Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter1
Chapter 1
Part 1
Welcome, Kamijou Touma, to the colorful underground!!
Part 2
“Ugh.”
Only after hearing it did Kamijou Touma realize the groan had come from his own mouth. His blurry vision came into focus to reveal he was lying on his side.
His entire body ached.
The type of pain varied. An oozing pain made him intensely aware of his skin, a dull pain slowly spread through the core of his body, and a hot pain covered the swollen parts across his body. He could only count himself lucky that he did not feel that knife-sharp pain that refused to even be touched.
(Lucky, huh?)
It was an awful night. He was surrounded by the sweltering midsummer air and lying in a back alley that reeked of mold and urine while a smile appeared on his lips. If this was what he called “lucky”, then the average for him must have been at rock bottom.
He had learned something with his attempt here.
Taking on five at once did not work. He could handle three at the most. And then only when they had to approach him along a single narrow path. When they could attack him from several directions at once, it was hard to even see them all at the same time. There was nothing you could do unless you were a master swordsman who could dodge an attack from directly behind by sensing a presence there.
Nothing went the way he had hoped.
His uselessness frustrated him to no end. He had grown tired of the boring routine of everyday life and stepped off the rails in search of some excitement, but this was the result. It felt like he had been shoved back onto the rails by some powerful force.
This may have been the extent of the freedom allowed to a middle schooler.
While he lazily pondered that, he finally noticed something that did not fit the obvious result of his actions. Specifically, his cheek felt something far softer and warmer than asphalt. And a faint floral scent tickled his nose within the musty alley.
He wondered if the pain had been so great his brain had emitted a rush of endorphins.
But this illusion did not seem to be the type that his right hand could destroy.
“Good grief.”
Someone was there.
And quite close by. They were looking down at him from above. No, they were practically leaning over him.
They appeared to be older than him. For middle schoolers, a powerful barrier stood between them and high school. If he was told to separate the middle schoolers from the higher schoolers in the bustling shopping district of District 15, he was confident he could do it in five seconds. That was how great the difference was.
(A…girl?)
She had shoulder-length glossy black hair held back by a hairband that showed off her forehead and she had a beautiful face. Beautiful, not cute. She wore a short-sleeved sailor uniform, but either it was too short or her chest was too big because the rise and fall of those twin masses when she breathed tugged the cloth up enough to give a glimpse of her shapely navel. Much like the story of the North Wind and the Sun, she may have chosen a skimpier outfit after succumbing to the heat on this sweltering night.
She was way too close.
He could feel something warm and soft on the back of his head and he was looking up at her face while collapsed on the ground, which meant…
(A lap pillow!?)
“Bwah!? Wait, you- ow!!”
“Stay still. You won’t be able to move right away. You were pummeled from pretty much every direction.”
He frantically tried to get up, but his entire body was thrown into a vortex of agony. He froze up in a weird pose, so the black-haired beauty grabbed his shoulders and guided his head back to her lap.
He had done nothing to earn this.
And when he was given something for free, it scared him. You never knew what they would demand in return. …Of course, that worldview may have been the result of his constant misfortune.
On the other hand, that mystery person did not seem to mind.
But then again, she was a grownup girl(?) – one of those high school girls he had always dreamed of getting to know. Once a girl reached that level, they apparently did not grow flustered over something as simple as a lap pillow. It felt like seeing a businesswoman before Valentine’s day who focused on cost-performance by buying a box of processed cocoa products instead of worrying about romance or competition.
And with a large-chested older girl, even an exasperated sigh could sound sexy.
“I had heard rumors of a boy wandering this area and causing trouble, but you aren’t quite what I expected. I certainly didn’t think you were this stupid.”
“Who are you?”
“Are you sure you want me to tell you? There are some things you are better off not knowing.”
That suggestive refusal was immediately followed by a complete reversal.
This mystery high-risk girl was apparently going to drag him into this while knowing it was dangerous.
“I’m Kumokawa Seria. You can think of me as a high school girl who happened to be in the area.”
“…”
“Oh, and you don’t have to worry about those Skill Outs who attacked you.”
She made it sound so simple.
It was a hell of a thing to say about a group armed with collapsible batons and modified gas guns, but it was true there was no sign of them in this back alley. Yet the girl had no obvious cuts or bruises. Did that mean she had easily driven them away? That certainly fit the profile of the “Senpai” characters seen in dramas and movies, but how had a girl with such skinny arms and bare legs managed that?
There was only one possibility that occurred to the Level 0 boy (and it came with some jealousy).
“Are you an esper?”
“Only you would ask an Academy City student such a stupid question. Have you forgotten what the primary curriculum here is?”
Espers could create movement, fire, electricity, and vacuums with their minds.
With a high enough level, they could indeed make short work of so many opponents. After all, at the higher levels, it was said they did not need any kind of weapon to wield as much destructive power as a battleship gun. Even if a bunch of weak thugs gathered together and joined forces, they would be easily defeated. Coldly logical and coldly efficient – those were the rules that governed Academy City.
