do that and I will buy you as much Scotch as you can drink.”

“Sh, shh!!” shushed Doctor Berridge, hastily raising his left index finger to his lips.

Only Westcott, who was on the same level as Mathers, could make jokes like that in the Golden cabal. In this age, magicians believed they would receive unfathomable wisdom and power if they made the long journey to Tibet, but Mathers loathed the way some people would throw out study and logic in order to rely on the “Mysterious East”.

“I say we forget about some single concept like the Secret Chiefs and instead study means of reaching and toying with the higher plane as a whole.”

“Either way, this isn’t a subject you can discuss over drinks. Besides, a drink is a reward for someone who has completed a day’s work. Now, Mathers, I will use your least favorite phrase in the entire world: get to work.”

Doctor Berridge stared at Westcott, plainly wanting to say something.

The priestess named Anna Sprengel was a mysterious figure who only ever appeared in Westcott’s letters. No one had ever actually seen her.

More than a friend of a friend, she was like that friend of a friend’s teacher.

Did that Secret Chief really exist?

This magician loved late-night walks.

Mathers was a troublesome genius who never went out and instead sponged off of his students when out of drinks and cheese, but there was one place even he would take the time to walk to: the British Museum. The many texts stored there were the one thing in the world that had complete power over him. As one of the founders, it perhaps went without saying he was a bookworm through and through. He only visited irregularly, but since he had slipped into the shadows of London, he wanted to read everything he could.

(Grimoires borrowing that king’s name have been more common of late. Now, it would do the world a great service if I could search out the oldest records I can find, sum up their main points, and create a simple checklist showing whether or not they are connected to that king.)

“The ability to gather all those texts into a single whole would be a truly great invention. Hm, but that would eliminate the fun of navigating the maze of bookcases.”

Mathers laughed as he strolled through the London night. He had apparently forgotten Annie’s warning that it was his meaningless evil laughter that gathered the patrolling authorities’ attention. Not that he had been listening to her in the first place.

It was late at night. The museum was no longer accepting ordinary visitors.

But such a truly skilled magician did not think he had to enter through the front door. Not when knowledge was calling his name. As a count, it was only polite to answer its invitation and accept its hospitality.

Mathers felt pain after taking three more steps along the dark street.

From a physical attack.

It felt like a hammer blow.

The heavy impact passed through his thick cloak and clothing to reach his right shoulder.

(It’s broken.)

He noticed only after he was hit.

Of course, Mathers wouldn’t normally make such a mistake. He would have instantly detected the assailant’s intent to attack and sent one of the seven demon lords after them.

“Hm.”

(That means this person knows my methods and found a loophole.)

Magicians were a type of technician Taking out his dominant arm first was a decent decision.

Mathers took a few more steps as if nothing had happened and then turned around.

If someone was there, this would have established a type of resonance that made them turn around too, but it didn’t work.

The dark street was deserted.

He had focused on the wrong place.

Aware of that, Mathers chuckled self-deprecatingly.

“So not even the British Empire is safe? If this attack had happened in broad daylight, I may have ended up in the papers as the victim of another theatrical crime.”

It was that era too.

It had likely made some good sample material for the latest fad of psychology. Some bored ripper had caused a bit of a stir, and that had been enough to distort the world. Crimes were growing and evolving to make the current level of excitement a thing of the past.

Mathers gave a snort of laughter.

Was this some magic being used to that end? It seemed familiar and then Mathers recognized it as an evocation spell he himself had expanded upon based on a certain code book.

“Being the biggest in the world really does have its downsides. There are far too many possible traitors.”

The Isis-Urania Temple was a grandiose name, but it was really just an apartment rented by the cabal. With the exception of the ceremonial ground, the only light came from an oil lamp. And there were shadows in the corners.

She had nothing solid to go off of.

But Mina Mathers’s eyes dropped to her ring as she spoke under her breath.

She was a top-rate magician whose greatest weapon was art and she had created several texts on various forms of visions and meditation as reference material for the cabal.

“Honey…no, it can’t be…”

The world was sliced apart by the shadows of the night, but Mathers’s confidence remained intact.

“Did you learn this from common society? Theatrical really is the best way of describing it. The way these crimes stimulate the people’s baser emotions in such a short period of time shows they were designed by someone who understands the basics of theatre.”

Didn’t one member of the Golden cabal hope to build a theatre? And wasn’t she the woman who wanted to tear apart Mathers and Mina’s relationship?

But Mathers wasn’t dense enough to end his search for the culprit there.

In fact, unlike a common play, the magician had no need to search for the culprit at all. Curses would return to their caster. Or could be set up to do so. If he defeated and eliminated this, it would also harm the magician responsible.

If he had some spare time, he could always search out the foolish traitor who would be writhing in pain from their own curse, but Mathers wasn’t that cruel. The worm could die in the gap between the filthy wall and wooden box where they were hiding.

Summoning and evocation might sound impressive (which was on purpose since Mathers and the other Golden magicians had given them those names for that exact reason), but there was no need to construct an entire angel or demon in order to produce deadly force. That would be a lot of wasted effort and giving it a head – and thus the ability to think – created the threat of revolt.

Sealing Telesma in a talisman or weapon was sufficient for most magic and it technically didn’t even require existing matter.

“Still, this is a makeshift version. I believe Waite is still trying to fine-tune it.”

Mathers only whispered.

Something floated in the air.

A single card. It had been there from the beginning. But in the dark night with only sporadic streetlights, an object the size of a leaf would go unnoticed floating in the breeze.

It was a tarot card from the Major Arcana: the Magician. It meant cleverness, an enemy trap, and willpower. It was the chance to begin something and the beginning of change.

(I see.)

That told him the purpose behind this curse.

And as soon as he accurately interpreted it, a line of light appeared on the ground directly below the floating card. The line bent in accordance with some kind of rules, drawing out a sharp, angular star on the ground. It was around 2m across. The eight-pointed star was drawn out in a single continuous stroke. Instead of specializing in a specific element, this symbol was a combination of all elements.

It was not being created anew.

This meaning had been included in the card from the start. You could say Mathers himself had given it a temporary external appearance with the power of his imagination. He was, after all, one of the cabal founders with a 7=4 grade. If he wanted, he could view the floating card as a heart, drape a thick cloak around it, and turn it into “false person” with a 3D silhouette…but after thinking it through that far, the obsessive man sighed. He consciously lessened his focus. He did not need to thoroughly analyze all the details here. Knowing the meaning and coordinates was enough.

The octagram symbolized the power of all of the elements. If intentionally used incorrectly, it could create a powerful blow to anything composed of the four elements formed from the four qualities.

That made this a colossal spring that could move freely along the ground. It would approach its target and, once their coordinates coincided, reject them, launching them straight up. There was no real altitude limit. If you only wanted to kill someone, you simply had to launch them from the planet. Mathers’s right shoulder had been crushed because the star had passed right next to his foot and only the arm sticking out past his leg had been hit.

[[Image:GoldenSS_BW.jpg|thumb]]

“Is that all you have?” Mathers was exasperated. “How careless. You were reliant on the element of surprise and your initial attack failed to kill me, but you aren’t erasing all evidence and preventing me from sending it back at you? Did you not even consider the possibility of a counterattack?”

Did they refuse to listen, or did they lack the brains to understand? He doubted it.

Not if this was being controlled remotely.

The octagram zigzagged along the ground, approaching him. With speed surpassing a coal-powered automobile. As if it were dragged along or guided by the floating Magician card.

Annie Horniman’s grimace wasn’t just due to the burnt oil stench of the lamp on the table.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t considered the possibility. She had vaguely realized this might happen.

But not because she had used the tarot cards Waite was still so seriously working at readjusting the numbers and symbols for. No divination was necessary for anyone with ordinary sensibilities to sense interpersonal trouble brewing.

The problem was how few of the eccentrics in the magic cabal were capable of reading the room like that. They were all the overly intellectual type who needed to gaze into a crystal ball or flip over some cards to figure out something so obvious. So they wouldn’t notice someone’s anger until it exploded in their face.

Of course, Annie didn’t particularly care what kind of disaster befell Mathers.

If a coal-powered automobile hit him on the side of the street, knocking him into the Thames where fish swarmed around to consume his flesh, that was fine by her. Her arms would be open to comfort the newly-widowed Mina.

But…

“…”

Someone stood in a corner of the room.

Mina Mathers. But her eyes weren’t on Annie. She was staring at her ring, her thoughts only on her husband who had left and still hadn’t returned. She looked somehow smaller than usual.

(Well, if that’s how it is.)

Annie sighed softly and hefted something over her shoulders. She felt their weight bearing down on her. As much as she didn’t like it, she made her way to the Isis-Urania Temple’s exit.

After solving a numerical puzzle on the table, Westcott raised his head and gave her a puzzled look.

“Oh? Annie, is that your Jachin and Boaz? Where are you taking them?”

“To go kick someone’s ass☆”

“Evocation.”

It changed.

The people, the air, the presence, the world.

All it took was that word from Mathers.

For an opponent like this, he didn’t even need to pull out the four symbolic weapons his wife had made.

The evocation and the exorcism were two parts of a single technique.

All things that could be summoned by humans could be swiftly driven out by humans. Just like the person who set a train in motion needed to be able to stop the train too.

“I call on one of the seven deadly sins. On one who was once viewed as an even greater demon lord than Satan and Lucifer. On a god who has not lost his great power even after his true name was corrupted.”

This genius was not led astray by the impressive-sounding seven deadly sins.

He was not satisfied with just Beelzebub.

That was why he searched out so many undeciphered texts in the British Library and translated the Hebrew into Latin and the Latin into English so modern people could read them. That was why he reproduced, resurrected, and made use of ancient gods from an age before a certain holy man was hung on the cross. That was why he dug back up the powers that were buried long ago for the convenience of those in charge.

Even if this occasionally made him a target for the Anglican Church’s assassins.

The star which drew out eight sharp points with a single stroke veered off of its shortest attack route. It stopped right in front of Mathers and moved erratically to the sides. It was clearly being controlled by someone rather than being a simple guided weapon.

It seemed to be squirming. Or taking frozen evasive action.

But Mathers had finished.

“Come forth, Baal Zebul.”

It only took a single strike.

Unable to even touch Mathers, the collection of lines pasted to the ground were twisted and burned through while the floating card was forcefully flipped over before its ashes scattered in the wind.

It was in that moment that a certain genius forcibly overturned his deadly fate.

“Oh.”

A figure doubled over.

She was at the former site of one of the Thames’s innumerable wharves.

An altar, flags to the west and east, tablets of different metals, a few seats for each role… So much time had been spent decorating the place to make the temple look like a proper temple, but now it was all in a miserable state. No, that wasn’t quite accurate. A great power had burst from within or sliced through it all. Everything used for the curse was destroyed equally.

She felt intense pain and heat in her right shoulder.

She couldn’t claim ignorance there since she had sent the curse.

“Oh, ohh.”

(It’s…broken.)

This wasn’t like a spell that ended once it was launched from your palm.

A doll.

A dagger.

This was part of why Mathers had concluded he need not search for the culprit.

She had created her game piece by summoning a large quantity of Telesma and having it carry her mental image through the card. That image had been her deadly desire and it could be seen as part of her being. Controlling the monster with her own thoughts gave the attack much greater odds of success, but sending in a deadly monster still linked to her also created the risk of this happening.

Just like blocking off the long steam pipe providing power to a large factory would apply pressure to the central boiler and eventually cause it to burst.

An attack could travel back to her.

“Ohhhhh- gbh.”

Doctor Berridge and Coroner Westcott had once argued over Scotch that the inside of the body could not actually feel pain, but that was a lie. How else could she explain this excruciating pain that felt like having her entire body twisted apart?

A cold sweat formed on her brow.

She focused all her willpower on slowing her breathing and attempting to resume refining her life force into magic power, but she struggled to control her body.

Her thick shoulder bone had been broken. Far too easily.

“Gevurah, the fifth sephirah, the element of fire. That is, the 6=5 robe of the Egyptian role. Accept me as I free myself from the bonds of my physical body and depart. Purify the calamities and flaws of my soul with the flame spoken of in the records of the ancient gods. I will be reborn here, stripping off all my old wounds and pai-”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The figure shook.

Annie Horniman spoke casually to her.

“I get wanting to cast off your body and escape the pain and fear after having the recoiled curse break your shoulder, but astral projection is a form of mental manipulation used to surpass the limits of your surface consciousness. Using it too often can get you absorbed by your own subconscious, unable to return. The Sphere you’ve been secretly putting together knows how to do all the calculations, but you should really stop there.”

“Where did I give myself away?”

“Nowhere really. You just seem like the type who would like remote attacks. Taphthartharath, was it? I remember your plan to summon that symbol of Mercury. Oh, sorry. ‘Envoke’, right? I still don’t quite grasp that new definition Mathers and the others came up with one day out of the blue. Anyway, you were sitting around the table with a few of your apprentices planning a ceremony to call on that thing. Not that I think you can manifest the real deal.”

This had been a theatrical crime.

The threat had incorporated the logic of a play, but Annie Horniman wasn’t the only one with a connection to that industry.

Wasn’t there another?

The Lady of the Masquerade Ball. That magician was in fact a famous actress.

