Chapter 4: A Certain Freeloading Forbidden Index. Arrow_Made_of_AZUSA.[Part 7]

August 31 6:35 PM.

Kamijou Touma was completely worn out.

The assignment that he managed to dig out from the pile of food was now all soggy, and he couldn't even see the words on it. How could he hand in such a thing?

At this moment, Kamijou was like a marathon runner who had just used up all his strength. And Index could only remain stone-faced as she said,

"Bu, but Touma, the words are still visible. You can just rewrite it on new writing paper, aren't you feeling lucky that you don't have to rewrite everything again?"

"Yeah."

Kamijou responded like he had just lost his soul.

In fact, just rewriting these three pieces of paper was a tough job.

"Damn it...if I could only just use a computer to type it out."

Kamijou looked down at the (barely) cleaned table and muttered to himself. It was a painful thing to write such a long essay, and writing each word down with a mechanical pencil made it even worse. It was alright if it were some normal notes, but his hand would hurt if he wrote quite a few pages.

"Ahhh..."

Kamijou casually looked out of the window.

He had thought that the window would show his tired face, but on looking closer, he found that something was not right. There was a burly man in a black suit near the glass window, staring at him and Index.

No, more accurately, the burly man's eyes were shut.

At first, Kamijou thought that the burly man was using the glass window as a mirror to comb his hair. However, how could there be anyone in the world who wouldn't open his eyes when facing a mirror?

(What's this guy doing?)

Kamijou wondered. At this moment, the burly man at the window seemed to be muttering something.

His attitude was as gentle as if he had just seen an old friend he hadn't met for decades.

However,

The burly man pointed what looks like a bow attached on his right hand at Kamijou,

"!?"

Just as Kamijou stood up from the chair, the bow fired, The bow was definitely not loaded, but the next moment, the huge glass window between the burly man and Kamijou was shattered by some mysterious force. Also, it was not just one steel wire-like force as the glass was shattered into pieces.

Blades of air that could cut even sound.

The numerous blades swung about wildly, cutting the table into numerous pieces and gliding past Index's nose-tip. However, the glass that was shattered didn't fly back, but landed directly on the floor. Before that stupid cat on Index's lap stood up, the storm of blades came attacking Kamijou.

The customers nearby stood up, ready to shout out. These people could respond so quickly to such a ridiculous power because it was a city of espers.

But no one shouted out.

DONG!

The blades of air that came at Kamijou were negated by his right hand.

Imagine Breaker. That was the power that was hidden in Kamijou Touma's right hand.

Any 'supernatural power', no matter whether it was esper or magic, would vanish on contact with his right hand. Seeing the mysterious power of Kamijou's right hand, the people nearby held their breaths in shock and almost forgot to shout out.

Kamijou, who had been attacked by numerous blades, was actually unharmed.

A storm whipped up. It seemed to be the devastation caused by the blades or air, which didn't seem to be vacuum, but air coagulated together. Also, the blades of air weren't fired out one shot at a time, but gathered in something similar to a small tornado. The moment Kamijou's right hand touched it, the entire mini-tornado was negated completely.

Kamijou bared his fangs and glared out of the broken window.

"Toma no Gen—I'm here."

But the burly man who should have been standing outside the window was now standing behind Kamijou from who knew when.

Kamijou's body froze up, unable to move.

The burly man with his eyes tightly shut seemed to be rather satisfied with that response, and sighed as he said,

"Though I'm rather surprised by this outcome, it's a good thing to avoid having to kill recklessly. Surrender to me quickly. If you do so, I won't hurt you. Once I get the thing I want, I'll leave quickly—"

"AAHHHHH!! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE! MY BOOK REVIEW BECAME A PILE OF SCRAPS!!!"

Kamijou's roar interrupted the burly man's voice.

The burly man revealed a puzzled look on his face. He probably never expected this. Most likely, he probably wished that everyone would be more serious in this situation.

But Kamijou didn't care about that.

Kamijou stared at the ripped—no, the essay assignment that had been shredded thoroughly with teary eyes, and said,

"YOU! IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU DID THAT, BEAR RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT! GIVE ME BACK A BOOK REVIEW! THE TOPIC IS MOMOTAROU, THREE PIECES OF PAPER! THE CONTENT MUST BE GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN THE LITERATURE AWARD FOR SCIENCE!!"

