A Certain Magical Index - Arc 2

Kaori leapt from the open wall, launching herself for the next building and she landed gracefully as a cat, snatching a hold of the railing and pressing off onto the opposite wall explosively. Bounding between the walls she descended to the street below and took off in a sprint with the now unconscious Stiyl still slung over her shoulder.

With his comrades now out of harms way, Vanni desperately flung himself to the floor just as the last few of his feathers lit from Meirin's molten metal. He scurried back, brushing flecks of sparks from is clothes and he rose to his feet, plucking a feather from the ground in front of him.

Vanni spared Haragi and Touko a grateful look. The boy nodded with respectful gratitude before saluting Meirin cockily.

"Ciao, ragazza." He flicked his hand out and the feather whistled towards its mark.

Vanni was gone in a flash.

After observing the group of three safely evacuate from the scene of battle, the only thing left to do was to deal with the Esper who targeted them as well. Haragi spoke once again,

"You know.... those sparks that you can see are pretty dangerous... those could trigger an explosion at any certain moment... of course I'm the only one holding back these yet-to-occur explosions..."

Haragi lowered his instability resistance towards the unstable OFR molecules about Meirin using his own personal reality, causing a distinct buzzing noise which indicated the state of Entropy was near. All the Level 4 Esper really wanted was to successfully intimidate her, give a clear message that he himself was the person to take care of the three 'magicians'.

"Those three... I'm the guy that's after them... they're my responsibility to deal with... so please don't interfere with my work...."

A strange buzzing noise could be heard, followed by a voice. Meirin looked around and noticed Hiragi after a moment.

Hiragi spoke for a little bit, pausing for unnecessarily long times at some points for no apparent reason. Hiragi got to the point where he was saying he was keeping those sparks from causing explosions when Meirin exploded back at him.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, spit it out already!!" she shouted, losing her temper with the long pauses in his speech. She threw her arms out. "If you're gonna blow me up, then do it! Maybe you might put a scratch in me!"

She then walked off the ledge and fell to the pavement not too far below, landing and rolling to reduce the shock from the fall. Then, completely ignoring the man who was still dithering on, she sprinted away, rounding a corner and going out of sight, intent on chasing the fleeing mages.

Touko looked on dumbfounded as the red haired girl stepped off the ledge into thin air and was gone as quickly as she had appeared. Peering over the edge of the ruined wall she could see Meirin take off in hot pursuit of the magicians.

The warm summer's breeze blew through her spiky quills as she stared off into Academy City's skyline. Somewhere out there Index needed them. But where to start looking? All they had to go on was a name.

"Any ideas?" She asked Haragi.

The red haired girl really didn't have any sign of fear. She booked it outside like nothing was stopping her, not even the about to occur explosions intimidated her. Before the spiky haired boy could get a chance to stop her, she was gone. All he could do now was give a long drawn out sigh.

"What a strange girl...."

He didn't need to worry about her at the moment since he stalled enough time for the group of three to safely get away. The boy focused his attention towards the one who defeated him. His plain expressionless face casually stared at the girl. She seemed to be gazing off into the continuous existence of the sky.

"Any ideas?"

Haragi simply continued staring at her for a good few moments before he sighed once more.

"I thought you would have some kinda of idea... since you're the one who's determined to save her...."

It couldn't be helped. The Level 4 esper pondered his thoughts for the moment. The situation right now was that a mysterious Green haired man kidnapped Index with no knowledge of his intentions. It was clear that he was the same as the group of three. He was a 'magician'. But if that was the case, why hasn't the higher ups ordered to capture him as well? He couldn't possibly hid himself that well in Academy City for this long. Not only that, but their most reliable source to finding Index was those three. With them gone, their likely hood of finding a lead went down.

However...

"Say... didn't the red haired lolicon say his name was Aureolus Izzard right?... If he wasn't in the hit list I was given... he must have been in Academy City for a while now... which means he should have some kinda of ID showing that he's an Academy City citizen.... If he was overlooked within Academy City's surveillance... he couldn't live here without any citizenship information.... It's likely his name isn't the same... but his self portrait shouldn't have changed.... There's a database full of Academy City's inhabitants.... so all we need to do is hack in and search for the ID that matches his facial features.... we'll find out where he's hiding then..."