“You have the wrong idea.”
But his thoughts were overturned a moment later.
This high school girl named Kumokawa Seria apparently liked to confuse people.
She brushed the hair from her shoulder as she continued.
“We still live in the age of television.”
“?”
“The media power balance may collapse before long, but TV still remains strong. Anyone up to no good will flee when the cameras focus their way.”
He did not understand.
However, he could hear a woman’s voice coming from the well-lit main street where the bright lights and electronic signs allowed everyone to travel in peace. But this did not seem to be someone chatting on the sidewalk. Abdominal breathing? Proper enunciation? The methods he only really thought about during music class or karaoke were used to produce an artificially clear and carrying voice.
“The wait is finally over, everyone! L.S.S. presents the Street Corner Kitten Show! It’s time to take a stroll while searching for some cuties. Where are those kitties hanging out tonight, I wonder? Oh? Where did that one from before get off to? I have heard that there is a gathering spot for cute kitties between some of the buildings around here.”
There was a lot of motion out front.
Some bored onlookers must have gathered around the TV crew and the female reporter. It was true the villains (if you can call them that) who worked to maintain a reputation on the streets would not want their dumb mugs showing in living rooms across the city. And if the cameras caught them in the act, then they would have Anti-Skill after them.
“It may be that disease unique to middle schoolers,” said the high school girl while her large chest rose and fell slightly from her gentle breathing. “But everyone seems to judge weapons and esper powers based entirely on their direct usefulness in a fight. Academy City’s culture is said to be 30 years ahead of the outside world, but based on what I see here, I can only assume the entire planet will soon become a postapocalyptic wasteland of mohawks and motorcycles.”
Kamijou Touma thought she had a point.
Academy City was well ahead of the pack when it came to technology, but the brains of the people living there did not necessarily achieve the same standards. Greed, lust, and pride were what ruled the minds of the most intelligent lifeform on the planet. …And Kamijou was not about to claim he was an exception there.
Convenient tech led to depravity.
Would humanity always be struggling with the same issues, no matter how far technology progressed?
He could complain about depravity all he wanted, but what did it say that he could not even keep up with that degraded world? He could only smile cynically while covered in wounds and bruises.
He could not get anywhere on his own. He had not even decided on a destination.
“So they ran away because of the cameras?”
“Don’t just assume it was a coincidence.”
After a sigh of relief, something occurred to the boy.
“What about that girl!? Agh!!”
“Again, don’t force yourself to get up. You’ll only bring back the pain.”
He desperately tried to sit up, but he froze in place halfway up and the mystery high schooler pressed her finger against his forehead and returned his head to her lap.
“Ah, ow! Th-then what happened to that girl? Ghhh, what happened to the girl who they were attacking in the first place?”
That was it.
Kamijou Touma was not an idiot. Well, he was actually an idiot who liked to believe he was not, but even he had learned how to stay safe on Academy City’s streets. He was not reckless enough to enter a dangerous back alley and pick a fight with a bunch of armed delinquents for no reason.
Yes, he had a reason for it.
And that was what mattered now.
“Don’t tell me she just disappeared. Ow, dammit. They didn’t snatch her away during the confusion, did they?”
He had to force himself up now.
There had been a lame used car near the entrance of the alley.
The round light car meant for housewives had been decked out with wings and a modified muffler in an attempt to make it look manly. It was the obvious compromise of someone who wanted to rebel against society but could not rebel against the price tag. He doubted anyone but those delinquents would want to touch that thing. It was unlikely they would try anything as risky as dragging an entire person around with them, but it was still a possibility. If caught, those numbskulls would probably try to claim it was just a joke and they did not mean anything by it, even if that would not exactly explain why they were wielding a knife. Logic was not always the best predictor of what people like that would do.
However…
“Oh, you mean Mitsuari Ayu?”
“?”
“Wait, you rushed into danger and you didn’t even know her name? Can’t say I expected that.” Kumokawa placed a hand on her famous forehead and shook her head, but then she smiled. “But you can draw some conclusions from the fact that I managed to ask her her name, can’t you? Look, I can tell the pain is keeping you from thinking straight, so I’ll say that again: I managed to ask her her name.”
“You mean…?”
While still seated on the filthy ground with their faces so close their noses nearly touched, Kamijou moved just his head.
He was not sure if this qualified as a public road or private property, but the back alley was piled high with miscellany: a plastic trashcan, a rusty bicycle, and some cleaning tools that had practically become one with the grime.
Among it all, a stack of yellow beer cases shook slightly.
There was someone behind it.
“Uhh…”
The small face that finally poked out belonged to a girl even younger than Kamijou. The gap between middle school and high school was enormous, but the opposite was also true. She looked very young, but the spiky-haired boy could tell she was the same as him. She was probably in middle school.
