Kamijou and Index ran through the streets in the downpour.
Kamijou was worried about Mikoto behind them, but he would probably only
hold her back. He forced his mind from her and looked ahead.
As he did, Index, running beside him, asked him, "Hey, Touma, why is the city
so quiet? Besides Hyouka, I kind of feel a flow of mana!"
"Yeah, it's quiet because everyone's probably unconscious. Because of the
sorcerer who got into the city! I'd like to know how her attack works, too. And if
there's a way to heal them!!"
He summed up the occurrences in Academy City. Index fell silent after hearing
it and looked down in thought.
As her feet plodded over the rain-pelted road, she looked back up. "I think…
it's probably divine punishment."
"What?"
"It's using a certain emotion as the key. It takes down anyone who has that
emotion, no matter how far away they are! That's why it's divine punishment,
like from God. Basically, no matter who or where they are, they won't be
forgiven for spitting on the Lord!" Index continued. "Touma, did you see the
sorcerer acting in a certain way? Like trying to guide you to a specific emotion
more than she had to?!"
A specific emotion. Kamijou thought back to his confrontations with Vento of
the Front.
Her words and actions, purposely provoking.
Her makeup and body piercings, purposely creating a sense of revulsion.
Her many attacks, purposely fired at civilians with nothing to do with
this.
Vento could have had her own reasons—or more likely, there was a magical
meaning to them—but it was possible her role aside from that was to make him
feel a certain way. Which meant the emotion had to be…
"Disgust…No, hostility or malice? Could that be the trigger for the divine
punishment spell?!"
If she had an attack like that, Vento would be nearly invincible. Nobody would
be able to stand in her way. Just considering the thought would trigger the
spell.
As Vento had tried to go through the gate to Academy City without
permission, Anti-Skill, who protected the city's peace, had tried to stop her. The
other officers had been informed via radio they'd been taken out—and then the
whole city saw it on the news after that.
"I think there are stages of the divine punishment spell depending on their
hostility! Like making them unconscious, binding their flesh, or blocking outside
interference. But whatever stage you get, it's over by then. Until the sorcerer
decides they don't need it anymore, I don't think those people will ever get
better!!"
That's why everyone collapsed.
Not even just in Academy City anymore. It could be happening outside the
city—and with news broadcast to Japan or the rest of the world, the damage
could be spreading. Aside from them, in groups and agencies cooperating with
Academy City, they could have automatically gotten notice of it and seen
victims.
But…
"Is that even possible? Is sorcery really just that convenient to use?!"
"Not normally! There's nothing about it in my 103,000 grimoires. But this is
the only way to explain what's happening! …I know it sounds crazy. Divine
punishment is just that—punishment meted out by the heavens. There's no
way regular people could do it!!"
But Vento had. Was that simply the power of God's Right Seat?
"That bastard—so that's how she…!!"
"Wait, Touma! If this is all true, don't tell me about the sorcerer at all! My
Walking Church doesn't have its papal-class defenses right now. Unlike you, the
spell could affect me, too!!"
"Oh," said Kamijou, quickly shutting his mouth.
Not even Index could defend against Vento's divine judgment spell. As long as
there wasn't an exception like Imagine Breaker, Vento could crush anyone if
that condition was met. And Index was someone who specifically fought
sorcerers who hurt people.
Either way, if there was no way to heal them, there was no point sticking to
the topic. Kazakiri came first right now.
Maybe Index knew about that, too—she'd even exposed Vento's divine
judgment spell. "What about Kazakiri…the angel? She'll be all right, won't she?!
We can still save her, right?!"
"Well…"
"Shit, why did that thing show up now?! Is it related to the divine judgment in
the city?! Why is it clearly an angel and not just a simple phenomenon going out
of control?!"
"I don't know!!" shouted Index in denial, which was unusual given that she
had memorized 103,000 grimoires by rote. And yet that had to be an angel,
something from the magic side, out there in the distance.
"…It looks and works a lot like the ones from the grimoires in my head, at
least. But the parts it's using are all over the place, and I've never seen any of it
before! It's like looking at a mural with letters you don't know on it. The picture
shows basically what's happening, but you can't figure out the culture or
mental state of the person with it!!"
"…"
The most frustrated was probably Index. She was the "index" of forbidden
books meant to solve these problems, after all.