She had clearly been on edge back at the Isis-Urania Temple. She hadn’t participated in the conversation when Mathers caused a scene or when everyone was testing Waite’s prototype tarot. Not once. The only person she had openly spoken to was Westcott, whose charisma made him a contact point for any number of areas.

“It’s just no fun…”

At this point, she didn’t bother making excuses.

Had she given up on all mental activity?

The masked woman puffed on the long, skinny pipe that passed right through her smooth mask and breathed out a toxically sweet cloud of smoke.

“So many rules. So many restrictions. Creating the framework of a cabal may have been a necessary part of getting our secret club started, but that stage is over. The promises made to get it started only weigh us down now. I want to enjoy magic more lazily. I want to immerse myself in it, intoxicate myself with it, and forget all about real life.”

“We call ourselves the world’s largest magic cabal and now we’re falling to internal strife? It’s so human I want to laugh.”

“Oh? Don’t you also want that arrogant and dogmatic Mathers to die? Although in your case it has nothing to do with his influence over the cabal.”

“Well, yes. I would have killed that freak ages ago if that were an option.”

But she hadn’t. She hated his guts for selfishly throwing her life off track and for marrying Mina. Killing him just the once didn’t seem sufficient in her opinion. And yet.

Her reason couldn’t have been simpler.

A pair of heavy objects crashed noisily to the ground.

A white pillar and a black pillar.

Annie Horniman grinned belligerently with one of the long clubs in each hand.

They were from the same cabal.

She wouldn’t kill the woman, but she would rough her up a bit.

Until that beautiful throat and tongue sang that she would rather die.

“This is what happens when you even slightly harm the life my Mina chose for yourself, okay?”

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:KuroyoruSS|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:A Certain Prophecy Index}}
</noinclude>

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Ultranova17:

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2026-05-08T22:02:12Z

Ultranova17:

<div class="mw-customtoggle-Long mw-customtoggle-LongClose mw-customtoggle-LongOpen" style="background:#ecf2ce;cursor:pointer" align="center">'''<big>Long Stories</big>'''</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" style="text-align:left;margin:5px5pxclear:both;font-size:100%;background:transparent;width:100%" id="mw-customcollapsible-Long">
'''These are novel-length side stories published separately from the main series.'''

[[Image:SP.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SP ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume_SP|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter1|Stiyl Magnus]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter2|Mark Space]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter3|Kamijou Touma]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter4|Uiharu Kazari]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:RAILGUN SS1 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: Liberal Arts City ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS1 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:INDEX Norse Mythology 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Norse Mythology===
::*Illustrations
::*Chapter 1: The Whereabouts of the Restraints — GLEIPNIR.
::*Chapter 2: When Will We Outgrow Tropical Countries? — YMIR's_ocean.
::*Chapter 3: The True Meaning of Environmental Protection — RULIC_letters.
::*Chapter 4: This and That About Life — ALFAR.
::*Chapter 5: Marine Prison — NAGLFAR.
::*Chapter 6: The Best Moment — BIFROST.
::*Chapter 7: The Destination of Salvation — GUNGNIR.
::*Chapter 8: The One who Teaches the Secret Rune — VALKYRIE.

[[Image:RAILGUN SS2 01 001.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]

===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS2: Shopping Mall Demonstration ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:RAILGUN PSP.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun PSP===
'''All links below are external links to [https://jerutz.wordpress.com/ JeruTz Translations]'''
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp-tutorial/ Tutorial]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-1/ Chapter 1: Longicorn of the Vacant Lot]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-2/ Chapter 2: Disciplinary Guidance]
::*[https://jerutz.wordpress.com/railgun-psp/railgun-psp-chapter-3/ Chapter 3: Grim Reaper Kakiko]
::*Chapter 4
::*Chapter 5
::*DLC Chapter

[[Image:INDEX RtE Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index: Road to Endymion ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Road_to_Endymion|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter5|Chapter 5]]

[[Image:INDEX Necessarius Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Necessarius Special Entrance Exam===
::*Illustrations
::*Chapter 1
::*Chapter 2
::*Chapter 3
::*Chapter 4
::*Chapter 5
::*Chapter 6
::*Chapter 7
::*Chapter 8

[[Image:INDEX Virutal On Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: A Certain Magical Virtual-On ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Preface|Preface]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Prologue|Prologue]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Epilogue|Epilogue]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:Railgun Cold Game Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun_Cold_Game|Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game]]===

<br style="clear:both"/>
[[Image:RailgunSS3 cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:Biohacker_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Biohacker ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter6|Chapter 6]]

[[Image:AgneseSS_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese’s Magic Side Work Trial ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter6|Chapter 6]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter7|Chapter 7]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:AgneseSS Chapter8|Chapter 8]]

[[Image:Railgun_cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Scientific Railgun ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Prologue|Prologue: Four Girls]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter1|Chapter 1: Shirai Kuroko Does Not Hesitate]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter2|Chapter 2: Saten Ruiko’s Messy Bloodbath Paradise☆]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter3|Chapter 3: Uiharu Kazari Can Do Real Work Too]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4|Chapter 4: Misaka Mikoto and the Death of Class]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Epilogue|Epilogue: Four Girls+α]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Afterword|Afterword]]

[[Image:Item Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Dark Side Item ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Prologue|Prologue: Feminine, Dangerous, Bright]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter1|Chapter 1: The Fifth Girl]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter2|Chapter 2: >>Colosseum]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter3|Chapter 3: A Certain Display of Courage, A Secret Reward]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter4|Chapter 4: Roar of the Level 5]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Epilogue|Epilogue: A Path Leading to Another Time, Another Place]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Ending|?]]

[[Image:Item2 Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Dark Side Item 2 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Prologue|Prologue: The Girls Resolve Their Job Like a Puzzle]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Level5_vs._Little_Honey_Queen]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Storm Approaches]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Project Angelica]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Your Chains Exist to be Broken]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Epilogue|Epilogue: If Just One Thing Had Happened Differently]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Ending|?]]

[[Image:Item3 Cover.png|x200px|frameless|right]]

===A Certain Dark Side Item 3 ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Prologue|Prologue: The City of Science is a Godless Place]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Public and Private]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter2|Chapter 2: The Fourth Estate]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3|Chapter 3: The Dark Side Can Find a New Toy Among the Classics]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Violent Gears Known as Justice]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Epilogue|Epilogue: The Cry of True Evil]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Ending|?]]

[[File:Item4 Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]

===A Certain Dark Side Item 4===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Prologue|Prologue: An Ordinary Other World as Far as the Eye Can See]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Tokyo Bomber Girl Crisis]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Southward]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter3|Chapter 3: A Very Foreign Criminal Organization]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Blood Against Blood]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Epilogue|Epilogue: Thornless Villains]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Ending|?]]

[[File:Item5 Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]

===A Certain Dark Side Item 5===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Prologue|Prologue: Keep Out Until the Day Before]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter1|Chapter 1: Mens Sana in Corpore Sano…or Something Like That]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter2|Chapter 2: Mass Gold Counterfeiting]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Crime Eraser]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter4|Chapter 4: Eliminate It at the Root]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Epilogue|Epilogue: The True Center]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Ending|?]]

[[File:Item6 Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]

===A Certain Dark Side Item 6===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Prologue|Prologue: Betrayal’s Beginning]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter1|Chapter 1: 2_on_2.]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2|Chapter 2: A Maple Syrup Kind of Day]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter3|Chapter 3: Pulling the Strings]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter4|Chapter 4: The Cost of Your Choice]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Epilogue|Epilogue: Is It Solved?]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Afterword|Afterword]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Ending|?]]

===[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:Mental_Out_SS|A Certain Scientific Mental Out: The Queen’s Play]]===

[[Image:Mikoto_vs_Misaki_SS.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Magical Index Side Story: Ace Misaka Mikoto vs. Queen Shokuhou Misaki!! ([[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM|Full Text]])===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Illustrations|Illustrations]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue|Prologue: Breaking News!!]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter1|Chapter 1: A Single Pudding Triggers the Apocalypse]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2|Chapter 2: A Fundamental Question]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3|Chapter 3: Two Members of the Most Dangerous Non-Native Species]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter4|Chapter 4: Go Play in Space]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter5|Chapter 5: Returning and Taking Over]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter6|Chapter 6: Who Stands in the Way?]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter7|Chapter 7: Arrival of Catastrophe]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Epilogue|Epilogue: End Credits]]

[[Image:Misaka_vs_Misaki_SS2_Cover.jpg|x200px|frameless|right]]
===A Certain Magical Index Side Story: A Truly Crazy Way to Get Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki to Flirt===
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Prologue|Prologue: Action Proposal 3041]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth8|Depth 8: A Circular Horizon]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth7|Depth 7: The Two Stealth Fighters]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth6|Depth 6: Diplomatic Strategy]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth5|Depth 5: Disaster Rescue]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth4|Depth 4: Red or Black]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth3|Depth 3: A Single Betrayal]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth2|Depth 2: What to Protect]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth1|Depth 1: Countdown Zero]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Epilogue|Epilogue: Action Proposal 3041 – Final Results]]
::*[[Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Ending|After the Epilogue]]

[[#toc|'''<small>Back to Contents</small>''']]
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Illustrations

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Ultranova17: new links with higher quality illustrations

<gallery>
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS.jpg|'''Cover'''
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 001.jpg
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 002.jpg|'''Contents Page
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 003-005.jpg|'''Pages 003-005'''
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 006-008.jpg|'''Pages 006-008'''
Image:Mikoto vs Misaki SS 005.png|'''Page 9'''
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<noinclude>
{{Toaru Nav|next=Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Prologue}}
</noinclude>

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Mental Out SS

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Ultranova17:

==A Certain Scientific Mental Out: The Queen’s Play==

[[Image:MentalOutSS_Cover.jpg|thumb]]

===Part 1===

Their eyes met in that moment.

“…”

“…”

They were in a fairly large park in Academy City’s District 7.

Shokuhou Misaki made an effort to remain calm and graceful no matter the circumstances, but she knew she had carelessly frozen for three full seconds here.

Although he only paused in surprise because he nearly bumped into someone.

“Oops. Um, are you alright?”

Kamijou Touma.

She knew all too well that pointy-haired boy ''could not remember her name or what she looked like''. The thought irked the Queen so much she felt like her immediate surroundings had been cut away from the peaceful Sunday afternoon.

<Go ahead, Queen.>

“(I know, I know.)”

She was urged on by her aide Kobayashi Satori who was telepathically linked to her from a short distance away.

As if she wasn’t a part of all this.

“Huh? Isn’t that a Tokiwadai uniform? Y’know, that electric girl’s school.”

“Kh… Ah ha ha. You’ll have to be more specific than that.”

The honey blonde girl laughed it off with her long hair blowing in the wind.

Shokuhou realized it would seem unnatural for her to know who he meant by “electric girl”.

She was pretending to have only just met him, after all.

The honey girl, who wore a winter blazer uniform with a brand-name bag worn over her shoulder, continued a mental conversation while making sure none of it showed on her face.

<You need to make a decision. This is a valuable action that will help you continue to reign as Tokiwadai’s Queen.>

“(Again, I know.)”

Shokuhou didn’t like how the emotion in Kobayashi’s telepathic voice hinted that she was mainly doing this out of curiosity, but letting it show on her face would only confuse him.

Shokuhou made up her mind.

She chose what she should say with a smile.

And the honey blonde girl carried it out splendidly.

“''Good day to you. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Shokuhou Misaki''☆”

===Part 2===

Their gazes clashed in that moment.

“…”

“…”

This time, it was Shokuhou Misaki and Misaka Mikoto.

They glared at each other from extreme close range.

This happened three days before.

But instead of being in the shady area behind their school, they were on the stage in prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School’s gym. The auditorium would have been a better place for a stage play, but since this would require a lot of moving around and raising of voices, it must have been classified as a joint gym class instead of the performing arts. And in fact, the girls were all wearing the sleeveless shirts and shorts of their gym clothes instead of their winter blazer uniforms.

Yes.

This was a stage play and a joint class.

The teacher elegantly clapped her hands to gather the students’ attention.

“Listen up, all you second years. I assume you have all found your groups and received your assignments? For this joint class, you will be crossing the usual class boundaries to work with your schoolmates from other classes. I hope you will build a greater sense of unity from this. And these new stimuli will help grow your mind – that is, your Personal Reality – which will in turn help develop your esper power. Do you understand?”

The students all answered in the affirmative.

The joint class meant more people than usual. For Shokuhou, this meant a lot of girls she didn’t recognize.

And, of all things, those two had ended up in the same group. Maybe it was wrong to think of things this way in a city of science, but Shokuhou had to wonder if a probability-manipulating demon was lurking somewhere in their school.

Mikoto blatantly scratched at her head in front of Shokuhou.

“Let’s see. Our group was assigned Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The Queen elegantly held a hand to her mouth and didn’t bother stifling a yawn.

“Yawwwn… All these classes that focus on physical activity are such a pain. Seeing how nice the weather ability is, I would much rather take a nap. But if I try to sneak out…”

“Hey.”

“…then this girl who is mysteriously immune to my power gets after me. It’s not like my attendance ability affects you in any way, so can you please just leave me be, you hotblooded idiot?”