She had fluffy chestnut hair and a slender build. Her chest size and her entire skeletal structure appeared to still be in the process of growing. She wore a short-sleeve blouse, a beige sleeveless sweater, and a dark gray miniskirt. He was pretty sure that was the uniform of some famous school or another, but he had no idea which one. She also had the nerve to wear a small (he assumed) brand-name bag over her shoulder despite only being in middle school.
There were tears in her eyes, her shoulders were tense, and her legs were pressed together and trembling.
On the other hand, her hair and clothing looked unmolested and she did not appear to have a scrape on her.
She was so unscathed that it actually confused Kamijou.
His awareness could not keep up with what he had done.
“You got between them and her and caused enough of a scene to gather attention and buy some time. Of course, you were probably lucky to buy even 10 minutes like that.”
It had not worked like a samurai movie where the hero could swing a sword around and cut people down in all 360 degrees or like a Western where everyone wanted to send their rival to their grave in a one-on-one quickdraw shootout.
All the boy had managed was to curl up in a ball to protect his vitals.
He had only managed to endure and endure while running down the clock.
However…
“But without those 10 minutes, I couldn’t have noticed what was happening and brought that TV crew here. Then Mitsuari Ayu here might have had her arms, legs, and mouth duct-taped up before she was thrown into the back of a car and driven away.”
Her tone said she refused to accept it.
But at the same time, the situation demanded that she say it.
And Kumokawa Seria said more under her breath after looking away from him.
“Well done, hero. I haven’t felt this excited in a while.”
Part 3
It was late at night, but it was still hot as hell.
The sun was not even out, but they were going to collapse from dehydration if they did not get inside somewhere.
On the other hand, the late-night food at a family restaurant was a little bit outside of a middle schooler’s price range. Ordering ordinary food would mean a bill of more than 1000 yen. At times like this, it was safer to visit a burger place that forever fought the good fight with burgers, fries, and coffee, each for less than 100 yen. The trick was to order individual items instead of going for the meals which looked like a good value but actually cost a fair amount.
The paper sheet on the plastic tray doubled as an advertisement: “Please consider making a donation to the L.S.S. Animal Protection Fund. Weekly donation plans start at just 200 yen – the price of a single ice cream!!” That did not do much to catch the interest of a middle schooler.
“Come to think of it,” said Kumokawa, who had only ordered a coffee and a chocolate pie. “I hear they’re ending their 24-hour service soon.”
“You’re kidding.”
The midriff-baring high school girl really was a grownup for coming to a fast food restaurant during such a hot night yet not ordering a soda. Kamijou had of course prioritized cost-performance by ordering a medium-size fries and the world’s most famous soda. Visiting a burger place and not ordering a burger was a fairly heart-pounding experience.
“If the burger places are shutting their doors, then the world must be ending. That seems less likely than the power being cut off to my dorm.”
He had not immediately returned to said dorm because he wanted to check on the bare minimum of things about that back alley incident.
Had it been a random attack, or was there more going on there?
He at least had to know that much.
He had put himself in danger to rescue a girl he had never met. It would all feel like a waste if she was kidnapped by those delinquents five seconds after they parted ways. It was a selfish reason, but he honestly did not want his own efforts to have been for nothing.
That was his own reasoning, so it had been a surprise when the fluffy-haired middle school girl named Mitsuari Ayu had gone along with it. If he had grabbed her skinny wrist and forced her to come with him, he would be doing exactly what those delinquents had been, so if she had refused to go with him, he could only have let her go.
When he climbed the narrow stairs to the no-smoking section on the second floor with his tray in both hands, a tremor ran down his spine. He had been careless. The air conditioning was stronger than he had thought.
“Munch, munch.”
The girl seated at the table was chowing down on the flimsy burger she held in both hands, so she must have had a ravenous appetite. Eating it that fast destroyed the usual cost-performance advantage of this place, but that may not have mattered to her. The part-timer at the counter had been flabbergasted upon seeing the limitless black card she had pulled from her brand-name bag.
“I thought that bag looked cheap for Tokiwadai, but I didn’t expect it to act as a cooler.” The mystery high school girl named Kumokawa Seria sounded somewhat exasperated. “And since it has a charging unit, is it actually refrigerated? Do you keep frozen treats and cold drinks in there? As hot as this night is, that kind of luxury wouldn’t even occur to most people.”
“Eh? That looks cheap???”
“Heh heh. Take your time and educate yourself, boy. You need to be careful when buying gifts.”
The girl had also pulled her normal phone and card from that ultra-luxurious brand-name cooler bag, so it may have had a chilled zone and a room temperature zone separated by insulation. He had heard that lithium ion batteries had trouble in the cold.
“Nhh!!”
The cheap sauce based on mustard and mayonnaise must have been too powerful a flavor for her because Mitsuari Ayu kicked her feet below the table while smiling happily. She did not seem at all aware that she was the topic of conversation.
