Part 1
"Really, Kamijou-chan is quite troublesome," said Tsukuyomi Komoe, a 135-centimeter-tall female teacher. As she walked through the city at night, a girl named Himegami Aisa who had long black hair walked alongside her.
Himegami had originally lived in Komoe's apartment, but she had since moved to a girl's dorm for her school.
Komoe held her small head in her small hands.
"Kamijou-chan must have no idea what an attendance record is. Uuu… at this rate, he'll be in trouble even with extra lessons over winter break… And he didn't have enough days during the first term either…"
"With the way he is, I find it strange that he has managed up until now."
"Whether you are smart or not, you are going to get bad grades on your tests if you never even take in the fundamental knowledge. I doubt he has just been sleeping this whole time, so something must have been entering his head in place of his lessons… Just what could be filling Kamijou-chan's head?"
"Hmm." Himegami looked up a bit. "With him, I could see it being methods of defeating a dragon."
"Something like that is not going to be helpful in life!! He should at least be filling his head with the knowledge and skills needed to live a peaceful life!!"
Part 2
Even if she gave successive lectures, it was meaningless if the information would not enter their heads.
Thinking that, Birdway decided to take a short break.
She snapped her fingers, calling over one of the men wearing all black.
"Mark, I'm thirsty. Make me a cocktail. Make it a Cinderella."
"A Cinderella?" Kamijou asked, having heard from the side, and for some reason, Birdway puffed her chest out proudly.
"It's the representative example of a nonalcoholic cocktail."
And then Mark secretly taught Kamijou the truth.
"…It's just a mixed juice drink made of orange juice, pineapple juice, and lemon juice."
"It's a nonalcoholic cocktail!!"
She kicked Mark in the shin with her small foot, and he hurriedly escaped to the kitchen space.
Meanwhile, Fremea, who had been Hamazura's private hot water bottle girl up until then, flipped over the approaching cat and started playing with it. The cat seemed to be saying, "I know that male calico cats are rare, but don't stare at my balls like that," but it made no frantic movements.
"…That cat looks like it's gotten bigger since I last saw it…" Kamijou said looking puzzled.
Birdway refolded her black stocking-covered legs as she sat on the bed, and spoke.
"That's how it is with the growth of a kid."
She had been speaking about the kitten, but Fremea was the one that reacted.
She rolled the cat around on top of the kotatsu and looked over at Birdway.
"Nyah. In the first place, you do not look like an older sister."
"It seems you do not know the truth of matters, you damn brat." With her legs still crossed, Birdway folded her arms. "There is a large gap between ten and twelve. I live in a different world from a brat like you who still bathes with her father!!"
"I live in a dorm, so in the first place my father has nothing to do with this." Fremea pressed against the pads of the cat's paws with her finger. "And I'm enough of an adult to sleep in the dark without a nightlight."
"Wh-what!? Aren't you afraid of someone suddenly attacking you in the night!?"
Birdway plainly jumped up from the bed.
Fremea stretched the cat's mouth and peered in at its white teeth.
"And in the first place I know that Santa Claus really does exist."
"What, how did you learn about the Nicholas Foundation!? I guess you are one of Academy City's even if you look like that. I can't take you lightly…!!"
"…Um, I think there's a disconnect in what the two of you are talking about," Kamijou quietly pointed out, but it seemed that Birdway could not hear him as she trembled.
And then Fremea brought down the finishing blow.
"And I wear a bra, so in the first place I'm the winner."
"What are you trying to do!? Are you trying to pick a fight with me, you damn brat!?!?!?"
With the sound of slicing wind, Birdway pulled out a spiritual magic sword item. The cause may indeed have been the fact that the boss of the magic cabal known as the Dawn-Colored Sunlight did not wear a bra.
But given the situation, Birdway was the one at a disadvantage.
She puffed her chest out in desperation and spoke.
"H-hmph. I lead the highest ranking Golden-style magic cabal, so I do not need to show off to a brat like you. After all, you're just a brat that can only get someone stupid-looking like that Hamazura to obey you."
"Nyahh!!" Fremea Seivelun's tension reached its maximum. "Don't say bad things about Hamazura. If you say anything more, it's a duel!!"
"Ho hohhh…"
As she held the magic sword, Birdway's eyes turned to a color filled with sadism.
"Eh? She wouldn't really go all-out on a civilian kid, would she?" Kamijou said as he put himself on guard while looking at that person who (tentatively) held the number three spot in the super sadist world rankings, but the situation developed in an unexpected direction.
