School District 7 – Mizuho Medical Institute.
"Hm? What's with that look, Kuroko?"
"It's your fault! The doctors think Judgment officers are violent maniacs now! That guy's got no unbroken bones left—he'll be stuck in bed for a hundred days at least…" Kuroko complained irritably.
"Hey, come on, I saved you, didn't I?" Selene said lazily. "Anyway, did you find anything useful? Did you manage to get your hands on the actual [Level Upper]?"
"Yeah, it's this music player. Seems like that delinquent girl wasn't lying—[Level Upper] really is an audio program."
"And Saten? She went home alone—she'll be alright?" Selene asked.
"No major problems. I got there in time. Saten-san wasn't hurt; she just needs some rest," Kuroko answered confidently.
At that moment, only Selene and Kuroko were in the room. Since Saten had been frightened by the earlier incident, Kuroko had told her to go home and relax.
...
Walking down the dim street, Saten Ruiko let out a deep sigh.
"If Kuroko and Selene-senpai hadn't arrived when they did... what would've happened to me?" she murmured quietly. "We're all students, all around the same age... so why do we live in completely different worlds?"
If she had power... if she had ability... maybe she wouldn't feel so helpless.
"People with no powers have no right to speak up!" The words of the thug echoed in her head, piercing deep into her heart.
Yeah... I'm just a Level 0, powerless. I can't do anything. There's a massive gulf between espers and those without powers.
If only I had power... The thought lingered, tempting her like magic itself.
She slowly took out the portable music player from her pocket and stared at it for a long time. Her hand trembled slightly—but then, she clenched her fist tight, as if she had finally made up her mind.
...
Judgment Branch 177.
"Seriously, why am I the one stuck writing the report when you, the main witness, are just sitting there playing around, Senpai?!" Kuroko shouted, glaring at Selene, who was lounging nearby with snacks in hand.
Realizing that, yes, she might be rubbing salt in the wound, Selene offered an awkward smile, muttered a quick apology, and slipped out of the branch office.
"Phew."
Exhaling as she stepped into the evening air, Selene stretched her arms lazily. "Well, time for dinner."
Humming cheerfully, she strolled toward the food district—but soon frowned. "Huh? Why are there so few people around? That's odd for this time of day…"
She tried to shrug off the uneasy feeling and kept walking. But before she reached the end of the street, an inexplicable urge struck her—a powerful impulse telling her to leave this place and head to her favorite restaurant instead.
Her steps faltered. "What… is this feeling?" The thought grew stronger, echoing in her mind like a command. Something was off—terribly off.
"This isn't normal. It's... a suggestion. Wait—suggestion magic?" Selene muttered, eyes narrowing. "Of course. This must be the 'People-Clearing Field' spell from the magic side... how interesting."
Thinking it over, she chuckled softly. "So this is the magic side's handiwork, huh? How fascinating."
...
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the city.
Another unlucky day, another run-in with the ever-shocking Biri-Biri girl. The spiky-haired boy named Kamijou Touma sighed deeply, dragging his exhausted body home.
"Huh...? What's this?"
As he approached his apartment, he noticed three cleaning robots clustered around his doorway, their brushes scrubbing furiously in one spot. Judging by the way they vibrated, it seemed like they were trying to clean off something particularly stubborn.
"I don't remember there being any dirt here…" Touma muttered, frowning. A bad feeling crept up his spine.
As he stepped closer, the metallic scent of blood filled the air.
His breath caught. Something was definitely wrong.
Driven by dread and morbid curiosity, Kamijou took another step forward—and finally saw it.
A small, pure-white figure lay motionless on the ground—Index.
Seeing the girl lying in a pool of blood, Kamijou Touma's pupils contracted sharply. He shoved the buzzing cleaning robots aside and gently lifted her in his arms.
Up close, he saw it clearly—there was a clean, horizontal gash near her lower back. The wound was so perfectly straight, it looked as though someone had used a ruler and blade to cut through corrugated paper.
Her white habit and long silver hair were both stained crimson by her own blood.
Even though their first encounter hadn't exactly been pleasant, no sane person could see a young girl bleeding out on their doorstep and feel nothing. Touma's mind went blank, overwhelmed by rage and panic.