He eyed Touko waiting for a response from her end.

July 23rd

For more than two days now, Index had been missing.

Dejected, Guy struck the flint of his lighter and sat down on the bench beside the street. He realised for the first time just how tired he was feeling. For the past two days and nights he'd been hunting for any trace of the silver haired nun and her mysterious abductor. But so far all trails had ended cold.

"Oi! Sensei!" A familiar voice called out down the street to him as the two boys approached. The blue haired boy (who Guy recalled now, he'd never gotten the name of) waved as he and his blonde compatriot approached. Motoharu grinned at Guy with his usual inscrutable expression hidden behind his ever present sunglasses. "Taking the day off again? What's the plan today?" The blue haired boy recalled their eventful day playing truant with mixed feelings.

"The usual." Guy laughed with a shrug. "As a matter of fact I'm looking for a girl."

"

"I thought you would have some kinda of idea... since you're the one who's determined to save her...."
"Say... didn't the red haired lolicon say his name was Aureolus Izzard right?... If he wasn't in the hit list I was given... he must have been in Academy City for a while now... which means he should have some kinda of ID showing that he's an Academy City citizen.... If he was overlooked within Academy City's surveillance... he couldn't live here without any citizenship information.... It's likely his name isn't the same... but his self portrait shouldn't have changed.... There's a database full of Academy City's inhabitants.... so all we need to do is hack in and search for the ID that matches his facial features.... we'll find out where he's hiding then..."

Touko nodded. Whoever this boy was, he seemed to know what he was talking about.

"Wait. How do you know-" She stopped. "NEvermind. It doesn't matter." It would be better not to know, she decided. Nothing good ever came from throwing herself into matters that didn't concern her.

She realised how stupid that sounded coming from her, someone willing to grab a flaming sword to protect a girl she had only just met.

"Just do it. I won't ask why or how." She reached for her cellphone only to find it missing from her pocket. A dark black hole had been charred into the pocket of her pants. "Gah! Such misfortune!" She growled angrily. "Wait. I have an idea." She said, hastily scribbling a note on a receipt from her pocket. "If you find anything, call this number. I'll be searching too."

She started towards the door. If she was going to look for Index she needed to start now.

***

A knock on the door startled Komoe, the small woman jumping from the floor and nearly spilling her beer.

"Who is it?" She asked. She opened the door and found herself face to face with Touko's troubled face.

***

Continued in A Certain Magical Index- Arc 2 [Interlude]

***

Two days had passed with no word from Haragi. Touko followed the blue haired boy and Motoharu in silence.

"Oi! Sensei!" The sound of her friend greeting the teacher made Touko snap back to reality. She hadn't seen Guy since that night. Had he also been searching for the missing girl? It certainly didn't look it. He seemed as laid back as ever...

"Wait. How do you know- Nevermind. It doesn't matter."

The spiky haired boy looked blankly at the dumbfounded girl. Though it was to be expected to find her this way, since she had no idea how things worked in the Dark Side and how easy it was to access certain conveniences with just a phone call. But Haragi wasn't going to reveal who he was affiliated right off the bat. He wouldn't risk something that his sister would later on pick up and become suspicious of.

"Just do it. I won't ask why or how."

Her hand reached a burnt piece of clothing which seemed to be originally her side pocket. Her whole face bathed in annoyance for a split second after realizing something drastic.

"Gah! Such misfortune! Wait. I have an idea."

She handed a note after scribbling numbers down over the the Level 4. It was a phone number.

"If you find anything, call this number. I'll be searching too."

All Haragi could do was nod, as she left for the door of her broken down dorm apartment. As she vanished, Haragi forgot one important bit. They both never had exchanged their names. Maybe it was better off if they never did.

Brushing off the last of his thoughts about the recent events, he only had one goal in mind now. He was to find out about Aureolus Izzard's whereabouts. Time was limited, according to the red haired priest. Even if the 3 day limit was a lie, there was no telling what the green haired bastard was to do with the girl.

