Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume16 Chapter2

Chapter 2: As Far as You Can Get from Misfortune – Home.

Part 1

“Dammit, why do we have to have boys in the girls dorm? I can’t stand it… Now we have to put on makeup just to step out into the hallway.”

“No one asked you to do that. And Kamijou-san doesn’t mind at all if you’re kind to your skin and don’t bother.”

“I wasn’t asking your opinion! Do you think being some impartial observer makes you untouchable? Not letting boys see me without makeup is a matter of pride!!”

“Then could stop sighing and acting like I’m to blame? How is that fair!?”

With that, Kamijou fled at full speed. He was just about to receive a cat scratch attack from a girl he didn’t even know first thing in the morning. A cat punch from a tanned schoolgirl sounded more like a reward, but not when the nails were involved. And those sharp plastic nails were long enough you could probably play guitar with them! Kamijou Touma had not yet reached the level where he could take that with ecstasy on his face.

Yes, nothing could prevent the morning from arriving.

(I thought I was going freeze to death.)

Had he been immersed in battle for so long he had lost track of time to the point he sometimes forgot it was January? Forgetting the day of the week seemed bad enough, so even he thought it was truly worrying that he could forget the month.

He found a blue blanket draped over him when he woke up.

Someone must have given it to him in the night, but he really might have never woken again without it. He would have been trapped in that weird nightmare where he was locked in a cold storage warehouse and tried to endure the hunger by eating frozen desserts while waiting for rescue.

This attempt had been a failure.

Where to sleep remained a problem to be solved. A fairly high priority one.

And there was something he had to do first now that the day had begun. He didn’t have time to waste in the morning crowd around the elevator.

He first returned to his room, quickly left again, and took the emergency stairs down to the surface level.

“Crap, crap, crap…”

Kamijou was carrying a translucent trash bag filled to bursting.

Today was burnable trash day.

He had gotten careless since this was still District 7. It was probably a matter of the garbage truck’s route, but trash collection happened a little earlier here than at the boys dorm. A few minutes might not seem like much, but if he missed the truck, he would be forced to spend the night with the full trash bag.

(Eek. Why do people make so much trash just by living? We’re developing our creative spirits in exactly the wrong direction!)

Without kitchens in the rooms and meals eaten in the dining hall, the girls dorm did not have a kitchen garbage day. Did that lifestyle explain why the girls who attended his same school seem to shine so much more than the boys?

Everyone put their full trash bags in a big metal container immediately outside the girls dorm. The heavy lid was probably meant to keep cats and crows out, but the dial padlock had to have some other purpose. With receipts and online shopping packing slips, there were a lot of avenues for attack with a girls dorm. Time to provide some camouflage by dumping in a bunch of boy trash.

Someone was already there.

“Good morning.”

With a thud, Himegami dropped a trash bag in the container.

It appeared to be…what had once been a big pillow.

It was torn all over, the stuffing was sticking out, and it was crammed inside a translucent trash bag.

Kamijou felt a cold sweat down his back.

“H-Himegami? Um, Himegami-san, what is that trash? How did it end up like that?”

“?”

She cutely tilted her head at him.

He got the feeling girls’ rooms contained a lot of secrets.

For now, he could only pray what happened yesterday was not the cause.

Then Fukiyose called out to her classmates with a trash bag in each hand.

“Hey, you! Feeding the stray cats around here teaches them to hang around the trash dump, so quit giving the kitties bad habits! Yomikawa-sensei, what are you sneaking around for!? You can’t love on the cats here just because your apartment doesn’t allow pets!!” A mewing followed after. A drum-shaped cleaning robot showed up and cleared out the gathering of cats. The busty track suit gym teacher was cleared out along with them. Was this why she had made a habit of showing up at the girls dorm? And of all things she had unsealed a long, skinny package of Mule, the kitties’ favorite, which would really keep them coming back here.

“Does that sexy pair of boobs ever stop causing trouble?”

“What did you say?”

“Don’t react to that, Fukiyose-san, I wasn’t talking about you. I meant the teacher on the run over there!!”

…Also, were the kitties around the girls dorm acting weird lately because they had detected his calico cat? It may have triggered their territorial instincts.

With her job complete, Fukiyose stretched.

“By the way, have you heard the rumors of an intruder in the second year girls dorm?”

“Hold on. We’re going for some real psychological horror first thing in the morning? That’s terrifying. I don’t want to hear it.”

“Apparently they used a delivery code to get through the auto-locking front entrance. You’re supposed to give that code when you order something so they can deliver it to the dorm, but that means you can’t really trust the lock anymore.”

Why were things suddenly feeling so post-apocalyptic?

Were the world’s morals collapsing, starting with the girls dorms?

Part 2

“…”

Kamijou Touma was in the dining hall.

With his time-sensitive trash work complete, he had hoped for a relaxed and leisurely breakfast, but then he froze up.

When he faced the ticket machine’s LCD screen, he saw another new item under the new tab.

Vegetable curry.

“Y-you’re kidding!! What am I even supposed to imagine here!? Vegetable is just too broad a category!”

This was that gyaru-ish young woman’s doing. She wasn’t quite a dorm manager. There were unconfirmed reports going around that she would strip down and float in the dorm’s large bath when she got bored during the day. …But that didn’t fix this problem.

Yes, the pointy-haired boy knew how to cook, so he wasn’t going to go easy on her. In fact, he wouldn’t have to bother the bento shop woman at all if he just had a kitchen in his room!

Also, why didn’t this one have a sample photo either?

Vegetable curry.

Kamijou had a fair amount of experience analyzing the abilities of magicians and espers in life-or-death battles, but he was helpless here. He couldn’t even hazard a guess.

Plopping a single giant oden daikon radish on top of curry rice would technically count! If he was served curry with a ton of sliced onion instead of rice, he wouldn’t have any right to complain!! All it said was vegetable curry, so there was no guarantee it would even have rice. Of course, he could be overthinking it. But there was that egg curry from yesterday. They all would have happily accepted it if it had been a sliced boiled egg, a rolled omelet, or a fried egg on top, but instead of going sweet or salty, that woman had gone with scrambled eggs! With a culinary sense like that, how could he hope to predict what this would be!!?

He couldn’t work up the resolve here. And if he couldn’t bring himself to take the safe path up the mountain, a courageous withdrawal was the only option. While you did only live once, that didn’t mean you had to adopt a dangerous spirit of accepting any and all challenges. There had to be other options. Like a safe ginger pork set or oyakodon!!

With some trouble, Kamijou searched out the set tab among the mountain of categories, skimmed through it, and couldn’t believe his eyes.

“T-the screen is so dark. And covered in red Xs. Everything normal is sold out!?”

“Probably from everyone avoiding the vegetable curry.”

It violated the spirit of capitalism.

He was only a little late and this was what he had to deal with? He had money but no freedom to choose. How was this any better than a ration system!?

With Himegami and Fukiyose watching over him from behind, Kamijou chose the vegetable curry with a trembling finger. And why was it so hot in here!? Having teenage girls gathered close enough he could feel their breaths on his ears came as a real shock!

Please let it be something like a summer vegetable curry packed full of potatoes and carrots! Kamijou shut his eyes and made a wish. He belatedly realized it was the opposite of summer and all hope shattered in his heart.

“Here you go.”

“That was fast!! Only having time to speak a few words is so worrying!”

He was handed his food from beyond the counter. In 1.5 seconds again.

He couldn’t make sense of what he was looking at.

“???”

He followed the flow of the crowd, carrying his tray to the table, where he gave it another look.

Vegetable curry.

“What…is this? It just looks like brown roux to me.”

