A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 7 (5 page)

And that had been the reason for the kidnapping.

In other words, Kamijou would leave Academy City not because of the
Book of the Law
or Orsola—he’d leave just so he could rescue Index. Then he would
just happen
to run into people from Amakusa, and end up with no other choice but to fight them to save his friend. That would be the justification.

Index was from the magic side, of course, but Academy City and the English Puritans currently had a handful of deals with each other that placed her temporarily in the city’s hands. She
had
been entrusted to the city, so it wouldn’t be strange for a resident of that city (Touma Kamijou) to go help her.

“I understand most of what’s happening, but I’m still not convinced.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. You don’t have to be so roundabout with him. If you just asked him to help you, he’d do it. Even if it led somewhere dangerous, he’d definitely come to help. I guess that’s why it’s hard to ask him to do it, though.”

“…Is that so?” Stiyl gave a slight grin. It was the smile of a father listening to his young daughter talk about a boy she liked.

“So what happens from here? The
Book of the Law
and Orsola Aquinas have fallen into Amakusa’s hands. Are you saying we’re going all the way to their headquarters?”

There was now a note of seriousness in her voice—likely because with Touma Kamijou now involved, she wanted to collect every tidbit of information she could in order to decrease the danger.

“No, the situation has changed slightly.” Stiyl bitterly exhaled smoke. “Eleven minutes ago, the Roman Orthodox people clashed with the fleeing Amakusa members. It’s going to be a war to rescue Orsola.”

Index narrowed her eyes in thought.

He was probably using the cigarette smoke to communicate. Index had seen mana clinging to the thin strands of smoke on a few occasions already, and each time, the white smoke fluttered unnaturally
despite the lack of wind. Signal flares were a means of long-distance communication that were used all over the world during every time period. She knew of more than a few spells that used the concept originating in many different ages and countries.

“If they had succeeded, then I wouldn’t have needed to be here, would I?”

“That’s right. But they haven’t clearly failed, either. There were no deaths on either side, but apparently it was a chaotic battle. I’m not sure about the
Book of the Law
, but it seems that Orsola slipped away during the confusion.”

“She didn’t go back to the Roman Orthodox Church?”

“That’s what it would mean. And as she is currently missing, she may have even fallen back into Amakusa hands.”

“…That wouldn’t be good.”

Kidnappers used force to silence resistant hostages. If she had been grabbed a second time after already having fled, then who knows what they would do to her to exhaust her rebellious attitude?

That meant they didn’t have time to be waiting here. The scramble between the Roman Orthodox and the Amakusa for the runaway Orsola would be spreading as they spoke.

“I’d like Touma Kamijou to hurry up, too, but I can’t change the command I left for him at this point. I had wanted to meet up with him before the Roman Orthodox contact arrived, but…”

As Stiyl spoke, a figure appeared in one of the opened entrances to the great hall.

“…unfortunately, it looks like we, too, don’t have to wait for him before starting.”

The figure was their contact from the Roman Orthodox Church.

“I feel like I’ve been leaving the city a lot lately…It’d be nice if I could just relax and do some sightseeing,” muttered Kamijou as he walked down a road along the outer wall of Academy City. The outer wall was more than five meters high and three meters thick.

Still, I guess security’s lax because we’re in the middle of setting up for the Daihasei Festival.

He shot a glance over his shoulder at the entrance, now far behind him. The preparations were as large as the festival itself, with 2.3 million people participating, in addition to a lot of tradespeople from outside the city. Normally Academy City’s security was tight, but with the current situation, they had no choice but to loosen it. He had exit papers, but he felt like they hadn’t checked them as carefully as they usually did.

And so, with a little of this and a little of that, he left the cat with Maika Tsuchimikado and walked out of the city.

He checked his watch—it was past six. There was still almost an hour before the appointed time.

