A Certain Magical Index: The Primal Spirit Descends to My Side

Summer in Academy City is unbearably hot.

Even with the fan on, the air blowing out was all hot, like having an oven shoved in your face. Outside the window, the buildings shone brightly under the scorching sun, a blinding white blur. Just as Touma shifted his gaze, he saw the gray-haired girl still staring motionlessly out the window.

"Besides, magic books are just textbooks in the end." Index lowered her head dejectedly, her voice filled with grievance. "Just reading the book doesn't make you a magician. A true magician adds their own elements to the knowledge in the magic book and creates entirely new magic."

This thing is less like information and more like a self-evolving computer virus. To completely eliminate it, you can only keep analyzing new variants and then creating corresponding antivirus programs.

"And as I just said, grimoires are extremely dangerous." Index squinted, the towel on her forehead almost dry again. "Even when destroying a copy, a special inquisitor would have to sew their eyes shut to prevent their brain from being contaminated. Afterwards, they would need to undergo five years of baptism to completely remove the poison. As for the original grimoire, human mental strength is simply insufficient to handle it, so of the 103,000 grimoires in the world, there's nothing that can be done except seal them away."

It's practically like nuclear warheads buried everywhere... no, actually, there's not much difference. Even the author probably didn't expect the consequences to be this outrageous. Kamijou Touma picked up a towel, soaked it, wrung it out, and applied it back to her.

"Tsk... Speaking of which, didn't you say that anyone who isn't a superpowered ordinary person can use magic? Then why hasn't magic spread all over the world?" Touma Kamijou recalled the rituals that Ms. Komoe had talked about in class. If everyone in the world could use that kind of ability, all the common sense based on science would have been overturned long ago.

"Don't worry about that... The people in the magic society aren't willing to let their spellbooks leak out easily."

"Why? Doesn't they prefer as many people as possible?"

"If everyone carrying a gun were one of our own, there wouldn't be any wars in the world, would there?"

This means that even those who possess magic aren't necessarily all on the same side. Knowing how powerful their ultimate attack is, they're even more determined not to let it fall into the hands of the opposing mage.

It's the same principle as the design blueprints for the latest weapons.

"Oh... I think I get it." Touma Kamijou pondered for a moment, "In other words, those guys all want that super bomb in your head."

She has a mental library containing copies of all 103,000 original magic books in the world. Getting her is like having all the magic in the world.

"Hmm..." Index shivered slightly as the towel on her forehead grew cold again. "If one could learn all the knowledge from the 103,000 grimoires, one could overturn all the laws of the world. We call such a person a demon god."

Not the "God of the Demon Realm," but a magician who has fully mastered magic and has entered the realm of gods.

Demon God? Are you kidding me?

Touma Kamijou unconsciously clenched his teeth. Judging from Index's expression, she hadn't willingly crammed all 103,000 grimoires into her brain. She simply wanted to reduce the number of victims; that was her only reason for living.

Those mages who ignored her good intentions were really annoying. Those churches that treated her like dirt were also annoying. These guys didn't treat people like human beings. But what annoyed Touma the most was that Index, who seemed to see only such selfish people, was still so considerate of others?

"I'm sorry..." Touma Kamijou didn't even know what he was angry about. But Index's apology completely blew him away.

He gently tapped Index's forehead.

"Stop messing around... Why didn't you tell me about something this important?"

Touma Kamijou stared at the patient in front of him. Index was so frightened that she didn't move, feeling like she had done something wrong again. Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something.

"But... I thought you wouldn't believe me, and I didn't want to scare you. And, and..."

Index, who was on the verge of crying, spoke softer and softer until she was barely audible.

In Touma's ears, Index seemed to say something like, "And I don't want you to hate me."

Suddenly, Index could hear Touma Kamijou breathing heavily with anger.

"What a joke! You underestimate me! Church secrets? 103,000 grimoires? Yes, that's an exaggeration! It's hard to believe! Even now, I still don't quite believe it!"

"But—!" Touma paused, turning his gaze back to Index, "So what?"

Index's eyes widened even more, her lips trembled, but she couldn't say anything.