“Wait. There’s some small yellow lumps inside the curry. It’s hard to tell because it melted from the heat, but these aren’t spices.”

“It’s quinoa. This is the super food quinoa!!”

Detective Fukiyose revealed the truth.

It wasn’t fair. Didn’t one of so-and-so’s ten commandments say quinoa couldn’t be the culprit!?

“Wait, does that even count as a vegetable!? Sure, it’s a plant, but like with millet, isn’t it categorized more as a grain than a vegetable? Isn’t it something like a friend of rice!? Not that I have any idea how quinoa is grown!!”

“Kamijou Touma, that argument isn’t going to work. Quinoa is used in salads too, so we have no way of denying that it can be called a vegetable!”

“That’s absurd. Dammit, Fukiyose, are you going to say potato salad and macaroni salad count as vegetable salads just because they use plants!? Ham salads exist, but you’d better not be telling me ham is a vegetable. We have a real case this time!!”

“No, we don’t. This isn’t a detective story. This is the real world. No matter how unbelievable a situation we find ourselves in, we have to face the truth before us.”

So solving the mystery didn’t make anyone happy? Now that was a merciless sort of perfect crime.

Kamijou stuck his spoon in it.

There was no resistance.

He tried a bite.

It was like eating curry with nothing in it. The roux was thinner, like a soup curry, so it didn’t feel like he was eating anything at all. He knew it wasn’t anatomically possible, but it went down so easily he thought it was skipping right past his stomach.

How could this possibly have 800 Calories? That was a lot! Kamijou shuddered. What was the quinoa even doing? Was it a mass producer of obesity!? This wouldn’t keep him feeling full for even an hour. He just knew he’d be visiting a convenience store and snacking on all sorts of things later!!

Kamijou hung his head and trembled.

But then he raised his head with renewed conviction.

“That’s enough! Let Kamijou-san borrow that kitchen real quick!! I can cook, so I’ll show you how you can feed students on the cheap!!!”

Himegami and Fukiyose had to hold him back.

Apparently fire safety and sanitation rules didn’t allow for guest cooks.

But wasn’t that bento shop woman a guest here too!?

Part 3

“…………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

At school, Aogami Pierce was lying dead on his desk.

That boy who lived for moe and 2D was taking it hard that he couldn’t join them in their girls dorm life.

Komoe-sensei ignored him entirely.

“Today is the second day of the first general entrance exam. The newspaper and textbook publisher websites have posted the first day’s answers for people to see how they did. Every year, this leads to exam students losing all hope and running amok in the streets, so be careful you aren’t caught up in that. When a high level esper lashes out, a single hit could be the end of you, so really do be careful.”

“Is telling people to be careful the only thing being done to prevent that?”

If those students wanted to show off their power, they should have just bent a spoon or whatever during an entrance interview.

Talent was meaningless if it wasn’t used well.

“And I have a reminder for you first years who are enjoying your peaceful week because you think the exams are no concern of yours: do not forget your third term final exams are approaching fast. February is right around the corner. If you fail to study during these lulls, you will be left behind before you know it.”

Desks shook all across the classroom. A fair number of students staring at their phones as they completed their dailies in some game or another must have thought better of it. If they could quit now, they weren’t too far gone yet.

And so their life-or-death school life had begun.

Today they had gym class. Even professional baseball didn’t play during midwinter to avoid player injuries, so what were Academy City’s educators thinking?

“Why do they actually prefer to play soccer and rugby in the winter? I hope there’s a unified theory behind it and they aren’t just going on vibes.”

Kamijou had plenty of complaints, but that was what a high school first year was supposed to do. And most mysteries and unreasonable matters weren’t going to solve themselves just because a high schooler complained.

The boys ended up playing soccer outside.

They split between even and odd student numbers to make two teams.

It wasn’t a serious game, so they weren’t strict about positions. The gym teacher wouldn’t say anything as long as they didn’t end up with three or four goalies.

“I really don’t want the sound of my Achilles tendon snapping to ring around the world… Life is long, so what’s wrong with taking a quick break? Hey, Aogami Pierce, come be my accomplice☆”

Kamijou casually roped his friend into it but received no response.

Aogami Pierce’s head was lowered.

A cursed voice pressed in on Kamijou.

“Why is it always Kami-yan, why is it always Kami-yan, why is it always Kami-yan? It should be me living the dream in the girls dorm. When did your life enter this bonus stage? Let me punch youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!”

Why was this guy suddenly throwing hands when they were playing soccer!?

Part 4

Kamijou Touma did not show (much) mercy.

Humans tended to attack stronger in retaliation than as the aggressor.

(We aren’t getting special treatment. You just did something different on your own.)

Kamijou Touma had already decided he needed something good for lunch.

He had decided this back when he was surprised by the vegetable curry at breakfast.

He would die on the inside if he wasn’t satisfied at lunch.

However, the exam takers had priority at the cafeteria and the school store, so he had to leave school grounds and visit a nearby convenience store. That flagrant violation of the rules would normally get him attacked and detained by the gorilla teacher or the track suit teacher, but they were too busy dealing with the exams today. But don’t copy his example here, future freshmen. That was a good way of corrupting your soul.

The streets full of tri-blade wind turbines were full of temptations, but the family restaurants and burger shops visible in the distance had long lines. Lunchtime was a hell of a thing. The flow of time felt a little different between school and the outside world, so standing in line there could mean not getting back in time for his next class. A nearby convenience store would probably be best. Even if there was a line at the register, it didn’t take long to get each customer served.

So he stepped inside the store.

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh!? There’s a wicked woman corrupting her soul at one of the eat-in seats. Senpai, I thought you didn’t have to do this!”

“Mgh!?”

Kumokawa Seria choked, eyes wide, in a counter seat by the window. The busty black-haired forehead upperclassman was breaking the school rules to chow down on a fish burger. And wasn’t that kind expensive when you had them cook it in the store!? To make matters worse, that devil had three whole convenience store sweets too. What was she preparing for? Climbing a mountain somewhere!?

Kumokawa Seria sipped on her hot tea to avoid suffocating.

“Wh-what do you want, boy? I would be willing to give you a fry.”

“No, I’m not asking for anything like that.”

Which meant that beautiful upperclassman really didn’t need to hold his hand between hers, give him an upturned look, and try to negotiate. Her hands were so soft and smooth. So was this a form of persuasion? Kamijou had learned something new.

But that aside.

Kumokawa’s tray didn’t look all that attractive to him. Even though each individual item was fine.

Why was that?

“You have awful taste, Senpai. Burgers and tea don’t really go together, do they? Especially hot black tea. And the lack of any empty packages around it means you’re drinking it straight, doesn’t it? Why?”

“Huh? Wait just a second. They sell coffee and tea at just about any burger shop!”

“That’s for the people who want to stick to a cup of tea while their friends eat a burger set. You aren’t supposed to drink the tea with a burger.”

“Huhh!? Then what’s your idea of a good pairing for a burger!?”

A soda.

Kamijou wasn’t as wealthy as that busty black-haired rich girl, so the most he could do was head to the bread section, grab a bun that could be roughly torn apart by hand, and combine it with the fried chicken sold next to the register. The new flavor was nacho cheese and chili sauce flavor. He could never keep up with the convenience store fried chicken flavors because they were always coming up with new ones. And they sometimes brought back old flavors, which really messed with his memory.

But even this looked better to him than Kumokawa’s combination.

Tastiness wasn’t a matter of the price tag.

And the busty girl pouted her lips like a little girl and shouted.

“You’re a child! Only children like sodas!!”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not like burgers are a grownup food. Why did you think you could win this by acting more mature?”

“~ ~ ~!”

