Volume 8, 1: Preparations in the Background of Peace. A_Terrestial_Globe.(2/3)
“Okay. Let’s all go sit in those luxurious chairs and get this strategy meeting started.”
“In that case, close your vulgar magazine and do something about that protrusion in your pants. Even if this is unofficial, you can’t enter the conference room like that.”
“You could always take care of it for me. Heh heh.”
The instant after the president got carried away, Roseline mercilessly and unsympathetically stabbed her high heel into the center of his back. A sound like a giant drum being beat rang out. It had been such a fascinatingly sharp strike that the surrounding secret service carelessly watched it happen before coming to their senses.
“Did that wake you up?”
“Ofhh!? Cough cough!! ...Th-that’s what you call a swordfish...”
“Enough about ocean romance.”
The sound of Roseline’s high heels tapping against the ground sounded like a beast threateningly gnashing its teeth. That eerie noise urged Roberto into the UN Headquarters along with the representatives of England and Russia.
“S-some illegals are taking part in the meeting, right?”
“They of course cannot enter this building, but they will be connected by a line that will leave no records. Our top priority is Gremlin and we will use whatever means are available to us. They will be taking part in real time from the other side of the globe.”
“I don’t know the details about magic or whatever, but what kind of people are they if they can stand on the same level as representatives of entire nations?”
And in a certain student dorm in Japan’s Academy City, the boss of a magic cabal elegantly crossed her legs and fidgeted with a cell phone.
“People like me,” she muttered.
Part 3
In that early morning dorm room, Birdway ended a call on her cell phone and stuck it into her skirt pocket. She spoke with the expression of someone plotting a worldwide conspiracy.
“The preparations are complete.”
“Hm? Did you order a pizza?”
“I travelled to the other side of the globe. If I was hungry, I would order sushi or soba.”
A battered Kamijou gathered his hazy consciousness and listened to Birdway and Index’s heartwarming conversation.
If he was honest, he really did not care about the direction in which the world was headed.
He was more concerned about doing something about the hole cut out of the bathroom wall, but Kamijou was much too afraid of losing his deposit to go crying to the dorm supervisor. He began trying to escape from reality by wondering if there was some mysterious masked carpentry group that could repair the wall to as good as new.
The secret battles in the dark side of Academy City had all evidence and traces of destruction covered up, so he was convinced someone like that had to exist. The problem was he had not the slightest clue how to contact them.
To preserve usage of the bathroom in the meantime, he had covered the hole with a blue tarp. Having the bath and toilet exposed would have been too extreme a living environment.
At any rate, the distant look in Kamijou Touma’s eyes may have been because of blood loss. After all, his head had been given a slight pomegranate-style decoration from the ferocious white nun’s fangs.
With an energy-drained look on his face, he muttered something with his mouth opening and closing like a ventriloquist doll during a safety lecture.
“Ugh, just look at me. I let my guard down. I wonder if the day is coming when I will be forced into a serious fistfight with 120% beast mode Index or enter a drawn-out battle to the death with a dark shadowy gathering of misfortune given physical form...”
“Seeing you relatively fine after just wrapping a few bandages around your head makes me realize how many mysteries humans contain. And I thought I had seen everything there was to see about the human body, inner universe and all.”
With that quick comment, Birdway, who was sitting at the kotatsu, turned a dissatisfied look toward the toast and salad in front of her. It seemed she wanted a breakfast of white rice and miso soup since she was in Japan.
Meanwhile, the white wild beast nun named Index split her toast in two, forced her salad (which had no dressing) in between the two pieces, and devoured the entire thing.
“Touma! I finished this in 15 seconds, so it doesn’t count as a meal! I want bread, ham, and eggs too! More, more, more!!”
“Your method of eating it was too over the top!! Kamijou-san will not let you say this is the same as a hot sandwich! Index, that is nothing more than the ‘it all mixes together in your stomach’ strategy!!”
Lessar, who still looked sleepy, tore off a piece of her bread, dunked it in her hot milk, and ate it. It looked like she was trying to bring back the temptation of falling sleep by going with a night cap rather than a meal. Kamijou was a bit worried she would get cavities.
The TV that just so happened to be on was saying something about the G14 in New York. At this time in the morning, most channels only showed the news or variety shows for elementary school kids. Kamijou wished at least one station would show a gaudy comedian performance.
