Ten minutes had passed since the chaotic scene at Tokyo Bay. After facing Misaka Mikoto's explosive embarrassment and violent, lightning-infused anger, Yuuya had casually teleported everyone safely back within the borders of Academy City.
'It was a bit on the small side, but the feel was definitely top-notch,' Yuuya thought, reminiscing about the moment he unlocked the Silver Chest. 'It's practically the exact same model as the Misaka Sisters, though perhaps a tiny bit firmer from her athletic training. But man, things didn't go so well after that...'
Index followed closely behind Yuuya as they walked down the street. Her arms were crossed tightly, and she let out a loud, dramatic huff. She was clearly very dissatisfied with his previous behavior at the beach, though it wasn't exactly standard romantic jealousy. It was more like the frustration of a child watching someone else play with their favorite toy.
"Index, what's wrong with you? You've been puffing out your cheeks like an angry little hamster ever since we got back," Yuuya asked, looking down at the nun who was stubbornly refusing to speak to him.
"It's nothing. I'm just very unhappy right now," Index declared, her cheeks puffed out to their absolute maximum limit as she glared at him.
"Are you acting like this because of what happened at the beach? Are you jealous?" Yuuya rubbed his chin and teased her jokingly. "No way... could it be that Index has already fallen head over heels for me?"
"No! It's just that my pride is really hurt!" Index gritted her teeth, grinding them together like a puppy preparing to bite. "That girl has the exact same flat figure as me, but Yuuya has never once given me a lecherous look or tried to touch me like that! It's really hurtful! I'm a maiden, after all!"
"..." Yuuya's eye twitched violently.
'So that's how it is?' he thought, utterly baffled by her logic. 'Wait, what kind of twisted reasoning is that? She's mad because I didn't grope her? What kind of thought process is going on inside that Grimoire-filled head of hers?'
He crossed his arms, looked Index up and down, and couldn't help but laugh out loud. "I see. So you're just overly concerned about whether others perceive you as a developing woman. Honestly, Index, when I look at you..."
Index paused, looking up at him expectantly. But upon seeing his teasing grin, she immediately bared her teeth.
"...I see you more like a child who needs protection," Yuuya answered honestly. "Indeed, you are very cute. But cuteness is meant to be appreciated and protected. Misaka Mikoto's aggressive, tsundere, and overly competitive personality, on the other hand, practically begs to be teased and provoked. Of course, I didn't exactly mean to tease her that way..."
"Waaaaah! What do you mean by that, Yuuya?!" Index was instantly enraged. "Are you saying I'm not womanly at all?! That I don't have any mature feminine qualities?! Waaaaah, how dare you underestimate me!"
She lunged forward, grabbed Yuuya's arm, and bit down as hard as she could, making a vicious, tiger-like growling sound in the back of her throat.
'She actually got mad because I said she looks like a kid,' Yuuya sweatdropped, raising his arm to look at Index, who was currently dangling from his sleeve by her teeth.
He didn't use Vector Manipulation for an absolute, rebounding defense this time, knowing it would shatter her teeth. Instead, he simply altered the vectors of her bite force, dispersing the kinetic energy so that to Index, biting his arm felt exactly like biting into a thick piece of industrial rubber.
"No! I won't stop! I won't listen!" Index whimpered through clenched teeth, refusing to let go.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of a nearby building, Kanzaki Kaori finally lowered her high-powered binoculars and breathed a heavy sigh of relief upon seeing Index walking safely down the street.
Previously, when Tsuchimikado's tracking spells indicated that Index's coordinates had instantaneously shifted a hundred kilometers outside Academy City, Kanzaki had nearly been thrown into a blind panic. Just as she and Stiyl were preparing to illegally breach the city's quarantine walls to retrieve her, Index's signal reappeared right back in District 7.
"Damn ability users..." Stiyl gritted his teeth, his cigarette burning down to the filter as he watched Index and Yuuya's seemingly intimate, playful interaction on the street below.
He knew Index well. She often bit people to vent her frustrations, but she didn't just bite anyone. She only bit those she truly trusted and relied upon—people she knew wouldn't hurt her in return.
But Stiyl had never earned that specific qualification.
'Has their bond really developed to this profound extent in just two short days?' Kanzaki thought to herself. She sighed sympathetically as she looked at her towering, red-haired partner.