“Here, try mine. The fried chicken burger is the better option when you eat it with a soda, Senpai.”

“Ghh. Y-you’re right…”

Kumokawa Seria always used her allure to toy with the teenage boy, but here she bit her lip and trembled. It was a rare sight.

…He also didn’t think hot tea was something to order in a giant L-size bottle and he didn’t think the convenience store yokan went well with a burger or black tea…but letting that slide was the kind thing to do. As a first year, he didn’t want to see this usually confident upperclassman crying any longer.

“(Hmm. Would it be best to assume the confusion comes from a beautiful and rich upperclassman not knowing how to use a convenience store like the common folk? This is so bad that’s about the only defense she has.)”

“You don’t have to make me feel better by making things up!!! (sob)”

If she ended up consuming the whole thing from stress, none of Kamijou’s lunch would be left for him, so he stopped her from eating any more.

The lunch break was the same for them both. If they weren’t back on school grounds by the time the bell rang, the gorilla teacher or the track suit teacher would definitely notice their absence.

“Oh, I ate part of that, so that’s an indirect kiss.”

“Bffhbbhf!!!?”

…No, he would never be able to come out on top against her!! Kamijou Touma wasn’t one to give up, but he did so here. It was too much for him.

Part 5

“This seven veggie smoothie is so good.”

It was evening.

Shokuhou Misaki spoke to herself on a bench near a food truck. It was apparently a limited edition exam season product meant to boost brain power.

She was recharging.

The world was dyed orange. School was out for the day. She was waiting for someone who would be exhausted after finishing their first day of exams.

(Acute Kotatsu Syndrome, was it? Such a stupid name for a social phenomenon, but we can’t forget that it really did affect people’s lives.)

Hokaze Junko, #2 of her clique, was a third year in middle school, so the first general entrance exam applied to her. Yet she had apparently spent January neglecting her studies and relaxing. Shokuhou was terribly worried for her.

But not because Shokuhou was a good person.

She had a rational enough view of herself to make that self analysis.

(I can only worry about someone else during this exam season because of my own mental relaxation ability.)

Shokuhou Misaki was Academy City’s #5 Level 5, Mental Out.

She was the strongest of the pure psychological espers. It was said there was nothing related to the mind that monster couldn’t do. So the entrance exam war effectively didn’t exist for her. She had countless ways she could pass every single subject with a perfect score or pass the exam without even showing up at the exam site. She had so many options that three and even four digits wasn’t enough to count them.

(If Junko-san looks down when she leaves the exam site, I need to give her an energy boost. Still, no matter how she did on her first day, she isn’t the type to just go to bed without checking the provided answers.)

Just then, she felt a heavy vibration pass through the bench.

Someone had sat down next to her.

Shokuhou glanced over (with a bit of irritation to be honest) and then froze.

He was there.

A boy. A first year high schooler. With pointy hair!?

(Wh-wh-wh-wh-what is he doing here!?)

Her spine tensed. Her face grew hot. Wait, calm down. Shokuhou immediately aimed her TV remote at some passersby, hijacked a sample of five points of view, and checked her face, but her cheeks were not noticeably flushed! And her eyes were not spinning in her head!!

Making a move herself was easy.

Because whatever she might do, he would forget it all a moment later. That created a unique kind of confidence

But things were different when he came to her.

Wait, I’m not weady!!

(Bwah!! Ababwah, what is going on here? Is some terrible trap waiting for me here? Is Misaka-san nearby? No. What about the clique members? Also no. But wait, without any of them to hold me back, I won’t be able to stop!!)

After thinking(?) through that far, Shokuhou Misaki noticed something.

He wasn’t looking at her.

She followed his gaze and didn’t see anything of note. The cars driving by, some students talking about taking a detour, a drum-shaped cleaning robot moving out of their way, etc.

Why had the pointy-haired boy sat next to her in the first place?

It wasn’t because he had seen Shokuhou Misaki and decided to say hi to a friend.

That would never happen.

Then what had Kamijou Touma been thinking when he sat on this bench?

“Excuse me.”

The next thing she knew, she was hesitantly asking a question.

Even among the 2.3 million people of the city, he was the extremely rare person who could turn the #5 Level 5 into nothing more than “a younger girl”. Which was why she obediently scooted toward him.

She knew this was a weird thing to ask if they had never met before.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing really,” briefly replied the older boy without even looking in her direction. “Just looking at the city.”

“…”

The street hadn’t been blocked off and there was no parade marching down it.

The scene laid out before him was no more than an ordinary afterschool evening.

Kamijou Touma gently narrowed his eyes and didn’t speak a word as he really did just watch the orange-dyed world. As if to say this day and all the things that each new day brought were more valuable than Halloween or winter break.

“I’m not about to say I’ve lived a perfect life.”

He wasn’t staring blanking into the middle distance.

His voice contained heartfelt relief at being able to share this world with everyone.

“But no matter how many mistakes I made, I’m glad I never gave up.”

To Shokuhou, it looked like he was reaffirming something.

Reaffirming that the boring times and the silly things were not something you could take for granted. Reaffirming that it could all crumble away if you failed to put in the work for even a moment. And that was why he was savoring this day that had been built on a foundation of that work.

Part 6

School was out for the day.

During an uneventful walk home, Kamijou Touma’s shoulders slumped.

The online news appearing on his phone was as crazy as ever.

“Today’s traffic news: A 2km traffic jam has formed on District 7’s south main road. It is the result of nearby criminal activity, so it shows no sign of clearing up soon. If you are in a hurry, we recommend taking the train.”

“We have several reports of mysterious figures sighted off the road in the mountain forest of District 21. During entrance exam season, there tend to be more people climbing to the summit to pray for their friends’ exam success, but do not grow complacent just because it is a relatively short mountain. Make sure to submit a climb plan beforehand.”

“Real time tragedy! Excitement near the District 7 train station! Watch out for a rampaging exam student!!”

“Ugh. It’s even on the online news. Some student going nuts in front of the station single-handedly knocked over the statue everyone uses as a meetup spot. The damage has gone beyond a slasher film and reached the level of a disaster film. Can I even get back to the girls dorm with that educated kaiju on the loose?”

The same news was scrolling by on the large screen of the airship floating in the evening sky. The reporters were clearly getting lazy if they were relaying the online news instead of heading out to report on it themselves.

But since Kamijou wasn’t in a club, if he stayed at school for too long, he might gather the attention of Anti-Skill or Judgment. He doubted the exams were still being taken, but they might suspect he was a “technician” trying to sneak into a classroom being used for the exams tomorrow so he could hide illicit notes or a small device. And Mr. Misfortune’s nerves about those false accusations would only make him act weirdly, which would get him caught for sure! It was time to head home!!

Academy City had schools all over.

This area felt so quiet he felt a little lonely. There was no one around even after school had let out.

Was that because of the entrance exam season?

He heard some voices shouting in the distance. Was that a sports team jogging around the school grounds? That was his guess, but then an indoorsy group carrying a ton of camera equipment ran past him with Anti-Skill in hot pursuit. They were running full tilt. He guessed they were a manga club who had braved the unfamiliar outdoors in search of reference photographs and then set off their camera’s flash toward the engineer’s cabin of a moving train.

All of the afterschool clubs had a shortened schedule during the entrance exam period, but apparently some of them were continuing their activities outside the schools. And that wasn’t just the athletic clubs.

Kamijou Touma realized he had just accepted his lack of a club as normal.

He apparently hadn’t been in one even before losing his memories, so he guessed he was just the type who couldn’t stick with anything for long…

“Can I just return to the girls dorm now? No, I can’t.”

