Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

Kamijou Touma fell.

His body landed on a light truck. He thought the parked truck was loaded with scraps, but apparently it itself was considered scrap. Some inconsiderate people had dumped their garbage in the back of someone else’s truck. The scraps weren’t enough to absorb the impact, so he rolled off to the side.

His body slammed into the asphalt.

“Gahh…”

Every part of him felt weirdly hot. Just as he realized his forcibly-closed wounds had reopened, his vision blurred.

Reality was not so kind.

Humans would die if they lost just two liters of blood. They were so fragile it was hard to believe they could live for a hundred years without spilling all of that. And if the conditions allowing their survival ever collapsed, death would reach them soon enough. The grim reaper wouldn’t sit and wait long enough for the human to find the solution to a mystery or to settle things in a final showdown with their true enemy.

When it was time to die, it was time to die.

They would lose their life without finding any answers and without leaving anything behind.

The special rules of Handcuffs applied today, so ''the rules were different'' from the back alley brawls Kamijou was accustomed to.

He heard a solid footstep.

“!?”

The extreme tension allowed him to quickly regather his hazy and scattered mind.

Who was this and what were they up to?

Had the attacker descended from the elevated railway to finish him off? Or had some other dangerous person discovered someone close to death they could prey on? Anything was possible today. This was a world where death was meaningless and lives were taken as no more than a handy consumable item. Handcuffs was thought to have ended, but it had returned today to corrupt Academy City once more.

His cries for help hadn’t reached anyone, but he was sure the same had been true of so many people during Handcuffs.

“Hello, hello.”

Kamijou Touma couldn’t get up, so he simply stared into the shadows.

The person who casually stepped out below a streetlight was accompanied by a large dog.

“You have a way of getting yourself beaten up, don’t you? That was a piece of tungsten steel this time, wasn’t it? There was something strange about the makeup of ''that housewife''’s body, though. Isn’t it funny how you seem so at home in this world of bloodshed even though you claim to want peace and love more than anyone?”

The city decided to hit Kamijou with another surprise.

''This person looked nothing like the one he knew.'' She was a woman with blonde hair cut to shoulder length, blue eyes that carried both a rational look and the look of a mischievous cat, and feminine curves that pushed out her plain beige habit so much it looked sinful. Wasn’t she the one known as a great demon? But Kamijou Touma spoke another name after she came into view.

“Alei…ster?”

“Ha ha.”

He was answered by sarcastic but intensely dry laughter. The face and body were different. Even the sex was different from what you would find in the history books. But Kamijou was certain of it.

Even though the dead weren’t supposed to come back to life.

“Ah, ahh…”

The boy’s emotions swelled before he could wonder why or how. He got up from the filthy asphalt and staggered forward.

The magician smiled thinly at being identified so easily.

[[Image:GT_Index_v05_BW6.jpg|thumb]]

“Perhaps it is my inability to stay dead that makes the world despise me so. And I suppose seeing Aleister Crowley change form again isn’t going to surprise you too much when you already saw me change sex once. …Wait, what?”

“Ahhhh!! Ahhhhhhh!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

The beige habit woman(?) reacted first with surprise and then with an exasperated sigh when Kamijou wrapped his arms around her.

The great villain sounded legitimately uncertain while asking a basic question.

“Is this really worth bawling your eyes out over? I can imagine the Anglicans hid the details of the message I left in LA, but even without that, I am the human who ruined your life to use a certain aspect of your nature.”

“I don’t care. And no, I can’t explain why I feel this way!!!!!!”

The boy squeezed his arms so tight he thought he might break that delicate body.

And despite what he said, the magician did not push Kamijou away. He even patted Kamijou’s trembling back like he was consoling a young child. The originator of all modern magicians simply let the boy sob into his chest.

Kamijou wept at this human’s survival.

As a small child, the human had butted heads with his schoolteachers and his parents had accepted the teachers’ malicious view and refused to believe their son. He had grown to loathe that family and the god they worshiped, but he had been denied the chance to build a warm family of his own and continued on in constant loneliness. No matter how many victories he accomplished, he was never satisfied and so judged them all to be failures. His had been a life of needless cruelty, so how many people had shed tears for him not out of anger or humiliation but out of joy? That thought may have crossed his mind for just a moment there.

“''Are you ready to hand this off to me?''”

“…”

“You should know all too well now that your methods are useless against the dark side. Letting Aleister Crowley take over seems like a valid choice to me.”

“Not happening.”

“You will die. Or someone you know very well will.”

Kamijou clenched his hands tight with his arms still around that human.

Alice Anotherbible had distanced him from the harsh reality. And Aleister Crowley, who knew Academy City’s darkness better than anyone, had also concluded Kamijou could not do it. That meant it was probably true. If he strayed beyond the expectations of those monsters, he would lose his life.

“But it’s still not happening.”

“Why not?”