The Hakumeiza theater in question gave him a lot of trouble finding it. The names of abandoned buildings weren’t included on his cell phone’s GPS map. It made Kamijou think they were too quick to update. He had considered picking up a “slow-to-update,” faded Tokyo sightseeing guidebook on a convenience store shelf, but when he checked his pocket, his wallet wasn’t there. When he realized he must have forgotten it in his room because he’d left the city right after talking to Maika, he opened his eyes wide enough to cause the clerk to draw back a bit and decided to read it in the store.

Umm
…
So I take that street, then cross the big road over there
…
Ugh! I-I feel like I’m about to forget where it is. Man, Index has got some brain up there
…

Lost in thought, he saw a bus stop nearby. The Hakumeiza building site he was going to meet them at was about one kilometer away. He would have liked to take a nice, air-conditioned bus, considering he was exhausted after school, but unfortunately, he had no money.

Damn it
…
! Ah, doesn’t matter if it’s a bus or not—I just want to get somewhere air-conditioned.

The bus stop was small, with only two benches and an overhang to keep out rain. It looked like it was deteriorating, though—the plastic roof had all kinds of cracks in it.

Then, he noticed someone at the bus stop.

She looked like a foreigner—a woman about the same height as him. She was staring at the timetable signboard from super close, like she was about to devour the whole thing. From the way she was completely frozen like that, he considered she might not know how to read it.

And her clothing—what was she thinking in this heat?—was a jet-black habit, including, of course, long sleeves and a long skirt. Upon closer inspection, he saw lines of silver fasteners both around her shoulders and twenty centimeters above her knees, so she must have been able to take off both her sleeves and long skirt—but like an idiot, she was in full sister garb. She had a thin white glove on each hand, and he couldn’t see her hair. Her hood was different from the kind Index wore; it was a wimple that completely hid her hair and everything on her head but her face. By how easily the single piece of cloth concealed her hair, she probably had it cut short.

He gave her a sidelong glance and thought,
Hmm, it’s a sister
…
It couldn’t be some maniacal nun who Index knows, could it?

This was a bias that nuns throughout the world probably vehemently objected to, but Kamijou had run into all sorts of crazy people during his summer break, like Stiyl and Tsuchimikado. For him, a girl wearing a weird habit was someone to be careful around.

But…

“Excuse me…”

…the sister addressed him instead, beginning to speak in extremely polite Japanese.

“I beg your pardon, but will this bus take me to Academy City?”

Not only was it polite—it was weird.

Kamijou stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her again. All her skin but her face was hidden, but she was strange—she had quite a rousing chest and a slender waist. (Though depending on how you looked at it, they could seem purposely accented.)

“No, there are no buses going to Academy City.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“What I mean is, Academy City is cut off from outside transportation. So buses and trains don’t go there. Licensed taxis could bring you in, but it would be cheaper just to walk there normally.”

“I see. I understand. Is that why you came out of Academy City on foot, sir?”

The sister said that pretty smoothly, so Kamijou looked back, but he couldn’t see the gate from here. He looked at her again to see her rustling around in a sleeve, and then she brought something out. It was a cheap-looking opera glass. “I saw you from here,” she said with a smile.

Then, a rickety bus arrived at the equally rickety bus stop.

Its automatic doors opened with a
hiss
of air being released.

Kamijou didn’t have any intention to use the bus, so he decided to walk away from the bus stop a bit. He looked back over his shoulder to the sister and said,

“Anyway, you can’t get to Academy City just by going on a bus. If you have a permit, you can just walk to the gate. It should take about seven or eight minutes…”

“Well, well, I see. I am deeply grateful for your advice, despite how busy you must be.”

The sister in black smiled at him, bowed her head…

…and got right onto the bus.

“Wa…Hey! I just said not to take the bus like five seconds ago!”

“Oh, yes. You did, didn’t you?”

The sister swept up her long skirt in both hands and joyfully alighted from the stopped bus.

He continued. “Like I said, Academy City is cut off from all outside transportation. So buses and trains won’t go there. If you want to get into the city, then go walk through the gate, understand?”

“Indeed I have. I apologize for making so much trouble for you.”