"Don't underestimate me! Just because you have 103,000 magic books in your head, does that mean I should hate you? That when magicians come knocking, I should just abandon you and run away? What a joke! If I were that cowardly, I wouldn't have bothered with you in the first place!"

While still angry, Touma Kamijou finally understood why he was so furious. He just wanted to help; he just didn't want to see Index get hurt again, that's all.

However, Index is willing to protect Touma Kamijou, but she never lets him protect her. She has never heard Touma say "help me" to her.

This made Touma Kamijou extremely unwilling, extremely unwilling.

"Why can't you trust me a little more? Why do you look down on me so much?" It's that simple. Even without the power of his right hand, even if he's just an ordinary person, he has no reason to back down.

He will absolutely not back down.

Index stood there stunned for a long while, staring blankly at Touma Kamijou's face. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes. Those tears melted like ice. To keep from crying out loud, Index's lips trembled slightly as she bit down on the blanket that had been pulled up to her chin.

If we don't do that, she'll probably burst into tears like a child, right? Her crying probably isn't just because she was moved by what I just said.

Touma Kamijou knew perfectly well that his words hadn't had that much of an impact. It was probably his words that caused Index to unleash all the emotions she'd been holding back for so long.

While feeling a pang of regret that no one had ever said such things to her before, Touma Kamijou was also a little happy to finally see Index's vulnerable side.

But Touma Kamijou isn't a pervert. Seeing a girl cry isn't something he can be happy about; on the contrary, it's incredibly awkward. If Moe-sensei, who knows nothing about it, walked in now, she'd definitely give him a severe beating.

"Ah... well... because I have the ability with my right hand, magicians are no match for me..."

"But... Waaah... You said you were going to take summer classes..."

Did I say that?

"I definitely said that..."

The girl who memorized all 103,000 books certainly had an absurdly good memory. "You're embarrassed about something so trivial that it might disrupt my daily life? Tutoring is nothing; the school doesn't want to see someone drop out, right? Even if I missed summer classes, there will definitely be opportunities to retake them. Just put off dealing with that little thing!"

"..." Index, tears welling in her eyes, stared silently at Touma Kamijou's face. "Then why did you say... you were going to tutoring?"

"Ah..." Touma Kamijou remembered. Back then, Index's nun's robe, "Mobile Church," was destroyed by Imagine Breaker, and he saw Index completely naked. The scene was as awkward as the silent elevator, so he just made up an excuse.

"I think...you have your own things to do, your own daily life...I shouldn't bother you..."

"Ah...uh...ah..."

"My presence by your side... seems to be putting you in a difficult position..."

"Well……"

"It's a difficult situation..."

Index repeated herself twice, tears welling in her eyes. Touma Kamijou realized there was no way to brush this off. He immediately prostrated himself on the spot, shouting, "I'm sorry!"

Index slowly sat up from under the covers like a patient, grabbed Touma Kamijou's ears with both hands, and bit down hard on his head like a seaweed rice ball.

"Ah—! What a misfortune!"

Just then, the gray-haired girl, who had been listening quietly and seemingly indifferent to everything, suddenly moved. Her gray eyes turned to the only window in the room, her gaze seemingly piercing through the curtains and walls, looking towards some distant place. Her expression didn't change at all, but Touma inexplicably felt that she seemed to have "noticed" something.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

The girl looked away from Touma Kamijou and said calmly, "I'm going out for a bit."

"Go out? Where to?" Touma Kamijou looked completely bewildered.

"Just some fresh air..." The girl gave an excuse that couldn't be more ordinary and perfunctory. She stood up, her movements as fluid as a snake, and walked straight to the door.

"Hey, wait..." Kamijou Touma tried to call her back, but the girl had already opened the door and walked out, the door closing gently behind her.

Touma Kamijou and Index looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Did she... find out something?" Index asked somewhat uneasily.

Touma Kamijou frowned, staring at the closed door, a sense of foreboding washing over him. That girl's behavior was always unpredictable, but she certainly wouldn't leave at a time like this without a reason.