A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 7 (20 page)

Saiji Tatemiya was gone.

Stiyl seemed to want to guard Index until she safely got into Academy City. She was next to Kamijou, who was trudging down the night road, but seemed to be at a loss for words.

This may have been the capital of Japan, but when you got away from the center, it was veiled in the dark of night. Checking the time revealed it was past one in the morning, and most of the city lights were out. A few apartment complexes had lights in their windows here and there like missing teeth, and sometimes a taxi with someone drunk in it would pass by. The streetlights kept on flickering unreliably, illuminating the many moths gathering to them.

Their unexpected day revolving around fighting was already over. In just a few hours, he would be going back to his normal life, centered around school. Kamijou would shake the lack of sleep from
his head, go to school, take some boring classes, talk about dumb stuff to Tsuchimikado and Blue Hair on the way home, and be on the receiving end of Mikoto’s
biribiri
for not completing his summer homework after all.

“…What should I have done?” he said suddenly.

Index looked up at him, but he was still looking down, dejected.

He wanted to save Orsola Aquinas.

But he couldn’t think of any way to do that.

“I get that an amateur can’t think of a way to beat a professional. But I still think maybe there was something even an amateur could have done. Like when I first met Orsola, if I had just taken her to Academy City like she asked—what would have happened then? And if we didn’t help the Roman Orthodox Church, maybe she could have gotten away with Amakusa and their special movement method.”

“Touma…”

“No, I get it. Those things only seem hopeful because I’m not looking at their end results. Even if Orsola got into Academy City, the Romans would have given chase and followed her in. Even if we didn’t help them, they would have used their human wave tactics, searched every nook and cranny, and found where Amakusa was gathering. I get all that, but still…”

He thought back.

Back to when he first met Orsola. That uneasy voice asking him to tell her how to get into Academy City. Her smile when they were hiding out in the theme park.

Her words, spoken strangely readily, as though she thought she’d finally found someone she could trust.

And last of all—that shriek of despair they had heard from somewhere.

“But really…what should we have done?”

He knew that just thinking like this was the act of an amateur who didn’t fully grasp the dangers. This incident had nothing to do with him. A simple high school student had chanced a glimpse at how harsh the world of professional sorcery was, and now he was
going back to his own world. No one would blame him for it. Anyone who knew firsthand how terrifying the real world of sorcery was would probably breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing his safe return.

Stiyl must have thought he’d finished explaining everything he needed to, so he didn’t say even a word despite hearing Kamijou’s complaints.

On the other hand, Index looked up into Kamijou’s face. “…Touma. This is a problem for sorcerers, so you don’t need to get yourself involved. I can’t say much, since I can’t do anything anyway, but Saiji Tatemiya said he’d do it, so I think we just have to trust him…”

“…Right.”

Index looked about to cry at Kamijou’s unfocused response. “That’s right! Touma, there’s no rule saying you have to settle every problem sorcerers have! I think if anyone, you should blame me, the anti-sorcery expert, for not being able to do anything. But the problems that can be solved will be solved even if you’re not there. Touma, I think you’ve gotten involved with a lot of sorcerers, for an outsider. But there are a whole lot of sorcerers in the world you don’t know, and they all have their own problems, and they figure them out without needing to borrow your strength. This time is the same—it’s just that this is the first time you’ve seen an incident you weren’t involved in ending.”

“Is that right?” Kamijou answered mechanically—but he was surprised on the inside.

She should be able to imagine what fate awaited Orsola, too—but she had firmly told him not to get involved with this incident anymore.

Or maybe it was backward. If she made a contradictory statement, then maybe Kamijou wouldn’t praise her anymore.

“Yeah. Things have been weird until now. No one can solve every problem they see by themselves. Touma, you can ask people for help. You can trust other people with the endings. Just because you see a house on fire and there’s a little kid still inside, there’s no reason you have to jump in. Calling for help in that situation isn’t shameful at all,” Index said. “Touma, I think you should rely on other people
more. We’re from Necessarius—that’s what it was made for. No one will blame you just because you couldn’t solve a problem yourself that even an organization like ours is having trouble with.”