That was why Shokuhou Misaki could not lie down on a nice sunny patch of grass and take a nap. Even the joint drama class was better than being chased down by that billion-volt electric girl.

(Is there any way I could use this situation to my advantage?)

“Ugh, I’m so sleepy.”

“Why are you so tired?”

“Unlike a child like you who crawls into bed as soon as it gets dark out, I am an adult who knows how to make use of the night hours☆”

Those two were arguing yet again.

And despite her perfect smile, Shokuhou’s encirclement was not perfect this time.

“Are you serious about that, Shokuhou Misaki? You really think staying up late makes you an adult? Peh heh heh. You know, little girl, any grown woman with any concern for her looks and health tries to avoid late nights first and foremost. Did you not know that, you damn brat?”

“Wait, kh, did I really just get outplayed by a meathead like Misaka-san!?”

“And I barely had to try, Little Queen.”

Misaka Mikoto smiled wickedly and gently placed her hand atop Shokuhou’s head.

While she had the upper hand when it came to group mind games and scheming, when it came to physical one-on-one conflicts, (blushing and tearful) Shokuhou couldn’t even brush that hand off of her head. Misaka Mikoto was immune to her Mental Out, so Shokuhou had no defense when that girl used brute strength against her. If she wanted to, the #3 could pin Shokuhou to the floor and sit on her.

But the Queen wouldn’t let it end here.

She had been pushed so far her anger circled back around to calm.

And then the trembling girl made a decision.

(I-it’s on now. ''Yes, I know exactly what to do.'' If this is how it’s going to be, I will enjoy this joint drama class in a classy adult way you could never even dream of, Misaka-saaan!!)

The other girls didn’t dare approach the #5 and #3 (despite all being powerful espers themselves), so they watched from afar and whispered amongst themselves. There was no rule of etiquette requiring it, but even the spreading of rumors was done quietly at a classy school.

“U-ugh. Misaka-sama and Shokuhou-sama are in the same group? That basically tells us which group is getting the top spot before it even begins.”

“I feel bad for the girls in their group. They have to play a part like the human king or Puck the Fairy with those two monstrous stars stealing all the attention.”

“(Eep…)”

“You shouldn’t have said that, Matsuzai-san! Kinoshita-san just collapsed from the pressure! Hey, Otonari-san, you’re on the health committee, right!?”

While a mixture of comedy and tragedy played out around those two, Shokuhou childishly pouted her lips and spoke up (while working through some complicated calculations in her head).

“Of all the Shakespeare plays, why did it have to be A Midsummer Night’s Dream? You have the worst luck ability with these things, Misaka-san.”

“What play would you have considered good luck?”

“Hamlet or Macbeth. Then I could have dramatically killed you on stage☆ But A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy, so no one dies.”

Shokuhou sounded quite serious as she held the tip of her white-gloved index finger in her mouth.

Mikoto (who was entirely immune to the Queen’s spoiled child act) sighed in annoyance and began flipping through the booklet with a school library sticker on it.

It was common to feel like you had a decent knowledge of world-famous works but to actually be missing important parts of the setting or plot. Like that Frankenstein was the name of the scientist, not the monster. So she was reviewing the basics.

“Let’s see… A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy and one of Shakespeare’s early masterpieces.”

“By the way, the ‘midsummer’ in the title refers to the summer solstice, so it takes place in late June, rather than what we would think of as midsummer☆”

Shokuhou poked her head in from the side and Mikoto gave her an irritated look.

“So a more accurate title would be An Early Summer Night’s Dream? Anyway, it gives a story summary here. It’s a comedy set near Athens where a number of human men and women arrive in the forest ruled by Fairy King Oberon and Fairy Queen Titania, but a fairy called Puck gives a love potion to the wrong person, causing all sorts of trouble.”

After reading through that, Mikoto looked up.

The #3 clearly had several questions already.

“Me playing Fairy Queen Titania I can understand, but why are you playing Fairy King Oberon? That makes us a couple…”

“Don’t blame me. You said you were sick and tired of always playing the prince roles, so you threw a fit and demanded to play a cute girl this time.”

“Gh.”

“You claim to be a lonely ace, but you are quite popular with the girls during these joint classes, you know? Peh heh heh☆”

Shokuhou hit Mikoto where it hurt, so she could only groan. And then Shokuhou delivered the finishing blow.

Like she had been waiting for the opportunity.

“Misaka-san, the one thing you really need in your life is anger management lessons. Now, take a deep breath. Hold it for six seconds. Trying to force down anger never works, so try to forget all about your stubborn ideas about what everyone is supposed to do☆”

“You have some nerve saying that after intentionally provoking me!!”

The standard choice for prince roles shouted while red in the face. The other girls watching from a distance cheered, so they must have assumed those two were already practicing their acting.

In these joint drama classes, there were mainly two roles the girls fought over. One was the princess or the queen. The other was the handsome prince or knight. The male roles had a certain charm to them, as demonstrated by a certain theatre troupe.

And in that sense, that pair’s roles had sent a stir through the other students.

Their expectations had been overturned.

Who could have predicted ''the'' Shokuhou Misaki would play the king and ''the'' Misaka Mikoto would play the queen!?

Some of them looked horrified.

“(Why do they look so surprised? What’s wrong with me going for the cute princess or queen role?)”

“Shedding tears of blood?” Shokuhou waved a hand and then brushed her long honey-blonde hair off her shoulder. “This isn’t easy for me either, you know? You might not know what it’s like since you’re so used to playing the male roles all the time, but now I have to study the male mind to help get into the role. And take a look around you. Do you see any male voices I can seek out here in Tokiwadai to get a firsthand opinion?”

“…”

Mikoto looked somehow skeptical even though Shokuhou had given her what she wanted.

Of course, Shokuhou believed in manipulating the overly trusting and taking them for all they were worth, so she actually preferred someone who wasn’t misled by surface-level charisma.

Mikoto was still staring at her.

“Enough. You can get away with skipping class using those remotes of yours, so you must have another reason to be here. What is it?”

“Well☆ If I’m going to be here, I might as well make the most of it, don’t you think?”

“?”

“The play includes a wide variety of characters, but Oberon and the other fairies generally can’t be seen by the humans even if they are standing next to them and speaking loudly. The one exception is when a fairy allows themselves to be seen or when they aren’t their usual self due to the love potion ability.”

“I see.”

“The key to the story is the love potion made from a flower called love-in-idleness – which is apparently a pansy that meets certain conditions. It is made by Fairy King Oberon and he gives it to his servant Puck. By applying the magical potion to a sleeping person’s eyelids, they will fall in love with the first person they see after waking. Oberon made it to get back at Titania after a fight.”

“I see, I see.”

“Puck ends up using the love potion on the wrong person, which leads to trouble that affects Titania and almost every other character. …Do you see now that Oberon is the perfect part for me? I’m not the type to be mentally manipulated by an outside force. I need to be the one who manipulates others and amuses myself watching the aftermath. Yes, my heart is pounding just imagining you rolling around the stage☆”

“Yet again, I feel like punching her would be doing the world a favor.”

The Queen hopped down from the stage to dodge a lightning spear. (She would never admit it, but the unathletic Queen’s action was better described as tripping and falling off the stage.)

And so, Shokuhou Misaki had an urgent task.

The success of the joint drama class was reliant on her studying the male mind firsthand.

(Not really, though☆)

Academy City’s #5 Queen stuck out her tongue.

One name came to mind. She already knew exactly who her target would be!!

===Part 3===

It was Sunday at a completely ordinary park in District 7.

Just like the public square by the train station, it was a classic location for guitarists, comedians, and other performers to build up their courage on the weekends. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to see people in costumes or masks holding a tablet script in one hand and raising their voices on the grass or along the walking paths.

Among all that, a pointy-haired boy’s eyes widened.

He was Kamijou Touma.

“A Shakespeare play? That’s incredible. Do they really do that kind of thing at Tokiwadai? Isn’t it a middle school?”

“We do☆” replied a honey-blonde girl with a hand over her smiling mouth. She wore a winter blazer uniform, but that was because Tokiwadai students were required to wear their uniforms even when out in the city on the weekends. “I’m really not sure what to do. How am I supposed to play a male role when there aren’t any real gentleman around to base my performance ability on?”

“I still can’t get over that you perform plays for school. I mean, I’d probably fall asleep just watching one, but you have to memorize all your lines and get up on the stage.”

Kamijou Touma was in high school and the honey-blonde girl was in middle school, but the latter’s knowledge and mental maturity were clearly greater. To be blunt, the boy seemed childish to her.

Kobayashi’s voice sounded in Shokuhou’s head.

<How did you even find a gentleman with such a low rank as a human being? Sleeping while watching a play is unthinkably rude. He might think no one will notice with so many people in the audience, but you can see each and every person’s face from up on the stage. And even a professional actor would have her feelings hurt by that.>

“(Hee hee. How cute. Yes, he probably wouldn’t know what to make of Shakespeare’s plays, would he?)”

<Queen, why are you being so unusually lenient in your judgments of people today?>

“(Ehh? Now you’re just being a silly billy.)”

<nowiki><I</nowiki> am referring to how your guard has been lowered so far you don’t even sound like yourself. He is older than us, but you are acting like you’re looking after a baby chick.>

Kobayashi’s telepathy allowed her to mentally communicate with people over a distance. It was a convenient mental power, but since it worked through the medium of words, she could not share images, alter formless memories or personalities, or influence facial recognition or a meetup place.

After hearing that, her enemies tended to take her lightly, but ''that power was actually very powerful in combat.

Anyone who wrote it off as no more than a psychic cellphone needed to take a step back and think it through. How had Kobayashi Satori risen to the position of the largest clique’s intellectual strategist, placing her right alongside the stupidly strong Hokaze Junko?

She was skilled enough that even the Queen at the top of the clique couldn’t predict which of those two would win if they went all out.

<Queen, couldn’t you just find a random boy and use one of your remotes on him? Why take the time to get him to tell you about his male mind when you have Mental Out?>

“(Sure, I could copy over the full contents of his mind, but where would I store all that personality data? If I save it to my mind, it would end up mixed with my own personality and I would be permanently stuck with masculine speech patterns, mannerisms, and stride.)”

<You have a point. Your power is ''too'' convenient in this case.>

The two girls continued their telepathic discussion.

The only one in the dark was the pointy-haired boy seated on the bench next to the honey girl.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream…”

“Hee hee. Do I need to give you a plot summary?”

Little by little, the honey girl was growing more comfortable around him.

Although this was still nowhere near as close as that pair had once been.

“(…)”

Shokuhou Misaki had seriously cursed her luck when she ended up in the same group as Misaka Mikoto for the joint drama class, but maybe A Midsummer Night’s Dream wasn’t so bad after all. It was the Queen’s style to make use of everything she could, so she had used the play to let her contact ''him'' over the weekend.

''He would forget any of it happened afterwards, but even so.

(Heh heh. Misaka-san could never spend a relaxing Sunday with him like this.)

<Are you sure you want to do this, Queen?>

“(Why wouldn’t I?)”

<Because no matter the reason for it, this is still effectively a date, isn’t it?>

“Bfff!!??”

Kamijou took a puzzled look around, so Shokuhou quickly recovered and blended into her surroundings.

Kobayashi’s telepathic voice now had an appraising tone to it.

<Let me ask again: are you sure you want to do this, Queen?>

“(Cough, cough. Ugh. I am as sure as sure can be. Phew. Of course I am. What kind of dangers or surprises could we run into in a park on Sunday? And why should I be scared of a high school boy just because he’s already left the category of middle school? I can bend a boy or two to my will in no time at all!!)”

<That loud, rapid talking is so cute. I’m sure you could step on and remote control the average handsome VIP or wealthy minor villain, but you are acting very strangely today. Oh, how I wish I could record your mental voice. Then I could let the clique hear it and share this happiness with Hokaze-san, Asato-san, and the others. I feel guilty keeping this to myself☆>

(I’m definitely erasing this memory from her mind later.)

<Queen, I can hear everything you’re thinking. And that low, ultra-serious whispering is terrifying coming from Academy City’s #5.>

Even Kobayashi sensed danger here.

The honey girl made sure none of this showed on her face as she smiled and continued her conversation with Kamijou Touma.

She raised a white-gloved finger before saying more.

“While it is Shakespeare, no one dies an emotional death in this one.”

“Ugh!? I’m a little disappointed you managed to predict my own lack of imagination. Did a middle schooler really see right through me!?”

That had apparently stabbed deep into his high schooler pride.

After hearing his comment, Shokuhou sighed too quietly for anyone to hear.

“(You aren’t making fun of me, are you, Kobayashi-san?)”

<No, I would never. You are the beloved leader of our clique.>

“(Hm, at least you know that much. By the way, Kobayashi-san, are you making fun of me?)”

<Repeat the question like an Anti-Skill interrogator all you want – my opinion will not change.>

The Queen had the strongest mental power and the aide was specialized in telepathy alone.

They both specialized in the mind, so of course Kobayashi knew all the tricks too.

In fact, she might know them better than Shokuhou who could brute force everything with her power.

<Please do try to calm down, Queen. I will give you all the advice necessary to spend a valuable Sunday with this gentleman.>

“(''You'' will?)”