Stiyl and Index had been partners for two entire years. During those two years, Index had maintained a good, cheerful friendship with them, but she had always kept a certain emotional distance, never becoming fully dependent on them. But this boy had managed to make Index completely lower her guard and rely on him in barely forty-eight hours. Stiyl had to be feeling terrible right now.
"The idea that Index's life is in mortal danger strictly because she's under a magical control mechanism... Tsk. Given Archbishop Laura's ruthless methods, it's not impossible," Stiyl flicked his cigarette ash into the wind, his face deeply gloomy.
He was well aware of the pragmatic, cutthroat mindset of the Puritan leadership. In order to absolutely guarantee that the Index Librorum Prohibitorum could never betray Necessarius or defect to the Roman Catholic Church, it made terrifyingly logical sense that they would place a failsafe collar on her mind.
But there was nothing they could do about it immediately. It was an absurd, helpless situation. As Magicians sworn to Necessarius, they couldn't simply openly rebel against the decisions made by the Church's leadership—even if that leadership had completely lied to him and Kanzaki.
"If what he said is true... I will definitely question the Archbishop when I return to London," Stiyl said with a dark, uncompromising expression.
He was one of the few who dared to question Archbishop Laura Stuart. She was usually approachable and never seemed to get angry even when he contradicted her. If it had been anyone else acting so disrespectfully, she would have probably had them thrown into the freezing depths of the River Thames.
The setting sun gradually painted the Academy City skyline a brilliant crimson.
Yuuya and Index had returned to his apartment. After eating another massive, glowing dinner produced by Yuuya's Master Chef skill, Index lay sprawled out on the tatami mat like a satisfied orange cat, curiously flipping through the TV channels.
"Wow, that's amazing! Is the magic of this 'Magical Girl' produced by the Thelema Monastery?!" Index gasped, pointing at the anime playing on the screen. "She can change her ceremonial robes instantly! Although the incantations are a bit flashy, the visual effect is amazing. It seems to seamlessly incorporate composite magic from many different European schools!"
"That's just special effects, Index. It's animation," Yuuya sighed from the couch. 'What does a magical girl anime have to do with actual magic? It doesn't even follow the basic laws of idol theory. Aren't modern magical girls basically just melee brawlers anyway?'
"What about this 'Kamen Rider's' magical armor armor?! It can even control the flow of time and travel back and forth across the timeline!" Index said, her green eyes sparkling as she flipped the channel to a Tokusatsu show. "That's incredible! Has he already entered the realm of miracles?!"
"Realm of Miracles?" Yuuya suddenly perked up, his interest piqued by the lore. He really wanted to use Imperial Privilege to copy the vast knowledge in Index's head, but unfortunately, the conceptual weight of 103,000 Grimoires was far too massive to replicate safely right now.
"Yes! In the Argenteum Astrum—the Silver Star Magic Society—this absolute level of power is called the 'Limit of Man,' or the pinnacle of human capability. It is the strongest a mortal can possibly become below the actual Gods. It is the transitional period right before accumulating the necessary esoteric work to cross the abyss and become a Magic God," Index blinked, speaking with the mechanical, deeply knowledgeable tone of the Grimoire library.
"The work to become a Magic God?" Yuuya asked, leaning forward.
"Yes. In theory, mastering absolute magic can elevate a mortal into a God," Index explained. "Once a Magician has completely mastered, integrated, and perfectly aligned all 103,000 Grimoires, they will reach the Realm of Miracles. Then, after an astronomical amount of preparation, they can perform a highly specific ritual to ascend and become a Magic God. Although it grants the power to freely warp all phases of reality, it is basically impossible to complete using normal methods, because the preparation for the ritual alone theoretically takes hundreds of thousands of years."
"Eh... hundred of thousands of years? I see," Yuuya shrugged, losing interest in the traditional path to godhood. He leaned back and turned his attention to the System space in his mind.
It was time to open the Golden Treasure Chest he had acquired earlier.
[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for opening a Golden Treasure Chest!]
[Obtained Golden-grade Item: 'Crow's Beak' (Liar Beak).]
Item Description: The "Crow's Beak"—a reality-warping technological gadget originating from the Doraemon universe. When equipped, it possesses the conceptual effect of making any spoken lie instantly come true within a localized area.
(Note: The reality-warping effect is limited by the item's Golden-grade status. Spoken concepts exceeding the gadget's own dimensional level cannot be manifested into reality).
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