“…” It just so happened that he didn’t have a place in this, in the end. Maybe that’s all it was. Just because his part was over didn’t mean the incident suddenly ended there. Maybe Saiji Tatemiya would just take up the mantle of protagonist from here and settle things.

She was right—just because a random attacker incident happened right in front of him, there was no rule saying that witnesses needed to resolve it. Nobody would blame the witnesses for the police arresting the criminal.

“I wonder if Tatemiya can do it.”

“I think he has a chance at winning. He’s a real sorcerer, after all. Amakusa has a particularly harsh history of oppression—these sorts of odds we’re facing are their specialty. They wouldn’t take on an enemy they couldn’t beat.”

I see
, nodded Kamijou.

He thought to himself—this was enough. He thought to himself—if they’d resolve this incident without him forcing himself to fight, then there was no need for an amateur to butt in. That was a normal idea. A clueless amateur doing as he pleased and throwing things into confusion could trigger everything going in an even worse direction—so not getting involved instead seemed like a good plan in its own right.

There was no rule saying he had to resolve every incident.

In fact, if he took a step back, there were plenty more incidents resolved without Kamijou’s help.

He didn’t need to worry about having gotten a glimpse of one of them.

Even without his involvement, someone would take it upon themselves to close the curtains on it.

He looked up into the night sky and slowly stretched both of his hands into the air. Suddenly growing aware of all his pent-up exhaustion, he finally started to yearn for the futon in his dorm.

“Guess we’ll go home,” said Kamijou aloud—as if to draw a clear line between his normal and abnormal lives. “Oh, right. Before we go back, I want to drop by a store. Supermarkets and department stores won’t be open this late, so it’ll have to be a convenience store. The fridge is empty, so I figured I’d go and buy a bunch of stuff…but whatever. I want to see what places outside Academy City have—maybe they’ve got bento they don’t sell on the inside.”

“…Touma. I think I’m suddenly really tired of domestic life.”

“Well, sorry. I’m just a boring high school kid who thinks it’s fun to have a household account book now, that’s all.”

“I want to eat luxurious meals without having to worry about your account book once in a while.”

“If you don’t like it, fine. But tomorrow’s breakfast will be an empty plate with some water. You’ll have to make up for the rest with that active imagination of yours.”

“Touma?!” shouted Index, despite it being night.

Kamijou looked at the girl devourer as her face paled at such a simple thought and grinned. “Then why don’t I go hit a convenience store and find some breakfast for tomorrow?”

“Huh? If you’re going to the ‘store,’ then maybe we should all go.”

“If I brought you, I wouldn’t be able to shop—you’d throw everything within reach into the basket. All right, I won’t be long. Stiyl, could you bring Index back to Academy City ahead of me? You brought us out, so you can sneak back in, I’m sure…Actually, er, if you did that might be a problem in its own right…”

“If you say so. Your suggestion benefits her—so I don’t mind…”

Stiyl wiggled the cigarette in the corner of his mouth up and down. “By the way, you know where it is?”

“…No, but…Convenience stores are everywhere—I’ll just run around here for a bit.”

“Fine.” Stiyl grinned sardonically, disappearing into the dark night escorting Index. Index wanted to stay with Kamijou, but he waved his arms and refused.

He waited until he could no longer see them, then turned right around.

Right around—to return straight along the road he’d come.

“That asshole. Did he know…?” said Kamijou to himself, annoyed.

My wallet’s still in the dorm, after all. Wouldn’t be able to do much in a convenience store.

As he walked, he took out his cell phone from his pants pocket. Its white backlight cast a dim light on his face. He pressed a few buttons and, using his GPS service, started searching around on a map. He wasn’t, of course, looking for a nearby store.

Touma Kamijou remembered Agnes Sanctis’s words.