The boy had reached for his cell phone, dialing the number of those who gave him this assignment. He asked for the access of Academy City's citizen database. While sounding suspicious, the one's who picked up didn't care to ask why. They only cared about results, anything aside from that would be insignificant to them. After ending the call, a access code was sent to him that allowed him inside the internals of the Citizenship database.

He thought to himself after realizing what he's been doing, "Why am I going so far to do this.... I don't think I'd ever give a damn about if any other person request this to me, but that girl.... I just feel like she knows the right path.... she knows true resolve to protect unlike me.... Am I really able to protect someone like the one we're looking for with my resolve.... Who knows?..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's been two days since then. Haragi was found outside a suspicious looking building wanting to confirm his gathered information. The day he decided to save this girl, he was granted to be able to access the Citizenship Database. Through many hours of searching from his computer, he wasn't able to find anyone name Aureolus Izzard or any relevant leads.

Haragi's memory was partitioned into a three dimensional vector table. He had the ability to store all kinds of information that he would be able to access later on at any time. Usually, this vector table was to store the millions of different coordinates of OFR particles in relation to their exact position. However, his memory would be able to store other kinds of information not just coordinates. This meant that he had the ability to search through Academy City's total population and filter out the students, which in fact covered majority of the database.

However the process took quite a bit of time. But in the next day, Haragi had found some leads that might have been relevant to the man's whereabouts. However, he wasn't able to find much from most of his compiled information which narrowed to one single lead. His elder sister started to act suspiciously as well, which left him a bit distracted. She had left home to work overtime at the hospital, or so she said. However she didn't seem too enthusiastic about it like she always was. And this occurred after her meetup with the Level 5 Electromaster. But his suspicion drowned as he narrowed the reason to be over the possibility of loved one's death impacting Misaka Mikoto. Even so, his sister was occupied with something entirely different giving the Level 4 his freedom to thoroughly continue his search.

That's when today had come, the final day that the priest had warned for the girl's life to be ended. His last lead from what he gathered from Academy City's Database was the building in front of him. "Misawa Cram School": Four buildings several stories in height, with a skyway built in the between each other, connecting. Apparently this school had a different education curriculum separated from the main branch, which turned into a cult. But supposedly the cult died down after a new head had taken over a few years ago. Not much information about the school was found after that. Haragi's main focus was on this new head, which he had found from the Citizenship database. A certain profile had somewhat matched what he observed from the man's appearance and the story behind Misawa Cram School with it's sudden change in nature raised Haragi's suspicion.

Unlike the other leads, Haragi couldn't simply enter a building like this without causing too much commotion. Since it was his last lead, he felt sure something were to come out of this and narrow his search to where Index was being kept. He took out his cellphone and the sheet of paper he was given, and began dialing the number. It was still in the middle of the day, so he assumed the girl from before wouldn't be sleeping at this time and was safe to call.

"A girl huh?" Motoharu seemed to smirk despite the already formidable grin plastered across his features. "Anyone in particular?"

"A nun actually." Guy shrugged with a small laugh. "If you'd believe it."

"Ah, so that's what you're into this week, Sensei..." The blue haired boy nodded appreciatively, as though giving deep thought to the comment.

"You know, if you buy us lunch, we'll tell you where to find all the cosplayers you want. Maybe you'll find a nun or two there?" Motoharu chuckled.

Guy ran a hand through his hair and rocked forward onto his feet.

"Whatever. Not like it could hurt, right?" He sighed as he lurched towards the fast food restaurant opposite them.

***

The telephone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

A small hand reached for the device, fumbling through empty beer cans and full ashtrays. Komoe's fingers closed around the phone and she groaned, bringing it to her ear as she popped her head out from under the covers of her futon. She brushed the floppy ears of her pyjamas from her face and answered with a croaky voice.

"Hello?" She blinked hard, slowly waking to the sound of Haragi's voice.

The voice of a young girl answered, "Hello?"

Haragi paused for a moment. The person on the other side sounded like a young girl around 9-10 years of age. This wasn't the voice of the spiky haired girl whom he had agreed to help out. Did he enter the phone number wrong? Or even worse, did she give him the wrong phone number?

It was only 5 seconds into the call when he realized that he should respond.

"Uhm... Hello?..."