His room in the girls dorm had no kitchen. A single microwave oven would probably change his life in that room considerably. But a quick search on his phone told him prices on those had skyrocketed with the addition of new features like grilling and toasting, so buying one on a whim wasn’t feasible.

Once out on the main street, the city was flooded with people. Maybe a lot of them were wandering around without a clear destination in mind like he was.

“Oh.”

He spotted someone familiar from behind in the crowd.

Someone he knew so well he didn’t need to see her face.

One was a small student council president with a bunny-like ribbon on her head. The person walking next to her was harder to recognize from behind, but that was probably the glasses boy.

They were from another high school where his school had borrowed some unused classrooms when their own school was destroyed.

(That school feels like home too. When I picture it in my mind, it feels so familiar.)

He didn’t find a chance to call out to them and just watched them go.

But if he needed to talk with them, he could call them up on his phone. He didn’t have pressing enough business to search them out after they vanished into the crowd.

Just as he thought that, his eyes met those of another familiar face.

This wasn’t Misaka Mikoto.

The weird goggles on her head, the absence of any emotional light in her eyes, and her harmless and obedient behavior told him this was probably the Misaka Sister.

She was a mass-produced military model of Academy City’s #3 Level 5, Railgun. But those clone girls had failed to reach the original’s level of power output and were forced to live a challenging life. This one in particular was Sisters Serial Number 10032.

After meeting her eyes, he couldn’t just watch her go like he had with the others.

He was drawn to her.

Come to think of it, hadn’t he seen her on the streets around this time yesterday?

“What are you doing?”

“It is the black cat’s walk time, explains Misaka.”

“…Again, what are you doing? Cats return home on their own after patrolling their territory. You don’t put them on a leash and go on walks with them.”

“Nevertheless, the cat does not return to the hospital where we live, rebuts Misaka. Because the cat is stupid.”

“Is that a sign of affection or an insult, Misaka Sister?”

Kamijou stared into the distance.

…Was she following the cat as it walked through narrow alleys and along fences? What a waste of her athletic abilities. Maybe she just had nothing better to do.

But at the moment…

“Now stand by Misaka’s side so we can walk arm in arm, says Misaka as she requests permission and approval.”

“Why!?”

“Misaka has always wanted to walk home from school with a friend, says Misaka as she explains her objective.”

“Well, if that’s all…”

The Misaka Sister wore a school uniform, but she didn’t actually attend school.

Kamijou might think nothing of it, but not everyone had the opportunity. So he couldn’t rob her of the opportunity when it did come.

Not everyone valued treasures the same.

Not everyone would feel the same happiness when given a giant diamond.

She wanted to walk home from school with a friend.

Some treasures took that form. That was true.

Kamijou Touma needed to understand how precious these normal, natural, and ordinary things were. Because he had already died to protect them. And that death hadn’t been to protect only the perfect and flawless answers.

“That makes this a date between lovers,” said the Misaka Sister with a firm expression. “Without a doubt.”

“Bff!! Why do you have to think about everything in such extremes!?”

The pointy-haired boy was shaken to his core, but the Misaka Sister was being her usual self.

She wrapped her arm around his and wouldn’t let go.

And she was extremely soft and warm!!

“What roundabout route will we be taking today? Surely you aren’t going to suggest we will not be grabbing something to eat, says Misaka as she checks on every last thing. Yes, yes.”

“Is your idea of ‘walking home’ to wander the streets forever? …But if we are going to stop somewhere, let’s make it a home appliance shop. Or maybe a discount store where they would sell the super cheap models that have been stripped down to the bare minimum functions.”

“Thinking of purchasing a 180 thousand yen clone girl?”

“I’m talking about a microwave!!”

Besides, a high school first year wouldn’t have an extra 180 thousand yen in his budget.

To continue his life in the girls dorm, he badly wanted a microwave oven in his room for cooking retort pouches and frozen foods. And as cheap of one as he could find. Which store would be best to check?

When he was about to change course, the black cat mewed while obediently following after them.

And something exploded.

Or so it seemed to Kamijou.

“Hold on…”

A cloud of smoke rose in the distance.

No, that was probably a person.

A boy.

(Come to think of it, didn’t Komoe-sensei explain that exam students often start running amok in town after checking the answers published in the newspapers and online?)

Someone flailing his arms around had flipped over a mid-sized truck illegally parked in the station plaza. It was a thoroughly decorated truck, so the destruction sparked a lot more than necessary. If this was his answer to a single illegally parked truck, that guy must have been hell bent on showing off his righteous spirit no matter what. When a man who appeared to be the driver stepped out of a convenience store, he stared in shock. He held nothing in his hands. No matter how pressing it had been, Kamijou thought he shouldn’t have used the store’s bathroom without buying anything.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!! What the hell, you rampaging exam student. Attacking trucks isn’t going to improve your score, you know!?”

Then the Misaka Sister spoke, as expressionless as ever.

“If he comes this way, Misaka will blow him away with a 12.7mm anti-materiel rifle, says Misaka as she prepares for self-defense. Keeping the cat safe is Misaka’s top priority.”

“That’s taking it too far. Pets might be family, but I don’t think the law lets you kill someone to save a cat. Besides, assembling an illegal weapon doesn’t count as self defense!! You don’t actually have one, do you? Please tell me you’re not carrying around an illegal gun. Look me in the eye and tell me, Misaka Sister!”

Also, hadn’t the bunny president and the glasses boy walked in that direction? Just a bit before? They hadn’t been caught in this and sent to heaven, had they!?

Something flew over Kamijou’s head and toward the center of the issue. Probably an amateur news streamer’s camera drone. Sending them out in a densely populated area was against the rules, so professional reporters actually wouldn’t do it. Someone so focused on views they had nothing else to lose was a scary thing.

And the rude camera lens must have displeased the rampaging exam student because the sounds of destruction only grew.

The bigger the story the better for the news streamer, so that might have even been intentional. Kamijou just wished they wouldn’t get everyone in the area involved too.

Kamijou had hoped to check out the closest discount shop for a super cheap microwave, but now he had to turn around. He had no desire to approach that hopeless disaster zone full of death and destruction. The drum-shaped security robots were really nothing more than moving security cameras, so they weren’t much use when the good citizens of the city were caught in some kind of physical trouble.

(Well, it’s happening near the train station, so there should be an Anti-Skill station nearby.)

“This is Anti-Skill!! Put your hands up and get down on your knees! You can’t escape with so many cameras on you!”

Kamijou breathed a sigh of relief when one of the justice bringers came running and raised her voice.

But the rampaging esper suddenly changed direction.

Kamijou’s eyes met with the Japanese Boy’s.

And if the fleeing criminal was looking right at him…wait? Was he coming in this way!?

“I get it’s too dangerous to fire with so many people near the station…but please Anti-Skill! There are plenty of small side roads you could be guiding him onto!”

Was this the result of Kamijou’s misfortune?

The running boy shouted with spittle flying.

“Ohh, outta way, damn, move, asshole!!”

It saddened Kamijou that he managed to understand what should have been a meaningless string of words. Did this mean he was the same as that guy?

The rampaging esper powerfully raised his right arm. The motion was more like swinging down a big blunt object than throwing a punch.

The pointy-haired boy’s bangs fluttered up.

Because the air had moved in front of him. …Was that really something you could do with a single arm?

“Khh.”

Kamijou’s eyes widened.

His life was fairly seriously at risk.

(What kind of power is that exactly? He flipped a truck by hand, but is this really just a simple case of boosted strength? If it’s actually telekinesis, he might be able to use it as a projectile.)

“Noo!?”

Kamijou shoved the Misaka Sister out of the way.