“The victory you would bring…” Kamijou Touma spat the words out weakly. It took him a full minute before he could pull away from Aleister’s warmth. “Is not the path the ''next'' Board Chairman wants to follow. Handcuffs ended on the 25th. Maybe it was a failure, but that doesn’t mean we can trample on its corpses now. If anything can be salvaged, I have to salvage it now. All you would do is pour cement into the path toward salvation and seal it up tight. Along with all the still-breathing people collapsed down there too weak to move.”

“Your point?”

“I’m not letting that happen. I’ll clean up my own blood. I really am happy to find you’re alive, but you chose to leave this city, so you don’t get a say in what happens here anymore.”

“…”

“You created Academy City. It’s true. But ''it isn’t your city anymore.'' Maybe you only did it on a whim, but that’s the decision you made. Don’t come back and start pushing for more tragedies here with a grin on your face, Aleister. There isn’t a single life in this city you can control anymore. If you think you can ignore the rules and get away with it because you’re special, then you’re no different from the rest of the dark side.”

This might be the only option that would let Kamijou safely back out.

It wouldn’t solve everything, but it would let him escape the darkness without losing any more blood.

But he refused, even though he couldn’t even support his own weight.

Kamijou Touma didn’t know Hanatsuyu Youen.

Kamijou Touma didn’t know Rakuoka Houfu.

Kamijou Touma didn’t know Benizome Jellyfish.

Kamijou Touma didn’t know Frillsand #G.

He didn’t know anything about Handcuffs where so many people had risked their lives to fight.

He couldn’t rely on what Alice had shown him before. He doubted the real Handcuffs had room for the love, tears, and laughter he had seen there. That meant he couldn’t say he actually knew those people.

However.

''Was not knowing them really enough of a reason to refuse to save them?

Someone was trying to take the lives those people had somehow managed to preserve after so much unspeakable suffering and humiliation. Wasn’t that reason enough to stand up and fight for them?

(You don’t need any special rights or qualifications for this.)

He had been bloodied from the starting line.

Gritting his teeth wouldn’t close up his reopened wounds.

But…

(People’s lives are on the line here, so I can’t sit around waiting for the perfect opportunity. I need to figure out what I can do and then do it, even if it means sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong!!)

“Move, Aleister. Whatever happened on the 25th, the 29th belongs to me. I won’t let Handcuffs end in failure again. I’ll give it a happy ending this time.”

That was all Kamijou Touma could do while wearing down his very life.

He was so battered he couldn’t even stand up without leaning against Aleister’s chest. The beige habit woman(?) stared coldly down at him and snorted with laughter at his decision.

“Hmph. You can dream all you like, but what do you think you can do when you’re in such bad shape ''here in reality''? What can you do against me? I am Aleister Crowley, the human who conquered history’s most intense magical battle, destroyed the world’s largest magic cabal from within, divided the world between magic and science, created the very concept of the science side, built Academy City during the confusion of postwar rebuilding, and manipulated the entire world to my own selfish ends.”

Kamijou fell silent, tasting a rusty flavor on his breath.

The culprit behind the crash was still at large.

Aleister’s solution would be indiscriminate. Anyone even tangentially involved in the Handcuffs-related events of the 29th would be sealed away below the concrete if he got his way. And he could almost certainly pull it off since he had single-handedly won the Battle of Blythe Road.

(What can I do?)

Whether he went for a direct confrontation, a surprise attack, or set them up to defeat each other, he would not just aim to be the reigning champion of the dark side. He was the one who had designed and managed the city’s dark side. He was on another level entirely, so if he used his power, he would slaughter everyone in his way.

That would mean Shirai Kuroko, Hanatsuyu Youen, Rakuoka Houfu, Benizome Jellyfish, Frillsand #G, and anyone else Kamijou hadn’t encountered yet.

Aleister would mercilessly bury them all before even hearing them out or battling them.

(You want to know what I can do after being shown this nightmare?)

For a brief moment, Kamijou’s mind came into sharp focus on this single point.

The bloody boy slowly raised his head.

He stared straight into that fearsome monster’s eyes at close range.

He was still woozy, but the kind of normal high school boy you can find anywhere gave his answer in a low voice.

“''I’ll get mad.''”

Aleister Crowley smiled.

Still smiling, the human took a step back, leaving Kamijou to fend for himself.

“I would readily get into a physical battle with William Wynn Westcott who was rumored to be immortal. I would have no problem with killing that clown Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers who had the nerve to name himself the originator of modern magic.”

Aleister slowly raised both hands.

He didn’t turn his head, but he didn’t seem able to look Kamijou directly in the eye either.

Almost like a small child whose mischief had come to light.

“''But the one thing I never want to do is get into a verbal argument with you.''”

“I know reality isn’t going to play nice,” spat Kamijou Touma, surrounded by terrifyingly dark shadows.

Aleister had taken a step back, so he couldn’t use the human for support anymore.

But he managed to stay on his feet with the bestial gleam found in the eyes of any challenger.

