Part 1
Kamijou Touma woke up on a bench in front of the station.
"?"
He frowned at the sound of a train he could hear through the clear November air, sat up, and looked around. A familiar Academy City station lay before him. The people walking by paid him no heed. He was just a part of the Academy City scenery and all he could see was more of the Academy City scenery.
And…
Kamijou Touma had no idea how or why he had ended up in such a familiar place.
(…Huh? I remember heading to Baggage City in Eastern Europe after dealing with the incident on the Hawaiian Islands, but what happened after that???)
He remembered up to having his right hand crushed by the eyepatch girl who seemed to lead Gremlin, but what had happened after that? He tried to remember, but it was buried under the static of pain and terror. His mind was still feeling a bit hazy, so it was possible he would be able to remember more clearly later.
But the bizarreness of the situation gradually caught up to him.
That uneasy feeling stabbed into him along with the chilly wind and seemed to slip in under his skin.
Someone must have brought him here from Baggage City.
That was almost certainly true. But doing so could not have been easy. Baggage City in Eastern Europe and Japan in the Far East were almost on the complete opposite sides of the world. Getting something as suspicious as an unconscious boy across national borders would have been extremely difficult.
Also…
Kamijou was inside Academy City. That city was protected by security of a different sort from the country of Japan. A few groups of magicians had snuck into the city in the past, but could they have done so as easily if they were carrying an unconscious boy with them?
And yet someone had clearly done so.
Someone had carried Kamijou Touma halfway around the world and then disappeared without a trace.
"…"
He thought for a bit.
(Fiamma of the Right. And…Ollerus was it? Was it them!?)
He looked around frantically, but saw nothing but the familiar scenery of Academy City and the usual boys and girls walking past. He saw no sign of the magician who had once brought about World War III and shaken the planet earth and the human race, or the man who had apparently gone even further.
Suddenly, he heard a footstep.
In that crowded area, that sort of human noise should not have stood out. And yet that noise slipped directly into Kamijou's ears and stabbed into his brain like it was a drop of water falling from the ceiling deep in a cave. Something cold ran down his spine. The noise had come from directly behind him. Someone was approaching from behind the bench he had been sleeping on.
Who was it?
Was it Fiamma of the Right?
Was it the man named Ollerus?
As previously stated, carrying Kamijou Touma to Academy City had to have been difficult. Since they had done so anyways, they must have had a reason that made it worth all that effort. And that reason would not necessarily be something carried out in secret.
Kamijou silently clenched his right fist.
Once his fist was clenched hard as a rock, he slowly, slowly turned around.
And he found…
"Huh? Fukiyose?"
It was Fukiyose Seiri, his (large-breasted) classmate who had long, black hair that showed off her forehead. The high school girl wore the long-sleeved sailor uniform that was their school's winter uniform, and she held a large plastic bag in each hand. The bags were not filled with food from a supermarket or convenience store. Instead, they seemed to have supplies such as stationery and tools.
Kamijou frowned.
"Why are you here? And what are you doing?"
"…What am I doing?" said Fukiyose, starting in a low voice. "You're the one that has completely skipped out on the preparations for the Ichihanaransai, Kamijou Toumaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
"Gbh!?"
His vision grew tinged with white. Fukiyose had swung one of the plastic bags which had directly hit him, but it felt oddly hard and heavy. It turned out to contain a giant roll of duct tape.
"No, wait! Fukiyose, that thing's like the improvised weapon of a convict!! Gbh!? My head's gonna split open!!"
"Shut up!! This is what you get!!"
Fukiyose pulled the weaponized roll of duct tape out of the plastic bag and tore off a long piece of the wide tape. She used that to bind Kamijou's hands behind his back.
"I'm taking you into school now!! We're extremely shorthanded for making the stand for our class!!"
"Now? …Wait, now!? But, um…I'd kinda like to head back to my dorm first. I'm kinda wondering how Index is doing!!"
Ignoring Kamijou's shouts of protest, the great policewoman Fukiyose Seiri carried her prisoner off to face his punishment.