He heard a voice from overhead.

He rolled along the ground with the clone girl. To the side. It was important to carry a spirit of compromise.

Then the pursuing Anti-Skill officer reached for her holster and drew a handgun loaded with rubber bullets.

“Oh, no. I can’t let him harm any civilians. Eh heh heh. So I have no choice but to fire!!”

“Wha- are you stupid!? Why would you actually fire on the ground!? And why do you look so excited about it!? This is supposed to be a peaceful country!!”

Scared by the sound of gunfire, the rampaging exam student took a hopping slide to the side.

Which brought him straight toward Kamijou and the Misaka Sister.

Thanks to Anti-Skill’s unnecessary action (while thoroughly enjoying this official duty), the rampaging esper was headed straight toward them even though they had actually rolled out of the way.

Don’t hop! You don’t have a bunny theme going on, do you, you violent exam taker!?

Kamijou couldn’t let the clone girl or the black kitty get caught up in this!!

It was time for the usual: putting himself in harm’s way to make sure things worked out.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, such misfortuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuune!!!”

Part 7

Afterschool time came for everyone the same.

The School Garden was also inside District 7, so there was nothing at all unusual about the middle school girl named Misaka Mikoto being there with phone in hand.

“Onee-sama,” said the voice on her phone. “You should probably head back early today.”

“Did something happen, Kuroko? The dorm manager only just did a surprise inspection, so we should be fine there for a while.”

“Because nothing good ever happens when you run into a big seasonal event like Halloween or the New Year’s mad dash on the shrines. And Judgment has a duty to prevent incidents before they occur.”

“Do you actually expect me to listen to a warning when you put it like that?”

She hung up, her expression blank.

She was Academy City’s #3 and knew very well how to operate electronics. There was no way Shirai Kuroko could use her phone’s GPS data to track her down.

(Entrance exams, huh?)

She did have her thoughts seeing the signs for snacks and sports drink presenting themselves as weird good luck charms for the exams. Entrance exams were all about the future. Thinking about them worried her. But she didn’t have anyone she could discuss this with. Shirai was a fellow Tokiwadai student, but second years and first years felt very different about these things.

And she would rather die than discuss this kind of vulnerability with that big-boobed brainwashing monster.

“Hm.”

Entrance exams were still relevant to a middle school second year.

The third years were currently going through hell and it would be her turn next year. She would be in trouble if she didn’t start thinking about her plans for the future soon. …She would end up like that busty ringlet curls girl.

Of course, Academy City’s #3 Level 5, Railgun, would have countless options available to her. She probably wouldn’t even need to tie herself to her desk and study for hours on end. She could get into any of the finest schools, including Nagatenjouki Academy and Kirigaoka Girls Academy, on a recommendation alone.

So that wasn’t what was worrying her.

The issue occupying the majority of her mind was something no one else would consider a big deal at all.

“…”

She was worried about somewhere far removed from that struggle over the most elite options. She was thinking about a completely ordinary coed school.

She did of course wonder if she could really decide her path forward based on this.

But without a specific occupation in mind for her future, she couldn’t say clearly what school would be right for her.

This was about her future.

What did Academy City’s #3 hope to learn and where did she hope to go?

And while she was worrying over this, she heard some voices.

“What’s wrong with you!? I’ve got nothing against you, so why are you getting in my way, you stupid idiot!? Stop thiiiis!!”

“Why do I have to be called an idiot by a criminal whose causing trouble just cause he did bad on his exam!? Does my misfortune really mean I deserve being made fun of!?”

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Wh-what the hell is he doing?”

Someone had jumped out and started playing at a fleeing criminal’s feet.

Did he think he was the Youkai called a Sunekosuri?

If this continued, he would definitely get kicked like a soccer ball.

Electricity scattered from Mikoto’s bangs.

“Ugh, really!?”

Part 8

Light flashed and sound boomed.

Far more than before.

“………………………………………………………………………………………For real?”

Kamijou Touma watched it all in a daze.

The rampaging exam student had been knocked over.

That electric Tokiwadai girl had actually knocked over that guy who was stomping around like a kaiju! With a single hand!?

Had she saved Kamijou?

When she was providing covering fire, the #3 was great to have on your side. Unfortunately, that coin didn’t always take flight to help him.

The girl spoke with her voice pitched ultra low.

It didn’t sound very rewarding.

“…What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

Then Kamijou noticed.

The Misaka Sister lay collapsed on the pavement. On her back. And Kamijou lay right on top of her. The clone girl was supposed to look exactly like the original in every way, but for some reason she wasn’t wearing shorts below her Tokiwadai uniform. How did he know she wasn’t? Because her skirt had pulled up quite spectacularly.

Her head was tilted, directing her dead eyes in an arbitrary direction.

But that wasn’t because he had done anything inappropriate here. Her eyes never had any light in them. But it still made the situation extremely easy to misinterpret.

Tears formed in Kamijou’s eyes.

“Wait. Wait, wait.”

Um, I have always wondered why Tokiwadai’s skirts are so short when it’s supposed to be one of Academy City’s most prestigious girls schools. All I did was try to save her and now it’s doing nothing to hide those stripes!!

But none of those thoughts ever made it out of his mouth.

A girl with an identical face was trembling.

Yeah, and she was just as electric as ever.

Kamijou stared into the middle distance as he heard a crackling sound a lot like the air splitting.

This was probably a lot more powerful than the power lines running above the train tracks.

“I have to say. As their older sister, I really don’t think I can ignore what I’m seeing here…”

“Oh, the cat ran away. Misaka can’t afford to lose track of it, so we need to hurry, says Misaka as she tugs on your arm and gets moving. While showing off plenty of body contact between us.”

The animal had probably fled from the electromagnetic waves scattered around by the #3.

And running off now would probably make her impression of him plummet!

“You’re running!? That’s what they call consciousness of guillllllllllllllllllllllllllttttttttttttttttttttt!!!”

“Nooo, scientifically-created lightning is chasing after meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”

A depressing game of tag had begun.

Just like a stealth horror game where you could only run away from the unbeatable boss character. And it was the type where the chase began after the invincible boss had already seen you! In the kind of game with lots of gross gore!!

Part 9

He somehow managed to escape☆

“But did I really? This isn’t one of those things where they get you to let your guard down right before they jump scare you, is it?”

….Misaka Mikoto was supposed to be a middle school girl, but so why was he imagining a scene from a horror game? Specifically, one where you explored an abandoned village where all the residents had gone mysteriously missing.

He realized the Misaka Sister and the black cat weren’t with him.

Had Mikoto chased after them instead?

(Well, she won’t do anything to her sister. Or to the kitty.)

That said. He had a feeling the #3 monster was still wandering around somewhere nearby, but he appeared to have found an unexpected blind spot.

The girls dorm.

It made sense. If Mikoto wasn’t aware of the circumstances at his school, how could she predict a boy like him would escape here?

(I just hope she doesn’t use some weird hacking ability to find the truth.)

Kamijou prayed to something unseen as he hid in front of the auto-locking entrance.

Although it scared him that hope seemed so fleeting he was resorting to prayer.

Also, the girls dorm did have its bright and shining auto-locking entrance, but he had heard there were plenty of loopholes there. For example, you could apparently leave the dorm by climbing out the second floor hallway rest area window and climbing down one of the trees growing along the sidewalk. Why had that route come to be? Because a surprising number of girls would develop a sudden compulsion to sing at the top of their lungs in the middle of the night, so they needed a way to go out and do karaoke!! But if they used the main entrance, it would create a record they had left.

(So it isn’t just boys who want to do something even more if it’s against the rules.)

His school really was different from a prestigious one like Tokiwadai.

