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

The evening heat was gradually dissipated by the night breeze, and the streetlights of Academy City lit up one by one, casting circles of white light on the ground. Touma Kamijou walked down the street carrying a plastic basin for bathing, which contained towels and a change of clothes.

Index walked to his left, her long silver hair swaying gently in the night breeze, clutching the blue bath towel given to her by Teacher Xiaomeng, humming an off-key tune. Mio Takamiya walked to his right, her steps as steady as ever, her grey eyes gazing at the street gradually brightening under the streetlights ahead.

"Touma, why did you wait until night to go to the bathhouse?"

"Because there are fewer people at night..." Kamijou adjusted the position of the basin in his arms, "and it's too hot during the day. You'll be covered in sweat after just a few steps, so washing is pointless."

"And there's a nighttime discount!" Index peeked out from the left, her emerald eyes sparkling under the streetlights. "Ms. Xiaomeng told me last time that it's only 200 yen to enter after 8 pm!"

"Uh...? Hey! What kind of quirky little trick is this that Mr. Kamijou doesn't know about? When did you start talking about these things with the teacher?"

"The last time you went for tutoring!"

The three turned the last street corner, and the warm yellow sign of the public bathhouse "Oasis" came into view. There weren't many people at the entrance, only a tabby cat squatting next to the vending machine licking its paws. Touma Kamijou stopped in his tracks.

A person was crouching next to the cat, wearing a red and black Gothic dress, with long, night-black hair tied at the end with a bright red ribbon. She reached out a hand and gently scratched the cat's chin with her fingertips. The tabby cat squinted and purred. The cat rolled over at her feet, revealing its white belly.

Kamijou Touma recognized her—Tokisaki Kurumi.

She looked up, meeting Touma's gaze, but showed no surprise whatsoever. Touma glanced at Mio beside him; she remained silent, her grey eyes calmly fixed on Kurumi, devoid of any hostility or curiosity.

"Mio, Index, you two go in first..." Kamijou switched the plastic basin to his left hand, opened his right hand, and hid it behind his back.

"Touma?" Index blinked, following his gaze to Kurumi crouching next to the cat. A hint of doubt flashed in her emerald eyes. "That person is...?"

"If I know someone, I'll say hello..."

Mio Takamiya glanced at him, then at Kurumi. She didn't ask any questions, but simply nodded.

"Um……"

"But..." Index was about to say something when Mio gently tugged at her sleeve.

"Let's go."

Index hesitated for a moment, but ultimately followed Mio towards the bathhouse entrance. Before entering, she glanced back at Touma, then Mio pulled her through the curtain.

Touma Kamijou took a deep breath and walked towards the tabby cat and the girl crouching beside it. Startled by his approaching footsteps, the cat darted out from under Kurumi's grasp, flicked its tail, and disappeared into the alley. Kurumi stood up and brushed the cat hair off her skirt.

"Good evening, Mr. Kamijou Touma... I forgot to ask last time in the alley, how has Mio been doing by your side?"

Kamijou was silent for a moment. "What are you up to?"

"Oh my... how indifferent~" Kurumi's expression did not change, but there was a very faint, almost imperceptible layer in her voice.

Kamijou couldn't tell if he felt relieved or bitter, but the person in front of him was extremely dangerous. "You said last time that your prey wasn't here, so why are you still in Academy City?"

"Because I'm still hesitating..." Kurumi rarely stopped smiling. "Touma Kamijou, do you know what the person next to you has done in the past?"

Kamijou didn't answer; he didn't know.

"That continent hasn't fully healed yet..." Kurumi's voice was soft, as if she were talking to herself, "Somewhere here, lies the scar from the beginning of everything. And that scar was left by her own hand."

"The Eurasian Great Air Disaster"

"What is that?"

A night breeze swept through the alley, carrying a few fallen leaves. Kurumi turned around, looking up at the night sky bathed in the white light of the streetlights. Her profile was half-lit and half-shadowed by the lamplight, and the clock-like pupil in her left eye slowly turned.

"Thirty years ago, in Central Asia, there were three magicians. Their names were Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, Alan Mira Mathers, and..." She paused, "Elliot Baldwin Woodman."

"They created the Primordial Spirit. The moment she opened her eyes, she did nothing. She simply existed. Then the anomaly occurred. Her power went berserk, space was torn apart, and power surging from 'the other side' covered the entire area. One hundred and fifty million people vanished without a trace, not even leaving behind their corpses."

"This is what you don't know, the Eurasian Great Cataclysm..." Kurumi's voice deepened, "She didn't do it intentionally, not out of malice, not out of anger, not even out of anything that could be called 'will'. She simply existed, and her very existence took away 150 million lives."

Touma Kamijou didn't say anything, he just clenched his fist.

"After that, she disappeared. No one knew where she went until..." Kurumi turned around, her heterochromatic eyes meeting Touma's gaze, "until she appeared before a boy named Shinji Takamiya, not as a weapon to destroy the world, not as an embodiment of power, but as a girl who didn't even have a name and knew nothing."

"Shinji Takamiya named her Takamiya Mio, after the Takamiya family..."

"Shinji taught her to speak, to write, to everything about that world, just like you did, Touma Kamijou." A smile appeared on Kurumi's lips, and something deeper, something that had been soaked in time for so long that it had lost its original shape, emerged. "Then Shinji died, killed by the very creator who made her."

Kamijou Touma frowned, seemingly feeling a chill on his back as the nighttime temperature dropped.

"Mio tried everything to revive him. She created the Neighboring World, created the Spirit Crystals, and created new Spirits. Each Spirit was an attempt she made to revive Shinji, and I was one of them."

