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

On a July afternoon, sunlight streamed through the windows of the student dormitory, casting bright, dappled patterns on the tatami mats. The air conditioner's outdoor unit hummed, barely managing to maintain the indoor temperature at a comfortable level.

The television screen was playing a midday variety show, and the exaggerated expressions of the performers and their canned laughter filled the small room.

Touma Kamijou sat cross-legged, his back against the wall, his eyelids drooping. He was already tired of the host's lame jokes, and he mechanically stuffed potato chips he bought from the convenience store into his mouth, chewing them half-heartedly.

Index knelt beside him, leaning slightly forward, her emerald eyes fixed on the screen. Wearing that white nun's robe in the sweltering summer heat, the exquisite gold embroidery making her look somewhat like a high-end British tea set. Index's long silver hair swayed gently in the airflow from the air conditioner vent, the ends occasionally brushing against Kamijou's arm.

"Touma..." She suddenly turned her head, half a red bean bread still in her mouth, swaying as she spoke. "Why is this person putting a bucket on their head?"

"For variety show effect..." Kamijou Touma answered vaguely, taking a sip of barley tea from the plastic bottle. The aroma of barley and the slightly bitter taste, combined with the warmth of the ice, made Kamijou Touma lean comfortably against the bed.

What is "variety show effect"?

"that is…"

He didn't finish his sentence.

The sound of the door shattering was like a bomb exploding next to my ear—pure, violent destruction. The heavy cast iron door dented in the middle, hinge screws flew off, and it toppled inwards, splintering metal and dust, before crashing heavily onto the tatami mat. Sunlight and heat rushed in through the gap, instantly eroding the coolness provided by the air conditioner.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, two figures stood in the light at the doorway, their silhouettes sharply outlined by the blazing afternoon sun.

Stiyl Magnus stepped into the room first, the hem of his black monastic robe sweeping across the threshold, his long red hair swaying slightly in the hot air. A lit cigarette was between his fingers, the embers gleaming in the dim light. Through the swirling smoke, his gaze passed over Touma and locked onto Index.

"Time's up." His voice was hoarse as he stubbed out the cigarette he'd only taken two puffs of in his right palm.

Beside him stood Kanzaki Kaori, arms crossed. The hem of her white T-shirt was casually knotted at her upper abdomen, revealing a glimpse of her taut waist. Beneath her jeans, the left leg of which was cut off, were long legs clad in beige leather shoes. The scabbard of her "Seven Days Seven Swords," exceeding two meters in length, gleamed darkly in the sunlight.

Index froze instantly, put down the bag of snacks in her hand, and got up from the ground. She stood next to the low table, spreading her arms to block Touma Kamijou.

"No..." Her voice was soft, but unusually firm, "I won't go with you."

Kanzaki's brow furrowed slightly. She didn't look at Index, but at Touma Kamijou, her anger pouring out without any attempt to conceal it.

"Get out of the way, this is an ultimatum."

Touma Kamijou stood up and pulled Index behind him. He clenched his right fist and took a step forward.

What if I say no?

"Then don't blame me for being impolite..."

The moment he finished speaking, he pulled a handful of paper from inside his monk's robe. He raised his arm high, but instead of scattering it into the air, it was blown away by a gust of wind. The gray paper pieces flew everywhere like goose feathers, covering the walls of the room completely.

"Kenaz (Flame)!"

The instant Stiyl uttered the incantation, a flame suddenly appeared in his hand. Although describing the flame as a "strip" was strange, the flame maintained its long, strip-like shape, like a swordsman wielding a flaming sword. He brandished the flame and charged towards Touma Kamijou.

"Fortis931 (Here's why I'm the strongest!)!"

As the flames hurtled towards him, Touma quickly took two steps back, barely dodging the attack. He then grabbed a nearby trash can and threw it, only to have it easily sliced ​​in two by the flames, the broken piece still burning on the ground.

This is real fire! I could feel the heat when it was swung at me, and I saw it definitely catch fire when it cleaved the trash can. This isn't some kind of illusion; it's real magic!

Seeing his first strike miss, Stiyl clicked his tongue. He took another step forward, his fiery blade thrusting forward. Seeing this, Touma shoved Index onto the bed beside him, then rolled to the other side.