"You want to take me on one-on-one? Interesting. I will accept any challenge to a duel. Now, what method should we use to settle this?"
Fremea then stood up from the kotatsu for some reason, and slowly brought her clenched fists down on the table with her waist still raised up.
"Hakkeyoi[2]…"
"What!?"
When Mark returned to the kotatsu with the mixed juice drink (that his superior obstinately insisted was a nonalcoholic cocktail), he for some reason saw two blonde girls in their early teens grappling.
"Ow!? Hey, in real sumo wrestling, grabbing hair is against the rules!!"
"Nyahh!! In the first place, I cannot allow myself to lose here!! Gyaohhh!!"
"Listen to what… I'm saying, you damn braaaaaaaaaatttttttttt!!"
As Birdway yelled out, she wrapped her arms around Fremea's waist and performed a German suplex, bringing her down onto the bed.
The skirts of both the one performing the technique and the one receiving it made it quite a show, but they did not seem to care.
"Fwa ha ha ha ha ha!! You brat, you damn brat!! It's one hundred years too early for someone who still wears a Japanese red randoseru to oppose the boss of a cabal!!"
Kamijou and Mark exchanged a wordless glance, and they ended up calling up Leivinia Birdway's little sister who was in London.
"Something my sister doesn't like? I guess that would be panties with a large rabbit on them or anything spicy."
The two of them added a large amount of chili sauce to the Cinderella, making it Mexican style in order to make Birdway end up writhing about on the floor.
Part 3
In an apartment in District 8, Kumokawa Seria, a girl who had been wearing the uniform of the school that Kamijou Touma went to, was lying sprawled on a sofa in only her underwear.
She was in an apartment rather than a dorm room.
Not only was that rare, but it was also impossible without some kind of special circumstances. Even the rich girls from Tokiwadai Middle School that spent forty thousand yen on food lived in dorms. But Kumokawa submitted to her situation as if it were normal. In fact, she would not let herself be at the level of some rich girl.
"…Mhh."
She had gotten a little fired up when she had run into Kamijou Touma in the city earlier, but she had since cooled her head. Kumokawa had returned to her apartment and then collapsed on her sofa where she had fallen fast asleep. She could not remember when she had removed her uniform, so she had likely subconsciously been annoyed by the stiff clothing and had taken it off in her sleep.
A plain electronic tone came from her mobile device.
Still lying on the sofa, she groped around with her hand on top of the table, trying to grab it. However, she could only just barely touch the hard object with the tips of her fingers. She accidentally knocked it away with her own hand, and it fell to the ground.
Kumokawa thought for a bit, and then turned over on the sofa.
However, it seemed that the fall to the ground had hit some button or other. An old man's face was displayed on the screen, and a voice with an exasperated tone came from it.
"…For now, just put on some clothes and fix your hair. Without your headband, I can't see your face."
Kumokawa waved her hand around, but she was unable to grab her headband from the table either. It, too, was knocked to the ground.
She made a signal with her eyes, and the entire room's lighting switched to sleep mode.
"Wait, don't go to sleep. I'll mess with your mobile device and have it flash at you like a strobe light. I have tons of work I need you to do. It's all been piling up while you've been blankly sitting around like an idiot over the disappearance of that boy."
"…Because of that time in lazy mode, I've gotten rather used to it."
"Stick with it, Miss High School Student. You chose the path of school life, so how about you act a little more like an upperclassman?"
"…"
As if she had just been injected with energy from an outside source, Kumokawa sat up on the sofa, grabbed her headband, and swept back her bangs that were covering her face.
Her forehead glittered, she moved her hands complexly, and she took a pose like she was firing a handgun.
"Kumokawa Seria, the Super JK Tactician bossed around by the board of directors, is here!! I'll dull the judgment of any pure boy☆!"
After nailing it all perfectly, Kumokawa's shoulders drooped, and she wordlessly fell back down onto the sofa.
"…I can't do it. It just feels so empty. I'm not that #5, so I can't do things like that. Right now, I could sneak into a ballroom dancing class for middle-aged women and no one would notice."
"Just put on some clothes."
While still lying on the sofa, she tried to grab the mobile device from the floor using her toes, but her big toe hit it, sending it over to a corner of the room.
"…I just want to sleep for three days straight."
"Recall how thankful you are for your position. The brain of the board of directors is not a job you can get just by wanting it."
"Vwahh…"
As she let out that odd yawn, Kumokawa sat down on the sofa. As she could still speak through it, she seemed to have no intention of picking up the mobile device.