A rebellious phase was apparently important for developing a personality, but was climbing up and down a tree like a monkey night after night really good for your mental health? Seemed like that would mess you up a lot.

Kamijou opened the auto-locking entrance and walked inside.

There was no real reason to rush, so he decided to check on something he had been curious about.

But.

She was sleeping with her belly exposed.

“…”

There was no lapse in his memories.

This was the direct result of following the timeline in Kamijou Touma’s head.

Who was that woman?

He had wondered what the dining hall was like outside of mealtime. He hadn’t noticed a “keep out” sign on the entrance, so he had taken a peek inside and been hit with a major question.

A young woman, probably in her twenties, was lying face up on three dining hall chairs lined up in a row.

She wore a knit turtleneck and a short skirt. Her ears were covered in many piercings. She must have just put in whatever struck her fancy because the number on each ear didn’t match.

She wore fluffy slippers on her feet.

Her fluffy hair appeared to be bleached and dyed blonde, but it was currently tied back with a bandanna. It looked like she had fallen asleep in the middle of cleaning. But what was an adult woman doing in a high school girls dorm? It was baffling.

She looked like the pale kind of gyaru who never visited a tanning salon.

Maybe it was the visible navel and short skirt, but she sort of reminded Kamijou of a cheerleader.

Her mouth was opened wide.

She was enjoying her nap.

The apron folded up on a nearby long table reminded him of something. As did the lamé and beads sparkling on her painted nails.

…Was she the dining hall woman? Who normally worked at a bento shop?

Kamijou was honestly surprised to find she looked like this.

(Not that it really matters.)

A blanket had fallen onto the floor next to her.

A blue one.

It looked familiar. Wasn’t that the same as the one he found over him when he woke up this morning?

“So she gave it to me.”

This part did matter because he needed to thank her next time he saw her. He didn’t want to wake her just for that, so he couldn’t do it this time.

That aside, he now knew the dining hall was not open off hours. Apparently he couldn’t just pop in and grab a small thing of soba for a snack. That would’ve been ultra convenient, but that would be asking a lot of a place that wasn’t a 24-hour gyudon shop or family restaurant.

He quietly slipped out of the dining hall so as not to wake her.

The elevator was always busy in the evenings, so he used the emergency stairs instead. …He didn’t like how doing that made him feel segregated.

“Listen uuuuup. What’re you all having for dinner tonight? Want to come up with a menu with Demoness Mayu-chin?”

A few groups had formed in corners of the hallway.

Those were probably the boys who had taken severe damage from the real power of the real girls. A fake-sounding soprano voice was playing from their landscape-oriented phones. Hopefully they weren’t so desperate they would send tons of money to that anime-style 3D avatar.

And someone approached from the emergency stairs.

“Kamijou?”

Fukiyose Seiri held a large plastic bucket in her hands. Whether you imagined she was cooling a bunch of bottled or canned drinks in ice water or dumping a bunch of trash in the back alley said a lot about what kind of person you were. The point was the blue bucket had a lid and was large enough to hide in if you really tried.

“Oh, they’re resting on it,” commented Kamijou without thinking.

“?”

Fukiyose tilted her head in puzzlement, but he said nothing more because he knew he would be in trouble if she realized what he meant. Holding a giant plastic bucket seemed to have a way of pushing up a girl’s boobs.

“So what are you doing? I thought you’d get in trouble if you left your trash outside all night.”

“This isn’t trash. I’m cleaning and needed a stool. It wobbles, so will you hold it steady for me?”

“Cleaning what?”

Was that why the bucket’s lid had a dry rag on it?

He would understand if she meant her room, but who was supposed to clean the public hallways? That seemed like it should be a job for the drum-shaped cleaning robots to him.

Fukiyose adjusted the position of the bucket while looking up at the ceiling and sighed in exasperation.

“The robots only clean the floor. If you don’t clean the rest for too long, you end up with clumps of dust falling down on your head. Do you want that?”

And so Fukiyose intended to step up onto the giant bucket and clean the ceiling. The fluorescent lights were her first priority.

“I also wanted to try out this Ultra Electroduster. It uses static electricity to create a plasma blaster that collects all the dust in a single wipe. I want to see it in action for myself.”

“Buying more weird mail-order products, huh?”

If you had to search out a chance to use it, it didn’t sound very useful in everyday life.

“That aside, shouldn’t you find an actual stepladder?” Kamijou looked a little worried. “What if you break right through that flimsy bucket?”

“Why would I need to worry about that?” asked Fukiyose in honest confusion.

Kamijou was reminded that girls were as light as cotton candy.

If sturdy and heavy Mr. Misfortune tried this, he was certain he would break through right away.

“Okay.”

The black-haired girl placed her hands on the bucket and climbed up on her knees.

However, it was a light bucket.

“It’s wobbling a lot… Kamijou, hold it down for me.”

“Ehh? I’m not going to be stuck here helping you the whole time, am I?”

He obeyed even as he complained, so maybe it was too late for him.

He placed his hands on the bucket lid and placed his weight on it.

That steadied it enough for Fukiyose to slowly extend her legs below her. Kamijou naturally followed the movement with his eyes, but then he quickly looked away. Oh, right. She was still in her school uniform, which meant she was in a skirt.

“Whoa, hey. It’s still wobbling. Kamijou, hold it down bett- eek!”

Apparently it was fairly frightening for the person wobbling on top of it.

Her cries sounded a lot more pressing.

“Why aren’t you even looking this way? That’s why you can’t hold it steady. Look this way and focus!”

“You’re why I can’t!”

“I said look! If you don’t focus, it’s going to keep wobbling. You need to shift your weight when I do, so you need to watch me!!”

“Well, if you insist.”

…Kamijou had to wonder why a girl would attempt this kind of work while wearing a skirt. Because this was a girls dorm?

Then Fukiyose also noticed something.

She stopped her cleaning.

“…Kamijou.”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you looking up at me?”

“A certain classmate gets very angry when I do not obey her every command, so I had no choice in the matter.”

She stomped on his face.

With her shoes on.

Part 10

Night had fallen.

“Hm, hm, hmmm. Bath time, bath time, splash!!”

“Hey, stop, you fool! That big wave nearly capsized my washbasin!”

Index and Othinus were taking a bath. The tub was small, but the 15cm god could still drown in it, so she apparently had to get creative. Still, could she really handle it? He just hoped a moment of carelessness didn’t get her washed down the drain.

The calico cat was curled up in the best spot next to the heater. Apparently he had completely abandoned his nocturnal side.

Kamijou Touma was using this free time to speak with his family on the phone.

They had called him.

They had completely ignored him when he was in the boys dorm, so why the sudden change?

“As your mother, I am just so worried about you living in the girls dorm, Touma-san. I do hope isn’t going to lead to a rash of pregnancies.”

“…”

She was worried all right, just not for him.

The lack of concern for her son found in her ultra hands-off form of education remained unchanged.

“Sigh, learning to take part in the modern digital lifestyle is all well and good, but I really shouldn’t try to be a demoness at my age. My throat is so hoarse… I should start adjusting the tone with a slider instead of pitching my voice up myself.”

“?”

After a moment of thought, a chill ran down Kamijou’s spine. He was reminded of Demoness Mayu-chin, whose sugary voice, small 3D body, and succubus costume had captured the hearts of high school boys around the world…but surely not, right?

Once the call from the unbeatable mommy had ended, Kamijou hung up.

He could still hear the shower running.

Waiting for Index and Othinus to leave the bath would be a waste of time, so he wanted to get some of the built-up housework done. Going to classes during the day and doing housework at night took a lot out of you.