Although Touma Kamijou already knows that Index's clothes, the "Mobile Church," can be countered by his "Imagine Breaker," flames are indeed very hot. If they aren't extinguished in time, his hands might burn.

He cautiously placed his right hand in front of his chest, wanting to test whether his "Imagine Breaker" could eliminate both magic and temperature. Then, Touma Kamijou stepped forward, lowered his body, and deliberately aimed a right hook at Stiyl's abdomen.

Seeing Touma launch an attack, Stiyl nonchalantly turned the flames around and positioned them in the path of Touma's fist. If Touma were to punch it, his arm would burst into flames instantly, burning away in less than ten seconds.

When Touma Kamijou's fist touched the flame, the expected heat did not come through. He only felt a sensation for a moment after the contact, and then it disappeared immediately.

Stiyl's eyes widened. While his flaming sword wasn't as powerful as that killing move, it was still far beyond the capabilities of the ordinary, delinquent students in this database. What was the principle behind this? Could a flaming sword reaching 1000 degrees Celsius be destroyed with just a fist?

Touma Kamijou deflected the attack with a right hook, then quickly followed up with a twisting uppercut that landed squarely on Stiyl's stunned face. Stiyl staggered back several steps, crashing into the kitchen wall before collapsing helplessly to the ground.

Kanzaki Kaori stepped forward, slightly drawing her "Seven Days, Seven Swords." It gleamed with a blinding, cold light in the sunlight. She spoke with a detached expression.

Index, who was standing nearby, got out of bed and was about to run towards Touma Kamijou when she suddenly collapsed to the ground and fainted.

"Index?!" Touma Kamijou heard the noise behind him, turned around, and found Index unconscious. He quickly went over and helped her up, checked her nose and found she was still breathing, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Kanzaki Kaori, who was standing to the side, immediately withdrew her outstretched hand, sheathed her sword, and casually picked up Stiyl, carrying her to her waist.

"I see. So that's why the 'Mobile Church' was destroyed... it was because of you..." Her voice trailed off. "If the memory isn't erased, Index will become like that. Her final moment is 12:15 tonight... Say goodbye to her properly..."

Listening to Kanzaki Kaori's words, Touma Kamijou tightly hugged Index, who had suddenly developed a high fever, was breathing rapidly, and was frowning. Watching Kanzaki Kaori's retreating figure, Touma Kamijou angrily pounded the ground.

"hateful--!"

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the air in Ms. Tsukuyomi Komoe's small apartment was so stuffy it was almost stagnant. The old fan whirred and groaned as it spun, but it couldn't blow out much cool air.

Outside the window, the scorching July sun beat down on Academy City, and the asphalt roads emitted distorted waves of heat. Index lay on the makeshift bedding spread out on the tatami mat, covered with a thin blanket from Ms. Moe.

Her face was abnormally flushed, and a damp towel was placed on her forehead, but it quickly warmed up from her body heat. Her long silver hair clung to her sweaty neck and cheeks, her emerald eyes were half-open and half-closed, her pupils were unfocused, and her breathing was rapid and shallow.

I had a fever, which started on the way from the student dormitory to here.

Teacher Xiaomeng knelt down beside her, placed a towel dampened with cool water on Index's forehead, and wiped the back of Index's neck, knees, and armpits with the towel, attempting to lower her temperature physically.

Her face was etched with worry, her short pink hair plastered to her forehead from sweating profusely as she prepared towels. "Thirty-nine degrees eight…this can't go on…"

Touma Kamijou stood in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall, helplessly looking at his hands. Seeing Index's pained expression, he felt as if something was gripping his chest tightly, each breath bringing a dull ache.

Just now, Kamijou escaped from the dormitory with Index. He didn't have many places to go, and Komoe-sensei's house was the only option, because he had saved Index once there, and perhaps he could save her again.

But this time, the situation was different. Index had no external injuries, no bleeding, only a fever that kept rising. Teacher Xiaomeng tried all the usual methods to reduce the fever, but with little effect.

"This isn't a normal fever..." Teacher Xiaomeng wiped her sweat, her voice filled with confusion. "The temperature is rising too quickly, and it's accompanied by confusion... It's somewhat like the symptoms of acute encephalitis, but not quite..."

Kamijou knew the reason, or rather, he guessed the reason.

Memory saturation is a precursor to the brain reaching its capacity limit.