"At the very least, I can tell that the core commanding the angel is
somewhere else, but…"
"So even you can't figure it out…"
Hyouka Kazakiri was made out of involuntary diffusion fields.
That very foundation contained supernatural ability research and cuttingedge scientific technology. And if Index couldn't deal with those, then she
couldn't take any countermeasures against this angel.
As Kamijou and Index ran, they continued their conversation, driven by
impatience enough that they didn't worry about the downpour.
"What about you, Touma? Do you know anything about how Hyouka's angel
works?"
"Not really…"
It was easy to say it uses involuntary diffusion fields. But he couldn't explain
how that worked. Everyone knew cars ran on gasoline, but very few could
actually draw up a blueprint for one.
…Isn't there anyone who knows more about this than me? Someone on a
college-professor level who could draw a "blueprint" like that while humming to
themselves…?
But Kamijou didn't have any adult or scientist contacts like that. He was about
to curse when a single person came up in his mind.
"Miss Komoe!!"
Back at the beginning of September when Sherry attacked the underground
mall, she'd figured out Kazakiri's identity just by his story. She would know a lot
about involuntary diffusion fields.
Her phone number was still in his cell phone from when he called her back
then. As he ran through the rainy streets, he immediately contacted his
homeroom teacher on his phone.
But…
"What's the matter, Touma?"
"Shit!!"
She wasn't picking up. Maybe she'd fallen victim to Vento's attack, or maybe
there was some other reason she couldn't use her cell phone right now. No
matter how long he waited, she didn't pick up.
Out of options…!! Kamijou clenched his teeth and started scrolling through his
contacts list. But all the entries were students. Nobody here would know more
than Miss Komoe about—
"!!"
Kamijou immediately called the bottom number in his list. It was the newest
number he'd added.
And the name was…
"Misaka!!"
"Gah!! Wh-what? I'm really freaking busy! Don't give me more work to do!!"
Bang-bang-bang!! With all the gunshots in the background, Mikoto's voice
was mixed with static. Maybe the connection was particularly poor because she
was using electric attacks.
Kamijou didn't have any time, either. He got right to the point without asking
about her trouble. "Tokiwadai has totally different lesson plans than regular
middle schools, right?! They teach you all so you guys can be at the forefront
when you graduate, so you take college-level courses, too, right?!"
"What?! What are you—? Yikes! What the heck are you talking about?!"
"I need information to stop that angel! I need an adviser who knows a lot
about involuntary diffusion fields!! You're my only hope! Can you do it?!"
He heard a weird sputter come across the cell phone. After taking it away
from his ear for a moment, he shouted, "H-hey, Misaka! Did you get shot?!
Hey!!"
"I did not!!"
Buzz-spark-crack!! came a series of lightning attack noises.
Misaka's voice followed in their wake. "N-not like I have a choice!! No mercy,
huh? Asking me to fight while thinking about something else!!"
"Okay, then Index, you take my phone. Anything you don't understand, ask
her!"
"Huh?" Index looked at him blankly as Kamijou tried to give her the cell
phone.
Meanwhile, for Mikoto's part…"What?!"
"??? What's the problem, Misaka?"
"Well, no, er, it's fine, but, whaaat?!"
"I'll leave it to you!!"
He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he didn't have time to worry
about it right now.
"I've got my right hand, and I don't think I can help you with anything sorceryrelated," said Kamijou, pushing his phone at the sister in white. "Sorry, Index,
but can you do this by yourself?"
"What will you do, Touma?"
"You said the angel and the core commanding it are in different places, right?
You go to where the core is and solve the problem. Meanwhile I'll do the angel
job myself."
He continued, saying, "Like I said before, there's a sorcerer using the divine
judgment spell. A sorcerer named Vento from a group called God's Right Seat is
after this angel version of Kazakiri. I'll have to stop Vento first if we want to free
Kazakiri. I want you to handle the core causing the problem. While you're at it,
I'll protect Kazakiri from Vento's attacks!!"
When she heard that, Index frowned a little bit in worry. She was probably
thinking about the sorcery involved. But she didn't verbalize it. Instead, she
replied, "Okay. I'll leave Hyouka to you, Touma!!"
"Yeah, I'll be relying on you, too, Index!!"
The two separated and ran down different paths…
…both with the same objective: rescue Hyouka Kazakiri.