<Hee hee. I am the Shokuhou Clique’s intellectual strategist, after all. Not to mention a third year, which gives me more experience than you.>

That shut Shokuhou up.

She led the largest clique, but she couldn’t completely deny the power contained in the difference from one school year to the next. She would scoff at and brainwash an adult agent or researcher who crossed her, but she was more obedient here.

A third year.

That placed Kobayashi at the very top of the middle school world, which may have warranted a certain amount of respect.

“(Fine. Where do you think we should start, Kobayashi-san?)”

<Where else? Balls are what dates are all about.>

“Bff! E-excuse me?”

Shokuhou accidentally spoke out loud.

But Kobayashi apparently didn’t mean anything weird here.

Shokuhou forgot all about the boy’s presence and stared over at Kobayashi from a short distance away.

“A ball is the one and only place where princesses and princes can meet, hold hands, and show off their charm to each other. They gather attention with their outward beauty, demonstrate their inner purity with their elegant movements, and measure their compatibility by how well they dance together!”

Shokuhou wondered why she should go to a ball and dance with a bunch of boys when she was already in a one-on-one situation with a boy.

Plus, this was modern Japan.

Who would be dancing in a Sunday park?

…Well, there were some girls in baggy T-shirts and shorts energetically dancing in front of the phones they had set up in the flower beds with special stands. Probably because (much to Shokuhou Misaki’s chagrin) dancing was a widely accepted thing to learn at school. That just confused matters. That was not at all the ballroom dancing you would see at a ball! Why must they play that loud dance music from their wireless speakers and show off their athletic ability in a public space like this!?

“…”

<Hee hee. Is the concept of a ball too exciting for a second year like you, Queen?>

For some reason, Kobayashi felt the need to keep the upper hand in this truly sad situation.

And in her ignorance, she was, in a way, invincible.

“?”

On the bench, the pointy-haired boy gave the honey girl a puzzled look.

She had gotten too focused on the telepathic conversation.

She must have been neglecting the spoken conversation.

“(Kobayashi-san.)”

<Understood, Queen. You can count on me. I know exactly what needs to be said.>

“Do you enjoy dancing, Kamijou-san?”

“Eh? The people who do it really seem to enjoy it, but it honestly feels like a different world altogether. I could never dance in front of people.”

Kobayashi commented in Shokuhou’s head.

<Silence would be the kind choice here. Are you relieved, Queen?>

“(…I suppose.)”

<But based on the muscles I can see, he appears to be the athletic type. If he was forced to dance, I bet he wouldn’t freeze up and would keep moving even if he had to adlib it. And once he figured out how it was done, he would fit right in.>

“(Oh, shut up. Yes, I already know he’s one of ''those'' people!!)”

<The people who don’t let embarrassment stop them will continue learning and constantly build up their experience. That is one strength you lack as the perfect queen who is always considering how people will see you.>

The strategist’s mental voice carried a hint of exasperation.

Directed at Shokuhou, not Kamijou.

<You might be able to handle ballroom dancing since it is less athletic, but you tend to overthink anything related to fitness or exercising. Place you in front of a sports gym’s wall mirror and you probably wouldn’t be sure which way is right and which is left.>

“(I know my right from my left!! It’s just that I have a perfect image of the performance in my head, but the person in the mirror refuses to move the way I want her too!)”

The incapable Queen felt a need to draw an entirely unnecessary distinction there.

But even with all this going on, the honey girl’s smile remained perfect.

“Really? Then are you exclusively a listener when it comes to music?”

“What else would I do? Oh, you mean like karaoke? I never do that.”

“I meant writing your own on the computer☆”

“There’s no way I could do that.”

The honey girl was smiling on the outside, but she continued the telepathic strategy meeting on the inside.

<Oh, I know. If you don’t like the idea of a ball, it might be a good idea to correspond with him via letter instead of jumping straight into a joint activity. Coming up with secret nicknames for each other is a great way of demonstrating your intelligence and charm to your beloved. Like Prince of the Icy Blade or Rafflesia Princess!!>

Had Kobayashi’s worldview drifted off to the Palace of Versailles full of long eyelashes and perfect proportions? The Queen was suddenly curious what she would find on Kobayashi’s bookshelves. And why was her strategist comparing her to a giant grotesque flower?

“Hey? I-is something wrong? You’re glaring pretty intensely over there.”

“It’s nothing☆”

The honey girl seated next to the boy on the bench was so focused on the telepathic conversation she was neglecting her reactions to him.

Shokuhou Misaki took inspiration from a smiling college couple she saw walking along nearby.

She gave an idea in her mind.

“(Doesn’t a Sunday date in the park mean things like scooping ice cream up in a tiny spoon and feeding it to each other?)”

<Out of the question, Queen! Letting a gentleman feed you will get you pregnant!! We are still in middle school!!>

“I could rest my head on his shoulder while sitting next to him, or I could use my thigh ability to give him a lap pillow.”

<Letting a gentleman touch your bare skin is far too risky! How many children are you planning to have at your age!? Do you want a house full of children!? …As thin as they are, the white gloves over the arms at least provide some form of contraception.>

Something had quickly become apparent to Shokuhou.

As much as Kobayashi Satori was trying to control the situation as the older one, she was a Tokiwadai girl through and through. She had zero experience with boys. So much for her supposed experience as a third year. Her view of boys was even more distorted and unreliable than a long-eyelashed shoujo manga!!

<Who are you calling unreliable? If you think I’m so ignorant, how about I demonstrate the special move I have developed for use against gentlemen?>

“(I can’t have you murdering him here in broad daylight, you stupid third year.)”

Shokuhou mentally provided that exasperated response.

And while her focus had been elsewhere, the pointy-haired boy had started acting oddly.

“Hmm?”

“…”

When the honey girl shook her long blonde hair and turned to look at him, the older boy looked away.

It was amusing to watch.

The honey girl turned her body toward him, placed her hands behind her back, and peered up at him from below. Since they were both seated on the same bench, this put her very close to him.

“Hee hee? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, my bad. It’s just, well, I noticed this sweet scent, so I was thinking about how much beauty care girls have to deal with. I’m in high school and all I do is wash my hair and face, so I was feeling really childish and silly.”

Was that his problem?

The honey girl kicked her slender legs below the bench and sighed softly.

“I don’t think that has much to do with being an adult or a child.”

“Eh?”

“Skincare products for men are common enough nowadays, but it is true there are far more cosmetics for women.”

“…Is that so?”

“It is,” replied the honey girl with a firm nod.

While they couldn’t wear too much because Tokiwadai’s rules were (extremely) strict, the girls there still applied a barrage of various colors and moisturizers to their hair, skin, and nails.

“This is a bit of sidetrack, but you know how the Curriculum has us write while looking in a mirror to help draw out brain functions we ordinarily never use?”

“Yeah. When I get too focused doing that, I get nauseated like I have motion sickness or something.”

“Results from that lesson have shown that girls are better at it than boys. At first, there was a lot of talk about the ratio of sex hormones creating distinct male and female thought process or even that it was the result of male and female brains being structured differently.”

“At first? So was that not the reason?”

“In truth, it was nothing more than girls being more accustomed to making precise hand movements while looking in the mirror due to applying lipstick and eyeliner every morning.”

“…”

“Hee hee. The oddities in everyday life usually have mundane explanations like that. For example, boys in their school’s drama club could complete the task as easily as the girls because they regularly applied makeup for their club activities. All in all, this means girls are still more accustomed to performing skincare than boys in Academy City. For now anyway☆”

The honey girl teased the end of her long blonde hair and smiled as she gave her conclusion.

This time, it was Kobayashi who sent a telepathic question.

<On that note, Queen, what is the origin of the fantasy that girls smell sweet?>

The Queen was not crass enough to mention the more realistic girl scent found in sweaty cheerleading teams and girl’s kendo teams. She would only mention that it was said in Tokiwadai that the sweet illusion was only preserved by the power of showers and deodorant.

<Does it come from traditional arts dating back at least to the Edo period, or is it a literary expression brought over from the West? Hm, a mystery.>

“(I don’t think fiction has anything to do with it.)”

Shokuhou mentally responded in exasperation.

“(Did you know there is a theory saying teenage girls avoid their fathers because their brains are programmed to dislike the smell of their male parent to avoid an unfortunate attraction accidentally forming between them? Your father doesn’t actually have a powerful old man smell.)”

<If you say so.>

Kobayashi wasn’t sure what to make of this since she had lived away from her parents in Academy City for so long.

Now, if you were to uncritically accept that theory, it would lead to the strange conclusion that teenage girls wouldn’t avoid the smell of old men other than their fathers, but enough of that.

From here, Shokuhou added in her own theory.

“(In that case, couldn’t the exact opposite happen for the opposite sex of your own age? Our brains could be programmed to enjoy how the opposite sex smells so we will naturally approach each other. That would mean our bodies aren’t actually emitting anything sweet smelling☆)”

From there, it was the same thing that drew people to sugary, carby, and fatty shortcakes. On an instinctual level, humans were made think that the things they required were beautiful and delicious so they would overindulge in them. The future was bright and humanity’s prosperity would not end. How many billions of humans lived on Earth nowadays?

“(Of course, I will admit that silly fantasy is propped up by the sweet smelling perfumes and deodorants the adults sell.)”

<Are you saying the more a gentleman is attracted to a girl, the sweeter he will think she smells?>

“Bfff!?” spat Shokuhou.

If that were true – really true – what would it mean that the boy so strongly associated her with a ''honey scent''!?

“(Eep.)”

<Hm. That would imply the gentlemen are using some form of self-suggestion. They do say love is blind. In the most extreme cases, they will say their favorite idol does not use the restroom. Gentleman in particular seem to trap themselves in their self-made fantasies when they have a crush on->

“(%@&$-beep-beep-beep-grind-grind-beep-beep-beep*♭☆÷〒)”

<Ow!! Queen, what is going on in your mind!? That unverbalized noise is too loud! Are you trying to destroy my mind with old computer code sounds that make me expect you to spit out a long sheet of paper from your mouth!?>

“(Gasp!? P-pardon me. I lost my cool.)”

Shokuhou Misaki took a deep breath to intentionally calm herself.

(Even if that is the case, it didn’t necessarily mean he had a ***** on me.)

<Queen, you need to think more clearly. Hm, this isn’t more noise. A portion of your thoughts is heavily coded, preventing me from reading one of the words.>

“(Cough, no digging deeper.)”

<Hm. I don’t see any way in right away, but a truly randomized code without any kind of pattern to it should be the most difficult kind. …No, I see it now. The key lies in the five basic tastes, including umami, which can be mechanically converted into numbers. If I use this…>

“(I said no and I meant it!!!)” shouted the queen, half in tears.

Of course, Kobayashi’s telepathy only allowed her to converse in words, so she couldn’t actually directly steal flavor memory data from Shokuhou’s mind.

Then the pointy-haired boy tilted his head while seated next to the honey girl.

“Hmm. If I wanted to start on skincare, what would be a good place to start? Is there any one thing that’s most important?”

“…Why not start with hand cream?”

“Are you making fun of me? How stupid do you think high schoolers are?”

“What about you? Did you realize that line of questioning is sexual harassment on the level of asking what part of my body I wash first in the bath?”

“Gfhhh!!?”

“I’ll take that as a no☆”

The honey girl couldn’t stop grinning.

She may have discovered how she would be enjoying her Sunday.

<By the way, Queen.>

“(Don’t distracted me during this crisis, Kobayashi-san. You’ve made such a mess of things here I need to find a way to fix it all as soon as possible!!)”

<Do as you like, but there is a physical threat 30m ahead on the walking path through the artificial woods.>

“(What kind of threat?)”

<Checking link status. Verifying details with an echo check. An unidentified individual has contacted and entered my telepathy range. ‘I want to play the princess for once.’ ‘Huh, they have Gekota balloons here.’ ‘That dorm manager really is the real monster.’ Based on the verbalized surface-level thoughts I am gathering in real time, the unidentified individual is most likely Misaka Mikoto. She will encounter us if we remain here.>

“Bff!?” spat Shokuhou Misaki.

(It’s always something!)

“?”

Kamijou Touma looked around in confusion, so Academy City’s #5 quietly cleared her throat.

The Queen was aware that Mikoto and Kamijou had developed a connection much like the one between Shokuhou and Kamijou. So what would happen if the aggressive #3, who had an extremely short fuse, happened to see the Queen here with the pointy-haired boy?

With no real evidence, the Queen of Tokiwadai’s largest clique arrived at a conclusion.

(If I’m found here, I’ll explode and die.)

<You’ll die?>

“(Yes, die. Blown to smithereens.)”

To reiterate, Misaka Mikoto was immune to Shokuhou’s power. If Shokuhou’s presence was detected here in a one-on-one situation, she would be taken out by a physical attack. She would have a hard time escaping to safety, to say nothing of winning.

“(Why did that impossibly overleveled enemy wandering the dungeon at random have to show up now!?)”

<Oh, dear. I just remembered that this park is the one where Misaka Mikoto is known to show up and kick one of the vending machines. That means this was her territory to begin with. So she didn’t come to us – we accidentally went to her☆>

“(That doesn’t matter at this point.)”

Sunday only came once a week.

Shokuhou wanted to enjoy it.

So she wasn’t letting the #3 ruin it for her.