“It is our privilege to outnumber all. We have comrades in 110 countries around the world, after all. There are many churches even in Japan. In fact, a new house of the lord is being constructed as we speak—the Church of Orsola. I think it was somewhere around here, actually. Right nearby. I think they were bragging that when it was finished, it would be the largest church in Japan. It was supposedly as big as a baseball stadium.”

Academy City’s GPS was extremely accurate and updated frequently. There were even rumors it was precise enough to be used for military purposes. It displayed the newest buildings, of course, but also every single planned construction. In contrast, that meant that places like the Hakumeiza site were quickly erased from the map.

Of course, the names of planned buildings weren’t listed on GPS maps—all it said was “planned site.” But he could tell just by looking at the picture. He could only find one planned construction site giant enough to rival a baseball stadium.

“Yes. She has quite a record, you know. She has spread the teachings of God to three heretic nations, earning her the special privilege to have a church built in her name. She was very good at speaking, wasn’t she?”

He quickened his pace as he looked at his cell phone screen. Just as she said, the Church of Orsola—the base of the Roman Orthodox Church—was in this town. Moving around with lots of people was a weakness of group action. If they wanted to lessen the risk at all, making the Church of Orsola—which was right around the corner—into a fortress would be logical. And they’d use magic
Kamijou didn’t know of, whether the building was under construction or not.

The Roman Orthodox members had to be there.

Including Agnes Sanctis—and Orsola Aquinas.

“Once the church is finished, we’ll send you some invitations. But before that, we should settle the issue at hand. Let’s pray for a splendid conclusion with a good aftertaste.”

He recalled Agnes’s joke and chuckled.

“They haven’t even finished getting ready for the party or addressing the invitations…but let’s go crash it anyway.”

With his destination clearly in mind, he didn’t need to stand around.

He began moving even faster—and when he next realized it, he was dashing along the night roads.

He didn’t have any reason to fight.

He didn’t have to fight to know that someone else would settle everything by themselves.

Just because there was a burning building in front of him with a young child trapped inside didn’t mean there was a rule saying Kamijou had to jump in there—that’s what Index had said.

Asking someone else for help and leaving it to them wasn’t a bad thing, she said.

But still…

If that child in that burning house was waiting this whole time for Kamijou to come save her, then what?

The wisest choice, obviously, would be to get in touch with the fire department as soon as possible.

But Kamijou didn’t want to show his back to that child even by accident. Even if that was the safest and easiest choice for him to make, he didn’t want to betray that faith.

Did Orsola Aquinas still have faith in Touma Kamijou?

Despite all the foolish choices he’d made, did she still trust him like a child would?

Fortunately for him, he had no connections with any specific organizations like the English Puritans or Roman Orthodox. He
was never anything more than a student and an amateur, so nothing bound him. He couldn’t ask for the help of professionals like Index or Stiyl, but there was instead something only an amateur could do.

His one misgiving was that he could be seen as a member of the science faction of Academy City, but if things really got dangerous, said organization would probably just expel him, erase him from the register, and treat him as though he had never been a part of it.

But Kamijou didn’t care about that.

In fact, he had to laugh at himself for feeling like he wanted to choose this path.

Without a reason to fight, the boy ran through the night.

In reality, there wasn’t a single reason he had to make himself fight…

…but he had a reason he
wanted
to fight, all the same.

Despite it being called the Church of Orsola, you couldn’t call the building a church yet. It was about as big as four or five average school gymnasiums put together. Once it was finished, it would be a genuine cathedral, the likes of which had never been seen before in Japan. And placing it a stone’s throw away from Academy City also implied a diversion against the science faction. But right now, the construction site’s size was all it had going for it—inside, it bore nothing but a sense of desolation.

The outer walls of the church had just been finished, but there were metal scaffolds and ladders left alone nearby. As for its interior design, nothing had been done yet—it actually looked like a barbaric band of mercenaries had taken over the place. The windows were gaping open, stained glass planned to be fitted into them. In the planned location for the giant pipe organ, too, only an unnatural space lurked. The marble flooring and walls shined, brand-new, but on the other hand, on the wall behind the pulpit, there was a big cross standing up casually against the wall, originally planned to be hung on it.