Daihaseisai.
It was a 7 day unique sporting event held by Academy City, an esper power development center that occupied the west side of Tokyo, and right now, it was halfway through the first day. All the events stopped between noon and 2 PM for a lunch break. The large number of students who were either participating in the events or cheering for their classmates were now all on the streets, and together with the tourists from outside Academy City, the population density couldn't be belittled.
"Index?"
Kamijou was walking on the crowded streets.
He had changed clothes before, but right now, he was in an ordinary short-sleeved PE shirt and shorts. For some reason, there were some bruises on his arms and legs, there were even bandages on his face, and there was some dirt and damage to his clothes. But this was Daihaseisai, where espers battled it out, so it was not too eye-catching.
For some reason, even when lunchtime was almost over, he hadn't eaten lunch yet. He moved his famished body, searching for the girl who was extremely likely to be as famished as he was.
(That kid should be around here somewhere…that zero-yen phone that I gave her can't work now because it has no power. Tsuchimikado said not to allow her to get near the scene, so I got to watch over her.)
Kamijou looked around.
He thought: now that the magician Oriana Thomson and the Roman Catholic Lidvia Lorenzetti are actively working in the darkness, how can I be so relaxed?
But Tsuchimikado and Stiyl strictly warned him.
"If the objective of those ladies is to use the Croce di Pietro to dominate Academy City, why can't they do it themselves? Maybe there's a reason why they can't do it at the start? The spiritual item is extremely powerful, so if one wants to activate it and control it to stabilize it, it can't just be chanting something only. For example…yeah, the caster has to spend a long time to purify the Cross with fire and holy oil in order to prevent the Cross from reading any thoughts other than that of the caster, which will cause the command to go haywire. One must set a special enchantment…anyway, if they don't settle these rather complicated conditions, they won't be able to use the Croce di Pietro."
"By knowing the 'usage conditions,' we can strike first nya. Anyway, investigating this spiritual item is our job, Kami-yan won't be able to help."
They had said so.
Thus, Kamijou's priority was to accompany a certain girl.
He was look for that girl called Index — a slim green-eyed white girl. She had long silver hair that extended to her waist, and wore a pure white nun's habit that was laced with gold embroidery that looked like a teacup.
As Academy City and Daihaseisai were rather famous, it was not uncommon to see a foreign girl around. Kamijou would occasionally brush into a green-eyed girl, and wouldn't end up recognizing the wrong person.
…Even so, he still couldn't find Index.
What was going on? Kamijou tilted his head.
"Touma…"
A cute familiar voice rang inside Kamijou's ears.
He looked in the direction of where the voice came from, and in front of him, there were just people, people and people. The crowd formed a human wall, and he couldn't confirm everyone's face. From the corner of his eyes, he saw something with long silver hair and stared at it. The girl was wearing white pleated skirt and a light green sleeveless vest.
Index couldn't possibly be wearing that.
"Touma…"
He heard the voice again.
Kamijou looked around, and yet he still couldn't find that magnificent white nun's habit around. In front of him was a silver-haired green-eyed girl who looked like Index, wearing cheerleader attire, and carrying a calico cat.
"I say, Touma!! Why didn't you look at me straight in the face just now!?"
"Wa!!"
From who knows when, the cheerleader girl got near to Kamijou, and shouted into his ears, causing him to fall backwards. The other person seemed to be looking for him as well.
He suddenly thought of it.
(Oh yeah, I think Index was changing into cheerleader clothes with help from Komoe-sensei…)
"…Touma, Touma. Are you thinking about something strange? Why do I feel that you're delighted?"
"Sin…since when? I'm not."
Kamijou frantically shook his head.
"Come to think of it Index, where is your nun's habit?"
"They're with Komoe-san."
Index said unhappily.
Wha…what was she angry about? Kamijou felt insecure. Even if he stared at the calico cat, the cat would only give a bleary-eyed response and yawn. Kamijou saw the serene look on the cat's face, thought about something for a while, and said,
"Ah, I know. You're hungry, right, Index? We'll be meeting with otou-san and okaa-san to have lunch, so just bear with it for a while longer."
Once he said that, Index's small fist smashed down onto Kamijou's head.
"It's not that, Touma you idiot."
"It hurts! What's that for?"
"I wanted to come cheer for Touma, so I changed into this cheerleader attire and asked Komoe-san to teach me the moves! But where did Touma go!? It seemed like you weren't around during the 'Bread-eating contest' and the 'tug-of-war!'"
Kamijou recalled it.
For some reasons, he had skipped those events and taken some actions that were different from his classmates, but he couldn't explain that to Index.
"Ughh…I…I thought I could be with Touma, so I worked so hard for it. Now that Touma ran somewhere else, what should I do…?"
Index dejectedly muttered.
To her, being in a large-scale event hosted by Academy City that she was so unfamiliar with, it was like someone feeling helpless when he stumbled into the wrong party.
Kamijou inadvertently scratched his head,
"Ah, sorry Index, I…I thought that like usual, that you're just hungry."
"I'm not! I worked so hard just to cheer for Touma, but you didn't even see it at all, that's why I'm so angry! Basically, being panicky when I'm hungry is something that's unrelated to being a humble nun, stupid Touma!!"
"Oh really? You look like you're thinking about food ¾ of a year…wait a sec, I'm wrong!! It's my fault for saying my true thoughts…no, I'm wrong, there's quite a few reasons—!!"
Kamijou tried to justify himself, but Index's anger could not be pacified. She used her small fists to smack onto Kamijou's face and chest. Though it was cute, Kamijou felt that it was a bit strange.
"…? Eh, Index. Why aren't you biting on me like usual?—IT'S NOT THAT! YOU DON'T HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF TO DO THAT!!"
Although Kamijou immediately added in the last part, Index unexpectedly didn't retort back. Not only that, her small fists which were hitting him stopped moving.
Kamijou looked at Index's face.
He couldn't help but let out an 'uuu' sound.
Index suddenly lowered her head. Not just her face, even her ears were flushed red. Her shoulders were trembling slightly, her small lips seemed to say something, only to suddenly stop. Maybe the calico cat realized something was up as it raised its head and mewed, but Index was so tense that she didn't hear it.
Index, who was all stiff now, remained silent for a while, and suddenly let out a sentence,
"…Touma's so perverted."
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about!? Aren't you the one who'll always bite me, Index!? Kamijou-san has been calling you to let go of me all the time, so the one perverted should be you…uhh WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"
Just as Kamijou retorted back, the fist that forced him to shut up came over.
The other person was unexpectedly serious.