Part 2
The room was eerily clean and was enveloped in the smell of disinfecting alcohol. It contained a special chair that could electronically recline and various tools were laid out upon work tables to the left and right of the chair. The tools were about the size of ball point pens. However, those metal tools that gave off a silver gleam would never be found for sale in a convenience store. The tips had either sharp points, small mirrors, or something like a circular file that could shave away hard objects with motorized power.
They were all professional tools that would make anyone tremble if they knew what they were for.
They all gave extreme pain on a level it was doubtful a single person among a hundred you asked would claim they could withstand.
"Let me tell you something first," whispered a man who wore a special outfit similar to a white coat but made of a water resistant material like a raincoat. His hair was completely hidden by a plastic cap and he wore a large mask over his face, so you could not tell what he looked like. And yet the way he had his body so thoroughly covered told what kind of person he was and what he intended to do more than any facial expression could have.
"There is no use in trying to endure. This is not something that can be overcome by effort or guts. It is your own fault that you have been brought here. You ignored our warnings. I'm sorry to say it, but we can no longer go easy on you," said the man with eyes more inhuman than a security camera. "Please understand your situation here. Struggling will get you nowhere and resistance will only prolong the pain. The best option for you is to simply give in. If you do that, it will all be over much more quickly."
A blonde girl of about 8 sat atop the special chair that could electronically recline. Two or three other men and women dressed just like the man surrounded the girl. As she "lay" on the completely reclined chair, they stared down at her expressionlessly.
"Ah…ah…"
She let out a bit of a moan, but their expressions did not change in the slightest.
They were professionals.
And therefore they would not hold back even though they knew just how much pain they were about to cause. They knew that holding back due to emotions would only lead to a more horrible fate.
"Do you understand, Fremea Seivelun? If so, we will begin. I hope you will regret the actions you have taken up to this point."
The girl's mouth was forced open and the sharp points of the tools were brought inside.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
When Hamazura Shiage heard that soprano scream from within the dentist waiting room, he looked up from the supplied motor racing magazine that was worn out from having been read countless times. The front wall had a handmade poster saying "Healthy teeth for good little boys and girls. Don't forget to brush your teeth before going to bed!!"
He casually spoke to Takitsubo Rikou, the girl in a pink track suit sitting next to him.
"I think dentistry is the only occupation in Japan where you get praised for making little girls cry."
"...Aren't there a few others? Like haunted houses and Namahage."
"Do you get paid for those?"
Fremea was undergoing surgery in her mouth because she had stubbornly ignored Hamazura and Takitsubo's warnings and continued to drink a glass of hot chocolate before going to bed each night. As she was only 8, these were probably still her baby teeth, but they were not yet at the stage where they would begin to come out.
Both the cavities themselves and the treatment seemed like unnecessary pain to Hamazura.
Part 3
"U-um… As your teacher, I do find these repeated absences to be a real problem, Kamijou-chan. In fact, this has reached the point where homework and supplementary lessons can't cover it all."
"Underhood."
"Now keeping in mind that high school attendance is not compulsory, we still need to think about how you are going to recover from this. And I also want to know what kind of problems you are facing, Kamijou-chan."
"Uhherhooh…"
"But first, I need to ask why you look so beat up, Kamijou-chan! Did you stick your face into a hornet's nest!?"
The person shouting within a normal high school hallway was Tsukuyomi Komoe, a mini-sized female teacher who was only 135 cm tall. A bit earlier, Kamijou Touma had been paraded around the city by his classmate Fukiyose Seiri with his hands bound behind his back with duct tape. Due to his bound hands, he had been unable to catch himself when he tripped over a bump in the road. His face had fallen right into a very soft and protruding portion of her upper body and…well, you get the picture.
Fukiyose Seiri had opened the classroom's sliding door, shoved Kamijou inside, and said, "Here, I caught a fugitive."
After that announcement, she headed off to her own station.
The classroom looked nothing like it did during normal classes. All of the desks had been pushed to the back and a number of large sheets of plywood and tools were lined up in the empty space that left. Fukiyose had mentioned making a stand, but Kamijou did not see a constructed building block-like object. Instead, construction seemed to have stopped at the stage of creating the large panels.
