View source for Toaru Majutsu no Index:Endymion Chapter1

===Part 1===

A city existed on the west side of Tokyo that took up one third of the metropolis’s area.

It was known as Academy City.

That city of science was a collection of cutting edge technological knowledge. It was the central point of a powerful influence on the entire world using the interests, predominance, and certain sort of trust and faith that reside in the keyword of “science”.

Eighty percent of the residents were students.

For that reason, the city was made to push an image of safety and trustworthiness to the forefront, but information was strictly controlled below the surface. Many systems were laid out throughout the city in the name of preventing the approach of any terrorists or spies, be they industrial or working for a nation’s government.

One area of the city had an especially strong focus on that side of things.

In that area, a Western man arrived at a “multi-story inn” meant for sightseers from outside the city.

“I try not to be surprised by much, but this is just insane.”

On the outside, it looked like a standard rectangular building.

But the interior was mysteriously constructed so that each floor contained an entire one-story high class Japanese inn, garden and all. It was similar to several dioramas of Japanese buildings stacked on top of each other.

The design may have been created due to a lack of land or it may have been that common sense in Academy City was as different from the rest of the world as its technology was.

Either way, the man from outside the city simply could not get used to seeing it.

After making sure the middle-aged waitress who had shown him to his room had left, the man pulled out a small computer. Without worrying about security or the risk of being traced, he connected to the network by plugging a cable into the port supplied in the room.

As he downloaded a few files stored online, the voice chat sign lit up.

He clicked to connect and a calm female voice came through.

“Did they get through?”

“I’m doing it now.” The man frowned slightly. “When you told me the download password, you should have specified whether the letters were uppercase or lowercase. If I hadn’t noticed and entered it wrong too many times, I would have been locked out.”

“Surely you know this is not my area of expertise.”

“There is such a thing as being too ignorant.”

He knew saying that would solve nothing, but he said it anyway.

And as he expected, the woman showed no sign of caring.

“I followed your instructions,” she said. “I doubt Academy City will detect it like this. The internet is convenient, but ''they'' completely control that field.”

“Academy City naturally monitors all data in the name of catching industrial spies. If you fill normal text with dangerous code words, their equipment can analyze it immediately.” The man opened the files that had finished downloading. “But that is only for ''their'' field. They know very little about the magic side. This city has been thoroughly optimized. If you try to hide it, they will certainly find it. Trying to sneak around like that will only get you caught faster. That is why you should not even try to hide it.”

The files contained a few different diagrams.

They were a type of magic circle.

With Academy City’s printing equipment, they could be quickly mass produced without destroying the magical symbols.

“Those circles were not mentioned in the meeting with ''them''.”

“I doubt their lukewarm methods will be enough.”

The Western man accessed a map site and looked up a few photo studios. The arrival of digital cameras had put all of them in a crisis situation, but the man wanted their developing and printing equipment to accurately produce the magic circles he was going to use.

Naturally, the circles were a secret matter, so he would have to temporarily turn the printing technician into a puppet.

“If I try to do something within Academy City, I will eventually be caught. That means I need to construct a plan where it is too late for them by the time it has been revealed. If I act while taking some losses into consideration from the beginning, I can achieve a certain level of freedom even within this optimized city.”

“Just to be sure you know: it is possible you will not be able to return alive even if our goal is achieved.”

“I have worked that into my plan as well.”

“…”

“And it has been given tacit consent. Not by Academy City, but by our higher ups. We do not want the balance between magic and science to collapse. Everyone is aware that problem is much more important than the official reasons given. For that reason, I expect this situation will not be as bad as they say. Still, I doubt it will be so easy that I escape unharmed.”

After retrieving all the information he needed for the magic circles, the Western man disconnected his computer from the network.

He then headed for a photo studio.

The worker at the studio was an ordinary person, but he or she would end up being involved in magic even if only slightly. No matter how careful the man was, some risk remained that this person would become further involved in that hidden portion of the world.

But the man continued on regardless.

This showed just how urgent the situation was.

“…I’ll make you pay later for forcing me to carry out this kind of dirty work.”