Chapter 8: Shortcuts Are the Basics

"...Kamijou-san, are you alright?"

"Ah, yeah... I'm fine."

And then.

Kamijou returned, having successfully defeated Stiyl and carrying Index on his back as he came back up in the elevator. He looked a bit scorched, so Stiyl must’ve put up a decent fight. This time, only the Witch-Hunting King, Innocentius, was taken out—his runes themselves had remained intact.

...Come to think of it, after this point, he was able to use his flame sword without even placing runes anymore... He probably took that loss and used it to upgrade his ritual. So... was it okay not to let him experience defeat here by having his runes destroyed?

...Well, I suppose I can always nudge him later with a "Hey, you know there's this other way to beat that guy," kind of thing. He’s smart—he’ll catch on. If I get the chance to say it, that is.

Afterward, in order to treat Index—who would've died if left like that—they decided to heal her using magic. Kamijou somehow managed to dance around the fact that she didn’t have an ID (or at least thought he did), and headed to someone who could actually use magic—Komoe-sensei.

So Kamijou left Index in Komoe-sensei’s care, entrusted her with the healing spell, and exited the room. As for me, I left too—I had nothing to do, and if someone like me with powers tried to use magic, my blood vessels might rupture and I could straight-up die.

"...By the way, Reicia, who exactly are you? I figured you were just a normal middle schooler with a good figure, but turns out you're a Tokiwadai student... Why were you hiding your identity in the first place?"

"...I could ask you the same thing—but if you must know, I am a normal Tokiwadai student. It’d be pretty conspicuous if I strolled into a supermarket in a Tokiwadai uniform, wouldn’t it?"

"Then why the formal speech?? It was throwing me off hard."

"No matter how much I tried to play the part, this way of speaking kinda gave it away, don’t you think?"

"Ah... yeah, fair."

Honestly, it was easier this way. Even now, when I try to switch to fancy ojou-sama talk, I stumble for a second.

"...More importantly, what about Kamijou-san? What was that fire giant? And that girl too... We've come this far, I'm not about to walk away now. Please—tell me."

"That's..."

"This isn't the part where you act all stubborn and refuse help, you know?"

I said it gently, like I was trying to reason with him.

If I didn’t earn Kamijou’s trust here, then there was no point in tagging along this far. If I’m just gonna stand around parroting events I already know, I might as well not be here at all.

"...I learned it the hard way, too. I tried so hard to be someone I could be proud of—that I pushed everyone away. In the end, I was left with nothing."

Reicia-chan... she never intended to push others down or anything like that. She just wanted to live up to her ideals, and in doing so, failed to consider others. That, in turn, led to her being rejected, her ideals being crushed, and eventually, her choosing death herself.

Kamijou’s way of life might be the complete opposite of hers. But still, even if you’re doing it for someone else—if you keep brushing aside the hands reaching out to you, you’ll probably end up at the same place Reicia-chan did.

—Like Kamijou himself, choosing death at the end of the hell Otinus showed him.

"...Besides, not to brag or anything—but I’m surprisingly useful, you know?"

I smiled lightly as I said that and held out my right hand to Kamijou.

Kamijou gave a small smile of his own and grasped my hand with his right.

And then, the first thing he said—

"...I’ve got one request before we begin."

"What is it?"

"Please—believe in the existence of 'magic' without asking questions."

---

Chapter One: I Don’t Know What Fate Has Planned — Theory_is_broken.
Episode 6: Shortcuts Are the Basics — Turning_Point.

---

"...I see. It’s hard to believe, but..."

It had been maybe five minutes.

I listened to Kamijou’s story without interruption, and once he’d explained most of it, I nodded with interest.

Well, 'with interest'... honestly, it was interesting, even if I already knew it. Magic’s just like that.

"But still..."

"Yes, it’s hard to believe... but I’ll believe you."

"...You will?"

Kamijou looked genuinely surprised to hear that.

"You asked me to, didn’t you? Besides, if someone without an ID is wandering around Academy City, something’s clearly off."

"...Thank you."

"No need to thank me."

Good. I’ve gathered most of the magic intel I needed from Kamijou. Now I can take the shortcut. Only someone like me, who already knows how this incident plays out, could pull it off.

"...Still, something feels off."

"What does?"

"Index-san’s 'management'... that’s what."

When I said "management," Kamijou’s face clearly soured, but I pressed on without concern.

"Index-san is essentially a human magical library crammed with 103,000 grimoires in her head, right? And she can share that knowledge freely if she wants. For a magician, that’s like having a full-on Encyclopedic Learning Core right by your side at all times."