Those panels would be brought out once the Ichihanaransai began and put together into the stand. This was simply because there was a chance an aggressive group would destroy the stand during the night if it was brought out the day before. The kind of person that broke windows for no real reason would love to destroy a stand like that. In a city of 2.3 million with an 80% student population, those types of small troubles were rather common.
Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce approached Kamijou who looked something like an earthworm.
However, they showed no real desire to remove the duct tape.
"What do you think, Kami-yan? Isn't a café or a haunted house the standard for a cultural festival? Y'know, something with a cosplay aspect to it!! There's nothing fun about a takoyaki stand! It would just be too unbalanced to have the girls cook takoyaki while dressed like maids!! That would just be off the charts on the ridiculous meter!!"
"And apparently we aren't having a schoolgirl beauty contest either. There's no swimsuits, no embarrassed girls, no nothing. What happened? What happened to the culture of the cultural festival?"
Kamijou had a feeling the festival was not about the culture of maids and swimsuits, but he knew those two would never listen.
He twisted his bound wrists several times in an attempt to wear away the adhesive bit by bit.
"The Ichihanaransai is an internal event, right? It's basically an open campus where people can try out schools they're interested in. The teachers are keeping an eye on everything to make sure it functions as a large-scale commercial for the school. In other words, we're being closely watched. We can't go too nuts in what we do, right?"
"You fool!! They're having a beauty contest at nearby Eiri High School!! With swimsuits and everything!! And they're allowing outsiders to take part, so there's a rumor going around that Kumokawa-senpai will be taking part!!"
"And we're in high school now!! Our level of freedom during the Ichihanaransai is on a whole other level from middle school!! Don't you want to take the next step on the sexy path that we are only allowed as high schoolers!?"
"Fine, fine!! I suppose that's the only real driving force for teenage boys!!"
Prisoner Kamijou Touma finally confessed. What they needed was to draw in as many people from outside the school as possible. To do that, they needed something that would draw attention. But if they simply went with what the adults felt was appropriate for a cultural festival, the area would be completely deserted.
Aogami Pierce held up his index finger and said, "It's still not too late. I think we should have the girls working at the stand wear swimsuits!!"
"Swimsuits are great, but that's hardly the place for them. They would get burned from the oil. Komoe-sensei would be left with a mountain of written apologies to make."
"Then how about we punish any girl who accidentally burns the takoyaki by having her stand in front with egg white and mayonnaise all over her face?"
"I doubt that would make as great a sight as you're imagining. It would just be sticky and nasty. It would be more grotesque than anything. The idea that a bit of whipped cream on the cheek makes a girl look seductive is nothing but an illusion."
"What is with your negative thinking!? And what's wrong with illusions!? Are you at a rebellious age where you claim victory after shooting down everyone else's ideas!?"
Aogami Pierce tried to heartlessly beat up his classmate whose hands were bound behind his back, but Kamijou Touma, the wild beast of the concrete jungle, charged at the other boy and bit into his side. Tsuchimikado Motoharu began performing calculations even more precise than those for atmospheric reentry in order to determine what angle of entry into that fray would get him thrown out onto some of the girls in the classroom.
That was when the usual Ichihanaransai committee member, Fukiyose Seiri, exploded.
"Stop thaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt!! If you only get in the way, I will chop you into small pieces and use you for fortune cookie-style surprise fillings!!"
If that happened, their stand would be immediately shut down and it would make the headlines on the internet news.
Part 4
The large-scale cultural festival held by Academy City as a whole was called the Ichihanaransai. The large event functioned as an open campus, so it had a direct effect on the number of people wanting to attend each individual school. This gave it a rather long preparation period and the adult teachers were traditionally very lenient when it came to the preparations.
As he had been in Hawaii and Baggage City, Kamijou had not been affected by it, but no classes had been held recently and the time to be back from school had been done away with. There was an implicit rule that students could not spend continuous nights at school, but that could be avoided by having the class form shifts that stayed on a rotation.