He also wished they could just get through with the headlines and the weather forecast in 30 seconds. In that way, he was no different from the average high schooler. He was the type who never checked the newspaper or TV schedule. Index on the other hand would always drool at “Today’s Bento Corner” and copy it into her mind with her perfect memory. The truly annoying part was her complete inability to cook despite that perfect memory.
“I won’t do it. Ham and eggs are banned!! Giving your meal a healthy balance is what matters most! The reason you don’t feel full is because you didn’t take your time eating it, Index!!”
“What!? In that case, I’ll try to eat Sphinx’s food! If you don’t want Sphinx to be starving, make me ham and eggs!!”
“What kind of inhumane terrorist attack is this!?”
When Index picked the plate up from the floor, the calico cat stood up on its hind legs. Sharp claws silently appeared from its front paws. Grudges over food could be scary.
Birdway sipped on a milk shake made from putting eggs and sugar in milk (although she insisted it was a nonalcoholic eggnog cocktail) and jabbed her legs into other people’s legs under the kotatsu. While quite relaxed, she spoke.
“For some reason, coming here makes me really start to not care about worldwide disturbances and an allied attack plan.”
“Stop acting like this is your second home!! The trouble you bring with you is on a completely different level from other girls! ...And did I hear some really dangerous terms mixed in there?”
“Yawn...”
After giving up on her food, Lessar rolled over on the floor and let out a yawn. If the kotatsu had not been there to guard her, her panties would have been on full display within her miniskirt.
She took the jerky she had given up on and held it out toward the cat which had had its food taken by a tyrant.
“We’re here...to make sure the...um...trump card can be used at any time... We need to make the preparations...mumble...and keep Imagine Breaker ready to be used...”
“Hey!! Don’t fall asleep in the kotatsu! You’ll catch a cold!! And explain this to Kamijou-san! This sounds like you’re going to get me involved, so at least explain it to me!!”
“Yawn... We played rock-paper-scissors in New Light... I won, so I got to go sightseeing in Asia... I won the plane ticket after beating down Floris who almost cried during the final match...”
“I wasn’t asking about the details of how you got here!! I want you to explain the general dangerous atmosphere hanging over all of this!!” shouted Kamijou.
However, Lessar seemed to have decided it was too much effort. She listlessly gave the cat bread crumbs and jerky. This effectively threw firewood onto the flames of Index’s jealousy.
“Here’s the thing,” cut in Birdway simply as she put butter and powdered sugar on her toast. “The groups that are finding Gremlin’s methods to be an eyesore are gathering together. There’s the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, normal militaries like the American one and the Russian one, and...well, there’s a lot.”
“....................................................................................................................................That has nothing to do with me, right?”
“Why would I come to this cramped room for no reason? You fool. Don’t tell me you’re thinking of this as no different from your neighborhood childhood friend coming to wake you up.”
“What does any of this have to do with me!?”
“You’re the one that complained about this before!! Who do you think it was that said he would sulk if he wasn’t thrown into the most dangerous place in the world!? Do I need to retighten the screw in your head!?”
“Hold up. I think your mental translation of what I said is a bit-... Wait, wait! Birdway, that wand isn’t supposed to go in there!! I’ll listen, so calm down!!”
Like a scene from a Hollywood movie, Kamijou Touma leaped forward and somersaulted away as he desperately tried to put some distance between himself and Birdway. After escaping to the wall, he finally gained the calm needed to sort through the information.
“So...um...Hasn’t this escalated pretty quickly?”
“The alliance is still doing everything it can to search for Gremlin’s headquarters. Once it’s found, they will mount a unified attack against it. Gremlin is extremely powerful on the individual level, but it most likely does not have the organizational foundation needed to be called a world power. The fact that they are keeping their headquarters hidden is an admission that a large scale attack on it would be bad news for them.”
“This really has escalated quickly! ...But if you plan to attack them head on, does that mean you can properly fight that magic god?”
Kamijou had once met Othinus in Eastern Europe’s Baggage City.
He had not stood a chance.
She had torn off his right wrist as easily as plucking a fruit from a tree and he had all too easily passed out from the blood loss and pain. If Ollerus and Fiamma of the Right had not arrived, Kamijou could not guess what would have happened.
If powers from around the world gathered, they might be able to defeat her.
Or could they?
Kamijou was not very confident. He could not imagine her kneeling down before anyone. And even if it was possible, that would mean a power rivaling Magic God Othinus would be clashing with her. How great a disaster would that cause?
However...
Birdway, a magic specialist, did not seem particularly concerned.