He paused again. This was the moment he realized that he didn't even know that girl's name. He assumed she would pick up instead of some young girl in her place. He was unprepared at this time. But if he was going to continue looking for Index, he needed that girl to help. So Haragi chose his words carefully, not to accidentally say anything about the current situation so nothing leaks out or delays the search.

"... A spiky haired girl gave me this number a couple of nights ago... She told me to call her when I was ready... Is that girl there by any chance?..."

Guy sat at the table with a look of deadpan disgruntlement on his face and a rigid back.

"Look, I get that this place is busy..." He looked to Motoharu and his blue haired compatriot. Touko seemed similarly ill at ease. Guy leaned forward, propping his chin on his palm as his brows knitted with an irritable expression.

"And I get that sometimes you need to share a table in order to get a spot..." He tapped his fingers on the table surface.

"But did you have to pick the booth with the unconscious shrine maiden?" He asked, barely registering the absurdity of the sentence as he spoke it. On the table opposite from him sat a girl with long black hair in a square cut that draped in long waves over her shoulders as she sat with her head buried in her folded arms. She looked to be asleep.

"What's her deal anyway?" Touko eyed the girl sitting next to her suspiciously. She was beginning to feel a vague sense of danger whenever she encountered someone unusual these days.

"S-" The girl stirred. Touko jumped, recoiling in surprise.

"Spent all my money..."

"Eh? You're alive after all?" Guy poked at the girl's lowered head.

"Cost of train ticket home: 600 yen." She said. Guy's face hardened as though confronted with a riddle.

"Go on..." He said. Motoharu and the blue haired boy leaned in to listen to the quiet girl.

"Total assets: 500 yen." The girl continued.

"What's the connection here?" Touko interjected.

"Spent too much. Poor planning."

"Why not just borrow the train fare?" The spiky haired girl asked. The girl beside her raised her head. Motoharu and the others all looked to Guy. After all, it was only natural, right? He had a job. He must have the most money out of all of them.

"Denied." Guy crossed his arms with a decisive look. The girl scrutinized him with a blank faced expression.

"Cheapskate." She finally uttered. Guy looked taken aback.

"Maybe if you tried crying he'd be more helpful." Motoharu nudged his friends and they shared a laugh at their teacher's well known weakness. At that suggestion Himegami Aisa's eyes started to water. The beautiful shrine maiden sat with a relaxed posture that was belied by the look of distress on her face as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"No." Guy closed his eyes, steeling his resolve.

"Oh, he's resisting! Try begging in a quiet voice!" The blue haired boy spurred her on with advice.

"Please..." The girl whispered. Guy's frown deepened. The cracks were starting to show.

"Ah, You were looking for a nun but you found a shrine maiden instead." Motoharu chuckled at their teacher's predicament.

"I'm not a shrine maiden." Aisa's tears dried up immediately. "I'm a magician."

"Right." Guy laughed humourlessly. "You and half the city it seems." He glanced away to find the table surrounded by several menclad in smart business suits. Aisa approached them slowly and held out her hand.

"100 yen." She demanded again. The man in front of her dutifully reached into his pocket.

***

"... A spiky haired girl gave me this number a couple of nights ago... She told me to call her when I was ready... Is that girl there by any chance?..."

"Huh?" Komoe groaned again sleepily. His words sank into her fuzzy brain with a slow dawning realisation. "You mean Kamijou-san?" She sat up, blinking the remaining sleep from her eyes. She remembered now.

"Sensei, someone might be calling with a message for me." Touko had told her, sounding a little wary. "When they do, I need you to tell me exactly what they say. It's important." The girl had stressed that to her. But Touko had refused to tell her any more.

"She's not here, can I take a message?" She asked, quickly scampering to the table to fetch a pen and paper and scribbled down what the boy told her. As soon as Haragi had hung up, Komoe hurriedly dialed another number into her phone.

***

Motoharu's mobile rang and the blonde haired boy flicked it open.

"Komoe-sensei?" He looked between Touko and the others. "Yes, Kamiyan's here..." He passed the phone to Touko. "She wants to speak with you..."

"Who the hell are these guys?" Guy asked Aisa.

"Cram school teachers." She explained, though it wasn't much of an explanation. Guy looked at the men with suspicion as they led Aisa down the stairs of the restaurant.