The primary difference from the large-scale sports festival of the Daihaseisai was that the Ichihanaransai was an internal event rather than an external one.
While the Daihaseisai called in normal visitors from around the world, the Ichihanaransai was mainly targeted at other students from the city.
The Daihaseisai was targeted at people who knew nothing of cutting edge science or psychic powers, so everyone had to be careful to prevent any careless mistakes. Meanwhile, people often felt they could relax a bit more when it came to the Ichihanaransai. But at the same time, when the target was other students from the city, neat little bits of technology were not enough to draw attention.
The students used cutting edge technology for everything in their lives and they accepted Academy City's science and psychic powers as normal. Something was needed that would surprise even them.
For that reason, it could be seen as the world's most difficult cultural festival to pull off.
It was up to each person's individual personality whether that made things difficult or if it made it worth putting in a real effort.
At any rate…
"Anyway, Kamijou. You are definitely staying over tonight. After all the time you've skipped out on, it's only natural," announced the great detective Fukiyose-sama.
Kamijou let out a Munch-like scream.
"Ehh!? So when do I get to go back to my dorm!? If she finds out I'm back in Academy City but haven't gone back to my room, Index will be really pissed!!"
Gamemaster Fukiyose paid him no heed and kept the situation progressing. Her first command after freeing Kamijou from his duct tape bonds was to acquire food. It was around noon. Normally, they would have used the school cafeteria, but it was apparently nearly impossible to acquire enough food for all of their classmates in that battlefield-like facility. Heading out and buying sale-priced supermarket bentos or cup noodles in bulk would be better, but information of that sort of "safe oasis" would quickly arrive at the other schools. Once that happened, those areas would not be as bad as the school cafeteria but they would still become the sites of small skirmishes.
"You need to keep each individual meal under 200 yen. And if possible include some vegetables such as a salad. Got it?"
"If you upped that to 300 yen, we could manage the mid-sized gyudon course. We live in an age where even a standard hamburger with nothing on it costs more than 100 yen when you add in the tax."
"Calculate it out using the nutritional information. For example, the sale price for Kiritaya extra-large gyudon is 380 each. But that clearly has more than double the normal size. If we split each one between two people, it fits within the budget. Everyone is checking the local shopping sites with their phones, so you will end up in conflicts with other schools if you simply search for somewhere with cheap single-portion food."
"If we're going to buy a lot, can't we just call ahead to the store? They should be more flexible if we're buying in large portions."
"If they allowed that, the restaurants here and there would be swamped simply with the amount they have to make ahead of time. Eighty percent of this city's 2.3 million people are darting about looking for the exact same kinds of food at this exact same time." Fukiyose narrowed her eyes as she explained. "I will give you the money, but don't you dare come back telling me you had the misfortune to trip and it got washed down a drain."
"…Unfortunately, I can make no guarantees about that."
"The money is in a waterproof envelope. I will put my GPS-equipped phone in with it. Is that enough?"
Kamijou would have to carry food for a few dozen people, so merely hanging shopping bags over his arms was not going to cut it. He brought out a small cart meant for the work in the school and headed out.
Even if the festival was still in the preparation phase, everyone seemed restless no matter where he went. He saw a lot of students around because it was about time for lunch. Others like him who had been tasked with procuring food were running about.
(Less than 200 yen each with some vegetables included, hm? Some type of sandwich would be my best bet. But the individually packaged convenience store sandwiches are out. Maybe I should check out some of the horrible places that target gluttons. Just like with books, those places get a cheaper price on their ingredients by buying them in higher than normal quantities. The burden on the customer has an inverse relationship with the portions. By dividing up things from there, I should be able to satisfy everyone in the class.)
Kamijou preferred to cook for himself, so his very first idea was that it would be cheapest to just make the food himself. However, he had to feed a few dozen people. It would be difficult to make that much on his own.
Kamijou was not skilled enough to make food in a bathtub-like pot without burning it and making enough food for a few dozen people with normal cooking tools would take hours.
(I always thought of eating out as simply being too strongly flavored and too expensive, but I guess they have their own kind of professional spirit.)