"Who cares about you?"

"...Alright, this Kamijou-sama today is a little angry right now, you know?"

Kamijou sneered, but it seemed the burly man had disappeared into thin air.

"Wha, at?"

He looked around.

The burly man appeared behind Index.

"Let's deal with this fast. No time to play with kids."

The burly man grabbed Index's from behind.

It was just a slight touch, yet Index's body went stiff as if she had been electrocuted, not moving at all. The stupid cat frantically ran away, pulling away from the burly man.

What's that guy trying to do? Kamijou wondered.

The burly man seemed to be targeting Index. It was true that Index was a rather special person. Her brain had 103,000 magic grimoires, and she was basically a walking treasure trove.

But in Academy City, where Science was everything, she should have been useless to espers.

If that was the case, this man who wanted to get Index was...

"You're, a magician?"

Another 'supernatural power', completely different from esper powers.

Magicians.

"That's right."

The anonymous man clearly confirmed Kamijou's suspicions.

"I really don't know what you're doing here, you dangerous guy, using invisible blades to cut people up and then sexually harassing a girl from behind? Don't you know there's a law called the Youth lifestyle protection guidelines? You pedophile!"

"You're asking what I think about this?"

But the burly man just casually smiled.

"Since she's the Index with 103,000 grimoires, my aim should be obvious, right?"

The burly man holding Index suddenly vanished into thin air without any warning.

"Toma no Gen." Only these words could be heard beside him.

Is this...similar to teleportation?

"Ah damn it! You never denied that you're a pedophile! You're just doing that for your own personal interest!"

Like a drowning person wanting to grasp some straw, Kamijou grabbed at where the burly man had been standing.

His right hand missed, but his left hand seemed to grab something soft in what was appeared to be empty air.

"KYAAAH!!"

There wasn't supposed to be anything there, yet he could hear Index scream,

"To, TOOOOOOOUUUUUUMMMMMAAA! WHERE ARE YOU GRABBING!!?"

"Ah?"

Kamijou grabbed again at something soft in what was supposed to be empty space.

It seemed like there was still something in the space that didn't look like it had anything. It seemed that the burly man had used some skill to hide himself, and he just couldn't see him.

The man let out a 'tch' sound in the end.

Kamijou believed that he got it right. Index and that burly man hadn't left the scene through teleportation. They were still there, it was just that he couldn't see them.

In other words, the burly man and Index were still standing in that space that 'didn't look like anything was still there'.

In other words.

What was this soft thing Kamijou Touma was grabbing onto?

"...Ah?"

Kamijou's mind instantly went blank.

At this moment, a burly man's hand suddenly appeared from the air near him as though it had just appeared from a screen.

The burly man's right wrist had a bow on it.

"Danma no Gen."

On hearing the burly man mutter, Kamijou instinctively let go of his hand from what was not supposed to be there. A blade of air sliced through where he had been and hacked at the floor like a guillotine.

"Damn it, I got checkmated there!"

Kamijou frantically swung his hand, but he couldn't find anything

They got away.

"Damn it!"

Kamijou grabbed the neck of the stupid cat.

Kamijou was really worried about Index. Her brain contained 103,000 grimoires, so she was basically a walking magical library. With those grimoires, it was said that one could distort the rules of the whole world and accomplish whatever they wanted.

If that man wanted the grimoires, he might harm her in order to obtain the knowledge.

(This is ridiculous--)

Kamijou gritted his teeth and thought,

(--It's just because she memorized those 103,000 grimoires, so what? It's ridiculous that she got treated violently because of that!)

Kamijou clicked his tongue and turned around, ready to run out.

But he saw the smiling waitress (with a cold expression in her eyes) standing right in front of him.

And that waitress seemed to have switched from the clumsy busty girl to a hi-mobility fighter girl.

"Please wait a minute, mister."

"Ah?"

Kamijou again inspected his surroundings.

The huge glass windows was opened like butter, and the restaurant table had been cut up into pieces. Kamijou didn't know how much all these cost, but he knew that they were even more expensive than ordinary furniture.

"...Ah..."

Kamijou's lips curled.

The muscular shopkeeper walked out from inside the shop with a smile on his face.