Kanzaki once said that Index's brain capacity was 85% occupied by 103,000 grimoires, leaving only 15% for daily memories. Now, that 15% is full. The excess information has nowhere to go, and it begins to overwhelm the brain itself, causing high fever, impaired consciousness, and ultimately brain death.

There are eight hours left until midnight tonight. Eight hours later, Kanzaki and Stiyl will reappear. This time, they won't hold back.

Kamijou gritted his teeth. He needed a way. Any way.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Teacher Xiaomeng paused for a moment, then stood up: "Who could it be at this time...?"

She walked to the door, looked out through the peephole, and exclaimed in surprise, "Ah!" She quickly opened the door.

The gray-haired girl stood outside the door.

She was still wearing that slightly oversized casual clothes, her long, gray hair shimmering faintly in the dim light of the corridor. Her face was expressionless, her gray eyes as calm as a deep pool, but Touma noticed that she seemed much more relaxed than before, as if she had accomplished something.

"You're back..." Kamijou said, his voice a little hoarse.

"Um... I'm back..." The gray-haired girl nodded with a smile. As she entered the room, her gaze fell on Index, and her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"curse?"

"A curse? What do you mean?" Upon hearing the gray-haired girl's voice, Kamijou Touma scrambled to his feet as if he had met a savior, grabbing the gray-haired girl's shoulders with both hands.

The gray-haired girl didn't answer immediately. She walked to Index's side, knelt down, and gently touched her forehead with her finger. She closed her eyes, and it seemed as if some particles appeared at her fingertips.

A few seconds later, she withdrew her hand.

"What do you mean?" Teacher Xiaomeng looked at the gray-haired girl in confusion, still replacing the cool towel in her hand.

The gray-haired girl glanced at her, seemingly realizing she needed a simpler explanation. She thought for a moment. "It's like a box that can hold much more, but it's cursed. The curse causes the box to break down periodically..."

She pointed at Index, then said softly, "Her time is up. Now, the person who cast the curse needs to provide the incantation to undo the destructive process..."

Ms. Komoe nodded, seemingly understanding. Touma Kamijou, however, jumped up immediately. "What? She didn't have her brain filled with memories, but rather a timed curse?"

"What... a brain filled with memories?" Komoe-sensei looked at Touma Kamijou in confusion. "Touma... it's impossible for a brain to be filled with memories..."

"What?" Touma Kamijou's eyes widened as if he had heard an unbelievable conclusion. "Wasn't it said that 85% of Index's brain was filled with books, leaving only the remaining 15% for memorizing things?"

"Touma... which neuroscience course did you fail...?" Ms. Komoe asked, pulling a textbook from the bookshelf and handing it to Touma. "The human brain isn't a CD... it records things in sections."

"But Index has an absolute memory! She remembers everything she's ever seen and never forgets anything..." Touma Kamijou hurriedly explained Index's situation, afraid that his confidence would be extinguished by the teacher's misjudgment.

Teacher Xiaomeng placed a finger on her chin and thought for a moment. "Hmm... absolute memory is indeed very rare... but the human brain's memory cannot be overloaded... why? Because the human brain can store more than 140 years of memories..."

"140 years?" Touma Kamijou looked at Index in surprise. "But she has a vast amount of knowledge in her mind; she read many books in the church!"

"Hmph~ The human brain doesn't just have one type of memory. There's semantic memory, which manages language and knowledge; procedural memory, which manages skills and movements; event memory, which manages recollections... and so on, categorizing memory into different types..."

After listening to Ms. Komoe's explanation, Touma Kamijou suddenly sat down on the ground. Looking at his trembling hands, he gave an awkward laugh.

"So... Index's suffering isn't because a year's worth of memories filled 15% of her brain..." Touma Kamijou was taken aback. Why would a year's worth of memories account for 15%? If a year's worth of memories is 15%, then Index should have been like this by the time she was six years old. How could she have lived to be this old?

Adding to the curse the white-haired girl mentioned earlier, Touma suddenly understood. First, he made Index read those magical books that would damage the human brain, then he used this curse to control Index, preventing her from existing independently outside the church. Then, he made Index's companions carry out the cycle of this curse, forcing her to separate from her friends every year, thus completely controlling her like a fledgling bird.

Thinking of this, Touma Kamijou suddenly stood up and walked towards the door.