“But ''that’s why'' I need to overexert myself and stretch out my hand as far as it can go if I hope to grab anyone’s hand. Are you kidding me, Aleister? Yeah, they’re hopeless villains. Sure, they’re criminals who harm everyone they come into contact with. But so what? Don’t just give up on people’s lives. That should be ''all the more reason'' to make a real effort to save them. What if I can prove everyone wrong and save them? What if I can pull off a happy ending after the rest of the world threw in the towel and pretended they couldn’t see what was happening anymore? It’ll feel pretty damn good, don’t you think? You’re supposed to see this as a chance to point and laugh at the god in heaven who claims to be all-powerful and all-knowing but still lets these tragedies happen. Am I wrong?”

“…”

“I don’t know how many Handcuffs survivors there are in all. There might be someone everyone’s forgot who’s still out there struggling in the depths of the darkness. They might be shouting – screaming – for help, but we just can’t hear them. And as long as that chance exists, I’ve got to plunge into this godforsaken darkness and search for them. I won’t settle for a partial solution with Alice’s help. I’m not burying it all under cement and going home when there might still be someone down there. ''That’s why'' I refused her help and came back here, knowing it would hurt like hell. So don’t waltz in here and try to do the same damn thing like you’d be any better.”

His head wobbled on his neck.

He had lost too much blood.

But he clenched his teeth, held his ground, and got out the words.

“Don’t cement over it all and call it fixed. The all-knowing god in heaven might be able to accept an answer like that since he can see all the right answers, but you’re only human. So don’t you want to see a future that tears down that coldhearted conclusion, Aleister?”

“I can’t believe it.” Aleister sighed with an indescribable look on his face. “To think I would find a glimpse – however small – of the Thelema leading to ''the 21st Aeon'' in the very home I have already abandoned. This part really is frustrating. This always seems to happen to me. The things I pursue flee me and the things I discard turn out to be treasures.”

“…?”

“Just speaking to myself,” whispered the beige habit woman(?). “Now, I have a simple question for you: how do you intend to turn this around?”

“First, promise me an overpowered joker like you won’t get involved in this. If you can’t promise me that, then I’ll punch you right in the face until you cry and change your mind.”

“Why does justice always side with you when what you’re saying isn’t much different from a tyrant’s criminal code?” Aleister sounded somehow exasperated, but he had turned his back on goodness and justice for so long he wasn’t about to change his mind on the matter at this point. “I get that you intend to turn down my generous offer and settle this on your own, but how exactly are you planning to do that? You don’t understand what is really going on today, not to mention how the original Operation Handcuffs ended.”

“Personally, I find it strange that you would know so much more about it when you were supposed to have left the city.”

Kamijou poked at his temple. This was not like when he had Alice’s strange adjustments to protect him. He had a bruise there where some kind of blunt weapon had hit him.

(Really, Alice’s intervention has only complicated things. The real culprit ''wasn’t Frillsand #G.'' I’m betting Alice switched the real one out for a powerful enemy she thought I could actually defeat, but that false information got in my way here.)

He could use his knowledge from Alice’s world as a reference, but he couldn’t rely on it too much. The number of people involved didn’t match up and everyone’s plans and situations were different. After all, ''he didn’t even know if Youen, Rakuoka, and Benizome had really wanted to escape the crashed train of their own free will.

He exhaled, focused on his aching temple, and gave his answer.

The wounds on his body were the one thing he knew to be real.

“I start by figuring out who did this. I might not like the answer, but I can never find the path to a solution if I don’t know who my real enemy is.”

“''Then the girl will help you, teacher''☆”

“Gweh!?”

His senses were taken over by something soft, warm, and sweet.

An incautious blonde girl had apparently jumped right toward his head from the side. She had taken a running start and then buried his head in her flat chest. When she wrapped her arms and her legs around him, he couldn’t help but focus on her body heat. Her arms were latched onto his shoulders and her legs onto his hips. There was only one person this could be:

“A-Alice!?”

“Yes, the girl’s name is Alice.”

He tore her from him and then held her under the arms like a cat. She tilted her head, demonstrating the same otherworldly and gentle fairy tale aura she had shown in her world.

The beige habit and golden retriever were nowhere to be found anymore.

He briefly wondered if he had wandered back into Alice’s world, but that wasn’t it. Aleister could pull off a miracle of that level on his own.

“Where did you come from?”

“From there☆”

Her little finger did not point north, east, south, or west.

It pointed up.

That came as a surprise. Firstly, because it meant she had recklessly jumped down from the elevated railway like he had. It did sound like her to ignore the defined path like that. And secondly, because if she had jumped down with no concern for her skirt, she may have had a good reason to leave the railway in a hurry.

(That’s right. What happened to whoever hit me in the temple!? The culprit who destroyed the ATS sensor is up there. If someone else tries to investigate the track, they’ll run right into the culprit too!!)

He heard an impact of heavy metal.

Then someone flew over the elevated railway’s wall and fell toward him.

“Shirai!!”