"You mean Kamijou-san?"

A sigh of reassurance was made by Haragi, relieving himself that he hadn't called a random number after realizing that this little girl had recognized who he wanted to call. However, then she continued telling him.

He spoke to his thoughts, "So... Kamijou's her name, huh"

"She's not here, can I take a message?"

Not here? Time was valuable and he himself couldn't find Index without her help. After all, today was supposedly the day that something would happen to Index. And by the sound of it, coming from the red haired priest, it wasn't particularly anything good.

Haragi considered that if he had told her his intentions about searching for a missing girl, the little girl on the other side of the phone would definitely act suspicious and get herself and possibly others involved. He thought to himself for a few moments wisely choosing the right words for a perfect excuse.

"... Could you tell her to meet me by the entrance of Misawa Cram School, as soon as possible,-"

Another sigh came from his mouth, annoyed by what he was about to say.

"... for our date in about an hour?.... That'll be all..."

*Click*

He hung up the phone almost immediately.

"... I think... I'm gonna regret telling her that later..."

He didn't need to hear the little girl's reaction through the phone. Only getting his point across right away was enough to avoid any unnecessary interaction and waste of valuable time. If this individual understood what Touko would have been up to, she wouldn't act suspicious or go to the efforts of getting involved.

For now, Haragi leant his back against the tree behind him, narrowing his eyes at the top floor of the tall building known as Misawa Cram School. An eerie chill brushed against Haragi's face. There was definitely something odd that floor of the building. His own thoughts spoke to him,

"Index.... I'm betting my all to find you here... unharmed..."

A jolt of adrenaline shot Touko's hand out to snatch the phone from Motoharu's grasp.

"Sensei?" She cradled the phone to her ear.

Motoharu and the blue haired boy shared a confused shrug, leaning in to listen to the conversation. Their ears could only pick up the garbled squeaks of Komoe's unmistakable voice.

"Our what!?" Touko shouted, attracting a few stares from the surrounding patrons. She winced with an awkward grimace and hushed her voice, shrinking into the phone. "Misawa?" Her face set to a stern frown. "Got it." She tossed Motoharu the phone as she scrambled down the stairs and off down the road.

"Ah, what a pain..." The blue haired boy sighed, watching his friend retreat at a rate of knots.

"Another time, guys..." Guy said as he stood up from his seat. He thrust his hands into his pockets and strolled casually towards the exit after Aisa and the strange men surrounding her.

It had often been said that he possessed a knack for finding trouble. That he had a sixth sense for it. Now that sixth sense was telling him that Himegami Aisa was more than she seemed.

***

Touko drew to a halt in front of the featureless grey building of Misawa and looked around for the boy, Haragi Faye.

After a few moments of rest, Haragi opened his eyes to see if anything around the area had changed in feeling. He did this periodically during the past 45 minutes, but nothing changed.

Suddenly, he felt someone else's presence within the area via his OFR molecules active about. It was unusual for anyone to come visit the school after hours, so his suspicion rose. Haragi looked closely where the plethora of OFR molecules changed state because of something or someone's presence, and found a precautious spiky haired girl roaming about. There was no doubt, she was the girl that prove her resolve was greater than his. The one known as "Kamijou".

Since Haragi did not want to give his position away by calling her name, he lit a series of OFR molecules from in front of the girl's face, leading directly towards the Level 4 behind the bushes.

Touko paused, watching the lights mark a trail for her to follow. She reached out, plucking one from the air with her right hand and it vanished. She hesitantly followed the trail and came to a group of bushes. Not wishing to risk an attack she plunged her right hand into the foliage and pulled it aside to reveal Haragi standing hidden by the wall.

"So this is the place?" She asked rhetorically, stepping through the bushes to join the boy in his hiding spot. "What's the plan?"

As the bushes rustled, Touko cautiously emerged with her right hand exposed in front for some odd reason. Haragi drew a sigh from his expressionless face.

"So this is the place?"

Haragi paused for a brief moment to turn his head towards the eerie-filled building in front of him, specifically eyeing the top floor of the infrastructure.

"I'm not so sure myself... but I have a feeling that girl is in there... This is my last lead... So I'm placing all my bets that this is the place..."