That troublesome girl seemed ignorant of some basic rules such as holding the burger by the wrapper to keep your fingers clean. She made up for that by frequently licking off her slender fingers.
This did not look like someone enjoying an old favorite.
That smile was more like someone enjoying the unfamiliar tropical flavor of a banh mi or loco moco. Cooking some commercial curry with a bit of coconut milk mixed in might be enough to delight her.
The busty upperclassman high school girl (now there’s a powerful series of words!!) sat next to Kamijou and crossed her arms in a way that lifted her boobs from below.
“Oh, so she’s that type.”
“She’s what type?”
Kamijou looked puzzled and Kumokawa took a drink from her paper cup of hot coffee without adding any sugar or milk. Mature older girls apparently did not make a slurping sound.
“Boy, this is just how some girls are. This is probably going to take some work, but do not snap and cause a scene.”
“?”
He still did not get it, so maybe you needed to be a girl to figure this one out. Still, it looked like Mitsuari was willing to speak with them while she worked at the burger with a smile, so he focused on asking her what he wanted to know.
He did not want any more trouble.
He wanted to confirm that nothing else was going to happen, feel relieved, and head home so he could collapse into bed.
The mystery super high school girl was always the one initiating conversation, but he did not know where to start when speaking to a middle school girl. Speaking with his classmates made him nervous enough, but this was some rich girl from another school altogether.
There was no way he could come off as suave here.
He decided to make an attempt as if sending out sonar signals and reading the response.
“U-um, who were those people?”
“Munch, munch.”
“Did you run into them by random chance? I certainly hope they haven’t been stalking you for a while or something.”
“Wowwwww. Th-this is soda looks even more amazing than the rumors said. So this is that mix of powerful carbonation, artificial colors, and mystery sweetener.”
“And that uniform is for some fancy girl’s school, right? Don’t they have strict curfews? What were you doing out so late?”
“I will now partake in my first ever soda!! Gulp, gulp, gulp, nbh!? Uh, uhhhh, burp!? H-how indecent of me.”
She was not listening and had no intention of answering him.
And had that lovely girl just succumbed to the inner pressure of the carbonation and let a belch escape her mouth?
Pure Boy Kamijou Touma trembled as his hopes and dreams took a powerful blow from a sledgehammer, so Kumokawa placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. The soft hand of an older girl acted like glue filling in the cracks in his hopes and dreams.
The busty black-haired high school girl whispered in his ear with her long legs crossed below the table.
“She never intended to speak with you. She only wanted to get a meal out of you and leave. Her type only ever has fancy French cuisine and tea to eat and drink, so junk food like a burger must have sounded like a very attractive offer.”
“Huh!?”
Now was not the time to be soothed by the high school girl’s hand on his shoulder and breath in his ear.
He nearly shot to his feet, but she held him firmly in place.
“Like I said, don’t get mad. Eating what she can and then leaving is a standard strategy for a girl who has no actual interest in you. It looks like putting yourself in danger to save her wasn’t enough for her to open her heart to you. I can see how someone like her might anger those low-IQ thugs.”
“Y-you mean?”
He did not want the answer.
He had a very bad feeling about this, like he had taken the bag containing his New Year’s money – which should be his biggest source of income in the year – and only feeling the hardness of perhaps a 500-yen coin instead of a soft paper bill.
The black-haired forehead girl looked utterly exasperated.
Perhaps to deal with her own stress, she bit a small piece off the end of her chocolate pie to get some sugar in her.
“Munch. I imagine something similar happened before you came running. You saw that ugly car outside the alley, didn’t you? Her pure upbringing probably left her curious about the world of junk cars, so she asked those thugs all sorts of questions that sounded an awful lot like compliments. Right up until she had had enough. They probably thought they could offer her a drive and take her home with them, but then she smiled and said goodbye. Then they snapped.”
Kamijou wanted to hold his head in his hands.
Then what was the point of all that pain filling his body? It was more than half Mitsuari Ayu’s fault, wasn’t it!? …Of course it was still about 30% the fault of those idiots who could not handle a bit of teasing.
“Um, they did not provide chopsticks or a fork, so am I supposed to eat these nuggets with my fingers just like the burger and fries? Is everything here finger food? How fun.”
Meanwhile, fluffy-haired Mitsuari Ayu could not stop smiling.
She probably was not even hungry, but she still showed no interest at all in their conversation.
“Munch, munch. Hm, these are chicken fried in oil, yet they are nothing like karaage. The flavor changes a lot with ketchup and mustard. A-are they only meant as separate flavors? Would I be breaking the rules to attempt a forbidden mixture of the two?”
“Hey, wait! Not the mini salad! Don’t eat that with your fingers!!”
“Hm? Why not?”