<Queen, I can hear those thoughts. Anyway, follow my lead. We will move from here, taking him with us.>

“(As long as we don’t run into her while we try to escape.)”

<Don’t worry. Misaka-sama has not noticed because I am keeping silent, but I have already established a telepathic link with her. As long as she does not move outside my telepathy range, I can read her verbalized surface-level thoughts and track her location☆>

In that case…

“(Kobayashi-san.)”

<Yes, Queen. It’s time to go.>

“Kamijou-san☆ I’m a little thirsty.”

“Eh? Wah!?”

The honey girl stood from the bench and took the older boy’s arm with a smile.

And she pulled him to his feet.

“(Um, Kobayashi-san, Are you tracking my location, his location, and Misaka-san’s location in relation to each other?)”

<Leave it all to me.>

Kobayashi Satori’s telepathy was reliant on proximity.

She could track the number and location of her targets whether or not she could see them, even if they were on the other side of a wall. But if she moved too far away, her connection would be severed.

So as convenient as the power was, her own position was fairly important when it came to grasping all the movement across the field.

“I need a drink☆”

“There’s a vending machine over- hey, um, where are you going?”

“You don’t actually expect me to drink that carbonated garbage full of chemical ability, do you?”

The honey-blonde girl clung to the pointy-haired boy’s arm and leaned her weight outwards. She was amused to find how easy it was to steer him around.

Kobayashi apparently had a question about this.

<Odd. I thought gentlemen stood their ground better than this, but he is surprisingly easy to move around. The slightest bit of force seems to be enough to steer him left or right.>

“(Kobayashi-san, are you familiar with the idea of basic needs? Those are needs people seek out on reflex before their rational mind can even kick in.)”

<You mean like the need for approval and to explain?>

“(Yes, like that. Around thirty of them are well known, but one of those is a need for friendship. That instinctual need has people try to make friends regardless of status or position so they can flatten out the hierarchy and free themselves from the tension that creates. And speaking of tension, being alone with a girl would mean a lot of tension for a boy, don’t you think?)”

''Need for friendship.

Those words slipped quietly from the honey girl’s lips, making the pointy-haired boy frown.

“What does that mean?”

“If you want a close-to-home example, it’s what makes you feel like the 5-minute TV horoscope actually knows you or makes you uncritically accept everything written in a celebrity’s health book.”

“Hm, I think I see what you mean.”

“Or it’s what makes a lonely boy feel like he’s sought out real advice after reading the bogus dating tips that plague the internet and fashion magazines☆”

“Gfhh!?”

Kamijou Touma groaned after that knife to the heart from this younger girl.

The honey girl displayed a confident smile, but…

<Queen, the complete silence in your mind is scaring me. What is this emptiness supposed to mean? Did that mention of dating tips damage you as well by any chance?>

Shut up.

Hey, pointy-hair, when did you ever have a need for tips like that?

But if taking his arm was enough to manipulate that older boy as she saw fit, then victory would be hers.

For now, they had to escape the impossibly overleveled enemy that was the #3.

To repeat, encountering her now could only mean one thing for Shokuhou: explode and die.

“(Misaka-san is bad enough, but I’m also afraid of her friend Shirai-san showing up. Her supposedly Level 4 Teleportation would make it impossible to shake them just by escaping into the crowd.)”

<Oh, but our school’s Judgment seemed busy at the moment. Probably something related to that recent case. I know our Makigami-san was running around working on it.>

I see.

“Hm, I’ve seen a few kids with Gekota balloons. Do you think they’re handing them out in this park?”

Shokuhou didn’t have time to cry out in surprise.

<Queen, a left at the next fork.>

“This way, Kamijou-san☆”

“Whoa, whoa! That’s soft! Hey!”

Shokuhou just barely avoided an encounter by hiding behind the spectacular pillar of water erupting from a fountain. She recalled that a sufficient quantity of water could block electromagnetic waves.

“Huh, I never knew the fountain went off at the top of the hour. I’ve seen it so many times but I never put it together.”

“Enough of that, Kamijou-san. We need to hurry away from this fountain!”

“Why- eh? Hey!?”

The honey-blonde girl took this chance to escape onto a walking path to the side (while squeezing the older boy’s arm tight so she could steer him as she saw fit).

“(Misaka-san wouldn’t leave her dorm during the weekend for no reason. Kobayashi-san, her verbalized surface-level thoughts are good enough – just tell me what she’s thinking. If we know the reason behind her inexplicable appearance here, we can predict what she’ll do and more easily avoid her.)”

<Queen, extroverted people generally do head out during the weekend without any particular goal in mind. The small stimuli and discoveries found in their surroundings help refresh them.>

“…”

<Hee hee. Unlike you, who lazes around indoors all weekend.>

Shokuhou had no rebuttal.

At any rate, they needed to focus on avoiding Misaka Mikoto. Because she didn’t want to explode and die.

===Part 4===

Kamijou Touma looked down at the paper cup in his hand.

He tilted his head.

“Including tax, that was only 321 yen for two drinks. …I don’t get it. Why is this tea in a paper cup okay when the canned drinks were out of the question?”

“Your ignorance is showing. The world is not so simple that price is directly correlated with quality. Did you think the mineral water sold at a tourist markup in amusement parks had some special ingredient inside?”

While avoiding Misaka Mikoto who would (according to Shokuhou) make them explode and die, they had arrived at a section of the park where food trucks sold bentos, drinks, and more. All the temporary obstacles were perfect for someone who wanted to stay hidden.

Kamijou looked up and tilted his head further.

“By the way, do all Tokiwadai girls like to go behind the food trucks?”

“There’s so much to see back here☆”

The honey girl hid the truth behind a smile and listed off some plausible reasons.

They were all accurate even.

“All the front counters are nice and clean, so you can’t judge the difference there.”

“I suppose…”

“But circle behind the trucks and you can find all sorts of valuable information ability: you can see how they cook, you can check the collapsed boxes to see what ingredients they use, and you can find out how clean they keep things that won’t be seen.”

The honey girl smiled and raised a white-gloved finger.

“This is worth remembering. A food truck that is messy and dirty in the back will be a complete disaster ability on the inside. And by checking the company names on the boxes and labels, you can make a decent guess where their ingredients come from and what kind of chemicals they use☆”

<You refuse to drink any kind of instant drink made using teabags or freeze-dried ingredients. And you won’t touch the popular chain brands that try to mask their low quality with artificial flavorings and colors. You only accept tea that was made by hand. You really do love your natural ingredients, Queen.>

“(Anyone with sense does.)”

On this alone she would not compromise.

The pointy-haired boy stared into his paper cup in a way that suggested he didn’t drink black tea very often.

“I never knew there were so many different kinds of black tea. I knew it could be bitter or sweet, but this is more sour. Is it supposed to taste that way?”

“Hee hee. Most tea plants for black tea are Assam or a derivative, but the flavor changes depending on the location it was grown: Nepal, Nilgiri, Darjeeling. When you stop and think about it, it is strange, isn’t it?”

“What do they even mean by steaming the tea? How does that compare to the canned stuff?”

“…”

In a way, no one was more unshakable than someone who didn’t care.

Shokuhou was reminded of the nature survival travel show (which had made her feel like she had visited the destinations despite lying on the sofa the entire time) where an expert had used a handmade water bottle purifier to filter and drink puddle water.

The honey girl sighed and spoke.

“Why do I get the feeling you think a strawberry shortcake is something you get by pointing into the display case at a cake shop?”

“Wow, it’s like you profiled me. Baking is a complete unknown territory for me.”

She had meant it as an insult, but he was instead impressed.

Had that been accurate?

She had meant it to be over-the-top enough for him to argue back and keep the banter going.

Both the Tokiwadai girls, who may have been more familiar with tea than ordinary water, felt mildly guilty.

The honey girl opened her mouth while holding a hand to her forehead to keep her blowing blonde hair under control.

“It is a common mistake, but profiling is not meant to read the thoughts of a specific person.”

The pointy-haired boy tilted his head, but he seemed interested.

The honey girl cleared her throat.

“The essence of profiling is quizzing all of humanity on the same questions. Do you get what I mean?”

“?”

“Well. For example, you take a set of criteria – mid-teens, female, plenty of spending money, accompanied by an older boy – and then you ask the exact same question to all the girls who meet those criteria. It could be something like ‘what do you want to eat on this Sunday afternoon?’ If you asked this during a food festival with 100 food trucks gathered in the park parking lot, you would probably find their answers trended in a certain direction, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, you probably wouldn’t get much of the thick cutlet sandwiches or the greasy stamina-building garlic gyudon, but you would get a lot of sweets. Um, like macarons and crepes.”

(Now that’s an extremely biased answer based on the fantasies of unpopular boys, but that isn’t the point here.)

<Why do you sound so pleased to describe him as “unpopular”, Queen? Is that a hint of relief I sense in your mental voice?>

(Shut up☆)

“If you accurately record the distribution of those trends, they can come in handy later on. Let’s say you come across a girl in her mid-teens who has plenty of spending money and is accompanied by an older boy – like me, for example – then you can make an educated guess about what I might want to eat on a Sunday afternoon even though you’ve never met me before.”

At that point, the honey-blonde girl softly pressed her light-pink lips against the rim of her paper cup.

It wasn’t a porcelain cup, so the tea was cooling faster than she was used to.

Kobayashi’s voice played in Shokuhou’s head.

<Makes me think of the TV dramas and movies where girls are caught up in a murder case over some sweets.>

“(Profiling is not a bloody thing only used in criminal investigations. It’s just that the public agencies in charge of law enforcement can indiscriminately gather people’s personal information without any backlash, so they’re open about doing it. The technique is actually used in all sorts of fields, including sales and internet advertising.)”

The honey girl kept up a perfect smile to hide the telepathic conversation going on in her head.

And she continued her conversation with Kamijou Touma at the same time.

“Basically, profiling is a surveying technique that combines a massive amount of data in the form of ‘this kind of person generally likes or dislikes these things’ or ‘people who like or dislike these things are generally this kind of person’ to narrow things down as much as possible. The more questions you can ask, the greater the detail of the conclusions you can draw.”

“Huh.”

The pointy-haired boy didn’t seem to be listening. Like he was in a boring class.

Girls could tell just how much attention was being directed their way.

So the honey girl decided to give this conversation a bit more of an impact.

“That means it doesn’t work with someone you know nothing about. A mismatch in the profiling renders it useless.”

“Eh?”

The pointy-haired boy turned forcefully toward her.

She had his attention.

“For example, police dramas often have the police say they learned their profiling techniques directly from the American FBI, right?”

“Yeah. Once you hear that, you know they can catch even the most genius criminal, right?”

“Ah ha ha. If you ask me, a real genius would use their prized brain ability to stay out of a situation that forces them to commit a crime in the first place. …Also, those techniques wouldn’t be any use in Japan. After all, their data comes from tens of thousands of Americans from all across America and what good is data on people from a gun culture when it comes to solving crimes in Japan?”

“Oh, you’re right… Guns are everywhere in America, so criminals there would naturally come up with different ideas.”

“Right. Japan has different average incomes, family structures, home sizes, distances between houses, daily routines, bans on weapons like guns, and other rules, so if you want to solve crimes here, you would need to redo all the data collection in Japan☆”

So even a 180+ IQ genius investigator couldn’t use that technique on their own. Being a group was the greatest strength of an investigative agency.

But more importantly…

“If you want to read an individual’s mind, you might be better off using a polygraph – that is, a lie detector.”

The honey-blonde girl smiled and stepped closer.

She stood right up next to the boy.

“Our words can lie, but our bodies cannot. Stage magicians and gamblers often use that fact to read people. For example, if I place my hand against your chest, I can feel your heartbeat.”

“H-hey?”

“Minute movements of the eyes and facial muscles and irregular breathing are also simple ones to look out for. The most classic example is sweaty palms. If I simply hold your hand like this – my, my – is holding a girl’s hand making you nervous by any chance?”

Taking this any further looked like it would make the pointy-haired boy fall backwards and dump his hot tea over his head, so she decided to spare him anymore.

“Well, I will praise you for taking a sip before adding any sugar or milk.”

“What, are you saying drinking tea plain is the mature thing to do?”

“Of course not. The flavor of tea and coffee is greatly influenced by what you drink them with. If you drink tea with a sweet shortcake, you wouldn’t be able to taste the sugar in the tea even if you did add some.”

The honey-blonde girl looked to the side.

Right there was an option that had apparently met her exacting standards.

“A dessert food truck?”

“They have a lot of mobile shops, but I suppose they just barely earn a passing grade.”

The truck sold financiers that, even after lowering the price as much as possible, did not rely on artificial flavors and sweeteners for a cheap flavor boost.

She had used her eyes much like a soccer player pulling a feint, but she had actually made use of one of the basic needs: the need for friendship. Everyone felt some desire to be freed from the tension when they were asked for their opinion, so as the tension and doubt grew inside them, they tended to follow the other person’s gaze to seek out the correct answer.

The honey girl smiled a little at successfully luring him in that direction.

“Do you have plenty of spending money, young gentleman?☆”

===Part 5===

“Ugh. Is this one of those ‘signs’?”

Makigami Komaki, a member of the Shokuhou Clique and of Judgment spoke half in exasperation and half in fear. She was in the entranceway to Tokiwadai Middle School, viewing the rows of shoe lockers.