Touko, seeming somewhat unsatisfied, directly asked another question.

"What's the plan?"

Another sigh of annoyance was displayed from Haragi's bored self.

"So.. you're treating my joke date excuse as a real date, huh?.... Having the guy decide what to do next.... Right now... I want to know where those 'three' people have been? Have they approached with you at all these past two days?...."

"So.. you're treating my joke date excuse as a real date, huh?.... Having the guy decide what to do next.... Right now... I want to know where those 'three' people have been? Have they approached with you at all these past two days?...."

Touko shook her head at the slow talking boy's words.

"Nothing. Do you think they've been caught already?" She asked, though she wasn't sure whether the thought made her feel more or less comfortable right now. While she debated that question in her mind she pursed her lips, watching the door to the school closely.

Wasn't it odd that no one had come or gone since they'd arrived? In fact the place seemed almost deserted.

Was it worth taking the risk? She couldn't see another option.

"Well, if you've got no better ideas, then I'll be going ahead."

Touko walked towards the front door with as much confidence as she could muster, though she couldn't help but feel apprehension as she reached the front door.

"Nothing. Do you think they've been caught already?"

Touko hasn't seen or heard from those three at all. It was possible they might have been still looking for Index. For now, Haragi isn't able to do anything to somehow get a hold of them. He could ask the higher ups to gain access to the security cameras placed around Academy City to see if there were any sightings of them but that would require time. Something that Haragi wasn't able to afford to waste at this moment.

"I doubt it... Academy City came to me to capture them... If anyone else was involved, it would have been Anti-skill or Judgement... And they didn't seem like the type to be easily captured by the likes of them..."

While Haragi was placed deep in thought about the situation, Touko decided to move towards the entrance,

"Well, if you've got no better ideas, then I'll be going ahead."

Haragi choked as he watched Touko move towards the entrance. It was possible that security cameras were placed inside alerting whoever to come and stop us. Infiltrating this giant infrastructure required stealth and tactics, not recklessness. Haragi had immediately chased after the spiky haired girl, worried if something were to happen.

But as Touko approached the front door, nothing had sparked. No alarms were raised. The entire area felt as if no one was expecting any intruders to come. This had brought suspicion to Haragi's instincts. The Level 4 approached behind the girl, annoyed by her carelessness,

"Oi... Just barging through the front door can get us surrounded by enemies or even worse... killed. Infiltrating something isn't as easy as walking through the door... I got a plan though..."

His own esper power could be put to use in situations like these.

"I could easily get us up to the roof with my power... That way, it'll be easy for us to enter the building without raising any suspicion by entering from the top... What do you say?..."

Touko looked up at the sky, bleeding red with the setting sun. She squinted, barely able to distinguish the silhouette of the towering school building above her. She looked down at her hand with muted concern, flexing her fingers. Using his ability to reach the roof... What would happen if her Imagine Breaker disrupted it somehow? She pictured the fall.

It was a long way down.

Touko shuddered.

"I think I'd rather take the stairs." She said, offering an awkward grimace as she pulled open the door.

Stepping into the lobby she was confronted by an unexpected sight.

Everything looked normal. Far more normal than she would have suspected. She nudged Haragi with her elbow, looking about at the students who milled about absent purpose.

"I thought you had some inside intel or something?"

The students surrounding them both paid the boy and girl no heed despite their sudden intrusion and suspicious manner. It was like they weren't even there...

The dim sounds of the students fell eerily silent in an instant and Touko felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on end. Then, as one the students turned to face the two outsiders. With empty expressions they started to chant and the air filled with spots of light that hovered about the heads of the zombie-like youths. And as they chanted arcane words of power their skin started to split under some unseen force, opening like fresh papercuts on their skin.

"Uhhh... I think they see us after all..." Touko blanched, stepping back. 

She could always turn back... The door was behind her, within arms reach even. But she wouldn't. 

"Run!" Touko charged for the staircase at the rear of the lobby.