“Well, we’re up against Gremlin which still holds plenty of secrets and Othinus who has taken a step into the territory of a magic god. And they are also in the process of putting together an extremely annoying spiritual item called Gungnir. Defeating them with any normal method would require a lot of work. That is why we want to keep an ace up our sleeve that will help us resolve this much more quickly.”
“...Wait.”
“Don’t worry. We aren’t going to throw you out in front of Othinus. You’d die instantly if we did. But there are crucial points in any plan. For example, when that spear is on the verge of being completed. We will send you in then and have you break Gremlin’s joint in a single blow. Your role isn’t to fight a lengthy battle from beginning to end. We’re just going to use Imagine Breaker as a wedge we hammer in at a single opportune moment. You can survive that kind of fight, right?”
“Why does it sound like everyone’s already decided I’m going to fight!?”
“Oh, so you won’t fight?”
“Huh? Is this the legendary ‘go right ahead, go right ahead’ argument?”
After seeing the disasters in Hawaii and Baggage City, Kamijou was not about to leave Gremlin and Magic God Othinus to do as they wished. This felt much closer to home than a war in a distant country. Gremlin would go anywhere and invade anywhere that was necessary to accomplish their goal. Academy City may have been surrounded by tall walls, but it was no exception.
The next time he turned on the television, he might find that history had greatly changed and a new trauma had been carved into the world.
It was possible that news would be about Academy City being wiped off the map. They had such overwhelming power that Kamijou assumed they could do that and they had taken such aberrant actions that he doubted they would hesitate to do so.
Gremlin had an objective and it seemed all of their actions had been taken in order to construct Gungnir, but Kamijou did not know enough about magic to know the exact conditions for that. For him, it looked like they had been throwing darts at the world map and attacking the spot they hit.
“I guess...we have to do something...”
“If we had any other method, we would not use an amateur as the cornerstone of such a large scale attack plan.”
“I try to keep in mind how powerless I really am. Just to be clear, I could never defeat the likes of Othinus. We’re worlds apart. I solidly lost to the Lightning God Thor. And if Marian Slingeneyer had seriously drawn Dáinsleif, who knows how that would have turned out. ...To be blunt, I’ve never had an honest win against them. Are you sure you’re prepared to leave your life in the hands of someone like that?”
“But you can turn that around and point out that you survived against all of those monstrous opponents. Placing your objectives too high is never a good idea. All that matters is understanding that we still have a chance.”
They were not expecting him to fight properly.
They were expecting nothing of Kamijou Touma. Their hopes were placed in Imagine Breaker.
In other words, this boy was being treated like the warhead of a precision guided bomb that would be dropped from an airplane. Professionals would guide him to the precise target and he would only need to swing his right hand at the optimal time and in the optimal place. Nothing more than that was expected of him and trying for anything more would be leaving the “optimal course”.
Even if he could not defeat this powerful enemy head on, he had another way of doing serious damage.
Kamijou let out a deliberate breath.
“So where will you be taking me?”
“The alliance is searching all over the world for the exact location. It could be as far north as the North Pole or as far south as the South Pole. Assume anything is possible,” replied Birdway as if making a decisive announcement. “We don’t know if Gremlin even has an official name for the place. In fact, we’re not even sure if there is any meaning in giving it a name. But for convenience’s sake, I and the rest of the alliance are calling it this.”
She paused for a moment.
It was as if speaking this name would decisively change the flow of events.
And Birdway spoke the name as if the word held some special meaning.
“Sargasso, the ship graveyard.”
Part 4
“Let’s go back over the events,” began United States President Roberto Katze in New York’s UN Headquarters.
He was in a conference room, but it was not the large scale room for over 100 representatives that was often seen on the news. That would have been too large for 14 heads of state to argue with each other.
This was a rectangular room given perfect soundproofing with a double glass partition. A long table cut down the center of the room and the heads of state of the anti-Gremlin alliance sat around it.
The room had no outside windows, so day and night meant nothing. The building did not have extreme differences in the number of people coming and going based on the time of day; it was always busy.
Now.
Kanzaki Kaori and Vasilisa, two of the bodyguards, were not inside the small conference room. While armed guards were effective for defensive firepower, they constantly held the risk of harming the other VIPs. Under the na?ve assumption that the representatives would not attack each other because they all had the same objective, all bodyguards had been removed from the room with the exception of America’s secret service as America was the country responsible for security within the conference room.
However, Kanzaki and Vasilisa possessed exceptional power even among those known as magicians.