“Right now I can do…the laundry, I guess.”

So he grabbed the basket piled full of laundry and walked to the front door.

The curled-up cat hopped up. He knew the cat was plotting an escape, so he used his feet for defense as he stepped alone out into the hallway.

“Phew.”

Silence.

The girls dorm did have a lights out time after which you weren’t allowed to leave the building, but movement within the building was relatively unrestricted. So Kamijou walked stealthily through the dark.

“Uh, oh.”

He held his breath and slowly hid behind a nearby pillar.

He had sensed a presence.

A short distance away he saw…

(There’s an older gyaru there. The one from the dining hall. I thought she worked for a bento shop, so what’s she doing here so late?)

She had placed a blanket over Kamijou during the night. …Thinking back, that had been strange. He had also heard rumors that she would float naked in the large bath when she had nothing better to do, so did she see this as her second home? She might even have moved into an empty room somewhere.

“Then she should just go ahead and become an actual dorm manager. Paradise is right there, so why won’t she reach out and grab it?”

Was she patrolling in the night?

He had forgotten to thank her for the blanket at dinner, but if he approached her now, she would probably scold him and make him go back to his room. Letting her pass and thanking her tomorrow morning would probably be best. Nothing would be more foolish than causing trouble for someone when trying to thank them for saving his life.

(They even have an adult patrolling the place at night. The girls dorm really does do things differently.)

Or maybe it was the absolute freedom of the boys dorm that was out of the ordinary.

He heard a gentle electronic tone.

The elevator door must have opened and closed.

After waiting until he couldn’t sense her presence anymore, Kamijou resumed moving.

He arrived at a room with both walls lined with drum-style washing machines. The room was lit up as bright as a hospital. And the washing machines were split into two levels, one above the other.

The small LCDs next to the round doors suggested they could be locked with a number code.

It was a lot like a laundromat, except that it was free.

“A laundry room, huh?” said Kamijou half in exasperation while carrying a large quantity of laundry.

Like with the dining hall, the girls dorm had all sorts of perks the boys dorm didn’t. It really didn’t seem fair when they all went to the same school!!

(But I guess that’s how dorm life is. The focus is on protecting the girls, so the boys dorm only exists as “somewhere to put the boys that keeps them away from the girls”.)

Anyway, he wasn’t familiar with this manufacturer’s washing machines. It was a little daunting. He knew he just had to dump his laundry inside, shut the door, and press the button, but his eyes were drawn to the warning label on the machine.

First, he placed his laundry basket on the floor and sat on the bench.

There was a giant detergent bottle on the floor…but was that for refills? The label said Miracle Enzyme Z. In big, bright writing. …Had Fukiyose mail-ordered this out of her own pocket and left it in the laundry room?

(Our new and improved catabolic enzyme removes even the stubborn oil stains on ventilation fan… If I use that on my clothes, will it bleach them all white?)

What looked like a manga magazine sat on one end of the bench. Someone must have been reading it while waiting and then left it here.

“What’s this?”

Kamijou Touma was more than a little familiar with Japanese culture and thus knew how to read manga…but he had never heard of this manga magazine before. A long list of titles was given on the cover, but he focused on the title of the manga depicted on the cover.

Yuri-

Kamijou quickly covered the cover with the blanket lying nearby.

He hid it.

Hold on.

Just to be sure, he was in a girls dorm right now, wasn’t he?

So this probably wasn’t a shounen magazine. And the target demographic was probably a little higher than shoujo manga. Was this really something an ignorant boy should be intruding upon?

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

What was that thing? He was tempted to remove the blanket and take a look inside the magazine, but he couldn’t.

The pressure was too powerful.

He felt a pain prickling his skin.

No, that was only a magazine and it wasn’t radiating any kind of energy.

He belatedly realized what he was feeling.

He was nervous.

(It can’t be. Kamijou-san has the blood of an otaku coursing through his veins…yet I’m too intimidated to even try this!?)

He could read and enjoy a cheerful 4koma manga about a group of girls, but would this really fall into that simple category? …He suspected it wouldn’t. That wasn’t what real girls did. He expected to be hit by something from a different angle altogether. What if it was like one of the ads that appeared frequently while he watched videos on his phone? The psychological damage would be too great if it was a manga where an average-looking office lady had her heart snagged by a host and was dragged down to rock bottom. Although with the Yuri in the title, it might be a gaudy hostess who snagged the average-looking office lady’s heart.

But yuri, huh?

The magazine appeared to carry only that kind of manga, but what was it doing here in a girls dorm?

“…”

The next thing that caught Kamijou’s attention was a scent.

It came from the blanket he had used to cover the magazine. It was faint but familiar. Yes, it smelled just like the blue blanket he had found covering him when he woke up during the freezing morning!

Besides, it was weird to find a blanket sitting in the laundry room.

Why was it here?

If it wasn’t meant to be here, then had it been forgotten here by the same person as the magazine?

“Hm? In that case…did the dining hall woman leave them here?”

Maybe it would be best to stop thinking about this.

Alarm bells were ringing deep in his instincts. Or so it seemed. This cast an entirely different light on that woman floating in the large bath during the day and prowling the dorm at night…

“Wait. No, no, wait.”

He had to think about this rationally. He understood wanting to focus on this at Mach speed after finding it in a girls dorm, but that was just his otaku blood running wild. He needed to step back and simulate this. If she had left the magazine here, the magazine’s owner clearly didn’t try to hide her interests. Which meant she wasn’t too serious about it. Ha ha ha. It was like seeing the ghost’s true identity. If this was actually targeted toward a more casual audience, then there would be nothing wrong with him taking a look at that Yuri-

“Kamijou? What are you doing here?”

“Yikes!?”

“?”

A suspicious look from the entrance pierced into him.

It was Fukiyose Seiri.

She wasn’t carrying a basket or bag full of laundry, so was she here to collect her clean laundry?

She was currently wearing brightly colored unisex sweats. He didn’t know if it was loungewear or sleepwear, but it was a new sight for Kamijou who always saw her in her uniform.

It was 10 PM on a weekday.

…On that note, it felt a bit like a fantasy to see a female classmate at this time of night at all.

Fukiyose, however, didn’t seem bothered by it. For her, it may have been like having a boy mixed into her ordinary life.

The black-haired forehead classmate watched him like he was a strange creature.

“Why are you just sitting around in the laundry room? Your phone will tell you when your laundry is done, so you can just hang out in your room and come collect it in two hours. Are you afraid you’ll fall asleep?”

“No, I just kind of zoned out in here… Maybe it looks too much like a laundromat.”

“Hm.”

Fukiyose started to accept that, but then she froze.

“Wait, are you the kind of guy who finds it soothing to watch girls’ clothing and underwear spinning around in the washing machine?”

“Hey, what even made you think of that? Can you stop being needlessly cautious and explain that to Kamijou-san?”

Now that she had mentioned it, how could he not be curious!? Kamijou ended up further troubling himself for no reason. When he took a look at what was spinning around nearby, he noticed it was leopard print. What high schooler was walking around secretly wearing that? Could it be Himegami!?

“Anyway, if you’re washing your clothes, be quick about it. No one likes a machine hog.”

Kamijou honestly found this strange.

He looked to the two levels of drum-style washing machines lining both walls.

“You’re spoiled. You have this many machines and it still isn’t enough?”

“Of course it isn’t. How many hundreds of students do you think our school has? The girls dorm is split into a few different buildings, but it still isn’t anywhere near enough. A lot of girls get tired of waiting and head out to a laundromat instead.”

That did make sense.