That question was not even worth answering, so he just strongly reiterated that she was not to do it. The girl in a prestigious school’s uniform wrinkled her refined brow in response. It looked like she disliked having an odd-man-out to the finger food category. If left to her own devices, she may have tried eating the corn potage and ice cream cup with her hands as well.
“If you insist, I suppose I can do things your way today. I hope you are thankful how accommodating I am being here.”
While complaining (in an incredibly condescending way), Mitsuari reached into her bag and pulled out a multitool bearing a Swiss maker’s logo. The blade was made of practical gold made stronger by mixing in some titanium. That was probably the world’s most expensive tool that could be called a fork or a can opener. It might be more expensive than the big-screen HD TV or concept model PC displayed at the front of an electronics store.
The grip shined with a glossy pink resembling painted nails and the blade was gold, so it was clearly custom-made but still not at all in line with Kamijou’s tastes. If someone handed him shoes in that coloration, he might suspect it was some kind of punishment game.
The fluffy-haired girl mixed up the packaged salad with that super-fancy fork (that looked a little too small for practical use).
“I always hesitated to come here since I did not know how to order at the counter, but now I have no reason to hesitate. I can do it on my own next time. I will be leaving once I finish this.”
“You ate and drank all that and the only time you responded to anything I said was asking why you couldn’t eat the salad with your fingers? Are all middle school girls this impossible to deal with!?”
“Don’t act above it all, boy. You are a middle schooler too.”
“This is about the difference between the boys and the girls! I can’t even hold a freaking conversation!!”
“She is being difficult, I’ll give you that. She also seems interested in the grittier side of the world, so maybe it would be a good life lesson for her if we wrapped packing tape around her and left her overnight in a bathroom around here. Like a park bathroom.”
The large-chested upperclassman was in a wild mood.
Her odd excitement may have been due to the coffee’s caffeine.
The darker side of a high school girl was peeking out instead of staying hidden in the restroom or break room. The unexpected attack left Kamijou trembling.
But anyway.
If this had all been caused by Mitsuari Ayu leaving herself more defenseless than an armpit in a sleeveless China dress, then the situation was actually extremely simple. If she was not being targeted by some grand conspiracy, then he did not need to do anything more for her.
“Senpai.”
“Yes?”
“What school is she from? I know that uniform is from some famous place.”
“Tokiwadai Middle School – one of the prestigious powers development schools in the School Garden on the southern end of District 7. The students there are all monsters since you have to be at least Level 3 to attend.”
“Where are its dorms?”
“They have one inside and one outside of the School Garden. But we’re talking about someone sheltered enough to go with a strange boy who promised her nothing more than a burger that costs less than 100 yen, so I seriously doubt she lives outside that no-boys-allowed zone.”
“Then this is all over once we get her back to that…School Garden place?”
Mitsuari finally looked up from the food she was eating.
That girl wearing the uniform of…Tokiwadai was it? made a clear statement.
“That would be a problem.”
“Oh, shut up. It’s time someone got after you for sneaking out at night to have fun. I don’t want to babysit you, you know? But who knows how much trouble you can get yourself into before reaching your dorm if we just let you go here.”
The fluffy-haired girl sighed softly and pulled something from her short skirt’s pocket.
She placed a phone on the table, but it had been given a more powerful camera with an attachment. It seemed to use a wider angle lens than was standard.
“Mental Stinger.” She gently whispered the name of a strange power. “Tokiwadai students must have at least a Level 3 power. Yes, at least. Did you really think some catcallers on the street could get the better of me?”
Kumokawa sighed.
“Oh, not Mental Out? What a disappointment.”
“Kiiii!!”
Powers or not, that multitool knife in her hand looked dangerous enough.
“I was afraid that power might have been mass-produced, but I guess that isn’t possible.”
“Stop, Senpai. I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but don’t provoke the girl holding a knife!! Just think how sad the Swiss craftsman would be if something happened!!”
He did not know what she could do or how much she could do with it, but the name was enough to guess it was some kind of psychological power. This would have actually been easier if she could shoot fire from her hand or buff her muscles.
But Kamijou was curious about something else as well.
“I don’t get what’s going on, but why did you pull out your phone while bragging about your power?”
“H-hmph. That isn’t obvious? I control my powers by aiming the camera lens at whoever I want to targ-”
He did not even wait for her finish her explanation.
He instantly snatched up the phone sitting in front of him. When Mitsuari leaned out over the table in a panicked attempt to take it back, Kumokawa grabbed her skinny wrist and lightly twisted it.
“Wha-, ah!?”
She struggled in vain.
In Kamijou’s opinion, being well-versed in the art of self-defense pushed an older girl another step up on the attractiveness scale.
It made them even more untouchable or out of reach.
He made sure that Mitsuari’s ultra-convenient refrigerated bag of cold ice cream and drinks and her very Swiss multitool were not knocked from the table in the struggle.