The glass met all soundproofing, bulletproofing, and explosives-proofing standards, but they could break through it with their bare hands and instantly move to act as a shield for their protection target. They could also send a curse at a hypothetical enemy inside the room without having to break the glass.
As Vasilisa watched the president through the glass, she muttered something in sync with his mouth movements.
“Okay, let’s see... Gremlin’s objective is the construction of a special spear. To accomplish this, they caused the incident in Hawaii, performed some kind of experiment in Baggage City, and infiltrated Academy City.”
“...Are you bored?” asked Kanzaki in annoyance.
Vasilisa shrugged.
“I can’t have fun with Sasha-chan here because too many people would start glaring at me.”
“A question: Do you mind if I split your skull open?” immediately added the Russian bodyguard wearing a binding outfit.
Vasilisa ignored the girl and knocked on the tempered glass. Naturally, not even a slight vibration reached the conference room on the other side.
“What do you think, Miss England?”
“I find it hard to believe this Magic God Othinus even exists, but this is no longer a situation I can judge with my common sense.”
Kanzaki gave an exhausted sigh.
She had fought an official member of Gremlin on a mobile fortress moving to Academy City. Her opponent had apparently been a girl, but her appearance had been that of a thick, black, drum-like cylinder. Gremlin was willing to rearrange the human body that far in pursuit of efficiency. Kanzaki did not know what future they hoped for, but if they gained control and that became normal, she doubted it would be a good future.
“Gremlin’s objective is bringing Magic God Othinus to her perfect state. To do that, they must construct Gungnir. In Hawaii they used the massive energy of a volcano as a reactor core, in Baggage City they proved their theory about the development of holistic espers to reach an area impossible to reach with simple magical theory, and in Academy City they were searching for the actual person to use. Some portions of their theory seem impossible to verify to me, but perhaps I should assume their techniques have exceeded my understanding.”
Kanzaki Kaori could not ignore an issue concerning the Norse spear of Gungnir.
When the Saint Brunhild Eiktobel had completed a prototype of that spear, Kanzaki had fought and defeated her.
“Well, I agree with you there, but the problem is that all of this information comes from the illegals,” said Vasilisa disinterestedly.
“You mean the Dawn-Colored Sunlight?”
“Not just them. The Saint Silvia and the half magic god Ollerus as well. Powerful people we had recently doubted even existed are showing up one after another. I hear one of them has successfully snuck into Gremlin, but how much can we trust them?”
Magic cabals were like the mafia and gangs of the magic world. The possibility of them joining forces with Gremlin to destroy Christianity’s control of the magic world was just about the worst possibility imaginable.
However...
“If the common knowledge of our world is enough here, I do not see why the Dawn-Colored Sunlight would betray us.”
“Why not?”
“A world with Gremlin in control would be riskier than one with Christianity in power.”
“Yes, modern Western magic is based on secret tricks of Christianity.”
“Gremlin specializes in Norse mythology. If they filled the world with that and eliminated the Christian materials as if overwriting the culture, that would be a fatal blow to the Dawn-Colored Sunlight. Based on what benefits them, we should be able to trust them for now. And even if we cannot trust them, we should be able to determine when they will betray us and take the initiative.”
“Perhaps,” agreed Vasilisa casually.
She was not simply agreeing with an opinion that put her at ease so she could gain a peace of mind she depended on. Nor was she simply being optimistic without giving it much thought. No matter what happened, she would ultimately bite into her target’s windpipe and finish them off. Kanzaki could sense that icy will in the core of Vasilisa’s relaxed body.
And Vasilisa herself was carefree.
Most likely, even if she stood on the brink of mankind’s utter destruction, she would enter that final battle while perfectly carefree.
“After travelling around the world gathering the materials they needed, Gremlin has holed up in their hidden headquarters. The time limit until the spear’s completion is unknown. And if that allows Othinus to wield the legendary power of a magic god, the world has no chance of winning. I want to finish this before the spear is completed.”
“The spy in Gremlin has to check the arrangement of the stars to determine the location of Sargasso, right?”
“I just hope everything comes together in time.”
Part 5
Now then.
No matter what resided in his right hand and no matter how many times he had almost died, Kamijou Touma was essentially a high school student. After eating breakfast, he had to prepare for school.
However...
“Hey, after breakfast, we’re heading to District 23. I’ve spoken with one of the twelve board members I was able to access. A supersonic passenger plane has been prepared for us, so we should arrive at Sargasso a few hours after it’s located no matter where in the world it might be. ...You’re basically being treated like a ballistic missile.”