The sister smiled painfully and bowed her head again to him, then turned, went up the steps, and began to disappear into the bus.

“Hold on!! You weren’t listening to a word I said! You were just smiling and nodding!!”

“What? No, I would never do anything like that.”

The sister once again joyfully got off the bus. The driver, looking annoyed, closed the bus’s automatic doors and floored it.

Kamijou looked at the nun as she absently watched the bus leave,
growing intensely worried. If he took his eyes off her for ten seconds, she’d probably get lost.

But the sister, entirely ignorant of his apprehensions, said, “Oh, it seems you are quite frustrated with something. Would you like a piece of candy, perhaps?”

“Look, I’m not really frustrated. Candy? What, is this orange flavored?”

He had taken the orange-colored candy without any hesitation and pretty much unconsciously. He couldn’t throw it away at this point, though, so he tossed it into his mouth.

Then…

“Ack, it’s bitter! What is this? It’s clearly not orange!”

She sighed. “I believe it is sour persimmon candy. I am not familiar with the details, but I hear it is good for when your throat is dry.”

“…Right, because it makes your mouth water. But that doesn’t mean anything if my body is low on moisture in the first place from walking around in this heat.”

“Oh, my. Are you lacking moisture? If you had but said something—I have some tea right here.”

“What? Did you just pull a magic bottle out of your habit sleeve? You know what, never mind. I think I’d actually really like that. What’s inside?”

“It is roasted barley tea.”

“Oh, I’ll have some!”

Kamijou was honestly delighted.
Ice-cold barley tea is perfect for the middle of summer
, he thought to himself idly as he took the cup lid of the magic bottle.

“—Ow, it’s hot! Why is it boiling?!”

She sighed again. “If I recall correctly, the people of this country appreciate hot drinks during the warmer seasons, don’t they?”

“What are you, my grandmother? You’re an old lady, aren’t you? I thought the way you were talking and acting was suspicious! You think exactly like an old lady, don’t you?!” shouted Kamijou, but the sister just stood there with a well-intentioned smile on her face.

He couldn’t throw away the cup she’d poured the tea into at this point, though. Trembling, he downed the magma-like liquid.

“…Thanks. Also, I’ve got a question for you. You said you wanted to go to Academy City, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Umm, I mentioned this before, but do you have a city-issued permit?”

“A…passport?”

This startled her, as he expected. You needed a city-issued passport to pass through Academy City’s gates. The reason didn’t need to be explained at this point.

After he told her that, the sister placed a hand on her cheek, worried. “Where might I be able to go so that I can acquire a permit?”

“…I’m sorry, but they won’t let a random person in no matter how hard you try. If you were a relative of a student in the city or a supplier bringing goods or materials, that would be one thing, but even they have to be investigated.”

“I see. Then I guess my only option now is to give up.”

The nun’s shoulders drooped dejectedly. She didn’t seem to want to back down, though—so perhaps Academy City wasn’t necessarily where she needed to go.

Unfortunately, this is something I can’t do anything about
…

He was stricken with a tinge of guilt, but suddenly he realized that the sister had said “good-bye” and had begun to walk toward Academy City’s gate.

“Get back here, you!! Didn’t you hear me?! You can’t go in without a permit!!”

The sister stopped and turned back as if the thought hadn’t crossed her mind.

Despite having been smiling in such a heartwarming manner the whole time, her face was now rapidly clouding over.

She seemed very worried about something, and he found himself daunted. In reality, sorcerers could jump over the walls and stuff at will even if they didn’t have permits, but it didn’t seem like she had such skills.

Nevertheless, there was nothing he could do for her right now. To get into Academy City, you needed to have a permit first and foremost. And he had Index to worry about, so he didn’t have the luxury
of wasting too much time here, either. Missing the specified time at the specified place was something he absolutely wanted to avoid.

“Hey. Why do you want to go to Academy City?”

The sister sighed once more and tilted her head a bit in worry.

“I am actually on the run right now.”