Today was Sunday.

She had donned her uniform and come to school today because she wanted to avoid any watchful eyes.

Shirai Kuroko, also of Judgment, ran her fingers along the “sign” in question.

“This is one of the nametag stickers they sell at the school store to label your umbrella or whatever, isn’t it? There seem to be more of them again,” sighed the twintails girl.

There had long been stories of burglars and salesmen adding strange stickers or graffiti to a home’s mailbox or nameplate as a sign to their colleagues, so was this some version of that? These stickers were small and sold at the school store, so even the stricter teachers wouldn’t take issue with them.

“So someone applies this sticker to their shoe locker…”

“''To ask our mystery perp to attack them in the near future''.”

That logic made no sense, but it was the truth.

That arrangement had been uncovered while questioning a few of the victims.

Makigami held her index finger to her slender chin.

“This takes a biological interpretation of a vampire, right?”

“Right. It’s based on the stories of the victims experiencing powerful pleasure when they were bitten and had their blood sucked. There is a theory that if you rapidly remove blood from someone without triggering their sense of pain, the process of blood loss would create an illusion of ''feeling good''.”

In this case, the willing victims said they had never seen the attacker, so the attacker had not approached them directly and cut them with a blade or extracted the blood with a tube.

It was likely some kind of esper power.

Unlike inhaling lighter gas or drinking cold medicine, this blood loss ecstasy did not involve ingesting a chemical substance, which made it hard to detect. The downside went without saying: if it was done by an amateur, it could kill the victim.

Talk of this case had rapidly grown within Tokiwadai of late.

Nine girls were known to have fainted because of it. They were thought to simply be anemic at first, but it turned out they had severe internal bleeding.

Furthermore, if the point was to experience pleasure, this was a strange case where the fainting was an unfortunate accident for both the attacker and the victims. Who could say how many girls hadn’t passed out and had managed to leave before they were discovered.

Shirai Kuroko called up some recorded voices on a special phone with its security boosted to Judgment standards. These were the results of the questioning she completed during the week.

“I am Yanagisakiin Rondo from the gymnastics team. You wanted to know about internal bleeding, correct? Yes, bumps and falls are not the only way to bruise. You can tear your muscles or blood vessels if they cannot withstand your body’s movements. That is why I always tell the underclassmen to watch what they eat and make sure to stretch before bed.”

“My name is Matsuzai Shouko. My club? The biology club. You wanted an opinion from a nonathlete’s perspective, right? The capillaries are thinner than hairs, so they can break from nothing more than mental stress. Probably the most well-known example of the link between mental and physical damage is stomach ulcers.”

“I am Otonari Hibiku from the health committee. The total number of internal bleeding victims? Hard to say… We have no way of identifying them unless they fainted or came to the infirmary for advice. We are all wearing our winter uniforms now, so if only there was some way of recognizing it through the blazer.”

“Kinoshita Hagoromo. I’ve heard of that. They use those stickers as a sign, right? The source of the rumors? Don’t ask me. Oh, right. I do the school announcements, so can I add this to the lunchtime news items? …No!? Boo, boo! It seems to me we can reduce the number of victims by making sure everyone knows to be careful.”

Makigami Komaki was usually the type to be right out there with Shirai Kuroko working on the weekend, but even she sounded fed up with this case.

“That’s quite a scattering of people. Could you not find any one line of investigation to follow?”

“Oh, shut up,” quietly spat Shirai Kuroko.

They knew these were intentional attacks rather than accidents or illness, but they couldn’t even identify the cause of the internal bleeding. Thus, she had tried questioning a wide variety of people. The inability to narrow down the focus of the investigation would be enough for an expert to tell she was having difficulties.

“It’s like a crossword puzzle. Instead of writing down the answer right away, you need to fill in the surrounding words to give yourself the hints you need. This is not a quiz game where we need to slap the buzzer as quickly as possible. We cannot afford a single mistake in this investigation.”

“Let’s just hope someone else isn’t attacked in the meantime.”

Students left school store stickers on their shoe lockers as a sign.

Painless blood loss was used to achieve a kind of pleasure at the risk of their own death.

And…

“But it doesn’t always follow the sticker signs. It could be the perp searches out victims based on their own rules and, when they feel like it, also attacks anyone who has given the sign.”

“Which makes counting the total number of victims such a challenge.”

“Whoever is behind this, we need to be careful.”

===Part 6===

The honey girl and the pointy-haired boy left the food truck area.

They continued down a narrow walking path.

Did girls always want to move around some after eating something sweet?

“(I can’t believe how many people wander around outside on the weekend without any real goal in mind.)”

<You need to stop living the life of the Queen of Indoors Culture and go out in the sun from time to time. It’s good for your mental health and induces serotonin production in the body.>

“(Doesn’t serotonin make you feel pain? Just like histamines?)”

<It also provides a mental calming effect.>

A small slanted sign alongside the pondside walking path said not to feed the birds.

“The birds are still gathering here even though no one will just innocently feed them anymore,” said Kamijou Touma. “If only they could read that sign and realize they were wasting their time.”

“A giant AI will probably be able to decode the birds’ chirping ability eventually. I know I’ve heard about fish communicating using vibrations in the water.”

“You mean like those toys that tell you what a dog or cat is feeling?”

“I was thinking of something a little more precise than that☆”

Neither Shokuhou nor Kobayashi could communicate with fish, birds, or anything else nonhuman. If they could perfectly understand animals’ thoughts, they might find themselves eating a lot less meat.

A telepathic voice knocked on Shokuhou’s mind.

<Queen, Queen.>

“(What now? I was finally enjoying some peace and quiet.)”

<Are you sure you want to ignore this? I have detected Misaka Mikoto approaching again. To borrow your words, we will explode and die if she finds us. It seems like this was only the calm before the storm.>

“(Argh!! Kobayashi-san!)”

<Allow me to take control.>

“Whoa! What now? Wow, that’s soft!?”

The honey-blonde girl quickly grabbed Kamijou Touma’s arm and practically swung him around to change course.

Shokuhou even heard a rustling sound.

Coming from the bushes.

Shokuhou Misaki and Misaka Mikoto were less than 5m apart.

(Ugh.)

Shokuhou groaned inwardly.

And.

“Ah, eh, ih, uh, eh, oh, ah, oh!!”

She heard some weird noises.

No, that was a voice.

She gave a surreptitious glance in that direction to see Mikoto doing something next to the pond. She was holding a aluminum Gekota helium balloon between her hands and staring intently at it.

No…

“I am Fairy Queen Titania! The Fairy King you may be, but you have no right to make my decisions for me!!”

That was Titania.

Shokuhou didn’t think that line existed in the script worked on by the director, but Mikoto was probably saying whatever came to mind to help get into the part.

What was this?

Tokiwadai’s Ace was taking the play unexpectedly seriously.

A parent and child passing by gave her an amused look, girls her age aimed their horizontal-oriented phones her way, and a youth who looked to be from a theatre troupe gave her a look of newfound rivalry, but Mikoto shook her blushing head.

“Ugh…this is so embarrassing. But don’t let it get to you. The whole point is to practice doing this in front of people! You can’t take the easy way out just because you’re in her group!!”

Shokuhou Misaki froze in place for a moment.

And someone else seemed greatly amused.

Even over telepathy, it was obvious that the third year, who wasn’t part of the play, was grinning.

<My, my. Queen, do you see now that you’re doing something wrong here?>

“(You really do need to shut up, Kobayashi-san.)”

“Hee hee☆”

“(Are you trying to anger me?)”

But Shokuhou had decided on this plan, so she would stick to it. Even if she stalled out now, it wouldn’t matter how much she appealed to Mikoto’s emotions – being discovered here would still mean exploding and dying.

Shokuhou was doing this to ensure the joint drama class was a success.

Gaining a detailed understanding of the male mind was the quickest way to get into character as Oberon.

So the honey girl left the center of the storm with the pointy-haired boy’s arm still in her grasp.

“So you see…”

The pair strolled along the park’s walking path.

And they discussed the plot of the play.

“Fairy King Oberon cannot forgive arrogant Queen Titania for constantly making fun of him.”

“I see.”

“So he decides to get back at his wife.”

“Get back at her? But aren’t they family?”

“Specifically, he has his servant Puck use a love potion on Titania so she would fall in love with an ugly man. Then he would laugh at her until his sides split.”

“But wait, isn’t she the king’s wife!? Why would he want to have her fall in love with another man!?”

“I want to know what was going on in Oberon’s head through all this, so my question is simple: what line of thinking would lead a man to do something so outrageous?”

The honey girl was answered with silence.

It seemed like the pointy-haired boy had an answer but was hesitant to give it.

He spoke carefully, with the tension of someone disarming a bomb.

“As a high school boy, it’s really awkward to have to explain this to middle school girl.”

“?”

Eventually, Kamijou Touma asked an odd question while trembling.

“I-is it possible that king was, uh, really into NTR?”

“I’m not sure what that acronym is supposed to mean…no, don’t bother explaining. Please don’t, actually. Not when I can sense such a dark and wicked aura ability coming from you!”

The honey girl was giving him an icy glare, but Kamijou failed to notice.

He crossed his arms and tilted his head as he walked on.

“Also, how does that even get back at her? If someone calls you an idiot, I can understand arguing back that you aren’t an idiot, but if you instead decide to turn them into an even bigger idiot, aren’t you just accepting their claim that you’re an idiot?”

“Hm. Now that you mention it.”

“I could even understand working to improve yourself so they would rethink their opinion of you, but not this.”

“Hmm.”

That viewpoint hadn’t occurred to Shokuhou.

As the #5, she was made fun of so infrequently she didn’t know much about how to respond to it.

Oberon’s response was a poor one.

Even if he was completely successful, all he ended up doing was showing off his own vulnerabilities and ugliness.

(Hm, it isn’t a direct insight into Oberon’s thinking, but maybe it could help my performance.)

<My, my. But isn’t that how most of your arguments with Misaka-sama play out? You’re so busy bolstering your defenses out front that you’re wide open from the sides.>

(Do I need to kill you, Kobayashi Satori?)

<Such violent thoughts. Why do you get like this whenever it comes to Misaka-sama?>

Shokuhou visibly stewed for a bit while she worked to find something else to ask the pointy-haired boy about.

“Then what about this?” asked the honey-blonde girl. “After learning the love potion had been used on the wrong person, the fairy king harshly berated his servant Puck. Then he used his command ability to order Puck to pair the men and women up with their appropriate partners again.”

“So all he does is yell at people without actually doing anything to help?”

===Part 7===

She was on the ****** committee.

So she would fulfill her duties.

So many people in the world were burdened with so much str***. So many carried that invisible weight on their backs. Maybe it was a sign of the times, but the burden was too great for many, crushing them. As a member of the ****** committee, she was supposed to look after her fellow students’ health, so she couldn’t just ignore this problem.

(I need to remove it.)
So she would give them a break.

She would free them.

(I will remove it all. I am on the ****** committee, so I will fulfill my duties. And that means freeing the students from that invisible weight.)

She could use her power to cause painless in****** bleeding. That led to blood **** ***tasy. Their minds would forget about reality, much like drifting off to sleep. Everyone had pleasures they could not resist. The people of the modern era succumbed to the weight of their stress because they had been pushed to the point that they couldn’t even do this.

She had saved many girls this way already.

Some girls had heard the rumors and secretly asked her to trigger the internal bleeding.

She was more than happy to.

She was ******* ****** and everything she did she did for the hea*** of her schoolmates.

(Academy City’s #5, Queen of Tokiwadai’s larg*** **ique.)

She had her next target.

(The poor thing has no choice but to waste her precious weekend with some uncouth boy to help with the joint drama class.)

So she did not hesitate to take action.

There was no reason at all to reject the pursuit of health.

People needed to pursue health even if it meant placing restrictions on their happiness or desires.

Her telepathy linked to others by “sharing their presence”. So even if she couldn’t see her target, she could forcibly establish a one-way link as long as she could sense their presence.

She had to sense that presence.

She had to combine their minds into one.

Her power let her establish a wordless understanding, like between tennis or badminton d**bles partners or fig*** skating pairs. She could establish that understanding in less than a second and take it even further.

As can be seen in the existence of the term “combat stress”, manipulating the mind could cause bleeding within the body.

Like how people in bomb shelters could begin bleeding from the heart.

Her target this time was the #5 and the Qu**n of the largest clique.

Her presence would stand out even in a weekend crowd.

She accurately read that presence and combined with it.

“1 vs. 1 – one-way forced link.”

(Got her!!)

And once she had the link, she only needed a few more conditions to be met before she could bring down anyone, no matter who.

<My, my. You think you have a link, do you? And who exactly do you think you are linking with while ignoring my presence?>

Her breathing stopped.

Her mind went blank – all her thoughts vanishing for a few seconds.

And by then, the counter-link was already in place. In addition to her one-way link to her target, a separate link had been established coming back from her target.

She had been masking her thoughts by applying noise using the wind direction value as the encryption key, but that had probably already been removed.

Now her mind was an open book.

(The winds are changing? Like a single gust was blowing in one direction but then the air swirled around and blew back the other way!?)

Now they had two-way communication.