The night-shift part-timer must have been accustomed to trouble because they showed no sign of panicking. They pretended not to notice while continuing their lazy job of mopping the floor (which a robot could probably handle just as easily). Kamijou really wished he could live his life like that.
“N-no fair! You can’t just steal people’s possess- ow, ow, ow, ow!!”
“There are two kinds of people who come out and explain how their power works: liars trying to sow confusion, and complete dumbasses. Now, which one is more likely from a sheltered young girl?”
“Kiiii!! H-how dare you call me a, uh, dumbbutt for simply answering the question I was asked!!”
“This is quite something for how condescending you were being earlier.”
“You’re being more condescending than I ever was!!”
Mitsuari belatedly started protesting while the pressure on her upper body squished the flat chest of her sleeveless sweater against the table, but Kamijou and Kumokawa could only sigh in exasperation.
She was red in the face, had tears in her eyes, and sounded out of breath.
When her defenses were this poor, it almost felt like some sort of sex appeal.
Although saying so would be nothing but an insult to her.
Kamijou looked shocked after perpetrating something as scummy as stealing a girl’s phone.
“Wow, she’s defenseless.”
“Which is why those morons got the wrong idea. She didn’t even try to keep her short and fluttering skirt under control when climbing the stairs earlier. The way she shakes that little butt around makes her something like a walking powder keg.”
Kamijou updated his opinion of her to “the kind to fall into a pit of fear while riding a packed train”.
The fluffy middle school girl must have still been in her rebellious phase because she kicked her legs to no avail while forcibly held down on the table. The view from the front suggested that short skirt was doing very little to hide the butt sticking up on the other side. And if this were the back alley, there would be no one around to put a stop to it. There were no refs in real fights and there were no ropes surrounding the ring like in professional wrestling. Once you were caught, it was over. Pins and joint locks were a hundred times scarier than flashy but simple punches and kicks. In a one-on-one clash, their head-on blow might break your nose or knock out a front tooth, but it was said you had a better chance of winning if you left yourself unguarded in order to pin them down.
Judo, sumo, Muay Thai, wrestling, and aikido.
Setting aside debates over which would be the most frightening to run across on a dark street, they were all plenty dangerous. When a documentary described a country’s military hand-to-hand technique, it was usually based on a martial art with a focus on grabs and throws as opposed to punches and kicks. And in the countries or regions without a good local example, judo was often imported from the Far East.
As long as the joint was pinned at the optimal angle, there was no real need to use much force.
“Kicking your legs isn’t going to accomplish anything,” scoffed Kumokawa Seria. “Except make your underwear ride up, I guess. You don’t want that happening when you don’t have a hand free to fix it, do you?”
“Uhh…”
The middle school girl’s struggling finally stopped.
But since her hips were wiggling while she pursed her lips and blushed, things may indeed have been uncomfortable inside her skirt. It was the same phenomenon seen in girl’s swimsuits during pool class.
Kamijou Touma casually waved the phone in the face of the pinned and tearful fluffy girl.
“I’ll be escorting you home.”
Part 4
You did not use a cellphone for things like this.
They were convenient pieces of technology, but they were also full of personal information.
Thus, you should use an old-fashioned payphone. It was best to use one in some forgotten place where there were no security cameras nearby.
People were easily captured even after going to the trouble of leaving their home and sending the threatening email from an internet café a few subway stops away. That was thanks to the security cameras that kept track of who was using each booth and moving through the café’s aisles. You could not get away with anything just because it was a public space that received a lot of traffic.
You had to hide your face and be careful about fingerprints and hairs so you did not leave behind any trace.
Whether the evidence was physical or digital, you had to keep in mind that you were breaking the law or you could not ensure your own safety. The checklist needed to avoid Anti-Skill’s forensic investigation was a long one, but if you decided you could not accomplish everything on the list, you should not stoop to criminal activity in the first place.
Crime was crime.
If you could not escape being caught, you would be punished.
“That’s right,” said the person who pushed aside receiver’s curly cable with his gloved fingers.
That was just how careful he had needed to be when entering this phonebooth. He had to speak with someone located elsewhere and discuss things they could not allow to be discovered.
“The back-alley brats I paid off failed to accomplish anything. Making this look natural is no longer possible. The Wyvern should work, so once the cargo arrives, I will settle this myself.”
A skeptical voice spoke over the heavy receiver.
He had expected this, but when hesitation over a small risk would only lead to the risks snowballing out of control, it was best to nip that death spiral in the bud. It was too late to panic once the point of no return had already passed.
“Yes, that’s right. I want to do something before the package enters the School Garden. This will become much harder if that happens. So contact the cargo deliverers immediately. Drones? No, those would be useless with all the unexpected gusts of wind and updrafts created by the buildings. Yes, that is why I will guide it with my bow. So you only need to get the cargo to me. I can handle the precise adjustments on site.”
Part 5
They began pouring with sweat as soon as they stepped outside.