Misawa Cram School merging into main arc | DarkOnistar wrote:Koizumi Itsuki and Mori Kita investigate Misawa Cram School..
(well Itsuki mostly.. Kita is there just for personal reasons.. and finds the zombified students to be an annoying distraction from her getting documents from a friend's locker - likely to contain information that could help her improve her ability) 

The group was closing in fast and without many options Kita didn't look back and jumped.

The fall from the 2nd floor window was only a second or two before Kita teleported on the spot to restart her falling speed; allowing her to touch down on the ground without any force behind her.
As she landed on the ground floor she looked up at the window she had jumped from and didn't see any sign of Itsuki.

'I wonder if he is alright?  I didn't leave him in quite a spot' Kita thought before looking around.
The coast was clear so maybe she could find her friend's locker and get the information she seeked and get out before any more weird stuff happens.

An eerie feeling ran down Haragi's spine. A suspicious feeling struck Haragi's mind as he proceeded to check his surroundings once again for caution. The mood of the environment changed drastically as the eyes of the student body shifted towards the two outsiders in an instant. Incomprehensible words were spoken in sync as if they were chanting something out of a cult. This was bad. The zombie like student body were seen being cut all over without any sign of attack. Their own bodies were being injured by something unforeseen through Haragi's eyes.

"Uhhh... I think they see us after all..." Touko mentioned as both of them started to prepare to book it.


"Tch!... We were too careless!" Haragi responded to Touko's obvious remark.

"Run!" Touko dashed towards the staircase, with Haragi following behind.

Reaching the corresponding hallway at the top of the staircase, Haragi immediately formed a series of crystallized OFR molecules into a transparent wall that blocked the entrance behind him. Thus keeping away any incoming students from the lobby from getting through. More OFR molecules formed into walls blocking any other pursuing students. As they were both running, Haragi spotted a fire exit, leading to the staircase between levels of the building.

"There!..."

Haragi pointed at the upcoming fire exit. Haragi charged forward as he slammed his shoulder into the door, violently opening it. Right after Touko made it inside, Haragi shut the door closed with his OFR molecules formed into some sort of lock. Glaring at Touko, he spoke while slightly exhausted,

"You know... wasting my energy carelessly is something I don't do... before you act careless again... please think of more cautious way... so we both conserve as much of our energy as possible..."

His own ideal thoughts spoke out to Touko, as some kind of monk trying to preach to others about converting their religion.

Her eyes was focused on something else as Haragi tried to lecture her. His casual sigh, indicating that he was annoyed, released from his mouth as he continued to speak,

"Oi... are you even lis-"

His words were cut off after his eyes trailed towards the direction Touko was staring terrified at. 

"Wh-what the hell is this?"

Touko asked, shocked. The sight of a bloody suit in armor was found next to the stair case. Was this some kind of decoration? Did something mean to leave it here for feng shui?

"What... the fuck is this?..."

He cautiously inspected the suit of armor, realizing that someone was inside the suit. Someone who wasn't 'moving' anymore. It was a corpse, meaning this person had been murdered within the school. The Level 4 approached the suit of armor, and reached for the pool of blood. He knelt down and dipped his finger in, and felt it's characteristics.

"The blood is still fresh...."

Haragi now could tell that something was definitely strange about this "Cram School". Suddenly a voice was heard,

"That is the corpse of one of the Thirteen Knights of the Holy Catholic Church."

The appearance of a red haired priest with a distinct bar code tagged underneath his right eye was now present before them. It was one of the three that Haragi was sent to capture, but however they both had come to an agreement to delay the mission until a certain girl was safe and sound. Speaking of the girl, if that priest was here, that would mean he was lead to the same place that Haragi narrowed down. Meaning, the likelihood of Index being held up in here was now greater.

Haragi stood up firmly, glaring sternly at the priest whom he still had trouble trusting. The priest continued,

"You two make too much noise. It's a miracle the entire building isn't onto you by now. I didn't expect to see you two again."


Haragi clicked his tongue,

"Tch... you're saying my line, lolicon.... You know... leaving us with no information the past two days is kinda a dick move... I expected you guys to say something to us before running off like headless chickens..."


Attempting to act rude in front of the priest as a sign of dislike, Haragi refocused his attention towards the corpse.

"You're saying this is one of the corpses of the thirteen knights of what?.... I'd like to know the details... and whatever else you know of this building..."