Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter1
Status: Incomplete
Chapter 1
Part 1
A city existed on the west side of Tokyo that took up one third of the metropolis’s area.
It was known as Academy City.
That city of science was a collection of cutting edge technological knowledge. It was the central point of a powerful influence on the entire world using the interests, predominance, and certain sort of trust and faith that reside in the keyword of “science”.
Eighty percent of the residents were students.
For that reason, the city was made to push an image of safety and trustworthiness to the forefront, but information was strictly controlled below the surface. Many systems were laid out throughout the city in the name of preventing the approach of any terrorists or spies, be they industrial or working for a nation’s government.
One area of the city had an especially strong focus on that side of things.
In that area, a Western man arrived at a “multi-story inn” meant for sightseers from outside the city.
“I try not to be surprised by much, but this is just insane.”
On the outside, it looked like a standard rectangular building.
But the interior was mysteriously constructed so that each floor contained an entire one-story high class Japanese inn, garden and all. It was similar to several dioramas of Japanese buildings stacked on top of each other.
The design may have been created due to a lack of land or it may have been that common sense in Academy City was as different from the rest of the world as its technology was.
Either way, the man from outside the city simply could not get used to seeing it.
After making sure the middle-aged waitress who had shown him to his room had left, the man pulled out a small computer. Without worrying about security or the risk of being traced, he connected to the network by plugging a cable into the port supplied in the room.
As he downloaded a few files stored online, the voice chat sign lit up.
He clicked to connect and a calm female voice came through.
“Did they get through?”
“I’m doing it now.” The man frowned slightly. “When you told me the download password, you should have specified whether the letters were uppercase or lowercase. If I hadn’t noticed and entered it wrong too many times, I would have been locked out.”
“Surely you know this is not my area of expertise.”
“There is such a thing as being too ignorant.”
He knew saying that would solve nothing, but he said it anyway.
And as he expected, the woman showed no sign of caring.
“I followed your instructions,” she said. “I doubt Academy City will detect it like this. The internet is convenient, but they completely control that field.”
“Academy City naturally monitors all data in the name of catching industrial spies. If you fill normal text with dangerous code words, their equipment can analyze it immediately.” The man opened the files that had finished downloading. “But that is only for their field. They know very little about the magic side. This city has been thoroughly optimized. If you try to hide it, they will certainly find it. Trying to sneak around like that will only get you caught faster. That is why you should not even try to hide it.”
The files contained a few different diagrams.
They were a type of magic circle.
With Academy City’s printing equipment, they could be quickly mass produced without destroying the magical symbols.
“Those circles were not mentioned in the meeting with them.”
“I doubt their lukewarm methods will be enough.”
The Western man accessed a map site and looked up a few photo studios. The arrival of digital cameras had put all of them in a crisis situation, but the man wanted their developing and printing equipment to accurately produce the magic circles he was going to use.
Naturally, the circles were a secret matter, so he would have to temporarily turn the printing technician into a puppet.
“If I try to do something within Academy City, I will eventually be caught. That means I need to construct a plan where it is too late for them by the time it has been revealed. If I act while taking some losses into consideration from the beginning, I can achieve a certain level of freedom even within this optimized city.”
“Just to be sure you know: it is possible you will not be able to return alive even if our goal is achieved.”
“I have worked that into my plan as well.”
“…”
“And it has been given tacit consent. Not by Academy City, but by our higher ups. We do not want the balance between magic and science to collapse. Everyone is aware that problem is much more important than the official reasons given. For that reason, I expect this situation will not be as bad as they say. Still, I doubt it will be so easy that I escape unharmed.”
After retrieving all the information he needed for the magic circles, the Western man disconnected his computer from the network.
He then headed for a photo studio.
The worker at the studio was an ordinary person, but he or she would end up being involved in magic even if only slightly. No matter how careful the man was, some risk remained that this person would become further involved in that hidden portion of the world.
But the man continued on regardless.
This showed just how urgent the situation was.
“…I’ll make you pay later for forcing me to carry out this kind of dirty work.”
Part 2
Academy City was known as a city of cutting edge science and a psychic powers development institution, but nothing particularly strange or distinctive could be found in the scene of the students walking to school in the morning.
Normally at least. But on this morning…
“Communication error. You cannot currently enter the Venus Probe Project Race. Please try again later.”
“…”
A boy named Kamijou Touma stood still in the middle of the pathway.
He held a cell phone in his right hand and a project page on a popular SNS could be seen on the small screen.
“…What are you doing?”
A girl called out to him from behind.
She was Misaka Mikoto. She was the ace of the prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School and Academy City’s #3 Level 5. She wore a white short-sleeve blouse, a beige summer sweater, and a gray pleated skirt. She had let out that confused question when she had realized the person blocking the flow of students heading to school was someone she knew.
The person in question, Kamijou Touma, was trembling.
“The entry page for this SNS project race has frozen because too many people are accessing it. But the next deadline is in 10 minutes! I don’t have time to wait!!”
“That’s the project linked with the Venus Probe Contest, right? With that ridiculous number of unmanned probes being launched into space, you have to predict which team will make the first discovery, right?”
“If you choose the probe to make the discovery, you get entered into a lottery for the right to name the discovery!!”
“Yeah, but even getting put into the lottery is still nowhere near 100% odds of getting to name it. That SNS has almost 1.5 million people on it in Academy City alone.”
“But I want to give an asteroid the name Kamijou Touma!!”
“Isn’t this contest about probes being sent to Venus?”
“I want to become a constellation in the night sky!!”
“That just makes it sound like you want to die.” But then a puzzled look appeared on Mikoto’s face. “Actually, I’m surprised you’re playing with something like this. I thought you weren’t too interested in this kind of thing.”
“My cell phone’s OS updated automatically recently and the SNS appeared then. The two companies must have some kind of agreement.”
“I-I see. By the way, how many friends do you have on there? I-if you just tell me your registration number, I could send you a request…”
“?”
Kamijou frowned because he could not quite make out what Mikoto was mumbling.
And then something turned his thoughts in a completely different direction.
“Touma!! You forgot to prepare a lunch for me again!!”
The loud voice of a pure white nun cut in.
Her name was Index.
She was gathering a lot of attention from the students heading to school, but she paid them no heed and continued toward Kamijou and Mikoto.
“Honestly, you always do this, Touma! Meals are the foundation of proper living!! What am I supposed to do if you neglect to make me one!?”
“…Can’t you just make your own meals?”
“People who know how to cook just don’t understand!!”
“I don’t think you should just give up because you don’t know how! And at any rate, I left you a lunch in the fridge!! Since you can’t use the microwave, I made you a giant vegetable and pork salad that doesn’t need to be heated up!!”
“I ate that snack ages ago!!”
“Can you please explain to me why you look so proud about that!?”
Mikoto had been completely expressionless for a while now.
And then she asked a question with her head tilted in puzzlement.
“Um, sorry to interrupt, but why are you acting like it is normal for you to make that girl’s meals and to look after her?”
“Fgh!? O-oh, um…!!”
“And I really want to know why you are yet again making me so angry for no reason!!”
“I’d like to ask why you suddenly started biri biri-ing!!”