They were all wearing short-sleeved summer uniforms. However, this had more to do with the excessive air conditioning in the burger place than it did with the sweltering night created by the heat island effect of a metropolis like Tokyo. It had been chilly enough for their spines to tremble when they stepped inside and it had altered their standards without them noticing.
“Man, it’s hot,” said Kamijou.
“I understand the urge, but don’t mess with the fire hydrants around here,” said Kumokawa.
“I don’t want a shower that badly!!”
“Phew, I think I need to take a long bath tonight. Especially after eating that extra food.”
“Why?”
“Girls have our reasons. It’s primarily about washing away the sweat, but only an ascetic monk at a Buddhist temple can maintain their weight through nothing more than eating in moderation and exercise.”
The beautiful older girl apparently put some effort into maintaining her body. She was a very different person from wild Kamijou who just ate and slept when he wanted.
The trains and buses stopped running when the school curfew went into effect, but there were still plenty of private cars and motorcycles on the roads. It looked like taxis and motorcycle couriers were doing good business and the large trucks and tanker trucks were just as busy at night as they were during the day.
Kumokawa held her skirt down against the wind caused by a large truck with the L.S.S. corporate logo on the side driving by. The glorious being that was a high school girl was very different from some old man who walked bowlegged up the train station stairs. Her casual mannerisms did not feel at all unpleasant and in fact seemed weirdly sexy. …Why the excessive detail on this subject? Because that was what drew Kamijou Touma’s eye!!
Meanwhile…
“Phew.”
Mitsuari sighed after walking out ahead a bit.
Her actions contained a dangerous naivete very different from Kumokawa’s upperclassmanly ones.
Showing that fluffy girl back to the School Garden where Tokiwadai Middle School and its dorm were located was the quickest method here, but she would occasionally stop, reach into her skirt, and do something in the buttocks area. It was weirdly alluring despite her immature body, so Kamijou was unsure where to look. It seemed more like she was reaching there without thinking instead of doing anything on purpose.
But what was she doing?
Kamijou grew incredibly uncomfortable while he tried to figure out where to look, but more mature Kumokawa spoke up in his stead.
“Hey, how long is it going to take you to fix your underwear? Adjusting it once should be enough. This is embarrassing to watch.”
Mitsuari realized what she was doing once it was stated that bluntly.
She frantically held the butt of her skirt with both hands, blushed bright red, turned around, and snapped back at Kumokawa.
“Y-you’re the one that did this to me!!”
“All I did was pin you to the table. It was you who pointlessly kicked your legs until your underwear rode up in the crotch. You only have yourself to blame.”
Angry Mitsuari pulled out her phone, so Kamijou snatched it from her grasp while Kumokawa grabbed her arm and pinned her to the sidewalk.
“Bgyuh!?”
“Senpai, what kind of move was that? An Anti-Skill technique?”
“It’s my own personal style. That muscular style of martial arts is beyond my abilities.”
The scariest aspect of esper powers was the great variety of supernatural phenomena that could be produced from the mind. It went beyond a soccer player letting the ball slip past them. Oftentimes, it was too late by the time you even realized you had been attacked.
So having a visual trigger like this was convenient.
Tokiwadai Middle School students had to be at least Level 3. Kamijou did not know the details of the Mental Stinger power, but using it while the target was within arm’s reach was basically suicide.
“Ah, hey!? Wait, my skirt!”
Kumokawa twisted the girl’s arm behind her back and pressed her soft cheek and growing chest against the ground. Kamijou was surprised to find how oddly sexy it was to see a rich girl crawling on the ground in defeat. It probably helped that she could not support herself with her hands, so her butt stuck up in the air, leaving the color of her panties as visible as could be.
“Black, huh?” commented Kumokawa. “Is that the Silk Spider by Morgan & Claudia? I’m a little annoyed that that’s the movie limited edition.”
Kamijou was unsure what part of that was the brand name, what was the product name, and why there would be limited editions. Girls lived in a strange world. At this point, he would not have been surprised to learn there were also high-mobility and one-of-a-kind versions.
The pointy-haired boy tried to find somewhere else to look, but Kumokawa showed no mercy.
“Yeah, I was right. In fact, it’s riding up even more than I thought. How did this even happen? Does underwear ride up more easily depending on the shape below?”
“Gwah! Please stop talking about the shape!! Why are you looking that closely!?”
“Take a look here and tell me what you think, boy. The crotch doesn’t normally bulge out quite this much, does it? Ha ha ha. And check out this mole here.”
“Stop trying to trick me into looking! I won’t look and you can’t make me!! So you can rest easy, Miss Red Ribbon Bows Given Spiderwebby Accents With Black Lace!!”
“You’re clearly looking enough to pick up on the basic design concept! I’m going to jab my fingers through your eyes and scrape out the brain cells containing those horrifying memories, liar boy!!”
She was past trying to rely on her Mental Whatever power.