Shutting down the link and physically running away was no longer an option.

<But wait. Does that mean this…''isn’t'' Shokuhou Misaki?>

<How do you do? I am Kobayashi Satori, the intellectual strategist and information security expert for the Shokuhou Clique. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, 2nd year health committee member Otonari Hibiku-san.>

<!?>

This other girl had read her identity.

She must have snatched away the list of terms that had come to mind as things Otonari wanted to keep secret.

<Hee hee. I believe my telepathy works very differently from yours.>

Was that how she had outsmarted Otonari?

But what exactly had she done?

<Did you really think I would just let you link to the mind of our Queen, the leader of our clique, Academy City’s #5, and the strongest psychological esper? You have some nerve.>

Otonari understood her reasons, but what had she actually done?

Why couldn’t Otonari hear Shokuhou Misaki’s mind?

Why was she hearing someone else’s voice instead?

Was it like a tunnel? Did they both have a link to Shokuhou’s mind and they were essentially sending their winds through that single long tunnel to clash at the center point?

No.

Otonari didn’t sense Shokuhou Misaki at all. This was not the #5’s mind. She had targeted the Queen, but she had ended up with a link to someone else’s mind.

Was that even possible?

Otonari could access the voice of anyone’s mind, but this was a first for her. It was a lot like dialing the wrong phone number, but how could that happen when establishing a link with her esper power!?

<Hee hee. This is not some elaborate trick where I messed with your brain or mind.>

This phenomenon was unknown to Otonari, but it was known to the other girl.

This unknown in the territory she excelled at brought her fear.

<''The truth is much simpler.''>

She heard a light thud.

It made no sense.

A golden color had been tossed to the ground. The thing lying at her feet looked like the shed skin of a mysterious animal, but it was in fact a long blonde wig.

This revealed a girl with a bob cut.

<What!? Kobayashi…Satori?>

<Add a “senpai” to that, you lowly worm. ''The vanguard and the rear guard were swapped from the beginning''☆>

===Part 8===

Going all the way back, it had begun with Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

To perfect her performance as Fairy King Oberon, Shokuhou Misaki had wanted to learn about the male mind firsthand. …Or so she claimed as an excuse to leave the no-boys-allowed School Garden that weekend.

They understood her reasoning.

But the Queen of the largest clique was the very peak of the sheltered girls who were meant to be strictly protected by the School Garden’s no-boys-allowed rule. Even in the dorm, her room was in a special area.

The clique girls who worked as her bodyguards were not about to let her contact a random gentleman found wandering outside.

“You mustn’t leave the School Garden and approach one of those fearsome wolves, Queen!” (Wavy Blonde)

“Out of the question. Have you forgotten why no boys are allowed here?” (Black Hair and Glasses)

“Queen, Queen, Queeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!” (Ringlets)

(Hm, what a pain.)

She could have tried to run off, but she did not want to play a hellish game of tag with that extra-large party set of super strong girls. Tokiwadai was supposed to be populated by sweet and gentle girls, so what was with this intimidating and heavy atmosphere? She had worked so hard to gather the game pieces she needed to set up an unbeatable lineup on the board, so why was her own ultimate party turning against her now?

“Sigh. I take the throne of the biggest clique and now my own people backstab me. You know you’re shining bright when you learn how Oda Nobunaga and Caesar must have felt☆”

And so Shokuhou grabbed her TV remote. For starters, she messed with that pain-in-the-rear intimidating group so they would see Shokuhou Misaki as Misaka Mikoto and vice-versa. Once those powerful pursuers had run off after the wrong person, the #5 girl slipped away.

But…

“Found you, Queen☆”

“Pant, pant. Wh-why can’t I ever lose you, Kobayashi-san!?”

“There is nothing you can do when I know it’s coming. You use your remotes to aim your Mental Out, so as long as I keep an eye on your visual range, I can easily avoid it.”

“…”

“I am a third year and you are a second year. I can never hope to compete with your level as an esper, but we both have mental powers. Hee hee. You did begin developing your power before arriving at Tokiwadai, but have you forgotten that I was the one who taught you several tricks for making practical use of your power, ''my adorable little Shokuhou-chan''?”

Shokuhou clicked her tongue and swiftly aimed her remote, but the Kobayashi smiling there was in fact a reflection in a wall-sized mirror for gymnastics or ballet.

She was always so meticulous and cautious.

And they had known each other long enough that she could predict what Shokuhou would do.

<Once I have established a telepathic link, not even you can hide your position from me. There is no escape, Queen.>

Shokuhou heard Kobayashi’s voice in her head.

Shokuhou could do anything related to the mind, but Kobayashi only had telepathy and so she had worked hard to develop as many uses for it as possible.

In some cases, she could partly outdo Shokuhou.

(Trying to make yourself seem important by claiming to be my teacher? Going to go around telling people you taught the famous Mental Out everything she knows?)

“Of course not. I am not that shameless. I am merely a third year, which makes me your big sister in life – just like so many other girls in Tokiwadai☆”

Kobayashi smiled and returned to her physical voice.

Of course, she could still hear Shokuhou’s mental voice and chose exactly the words that would most irritate the Queen.

“If I called the rest of the clique here, that would be checkmate, but is that what I should do? I have to admit a curiosity in this person you were willing to go to such lengths to meet. So how about it? May I accompany you in place of the rest of the clique?”

The bob cut girl raised her index finger.

And the classy upperclassman girl made a suggestion.

“But what if I were to stand out front and you hung back while you learn about the male mind? ''Various interests would love to get their hands on you,'' so you must constantly consider your own safety. Plus, you have Mental Out. This way, you will not directly contact the gentleman, which should just barely convince the rest of the clique.”

“Hm.”

(It isn’t like he would remember it even if I did meet him face-to-face. But there is a chance he will remember what I say if I say it through Kobayashi-san. A slim chance ability, but one worth testing, I would think.)

<nowiki><I</nowiki> can hear everything you are thinking, Queen. Including some important sounding hints.>

(Well, I know this is going to be a pain regardless, so I can bring Kobayashi-san into this and then erase every memory related to him afterwards.)

<Again, I can hear you!>

Kobayashi bristled and yelled in Shokuhou’s mind, but Shokuhou’s mind was made up.

This memory would be hers alone.

She had made that decision from the day she had learned she couldn’t share such memories with him.

<First, I will need a long blonde wig and color contacts. I already have the uniform, but I will need the gloves and socks too. …That handbag is from a luxury brand and a limited edition product, so acquiring an identical one on short notice would be difficult. I can convince our costume girl to make a quick mockup. Should I also wear thicker soles and pad my bra a bit? Queen, I will also need to know your underwear brand and what shampoos or perfumes you use.>

“I really don’t think you need to be so thorough, but I will leave those quality decisions up to you. For one thing, there is no real way this can fail. If you say you are Shokuhou Misaki, he should believe you. ''Because it’s hard to spot a fake when you can’t remember what the real one looks like''.”

<?>

===Part 9===

And so the vanguard and rear guard were swapped from the beginning.

Kobayashi had disguised herself with a blonde wig and approached Kamijou Touma while she and Shokuhou maintained a real-time telepathic conversation.

That was why Otonari Hibiku’s link had failed.

No matter how great her power, she could never establish a link with the person she wanted when she had physically targeted the wrong person.

The honey girl she had targeted was Kobayashi Satori, so she had linked her mind to Kobayashi Satori’s mind.

She would never be allowed a link to Shokuhou Misaki.

===Part 10===

Just because a girl had blonde hair and shined as sweet as honey did not mean she was Shokuhou Misaki. A careful examination of Shokuhou and Kobayashi’s conversation would have showed some oddities.

For some more obvious examples…

''“Bfff!!??”

''Kamijou took a puzzled look around, so Shokuhou quickly recovered and blended into her surroundings.

''<Queen, a left at the next fork.>

''Shokuhou just barely avoided an encounter by hiding behind the spectacular pillar of water erupting from a fountain. She recalled that a sufficient quantity of water could block electromagnetic waves.

''<Such violent thoughts. Why do you get like this whenever it comes to Misaka-sama?>

''Shokuhou visibly stewed for a bit while she worked to find something else to ask the pointy-haired boy about.

There were the many actions and expressions she made which would have been strange to do right in front of Kamijou and there was the way Kobayashi spoke as if she were in the lead.

So.

They had lured in the attacker.

Kobayashi Satori spoke through her telepathy.

<Hee hee. Otonari Hibiku, a Tokiwadai second year on the health committee. You are the attacker using her power to cause blood loss ecstasy through internal bleeding. Your motive is to free your suffering schoolmates from the weight of our stressful society.>

<!? How…?>

<They do say that people cannot be dissuaded from benevolent violence with words, but…I see. When your motivation is ''exclusively'' based on kindness and sympathy, you would be a lot more stubborn than the average villain.>

In the crowd not far away, a redhead girl with wavy, shoulder-length hair gasped. The teachers’ strict uniform checks were not performed on the weekends, but she was still wearing her Tokiwadai uniform.

Was she the attacker?

It was strange to only see what she looked like after their minds were linked.

<Cheating and trickery are fine by me.>

Kobayashi Satori grinned.

If Shirai Kuroko of Judgment were here, she might have checked her recorded voice data and deduced the attacker’s identity by ''asking how Otonari Hibiku had known the victims had all been wearing blazers which had covered up the signs of internal blooding on the upper body''.

But that kind of logical reasoning was not necessary in Academy City where people had esper powers at their disposal.

Sometimes they could jump straight to the answer.

<For a telepath, the quickest option is to listen to people’s mental voices. Academy City encourages us to use our powers, so we have lived our lives using those powers to outdo our rivals.>

“Gh!!” groaned the pointy-haired boy.

Someone had tackled him from the side. Shokuhou Misaki had dashed over from a short distance away, crouched down, and slammed into him, knocking him over where they both slid along the ground, removing that outsider from the battlefield. Around half of that had been her tripping over her own feet and falling head first into the boy’s gut, but that miraculous timing may have been part of the blushing and flustered Queen’s superb luck.

Now Kobayashi could concentrate on the battle between telepaths.

She silently thanked the Queen for that.

<And now for this.>

Telepath vs. telepath.

The battle had already begun.

In fact, in a battle between telepaths, there was no point in throwing punches or kicks. Their minds were already linked. They could read each other’s thoughts, so even swinging a metal bat from head on or firing a submachinegun from close range could be easily dodged by reading the enemy’s aim just before the attack.

In terms of a shogi match, it may have been like pitting the most powerful AI against an exact copy while they were linked by fiberoptic cable. They would only reach repetition draw after repetition draw.

And in fact…

“!!”

<!?>

Kobayashi kicked at Otonari’s ankle and threw an eye poke with one hand, but Otonari swung her body to dodge them both. Otonari sent out her palm as a counterattack, but Kobayashi stepped back, preventing Otonari from grabbing her blazer’s collar to hold her in place.

Their throws, strikes, and holds were all identical because they were both trained in the self-defense techniques taught at Tokiwadai.

For better or for worse, neither one had an edge.

(Sigh, if I had only trained beyond the standard, I might have won this easily. Is this the price of my laziness for letting Hokaze-san handle all of the physical fights?)

<nowiki><I</nowiki> can hear your verbalized surface-level thoughts, unwelcome Senpai.>

Like this, they could exchange thousands of blows without causing any significant damage.

Kobayashi telepathically checked on something.

<There is barely any lag between when you read my thoughts and when you act on them. What a pain. You must have a very solid link.>

<That goes for both of us.>

This meant attempting to cause physical injury or damage was the wrong way to go about this fight.

They had to outdo their opponent with their esper power.

The only way to end this was to break their opponent’s mind.

(That could mean distracting her by applying screaming and shouting to her auditory cortex so not even covering her ears can block it out, or combining the sounds of things like dentist’s drills or fingernails on glass drawn from my memory and sending them all into her brain at once.)

<Again, I can hear you. And if that’s the best trump card you can think up now, then I have the upper hand. You’re too focused on the term ‘mental power’. You’re forgetting that the mind and the body are a single large system.>

Otonari Hibiku’s Level 4 Mind Anaphylaxis could break anyone’s mind.

But it required three steps to activate.

1. Link to the target’s mind and prepare.

2. Send more than 20 thousand telepathic messages a second to instill a trauma in them.

3. Physically trigger that trauma from the outside to destroy their mind.

<!?>

<You can already hear my thoughts, can’t you, Kobayashi-senpai?>

Heights, sharp things, people, blood, enclosed spaces, open spaces, water, school, corpses, foreign countries, machines.

And many more.

It didn’t matter what phobias Kobayashi had to begin with. Otonari could create whatever new ones she liked.

Most likely, everyone could think of at least one phobia they had to some degree. Maybe it was blades and maybe it was heights, but it would be more worrying for someone to not fear anything at all. There were so many familiar examples, but it was still not entirely known what caused phobias.

They were said to be an overreaction of the mind and the result of a mistaken accumulation of experiences in pain, suffering, and failure, but that ''learning process'' could be artificially applied by an esper.

Using telepathy.

An esper who could only control a mental voice could not directly damage someone’s mind, but that did not mean they were not a threat.

At more than 20 thousand messages a second, they could convey information far faster than a physical voice that sent vibrations through the air, so they could compress a massive amount of information and send it straight into their target’s brain where it would stick.