"What do you want me to do? I'm the person who couldn't even save one boy from that war in Russia."
"At the end of that war, we could not even control things within Academy City, so don't sulk over that. At school, you're the upperclassman who can silence a crying child, right? If you are going to resume your connection with that boy, you need to stop being so lazy."
"That would just be overreaching," Kumokawa said halfheartedly as she grabbed an almond chocolate from a package lying on one end of the sofa. "I stopped the tragedies that I could stop, but in the end, that's all it was. I could not stop the tragedies I could not stop. …For example, I knew that twenty thousand military clones were being used up in those experiments, but in the end, I was unable to do anything about it."
She bit into the crunchy piece of chocolate she had thrown into her mouth.
"That's how it was last time, that's how it was this time, and that's how it will be next time. …I was just thinking through all that again. In the end, what am I doing? What meaning is there in having influence that is only enough to realize you can only give up because you cannot stop the tragedy?"
"So that is why you are worried about that boy who charges into the flames even though it is hopeless, who jumps straight over those desktop theories and manages to save those we could not."
Kumokawa fell silent upon hearing the old man's words.
With chocolates rolling in her hand, Kumokawa listened to the old man's further words.
"To be blunt, that problem will stick with us from here on, too. We may be one section of the board of directors, but we are also only one section. We cannot interfere with the projects wriggling in the deepest depths, and the mysteries and darkness of the world do not exist solely within Academy City. We are simply too powerless against the threats that come from outside."
"…"
They had so much power, yet Kumokawa Seria and that old man had barely interfered with any of the incidents that boy had been involved in.
The path he walked on was just so dangerous and perilous, and Kumokawa and the old man did not have enough power.
Was it because they were just too smart? Or was it because they had power?
Kumokawa and the old man were restricted on various fronts, so they truly could not approach the core of the incidents.
"Being aware of your own powerlessness is a good thing, but we do not have time to wait for some slow character growth."
"Are you saying that this city has as many problems as ever even though the war is over?"
"Unfortunately, yes," the old man said to Kumokawa who was sighing in her underwear. "Just as there are problems we cannot deal with, there are problems a person like that boy cannot deal with. If you want to be able to feel proud of yourself, then carry out your role. That is what it is to be an upperclassman."
Part 4
After the short break, Leivinia Birdway began her lecture again.
"…Now 'hen."
She lisped slightly, most likely due to the aftereffects of the special super-spicy Cinderella on her lips.
"I have already explained magicians on an individual level. From here on, I will talk about groups of magicians."
"Are their groups something like Academy City?" asked Hamazura, but Birdway shook her head.
"For the Roman Catholic Church, maybe, but normal magic cabals work differently from your science side. For you, a large organization hands out a special power and manages it. With a magic cabal, people who already have special powers gather, forming a giant organization."
Index picked up the explanation from there.
"When they are related to legends and the occult, they tend to be viewed as religious organizations. Also, some religious organizations form magical organizations in secret."
"That's actually something I've been wondering about," said Kamijou. "What exactly is the difference between the Christian Roman Catholic Church and a magic cabal like yours?"
"I could say there is no difference, but some people would get rather angry if I did," Birdway finished. "When talking about the structure of the organization, the difference is probably that the former has all its individuals accepting that the interests of the parent organization come first while the latter is a gathering of people who have personal objectives from the beginning. But…"
"But?"
"The biggest difference is whether they are accepted by the majority or not. The major religions see all other sects as evil and oppress them."
"Is that how it is…?"
"The general population is not properly aware of magic, but they do know of at least the morality within the legends and occult things at its base. It's the same as how fairy tales tend to have morals in them. When those things have permeated the land, you are treated as a holy one, and when they have not, you are dealt with as one who must be eliminated."
Birdway did not touch on the history of oppression like that.
The inquisition and witch hunts.
The Christian Church had originally managed to spread while being oppressed, but in later times, it had become the one oppressing others.
Given her field of research, those things were likely coming to mind.
"For example, modern Western magic cabals use something like secret tricks of the Christian Church. But if half the population of the world belonged to one of those cabals, it would become the greatest denomination of the church. And it wouldn't even matter if there was a good argument against their techniques. …In reality, that would be incredibly difficult to pull off, but theoretically, that's how it would work. That's really all that separates an official technique from a secret trick. Of course, the current majority would never allow the possibility of a great turnaround like that to happen."
"As I said, these groups are usually formed from people who already have power gathering together. The wishes of the individuals take precedence over the wishes of the whole."
