Toaru Majutsu no Index:Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare
Illustrations
Cover
Page 021
Page 029
Back Cover
Story
Prologue
A certain pirated broadcast A.
On a certain day in July.
Do you know about level 5 espers? My my, that isn't some gaming production thing, they're the people who stand at the top of the 6-tier hiearchy amongst our 2.3 million residents! The pyramid in the vast desert of level 0s!
So are the level 5s standing at the pinnacle of the pyramid? That's just a wrong conclusion that you made. Those who stand at the pinnacle of the pyramid are level 3s! The birds who are gracefully flying about in the sky are level 4s, and though they fly about in the air freely most of the time, there are situations when they fall into a sandstorm when wind blows. Far above this chaotic situation that can't be seen——located high up in the sky are the level 5s.
'Accelerator', 'Dark Matter', "Railgun', 'Meltdowner', 'Mental Out', 'eh, who's that no. 6? Well, forget about it' 'hm, that no. 7 who's said to be really powerful'— such a group of people are like the stars in the Big Dipper, so high above that we can't reach them.
Amongst them, there seem to be guys who have worked their way up the pyramid and among the stars, but they started off as level 1s and not 0s. That's right, a sandstorm can't become a bird even if it can clip one.
What's there to talk about a bunch of pitiful people who have drugs and electric signals inserted into their bodies and still can't even bend a spoon? They're just defeated mongrels.
But even mongrels can become a pack of wolves when gathered today. Today, let's talk about the legendary man who led the pack of wolves with their fangs pulled out, Kurozuma Wataru——
Hearing such a network broadcast, the youth with a nose ring on him——Hamazura Shiage clicks his tongue and says.
"What Kurozuma, damn it. It's Ritoku-san's age now."
This pirated broadcast is directly aired through all sorts of channels in all sorts of places like a cat-and-mouse game, and even in Academy City, it can be considered a form of entertainment.
The Skill Outs are divided into many groups, and though Hamazura's a member of a larger group, he doesn't even have a bit of power at all. Though he has the indecent talent of stealing cars, in Academy City, he--or rather, they were just treated completely as level 0s.
Hamazura cuts off the broadcast link as he praises his leader's name. As he said that, the surrounding level 0s all nod their heads and laughed as they agreed with Hamazura.
The bits of sand who'll knock the stars off kept being fearful of the existence of these beings that are treated as heroes as they continue to think that they are unable to be heroes, giving up on themselves.
Rewind to 10 seconds back--in a certain dorm, a girl is listening to this same pirated broadcast and clicks her tongue in disgust.
'What's there to talk about a bunch of pitiful people who have drugs and electric signals inserted into their bodies and still can't even bend a spoon? They're just--'
The girl cuts the broadcast here, and inside the dark dormitory room, one can only hear the sound of the computer being used.
"Damn it, why are they describing people as stars?"
Sighing at the 'star' comparison the broadcast raised, one of the 7 level 5 espers that Academy City's so proud of, Misaka Mikoto is grumbling softly about this stupid behaviour.
Behind her, another girl's growling angrily.
"That's really unbelievable, onee-sama! Onee-sama's not just a star! Onee-sama's a sun that shines warmly onto the earth and brings forth the seeds of hope for the life of tomorrow! And I'm the moon that accepts this radiance of the sky. Right now, this is a mysterious celestial performance of two, forming together like an eclipse GUAh HAHAHA!?"
"INSTEAD OF CALLING YOURSELF A CELESTIAL BODY, YOU MIGHT AS WELL CALL YOURSELF A PERVERT!"
Speaking midway through, Mikoto tucks the opponent's head underneath her armpit and performs a wrestling move. Shirai Kuroko's arms and legs are still twitching as she shows a happy expression while continuing to scream.
"AHH, AHHH! I CAN FEEL ONEE-SAMA'S TENDER ARMS, WAHH!"
Now increasing the force on her arms, Mikoto casually says out what she thought,
"Speaking of which, even espers will feel uncomfortable about the last part of the broadcast."
Saying up till here, she suddenly remembers a boy who calls himself a level 0.
"But maybe I can use that as a taunt."
While thinking of this as she continues to use the wrestling technique, while Kuroko's head starts to go purple--
Mikoto's head got grabbed onto by a certain small hand.
"Huh?"
Though she thought that Kuroko used teleport, she still continues to remain in that position as she fearfully turns around to look.
Over there, there's a person who walked in, looking over without any expression. The sophisicated lady with a round face is standing there.
"Lights out was 25 seconds ago and you're still here practising your wrestling techniques. How passionate, Misaka."
"Dorm mother."
The needles of ice that pierced throught Mikoto's back melted, causing cold sweat to come out.
"Hm, while you're training, let me remind you of the dorm rules and show you what real wrestling techniques are like."
"No, but, this...."
And several seconds later--
In the girls' dorm room, the girls' tragic cries of despair replace the broadcast as it airs throughout.
Main story
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