“I don’t think so!! Kamijou-san is a student, you know? My attendance is already in serious trouble! At least let me go to class until you need to call me in. I want to at least be there for the roll call this morning!!”
“I see.” Birdway folded her arms in a meaninglessly pompous manner. “You can do that if you like, but I need to make sure you can leave at any moment. I won’t be leaving your side. If you insist on going to class, you have to do so while I sit on your lap. Is that okay?”
“The class would never calm down! And I just know Aogami Pierce would get especially worked up!!”
Lessar had completely ignored her breakfast and slept for twenty minutes or so, but she finally woke up and blinked her eyes blearily.
She spoke to Index who was still complaining about being hungry (despite Kamijou having ultimately made her the ham and eggs).
“Huh? You’re a strict Anglican, so I thought for sure you’d be insisting an amateur high school student can’t be sent into a magic battle like this. An illegal like me has no problem with getting him involved in all sorts of things, though.”
“I already know that complaining about that won’t stop Touma,” immediately replied Index while giving a snort. “And in that case, I have an idea.”
“?”
Lessar tilted her head in puzzlement, but Index gave no further explanation as she held the calico cat.
After a much too uneven vote between those who wanted to go to school and those who did not, Kamijou’s actions were restricted considerably. After stubbornly changing into his school uniform in the bathroom covered by the blue tarp, the boy was half-dragged outside by Birdway.
It was early morning.
They were walking down the same path students used on their way to school.
As those other uniform-wearing boys and girls made their way to school as usual, Kamijou Touma alone walked in a completely different direction along with three girls (who were all rather small). In both appearance and direction, he moved against the flow of the others who were moving out of his way because they were true Japanese who preferred to passively avoid conflict.
“This is painful... This may be fairly subdued, but it’s still really painful!! Due to the powers development, this city is relatively respectful of individual freedom, but I can tell I’m really, really standing out right now! Can girls born and raised in England not sense this tremendous awkwardness!?”
For some reason this caused Lessar to put her hands on her hips and puff out her chest.
“Hah hah hah! We are from the country that makes travelers eyes open wide in surprise when we treat them to homemade cooking! We are from the country where guidebook recommendations are for some reason filled with Chinese restaurants! Did you really think we would falter when faced with alienation on this level!?”
“Kh. I wish I had the confidence to tell 6 billion people it’s their sense of taste that’s wrong... And Lessar, you know how to cook? I didn’t know that!”
It seemed they had to take a direct bus to District 23 rather than a train.
But unlike the buses that travelled around the city areas, not many people used this bus. And that meant there were large gaps between buses.
Despite already gathering such unpleasant attention, they were forced to wait at the bus stop for a while.
“I never knew simply sitting on a bench waiting for a bus could squeeze at my chest so much!!”
Kamijou complained, but then Leivinia Birdway vigorously sat down on top of his lap.
“What are you doing!? Aren’t you going a bit far for a one-off gag!? Sit next to me! Next to me!!”
“Don’t joke. I am wearing a skirt. I would never sit on a bench chilled by this early morning November air. Try to respect my basic human rights, you fool.”
“I’m pretty sure nothing I said was wrong, so why am I being scolded so harshly!?”
“Yawn...”
“I would also like to ask why Lessar is sitting next to and snuggling up against me. What is going on, lovely lady from the support center!?”
“...My drowsiness is back. Jetlag is terrible...”
Birdway held Kamijou down from above and Lessar completely restricted the movements of his right arm. He felt soft sensations all over and a sweet smell filled the air, but a sudden electric current-like shock ran through Kamijou’s head from the right temple to the left.
“Touma.”
“...Please wait a moment, Index-san.”
“I never thought I would have to bare my fangs again before my anger had fully faded.”
“I didn’t expect this either! Please just wait! I request a compromise concerning your standard tsukkomi punishment of biting the back of my head! Let’s limit it to once a day. Let’s not go any further than tha-...gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!?”
Part 6
On the way to school, Misaka Mikoto stood silently with one of her cheeks twitching.
That spiky-haired idiot was once more pulling off repeated miracles that could never happen in a normal life. Who was that imp-like girl snuggling up against him on that bench? Who was the dangerous blonde girl sitting on his lap who he had been seriously fighting just the other day? And was having that silver-haired nun biting into the back of his head supposed to be a normal occurrence? So much information came pouring in at once that she could not settle any single issue in her heart. To put it a bit more colloquially, she was having difficulty decidin-->>