"…You refer to 'them' in the plural, so I'm guessing they're a group," Accelerator said, sounding annoyed. "If the rules of an organization will get in the way of their personal actions, why do they gather together?"
"From here on, I'll only be talking about practical magic cabals," Birdway said with a grin. "Oftentimes, they create a group because everyone around them is doing it. If things came down to a fight, a group would be stronger than an individual. Also, the division of roles is necessary to carry out larger ceremonies and gather information, so even strongly individualist magicians gather together in one place."
"…So if a magician felt no need for the division of roles and felt that it would be more efficient to carry out his goal alone no matter how large it may be, he would not join an organization?" Kamijou muttered.
That world did not seem real to him because he was the kind of person who just halfheartedly decided to go to school or get a job "for now". He wondered if they did not feel any unease at the thought of not belonging to any group.
Meanwhile, Hamazura said, "So it would be best to assume 'they' have a goal that cannot be realized without forming a group and distributing the roles, right?"
"Yes." Birdway nodded. "Usually, this kind of hostile element stays hidden. Once their location is known, they will be surrounded by the majority. In other words, the smaller their organization, the better. The fewer the people involved, the less the chance that someone will reveal that kind of information."
"So since 'they' have gone out of their way to recruit members, 'they' must have some goal that warrants the risks that brings?"
"That's right," Birdway responded halfheartedly. "I intend to speak to you in detail about 'them' later, but remember that if an organization is formed, there must be a reason. Within the highly secretive world of magic, information is gathered from small things like that. I want you to keep that in mind."
Part 5
There were many different kinds of magicians.
For example, there were the members of Necessarius, the Anglican Church's special unit that was working to safely bring down Radiosonde Castle.
But that was not all.
The United Kingdom had a great number of magic cabals. Some of those worked for the country, some aimed to overthrow the country, some worked for the sake of their own leader, some worked for the benefit of all, and there were countless other types.
There was one cabal reserve army that had not become a true magic cabal.
By purposefully remaining at that low position, the organization managed to take action without restrictions.
Lessar, a magician girl from New Light, threw open the door of one of their hideouts (which was an apartment in Edinburgh rather than some eerie cave), and shouted at Lancis who was reading through an English newspaper.
"Did you hear, did you hear!? That boy was confirmed to be in Academy City!!"
"It was Bayloupe that intercepted the information from the Anglicans, right? And it seems he's with the Dawn-Colored Sunlight."
"That damn idiot!!" Lessar roughly threw herself onto the sofa, and swung her legs around despite wearing a miniskirt. "And after I seduced him so much in order to get him to join us for the sake of England!! Why did he have to go joining forces with a magic cabal that is in conflict with the Royal Family of all places!?"
While she yelled, Lessar grabbed at her clothes.
"He needs to be taught a lesson!! That's the only way!! Giving him treats didn't work, so I have no choice but to start swinging the whip!!"
Lessar forcefully threw away her clothes, and an outfit of black leather became visible underneath. The outfit gave off the distinctive smell and sound of real leather, and Lessar started swinging around a riding whip.
Out of exasperation, Lancis said, "…Where did you learn how to strip so fast? Since my body doesn't feel ticklish, you must not have used any magic power."
"That doesn't matter!! That bastard needs to know his place! I'll whip him until he awakens to a new world!!"
"How about we check on the enemy for now? We need to know who exactly is tempting that boy."
"Let's see… Oh, this is the photo intercepted from the Anglicans."
Lessar glanced at the photograph lying on the table.
Kamijou Touma stood in the center of a number of people… but the angle was odd. The photo would have had to be taken from a position a few meters up in the air.
The photo had been given to the Anglican Church by Academy City and then intercepted by Lessar's comrade, so some kind of scientific technology may have been involved.
However, that was not what bothered Lessar.
A few notes had been added in pen, likely by the Anglicans.
They said:
Kuroyoru Umidori <- Small.
Fremea Seivelun <- Small.
Leivinia Birdway <- Very small.
"…"
Lessar looked down at her body that was wrapped in a bondage outfit. She was short, but her chest size was not too bad.
The little devil girl that was Lessar suddenly paled.
"…Have that boy's tastes changed?"
Lessar then looked over at Lancis's unfortunate chest size as the other girl continued to read the English newspaper.
"Lancis!!"
"No."
"This is the time for your major debut, Lancis!! C'mon, put on this white Japanese school swimsuit and head to Academy City!! Who cares if it's November?!"
"If you say one more word, I'm punching you."