At this point, it felt less like they had rescued the girl and more like they had taken over the sexual harassment right where the delinquents had left off. It was enough to make Kamijou blush even brighter than Mitsuari herself.
“Keep this up and I’m pretty sure it’ll haunt my dreams, so let’s stop here, Senpai!!”
“How thoroughly were you burning all of that into your memories!?”
He turned his head away to keep himself from looking and waved his hands while begging the upperclassman girl to release her.
“Well, if you insist.”
As soon as Kumokawa released the twisted wrist, Mitsuari hopped up fast enough to stir up the sweltering night’s air and tried to swipe her phone away from Kamijou, so the self-defense lady had to pin her down again.
“Have you learned you lesson?”
“Heh heh. I have, I have!!”
They could no longer take her at her word, so Kumokawa Seria smushed the girl’s face into the world’s ugliest pig face and snapped a photo with her own phone. Once they had some photographic insurance, they finally released her.
Just to be safe, Kamijou removed the battery and external lens from Mitsuari’s phone and returned the separated parts one at a time.
“The School Garden, huh? I didn’t realize we had a dimension of girliness right here in District 7. I live here and I’ve never been there.”
“Of course you haven’t. It wouldn’t be much of a no-boys-allowed zone if they let in people like you.”
So it was a restricted area.
Academy City had 23 districts in all, but unlike the large shopping district that was District 15 or the aerospace-focused District 23, District 7 was – for better or for worse – known for being a nondescript mishmash of things. The population density and level of development was also a mixed bag. It was bustling with energy in the busier places, but it was entirely deserted in the emptier places.
Things grew quieter as the three of them walked together.
It even felt like the night’s heat had suddenly gone away.
They were approaching a collection of prestigious girl’s schools and the atmosphere would be ruined if modified motorcycles were roaring around all the time, but Kamijou still grew more and more timid.
It was not that there were no buildings around.
Nor was it getting any darker.
But it still felt like there were fewer and fewer people around with each step they took. It may have been like the difference between a school during the day and at night. No, like the difference between a school in use and one that had been long abandoned. The actual city around them had not changed, but the altered atmosphere made it look entirely different.
Perhaps you could call it an omen.
To be blunt, Kamijou Touma did not have the sharpest instincts. He would not notice anything was amiss right up until the surprise party crackers went off all around him. Even though there was nothing he could do to change things without sensing the preparations being made around him.
So this was not a testament to some sixth sense of his.
It was more like the threat lurking below the surface had finally taken tangible form.
“Grr.”
They all stopped when they heard something unbelievable.
“Wh-what?”
Fluffy-haired Mitsuari took a step back and bumped into Kamijou.
It may have been an instinctive attempt to distract herself from the fear.
Something was up ahead on this road with too few streetlights, but it was not something that should exist in a concrete and asphalt metropolis. In fact, it should not have been found in the zoo or even in the depths of the Amazon.
Tigers and killer whales had no natural predators, but this intimidating presence would cause even them to turn tail and flee.
It was an animal.
Kamijou felt like his legs were going to give out. He had yet to see the whole thing, but the intense gaze piercing him contained the kind of killer intent that a mechanical camera lens could never reproduce.
It was watching them.
It was hunting them.
“Ah.”
He finally noticed a glint of light in the darkness. No, there were two arranged side by side. They had to be eyes. They reminded him of a cat’s eyes, but he had not noticed them until now because he had been looking at his own eye level.
These were much higher.
He had to tilt his head up to see those glowing eyes at the same height as a three-story building.
What was that? Not even a tiger on its hind legs or an elephant known for its giant body were that tall. Could it be a giraffe since they were made to have elevated heads? No, the eyes were too far apart for that. This head was bigger than that. Also, the eyes were not positioned on the sides of the head to expand the visible range in order to detect danger, as was common with herbivores. These eyes were positioned on the front of the head for the depth perception needed to judge the distance from one’s prey, as was common with carnivores.
This should not have been possible.
He could flip through an animal encyclopedia all day and never find an answer.
A tremor shook the ground.
It took him a moment to realize that was an excessively large footstep. And the threat went beyond the legs. He also heard something like large sheets beating at the air. The silhouette came into focus as the creature approached them.
It was large enough to rival a three-story building in height.
It looked something like a bipedal carnivorous dinosaur.
That was shocking enough to make his heart skip a beat, but it did not end there.
Thin, bat-like wings spread out from its back.
And with the sound of oxygen being sucked in, an orange glow flashed near its enormous maw. Almost like the sparks at the end of a flamethrower.
“A…”
That clinched it.
He knew the answer now, but the name that came to mind was unbelievably unrealistic.
That silhouette was covered in slimy green scales like a lizard.
He had never imagined his knowledge from fantasy video games would come in handy here.
“A dragon!!!???”
He did not understand.
But a moment later, that great maw opened wide and fire burst out in a straight line as if from a flamethrower.