After thinking everything over carefully, Kamijou headed toward a large sandwich shop.
But suddenly he got the feeling he had overlooked something he could not afford to overlook.
"…"
Kamijou came to a stop. The restless atmosphere characteristic of Ichihanaransai preparations surrounded him just as before. Even if it was a peculiar or even "strange" atmosphere, it was still a good one. However, there was something large enough to blow that atmosphere away. Kamijou was convinced of it.
The problem was…
That something did not radiate killing intent like a drawn Japanese sword. It was completely blended in and perfectly adapted. That was why everyone overlooked it. Even though this large something was incredibly dangerous and carelessly approaching it would lead to certain doom.
The Hawaiian Islands. Baggage City.
Gremlin.
The darkness of the darkness that had spread to the very depths of the world.
There was something there that was just as, if not more, concentrated than that. Having sensed that threat, Kamijou remained still and slowly looked around in all 360 degrees. He carefully observed his surroundings. When he did, he finally realized the source of the feeling.
It was only 30 meters away.
This something that would have been enough to make him sweat uncomfortably from the other side of the planet was leaning on one of the trees lining the walking path and watching him.
However, this was not Gremlin.
But this person may have been even more bizarre than them in a certain way.
It was Ollerus.
It was the man who "should have become a Magic God" that Kamijou had met in Baggage City.
"Hey," said the man in a slight greeting as he removed his back from the tree and walked toward Kamijou. "Fiamma of the Right and I were discussing when you would notice me. It looks like I might owe him dinner. …But at least you weren't so dull you didn't notice me until the very end."
A Magic God.
That term did not refer to a god of demons.[1] It referred to someone who had mastered magic to the extent that they had taken one step into the domain of god.
That was the great monument of magicians that could only be achieved by obtaining the knowledge of all 103,000 grimoires contained in Index's head and being able to freely use it all. But another thought had entered Kamijou's mind when he had heard about it.
Is that something like Level 6?
Is that something that everyone whispers of being theoretically possible and there are rumors of it having existed at some time in history somewhere in the world, but no one has ever actually accomplished it?
And yet Ollerus had reached into that territory.
The fact that he himself only called himself the man who should have become a Magic God, made it seem unlikely he was simply exaggerating.
That monster of unimaginable power said, "You have obtained some stability now, right? It is about time we spoke. Spoke about something we could not in Baggage City."
"…"
"I'm sure you have tons of questions by this point. About the organization known as Gremlin. About the girl named Othinus that leads that organization. About their ultimate objective. About the term Magic God that she and I have in common. And most importantly…" Ollerus paused before continuing. When he did continue, he spoke very clearly. "About Imagine Breaker. About the secret of that power…or rather, its very identity."
His statement broke directly into the core of the issue.
His statement seemed to smash through something that had just barely been keeping everything dammed up and now it would all come flowing out at an unstoppable pace.
Kamijou heard an audible gulp and it took him a few seconds to realize it had come from his own throat.
Why had this come at a time like this?
He was helping his class prepare for the Ichihanaransai and had only just begun to feel like he was back to his normal life.
Kamijou agonized over it for a bit, but finally let out a sigh.
He dashed at full speed past Ollerus who seemed intent on beginning a long, drawn-out, and annoying conversation.
Ollerus, the man who should have become a Magic God, was left dumbfounded.
"W-wait!! I thought this was a serious scene! Wouldn't you normally jump at the chance to learn about Imagine Breaker's identity? Why aren't you? Are kids these days really this dry? Waaaiiitt!!"
"Shut up!! I'm afraid of what'll happen if I don't get this food! They already think I skipped out on the preparations up until now, so I can't just disappear after heading out to buy them lunch!! I'd end up with more than just a few bruises then!!"
He knew a conversation with that sort of "specialist" would end up dragging on forever.
He was not yet mentally prepared for that.
Kamijou begged for 2 or 3 love comedy scenes and maybe a fanservice scene before he had to deal with that.
Those with a full schedule had to flee lest they got wrapped up in all that.