"What on earth is that?" Mikoto wondered aloud.
She stood dumbly in the middle of a rain-pelted street under the umbrella
she'd bought at the convenience store. A street on which—whether because
the final school closing time was past, the weather was bad, or some other
reason—nobody could be seen.
She'd been looking for Touma Kamijou, but it was late, the passing shower
had turned into something a lot more serious, and she was on the verge of
throwing her hands up, when suddenly, a group of buildings elsewhere in the
city crumbled into dust and dozens of giant, sharp, wing-looking things had
appeared.
Even for a supernatural ability, they were enormous. Could any ability even
do that in the first place?
Plus, a moment later the wings had done something like an electrical
discharge, which had obliterated part of the area just outside the city.
It was only "like" an electrical discharge—it wasn't actually one. Mikoto was
the most talented electromaster in Academy City. By her estimation, the power
hadn't used electricity.
But then, what was it?
The more it resembled electricity, the more trouble she found herself having
identifying it. Gradually, she started to realize that the scientific rules she'd
always believed in didn't apply here.
She tried to call Kuroko Shirai but didn't get an answer.
Calling the Judgment station and even Anti-Skill yielded the same result.
She felt like she'd been left behind in a terrible place. And she didn't know
why, but Academy City's peacekeeping functions had completely shut down.
Now there was this big monster. She found herself in a completely unexpected,
unreal situation, and now she stood stock-still, her umbrella open.
Then.
Someone, footsteps splashing through the puddles, passed by Mikoto from
behind. They were headed straight toward the distant monster. The girl was
soaking wet, running without any rain gear. Mikoto remembered her. She was
the sister always with Kamijou, the one with the pure-white habit.
"W-wait! What the heck are you doing here?! Can't you tell it's dangerous?!"
Mikoto reactively went after her and grabbed her arm.
"Get off of me!!" shouted Index without turning back. "I have to go. Hyouka's
there. I don't know why, but I have to stop it. That's my friend over there!!"
Her explanation didn't make sense—maybe the situation was too
overwhelming. Mikoto began to wonder if she was hysterical because of it, but
then another figure appeared to her.
"Touma!!"
Yes, it was Touma Kamijou.
He came around a bend about a hundred meters away and onto the main
road they were on. He didn't seem to notice them. His eyes, too, focused only
on the cluster of giant wings.
Having found the one she was looking for, Mikoto opened her mouth, but no
words came out.
Because despite finding someone she knew, Mikoto felt Index's resistance to
her turn explosive. She wrenched her arm away from Mikoto and shouted into
the heavy rain.
"No, don't, Touma! Please don't kill Hyouka!!"