<No.>

But a telepathic voice rejected that idea.

After accurately intercepting Kobayashi’s mental voice, she confidently pointed out the failure in Kobayashi’s prediction.

<It could be a fear of the color blue or of concrete. I can give you ''a completely fictional phobia'' not found in any medical literature. I could turn the entire world into a minefield capable of breaking your mind. But, Kobayashi-senpai, you will have no idea what part of the world around you is a threat.>

(Self-destruct cacophony! Max volume!!!)

Kobayashi immediately used her telepathy to artificially rattle her own inner ear, confusing and blocking out her own senses to protect herself.

<It’s no use.>

But these words cruelly slipped right past those defenses.

Because they were telepathic.

<''I’ve given you gynophobia. Cut yourself off from the outside world all you like, you cannot escape your own internal gender identity, Kobayashi-senpai''.>

===Part 11===

The explosion was invisible.

Because it happened on a mental level.

Kobayashi Satori screamed, clawed at her chest, and dropped straight to the ground. Otonari Hibiku had seen this same scene many times. She had found it odd that people always held their chest rather than their head when it happened. People thought with their brains, but did this mean their mind was located elsewhere?

Mind Anaphylaxis.

As her esper name suggested, Otonari managed her power by envisioning it as an allergic reaction. What if, theoretically, you could implant a completely fictional allergy inside a target and then expose the poor victim to the matching allergen? Pollen allergies could not be prevented by hard work or willpower. If someone with a severe allergy was forced to eat their forbidden food, it could kill them.

This did the same thing but in the realm of the mind.

It was an inner death brought about by the self, not external violence.

So no matter what Kobayashi did, she could never avoid the resultant damage.

“Now, then.”

Otonari Hibiku turned around.

She had met an unexpected delay in linking with Shokuhou Misaki, the original person she ''wanted to help'', but that just meant she had to repeat the three steps. As a health committee member, she could not just let the Queen of the largest clique continue to suffer under all that stress.

She would provide a sort of pleasure from painless psychogenic internal bleeding.

That would provide a break and mental liberation.

It would be brief and it would be forced against her will, but her soul would be cut free from the weight of reality.

But then the health committee member’s feet stopped.

Otonari had noticed something.

Kobayashi Satori was supposed to be in a state of mental confusion and collapse, but the telepathic link from her was still connected to Otonari’s mind.

The girl was still alive.

<This…isn’t over.>

<If you had severed the link and played dead, I would have left you alone.>

Otonari turned back around.

Toward the girl who had collapsed but refused to give up and was digging her nails into the ground.

Otonari’s top priority was Shokuhou Misaki.

She had eliminated Kobayashi because the girl was in the way, but she felt no real need to fully ''obliterate'' her mind. Whether her plans worked or not, a strategist hidden backstage could not actually harm her. So it hadn’t mattered if Kobayashi was alive or dead as long as she could not intervene.

And yet.

Did she want the pleasure of blood loss that badly?

<Even if you are a member of the largest clique, you usually do your work in the background. Why have you come out to the vanguard now? There is no good reason to die for a clique. Belonging to the largest one probably does come with its benefits, but those benefits are meaningless if you are not alive to enjoy them.>

“I…”

This was not telepathy.

It was a real voice spilling from the unsteady girl’s mouth.

“I thought I knew all of the Queen’s vulnerabilities… Her soft spots and her warm aspects.”

Kobayashi’s skin was pale and her lips blue, like she had ice water dumped over her head.

Cyanosis had set in.

She was trembling and her eyes could not focus on a single point.

Otonari Hibiku knew that physical damage caused by the mind could not be suppressed by sheer force of will. Just like people could not will away an allergic reaction, the damage of an internal explosion caused by outside stimuli was even more frightening than an attack with a knife or a bullet.

And yet.

And yet.

“But the Queen showed me a new side of herself today… She hid and grew flustered, she became jealous when things did not go the way she wanted, and she seemed happy even as I toyed with her. I do not know who ''he'' is. The Queen will probably erase this memory so none of this will remain in my mind. But I still have one thought: ''How can you call this a great pressure? Don’t barge in, pretend you understand, and mess with her mind''.”

<…>

“You say there is no good reason to die for a clique? Don’t make me laugh. I am happy having seen this side of the Queen just once, even if the memory is erased and even if it ends up killing me.”

<Oh, really?>

Otonari continued using telepathy.

<Even if you do miraculously acclimate to and conquer your gynophobia, I can give you so many other phobias. Sharp objects, metal, open spaces, air – I can cause phobias for any condition, real or imagined. Now, how long can your blood vessels survive the reaction to each of those hitting you one after another?>

Kobayashi Satori consciously calmed her breathing.

She furrowed her brow in concentration.

The next exchange would likely be the last.

Prepared for exactly that, Otonari Hibiku gave a snort of laughter.

<Are you going to play a loud noise in my mind at max volume? Or are you going to search your memory for sounds like a dentist’s drill or fingernails on glass and combine them? That’s the limit of the damage you can create on your own. I can take that much. I can easily crush you and then save Shokuhou Misaki.>

Maybe so.

Otonari Hibiku clearly had the upper hand as a telepath.

However.

Kobayashi Satori hadn’t even considered using her own inadequate skills.

<Wide-band indiscriminate link at recon ship level.>

<?>

<Forcibly intercept thoughts of all targets in telepathy range. Initial scan has detected 3811 targets. Relay all verbalized surface-level thoughts through my brain and transmit them all to linked target Otonari Hibiku!!!>

Otonari didn’t even have time to gasp.

<This sunshine is so warm…> <If I can’t leave a mark this time, I’m done for!>

::::<nowiki><I</nowiki> need to sell all of this ice cream by the evening!>

:::<Why do I have to accompany this brat around? Hey, are you listening!?>

::<How am I supposed to enjoy this when I have work again tomorrow?>

<No, Misaka doesn’t want to go home!! Misaka wants to play with this ball! says Misaka as Misaka keeps just out of your reach!!>

<nowiki><I</nowiki>-it popped!? My partner…my Gekota ballooooon!!> <Wow, I’ve got so many new viewers! But why?>

:<Mama, I want ice cream.> <Nooo! The vending machine ate my money!>

<Maybe it’s time to move on form the guitar.> <hynwkdgpn-beep!>

::<Hey, I found 100 yen.> <I’m sooooo bored.> <Papa’s lost his home, so what’s he going to do on Monday?>

::::<Choropin! No, that’s no good. Yakky!☆ Yeah, that’s a good greeting. Next, I need to decide what to call my fans.>

<Oh, no. I dropped the attaché case! Where did it go!?> <Ugh, this public voice practice is embarrassing.> <Uuuiharuuun☆> <Gyahh! M-my skirt!?> <If anyone lays a hand on my girl, mama will show them why she used to be feared as a demon.>

:::<Kinuhata, I wouldn’t go that way if I were you.> <Super what kind of signal did you pick up this time?>

:<Where’d my frisbee go? Huh, what’s this bag?> <nowiki><I</nowiki> saw a kitty.>

<Eh?>

::<If only this nap could never end.> <Oh, no… Our company’s charismatic president is starting into the pond and muttering to himself.>

:::<Is this the park where a Level 5 was seen at the edge of someone’s livestream?> <Done! In the first place, I’ve finished all my drawing homework!! Nyah, time to go home!>

:::<Now I’m hungry.>

:<Seeing her practicing so hard makes it really hard to tell her the acting troupe broke up…> <nowiki><I</nowiki> already know that, idiot! The point is to start it back up again!!>

::<!!> <!?>

:::<??>

A torrent of information rushed into Otonari Hibiku’s mind all at once.

What did it matter that Kobayashi couldn’t do it on her own? A telepath’s true value was found when they linked to other minds.

“The extreme rejection of an invented phobia is one thing.” Kobayashi smiled thinly. “But different people’s differing feelings of love are something very real that our own minds cannot understand. Forcing other people’s philias onto a mind is much more difficult for the structure of the brain to handle.”

The sound of her target’s brain cells frying seemed to sneak into Kobayashi’s hearing through the telepathic link.

Otonari Hibiku’s shoulders slumped to one side.

“Bh.”

She tried to say something.

But she crumpled to the ground before getting a single word out.

===Part 12===

It was over.

The issue was settled for the time being.

“Gh, ahh…”

As soon as the relief hit, so did something else.

Kobayashi Satori doubled over and held her mouth.

But she just barely avoided coughing up blood.

She consciously formed a smile.

“Queen, it’s safe n-“

She stopped midsentence.

The link was still active.

(What!?)

Sending so many thoughts into Otonari’s mind might have even physically damaged her brain, but she was still moving her trembling hands to claw at the paved path.

<nowiki><I</nowiki>…>

Her bloodshot eyes were directed not at Kobayashi but at Shokuhou Misaki who stood a short distance away.

<nowiki><I</nowiki> am on the health committee. I cannot ignore someone suffering before my eyes.>

No amount of pain could stop her benevolent violence.

“Quee- gah!?”

Kobayashi tried to call out a warning, but her body shook below her. She had not escaped unscathed either. There were no external signs of bleeding, but several of her blood vessels must have burst, causing severe internal bleeding.

And it would all be for naught if this continued.

No matter what she did, she couldn’t protect Shokuhou Misaki!!

''Pop!

It almost seemed too easy. The invisible Mind Anaphylaxis was suddenly negated.

But not by the Queen.

Not even Shokuhou Misaki could do that.

That left only one person who could have done it – someone who was a complete mystery to Kobayashi.

“?”

The pointy-haired boy.

It all vanished as soon it touched his arm.

He likely had no idea what he had done.

<…Gh…>

Gathering all her strength into one final attack and having that negated for no apparent reason must have finally broken Otonari’s spirit. She finally relinquished her grip on consciousness.

And while clinging to the pointy-haired mystery boy’s arm, Shokuhou Misaki secretly stuck out her tongue.

(Is that it?)

Kobayashi Satori gravely gulped.

Her memory of this would likely be erased by the #5, but she still sensed something in what she had just seen.

(Is that the final trump card the Queen has been working so hard to keep hidden?)

===Part 13===

The real Shokuhou Misaki took the pointy-haired boy’s arm and stuck out her tongue.

She was safe as long as she had him.

She had a baseless confidence in that.

Of course, Kamijou Touma probably didn’t know a single thing about this case.

The Level 0 would have been oblivious to the telepathy flying back and forth beneath the surface. In that final moment, he hadn’t even been aware of the deadly Mind Anaphylaxis that Otonari Hibiku had launched at Shokuhou Misaki.

But none of that mattered.

Any supernatural power that contacted his right hand would be negated, no matter how brutal it might be.

That was how Kamijou Touma’s Imagine Breaker worked.

(Knowing him, this never could have happened by chance or as a lucky fluke.)

Shokuhou Misaki was certain of that.

She had been close enough to him to know the effective range of his right hand and to understand just how thoroughly misfortune plagued him.

(Which means this luck must have been mine while I shine as bright as Yang Guifei or Elizabeth I.)

A situation much like this one had failed in the past.

Kamijou Touma had pushed himself too far protecting the girl and suffered irreparable damage.

The brain damage he received ''prevented him from remembering Shokuhou Misaki’s name or what she looked like.'' The relationship they had up until then had crumbled away.

She knew that.

But even so.

Shokuhou Misaki couldn’t help but smile.

She made sure no one else would notice.

And she relished this moment.

(There really is nothing like having a boy protect you☆)

He had been her prince from the beginning.

There was no need for a fairy’s love potion applied to her eyelids so she would fall in love with whoever she saw first.

===Part 14===

Monday arrived.

“Hmm. What could have happened? As best as I can tell, I’m missing all my memories of Sunday.”

“Kobayashi-san, if it’s a mental thing, shouldn’t you go to the Queen for help?”

Time flowed as slowly as ever at Tokiwadai.

Perhaps gathering so many high-level esper girls in one place had distorted relativity in some way.

“Queen, Queen. What could have caused this?”

“It’s a punishment for pressing your boobs against his arm so much. Even if it was a necessary part of your acting ability.”

“?”

Kobayashi calmly tilted her head at what the Queen muttered under her breath.

Shokuhou Misaki, Misaka Mikoto, and around 10 other girls had changed into their gym clothes and gathered in a single spot. Each group was in a different location, but they had chosen Tokiwadai Middle School’s courtyard.

The groups were all practicing their plays.

“We have the costume fitting after lunch. You’re playing Oberon, so they need to give you a masculine silhouette, right? I honestly don’t know how they’re going to manage it. They can wrap bandages around your chest as tightly as they want – I just don’t see it happening.”

“And turning you into Titania presents a problem in the opposite- no, never mind. That’s a problem for the girls trying to earn points in the costume department to worry about.”

“Don’t look down at my chest while you say that, dammit.”

“You brought up chest size first and now you complain when it comes back to bite you?”

But Shokuhou seemed more confident than usual.

Fairy Queen Titiana, aka Mikoto, gave her a puzzled look.

“You seem weirdly sure of yourself. Did you have some kind of breakthrough?”

“Hee hee.”

Fairy King Oberon, aka Shokuhou Misaki, suppressed a laugh before replying.

“Let’s just say I now have the experience ability needed to give real depth to my performance☆”

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