"Damn it! Damn it!" he growled, his voice shaking. "What the hell is this?! Who did this to her?!"
"Oh? You mean her?"
A flippant voice came from behind him, making Touma whirl around.
"The magician who was with us did that," said a tall man with pale skin and fiery red hair, nearly two meters in height. A cigarette dangled lazily from his mouth, and beneath his right eye was a tattoo resembling a barcode. He wore a black priest's robe.
"Hm… yeah, that's quite the deep cut," the man muttered, glancing at Index's wound. "I figured it was Kanzaki's work, but since I didn't see any blood on the way here, I thought she might've gone easy this time."
Seeing the fury in Touma's eyes, the red-haired magician sighed—though his voice carried no trace of regret. "I see... so that's why she came back here."
Touma's hands trembled with rage. "Why…?"
"Hm? You're asking why she came back?" The man shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe she forgot something. I saw her wearing a hat yesterday—today she's not."
Those words struck a chord in Touma's memory. The only thing she left behind… was her white nun's hat.
"Was it the residual magic in her hat that led them here…?" he muttered.
He remembered her final words before leaving: 'Then, will you accompany me to the end of hell?' She had smiled when she said it.
So that's why she left—to keep me from getting dragged into this mess. The realization made his chest tighten painfully. "Idiot…" he whispered, clenching his teeth. "You stupid girl…"
When he looked up again, his eyes burned with fury as he glared at the red-haired man.
"Don't look at me like that," the man said casually, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "I'm not the one who hurt her. And Kanzaki probably didn't mean to either."
He exhaled slowly, the smoke curling in the dim light. "Normally, that habit she wears—'Walking Church'—has absolute defense. But for some reason, it shattered." He clicked his tongue in mock disappointment.
"Why?! I don't believe in magic, or in people like you who call yourselves magicians—but…" Touma gritted his teeth, forcing himself to his feet. "You still know the difference between right and wrong, don't you?! Attacking a child—how can you call that justice?!"
"If you're done preaching, move aside," the magician replied indifferently. "I'm here to retrieve something."
"Retrieve…?" The word struck Touma like ice water. Retrieve, as if she were an object. He froze, disbelief written all over his face.
The red-haired man exhaled another puff of smoke. "That's right—retrieve. Though technically, we're not retrieving her, but the one hundred and three thousand grimoires stored in her mind."
He smirked, his tone bored yet taunting. "Oh, and a little warning: if someone like you even glances at one of those grimoires, your mind will collapse instantly. You'll end up a gibbering wreck."
Touma's fists trembled violently. He wanted to yell, but no words came.
"So to prevent her from falling into the wrong hands," the man continued, "we're going to protect her." He pulled out another cigarette and lit it calmly. "After all, those things are dangerous."
"Protect…?" Touma repeated, his voice thick with fury. His hands clenched so tightly they bled. "You call this protection?!" His rage boiled over. "You bastard!" he shouted, leaping forward and swinging his fist with all his might. "Who the hell are you?!"
"Stiyl Magnus," the red-haired man replied smoothly, sidestepping the blow. A smirk tugged at his lips as he flicked his cigarette away. "Now that introductions are over—shall we begin?"
The cigarette, still lit, sailed through the air—then exploded in a burst of flame.
"Kenaz—flame, ignite."
The fiery burst gathered before Stiyl's outstretched hand, coalescing into a massive sphere of fire that blazed brighter with every passing second.
Touma stared, dumbstruck, as heat washed over him like a living wave. "This… this is magic?" he whispered, instinctively raising his arms to shield his face.
...
At that moment, Selene happened to be walking through the area. She stopped in her tracks as flames erupted from the seventh floor of a student dormitory. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity. "So this is magic…?"
Before she could move closer, she saw someone fall from the burning building—a spiky-haired boy screaming in terror.
Without hesitation, Selene bent her knees, cracking the pavement beneath her feet. She launched herself upward with explosive force, catching the falling boy mid-air and landing gracefully with him in her arms.
Seeing who it was, Kamijou Touma felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Selene… then Index will be fine! With an Academy City Level 5 here, that magician doesn't stand a chance!"