She raised her hand, her fingertips brushing aside her bangs to reveal a golden clock, its hands still slowly turning.

"I was originally an ordinary human. It was Mio who gave me the Spirit Crystal, turning me into a spirit. She thought it was creating possibilities, but for me, it was a curse. My best friend died in front of me, and I couldn't even hold her hand."

"Touma Kamijou..." Kurumi lowered her hand, her heterochromatic eyes staring directly at him. "Can I kill her? In the name of justice, in the name of revenge, in the name of saving everyone she's dragged into, can I kill her, to avenge Sawa?"

Touma Kamijou remained silent for a long time before raising his head.

"If what you said is true, then Mio did do something irreversible. Whether it was intentional or not, 150 million people disappeared, and your friend died. So I understand why you hate her and want revenge. If I were you, I would probably do the same thing."

"That……"

"But the current Mio remembers nothing. She doesn't remember who she is, what she's done, the 150 million people, or your friends. She's not even the Primal Spirit you know. She eats with chopsticks every day, folds her clothes neatly and puts them in the closet, and covers Index with the blankets again when she kicks them off. The first time she ate oden, she burned her tongue on a radish and drank two glasses of water while frowning..."

"The Mio you told me about is not the same Mio who eats breakfast with me every day. Although they are essentially the same person, I will not allow anyone to hurt the current Mio, whether it is you or anyone else."

His right hand clenched, and his knuckles cracked.

"If you're going to hurt her, I'll stop you with this hand. That's my decision."

Kurumi Tokisaki looked at him, her heterochromatic eyes reflecting the boy's figure. He stood straight, his clenched right hand hanging at his side, showing no sign of backing down. After a moment, she smiled. It wasn't a dangerous smile, nor a calculating one; instead, it was a lighter smile, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

"Is that so...?" She gently lifted her skirt, bent down, and gave Touma Kamijou a curtsy. "Then I'm relieved. At least in this era, someone will stand in her way, not as a tool, not as an enemy, but as someone who needs protection."

"Kurumi..."

A voice came from the alley entrance. It was a boy's voice, not loud, but carrying an undeniable power. Touma Kamijou turned his head. Standing at the alley entrance was a boy wearing a school uniform from an unknown school. His short blue hair fluttered slightly in the night breeze, and his amber eyes looked at Kurumi gently.

Kurumi Tokisaki blinked, her expression shifting from surprise to helplessness, and then to an indescribable complexity. She sighed softly, but a smile played on her lips.

"Oh my... Shido-kun. How did you find this place?"

Shido Itsuka didn't answer the question. He strode over and grabbed Kurumi Tokisaki's wrist. "This time, you won't get away alone. Everyone's waiting for you."

"Wait for me? This is really..."

"Ah... come back with me."

"Oh dear... this is really..." Kurumi repeated it again, but this time her tone was clearly wavering.

"Let's go home."

Kurumi was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Touma Kamijou. "Looks like I should go now~"

Kamijou Touma nodded. Kurumi paused for a fraction of a second, then laughed and turned to follow Itsuka Shido out of the alley. After a few steps, she stopped, not turning back, but simply glancing at Kamijou Touma.

"Touma Kamijou, I take back what I said before."

"What?"

"I said the Primal Spirit was my prey, but that statement is now invalid." Her voice softened, as if she were speaking to herself, "Because in this era, she has found her home."

After taking a few steps, Itsuka Shido suddenly stopped. He turned around, his amber eyes looking at him intently. "When she's experiencing intense emotional turmoil, she might undergo a reversal. After the reversal, she'll become a different being, driven only by the instinct for destruction, something she can't even control herself."

He paused, his voice carrying something heavy, as if it had been pulled from the depths, "If one day you see her wearing black spirit armor, don't hesitate, go and stop her, pull her back."

"Touma Kamijou," he said without turning around, his voice low but exceptionally clear in the night wind, "I couldn't save her before, but you have now. So, never let go of her hand."

Kamijou Touma watched his retreating figure and then nodded.

"I won't let go, absolutely..."

Shido Itsuka raised his hand and waved, then disappeared into the night at the end of the street with Kurumi Tokisaki. Touma Kamijou stood there, watching their figures grow smaller and smaller until they completely disappeared into the darkness beyond the reach of the streetlights.

A night breeze blew by, carrying the faint scent of shower gel from the direction of the bathhouse. He turned and walked towards the bathhouse. When he lifted the curtain, he saw Mio standing two steps away inside, her gray eyes quietly watching him.

She had changed into clean clothes after her shower, her long, grayish-white hair still damp, with a small water stain at the ends on her shoulders. Index peeked out from behind her, her eyes full of inquiry. Mio didn't ask; she simply raised her hand and gently touched the back of his hand with her fingertips.

"Toma, the water is still hot."

Touma Kamijou paused for a moment, then smiled. "Okay, I'll go right now." He lifted the curtain of the men's bath, and steam from the hot water rushed towards him. Index's voice came from behind him.

"Touma! You need coffee milk after you shower!"

"I see!"

He stepped into the bathroom, hot water pouring down his head, flowing over his shoulders and back to the floor. He closed his eyes, recalling the conversation in the alley. The blue-haired boy had said, "I couldn't save her before, but now you have." The girl in the red and black dress had said, "In this era, she has found her home."

He opened his eyes and looked at his right hand.

"So never let go of her hand..."

The water was hot, and steam rose under the light, blurring the light bulb on the ceiling. He clenched his right hand into a fist, his knuckles turning slightly white, then released it.

Let go? Of course he won't let go.

After all, his dream was to come back without losing anything, and with everyone smiling.