But in that case, why didn’t the girls buy their own washing machine and install it in their room? He didn’t quite understand dorm life here, but it was a lot like living on your own. Wasn’t a washing machine a necessity on the level of a refrigerator?

Kamijou sighed softly.

“Come to think of it, there’s a big bath here too, isn’t there? Why does the girls dorm have so much more infrastructure built in? Although it all seems like a half-measure that actually restricts you more in the end.”

“This is the only dorm life I’ve known, so how should I know? Oh, but an upperclassman did talk about this before.”

“?”

Apparently girls can start spending lots of money on health and beauty products to compete with each other. If someone buys a fancy dryer that emits some kind of ions or whatever and uses it to show off, the others will start buying even more expensive dryers. And that back and forth destroys the basic idea that dorm life is supposed to be cheap.”

“You girls are terrifying.”

So had they had no choice but to add the dining hall and laundry room?

Health and beauty was a realm Kamijou knew nothing about since all he did in the mornings was wash his face with tap water. So appliances designed specifically for that purpose were not a part of his world. If he did have the money to buy them, he would probably end up buying a new game or pair of sneakers instead.

“Also, most people rarely use the big bath. During the day, the dining hall woman floats there naked. And at night, the athletes who go jogging after practice ends at school turn it into their own exclusive bath.”

Kamijou had no desire to approach that bath.

…Because as a girls dorm, there had been no need to make a division between a boys bath and a girls bath when it was built. That meant there was just the one big bath. If he carelessly ran into someone there, he might just end up beaten up by every single girl in the building.

Besides, the individual rooms all had their own small bathrooms.

What was even the point of the big bath?

The school had felt the need to build it, but that didn’t mean the students were going to use it. Hopefully Komoe-sensei wasn’t crying somewhere over it.

“Well, the garbage rules here are the same as at the boys dorm at least.”

“Those are determined by District 7, so they have nothing to do with the dorm.”

“Hm? Does that mean it would be the same for Tokiwadai too?”

“Why do you know anyone from Tokiwadai? Isn’t that a middle school?”

“Well, those rich girls all have maids, so I bet they would say they have no clue about the garbage rules.”

“Why do you know that middle school has maids?”

Because a maid riding a cleaning robot used to visit the boys dorm.

Kamijou and Fukiyose continued chatting and laughing about pointless things.

Except they weren’t talking the entire time.

There were times when they ran out of things to say.

And fell silent.

But then something would come to mind and one or the other would bring up a new topic.

And the process would repeat.

“…”

“…”

Silence again.

The rumble of the large washing machines was the only sound for a while.

But these lulls in conversation were not an uncomfortable thing.

When battling CRC or Coronzon, each and every second had looked like a chance for action. That level of pressure had continued on and on, where even a single step in the wrong direction felt like it would cause everything to fall apart.

And he hadn’t even gotten through it all.

He had in fact died after his battle with Alice.

In that sense, it was truly incredible that he could enjoy this kind of pointless waste of time again.

No longer did he have to gamble it all on each and every action.

He could say whatever he wanted without needing to worry about the source of his information or have any guarantee of its accuracy.

…Time like this was so important.

Kamijou gently narrowed his eyes in appreciation.

It wasn’t obvious treasure. It wasn’t immortality or world domination. But what he found before him here was definitely worth risking his life and facing near certain death to fight for.

The battle itself wasn’t his goal.

There was something he had been clenching his fist and fighting for.

A simple electronic tone sounded.

Kamijou’s laundry was done and even completed the drying phase.

Fukiyose blinked hard in realization.

“Oops, I got lost in conversation there. My laundry was done before I even got here.”

“And after you told me not to hog the machine.”

With that exasperated comment, Kamijou punched the single-use code into the small LCD keys. He couldn’t let anyone know he had set it to 000 because he was afraid he would forget what he had chosen otherwise.

Would laundry here become a new part of his routine?

(The lines and securing a machine is going to be a pain, but I guess it’s still a win since we can use them for free. The cost of the water is actually more than the detergent. That really adds up day after day.)

With that on his mind, he pulled his laundry out through the round door. It was all weirdly warm thanks to the dryer.

And…

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

Fukiyose was acting strange.

She had frozen while partially bent over. She should have been taking her own laundry out of another machine, but for some reason her head was turned this way. With a look of shock frozen on her face.

“?”

He followed her gaze.

His gaze landed on the laundry basket in his own arms.

His laundry had been through the dryer, so surely a bee hadn’t gotten into it. A bee that could survive the water, detergent, and drying would be terrifying, though.

But then what was it?

Something seemed off at the very top of the unfolded laundry piled up in his laundry basket. It took him a moment to recognize it.

It was a balled-up white cloth.

With a small ribbon on it.

It was a pair of girls panties.

Death filled the air.

“Why?”

She was astonished.

Unable to process the information before her eyes, Fukiyose simply spoke her question aloud.

“Why is there girls underwear in your laundry?”

(Ahhh, this is Index’s, but I can’t tell anyone I have a nun, a god, and a cat secretly living with me! But what happens here if I can’t explain this!?)

“Wait, wait! Remember the peaceful mood we had going here. We were just reaffirming how important these peaceful and conflict-free days are. Please remember!! We can’t let that fall apart here!”

He tried his best to convince her, but she wasn’t listening.

He expression was entirely blank.

“Did you grab that from another machine?”

“No!”

“Then did you buy it to wear yourself!? No, I just can’t seem to simulate what’s going on in his brain…”

“Eek, it’s not that either!!”

Part 11

A word entered Kamijou’s mind as he was blown away by a headbutt of fury.

Misfortune.

He accepted it as normal nowadays…but what exactly was the principle behind his misfortune?

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Depth 8 - Depth 7 - Depth 6 - Depth 5 - Depth 4 - Depth 3 - Depth 2 - Depth 1 - Epilogue - Ending Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare Toaru Majutsu No Index: Love Letter SS Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: A Superfluous Story, or A Certain Incident’s End Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament SS Toaru Majutsu no Index: Shokuhou Misaki Figurine SS Toaru Majutsu no Index: A Certain Midsummer Return to the Starting Point Toaru Majutsu no Index: Using Final Bosses to Determine a Sociological Threat Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament Bonus Short Story Toaru Majutsu no Index: Thus Spoke the Kumokawa Sisters Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Vooster's Cup, The Day Before Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On: Misaka Mikoto's Dangerous Tea Party Toaru Majutsu no Index: Birthday Through the Glass Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament 20 Bonus Short Story Toaru Majutsu no Index: Misaka Mikoto’s Teamwork A Certain Magical Index: Genesis Testament SS A Certain Scientific Mental Out: The Queen’s Play A Certain Magical Index: Genesis Testament SS2 [v d e]Official Parody Stories A Certain Prophecy Index A Certain Academy Index A Certain Gift Exchange A Certain March 201st Novel I Don't Want This First Story of A Certain Magical Index!! or I Don't Want This Final Story An All-In "World" Tour of Academy City, the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion, and Ground's Nir Kamijou-san, Two Idiots, Jinnai Shinobu, Gray Pig, and Freedom Award 903, Listen Up! …Fall Asleep and You Die, But Not From the Cold☆ We Tried Having a Group Blind Date, but It was an All Stars Affair and a World Crisis Will the Spiky-Haired Idiot See a Piping Hot Dream of His Wife? Dengeki Island: A Girl’s Battle (Still Growing) Kamijou Touma Visits Another World Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch Crossover SS Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch X Heavy Object Crossover SS I Still Want to Do a Summer Fair A Certain Collaboration Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 Kamachi Crossover Illustrations - Preface - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - A.E. 02 - Afterword Durarara Crossover Preface - Academy City Chapter - Ikebukuro Chapter	Next