"Learning core?"

"...Wait. Are you serious?"

I reflexively took a step back in disbelief.

According to Reicia-chan’s knowledge—or rather, I read it too—the Encyclopedic Learning Core is this theme park-esque facility in District 13 that combines a museum, library, aquarium, zoo, planetarium, and a bunch of other educational attractions all in one.

I think it showed up in a novel during that scene where Fremea was being chased by those mass-produced wannabe heroes... probably.

According to Reicia-chan’s knowledge, the Learning Core is considered basic common knowledge... but apparently not for The One and Only Idiot Student, Kamijou Touma-kun.

"In any case... If I were her guardian or boss, I’d have sent in a whole army to secure her before it ever came to this. Isn’t it some kind of national religion? They should’ve had that much pull."

"...Ah."

Kamijou let out a dumbfounded sound, as if he had only just realized the possibility.

“And yet... even if I was holding off their main force, the fact that a so-called magician laughs got taken down by a powerless Level 0, and someone who clearly used something like a sword judging by the wounds—that just the two of them managed to evade pursuit by an entire faction and infiltrate Academy City? Don’t you think that sounds way too convenient?”

This part wasn’t even mentioned in the novels, but honestly, I suspect Aleister and Laura had a hand in orchestrating that too. I’ve got no idea what their goal was, though...

“Y-yeah, now that you mention it... But then, just who the hell were those magicians!?”

“There are a number of possibilities, but it’s almost certain that those two hold some influence within this ‘Necessarius’ group of the Anglican Church.”

Well, yeah. That whole situation was a setup orchestrated by the Anglican Church.

“So what the hell—sending her back to the Church won’t solve anything then!?”

“I can’t rule out the possibility that those two acted contrary to the Church’s intentions, but... sending her back without investigating anything first would be extremely risky.”

“Damn it...!!”

With a loud clang!!, Kamijou slammed his fist against the hallway railing in frustration. The metallic echo rang out like it was amplifying his anger.

Not that I could blame him. The place he thought was the goal turned out to be the one place they should never send her. Of course he'd be feeling overwhelmed.

“Then what the hell are we supposed to do!? If we’re up against an organization, there’s only so much we can do before we hit our limits!”

“Calm down, Kamijou-san.”

“You expect me to calm down like this!?”

“I’m asking you to calm down anyway.”

As I said that to the mildly panicking Kamijou, he let out a small breath, the heat draining from his head, and managed to regain his composure. That was fast... Guess it’s true what they say—he’s no stranger to chaos.

“I have an idea. But to carry it out, I’ll need Index-san’s help. Are you ready? ――――”

With that, I began laying out my plan to Kamijou.

This should allow us to pull off a shortcut so absurd, even F×G would be shocked.

---

――The next day.

Kamijou and I were still staying at Komoe-sensei’s place.

“So, uh... why are you just in your underwear again...?”

“Uuugh...”

As for Index, her back wound seemed to have healed, but now she was completely down for the count with a headache and a fever. Her body was probably working overtime to recover. In other words, medicine wouldn’t help—she needed strict bed rest until the fever broke.

That explained why she was wearing pajamas on top but only underwear on the bottom. Even though her body didn’t need to be warmed up, it was generating heat on its own, making it unbearable for her.

“Kamijou-chan, sensei thinks that iron maiden covered in safety pins was honestly a bit much, you know~”

“Ah, that couldn’t be helped! It was... kind of an accident...”

“And you’re really a teacher? You don’t seem like one at all, but Index-san’s clothes fit you perfectly.”

“Hmph. Perfectly might be a stretch. Even I feel it’s a bit tight around the chest.”

“No way!! That’s impossible!!”

Groaning at Index’s comment, Komoe-sensei clutched her head and curled up in a ball.

“...By the way, Kamijou-chan. Don’t you think it’s about time you explained what’s going on to sensei? There’s a Tokiwadai student here too, and it’s making sensei kinda nervous... Also, is she going to be okay? Sensei heard Tokiwadai dishes out some harsh punishments for staying out overnight without permission...”

“I’ve already given up on that.”

Compared to a human life, punishment from the dorm supervisor was a small price to pay.

For the record, I had already sent a letter addressed to her—since phones and other devices could be tracked via GPS, they’d all been powered off. So no need to worry about being mistaken for a kidnapping victim or triggering a major panic.

I wrote, “I’ll be back by August. Please don’t look for me.” So when I return, I’ll probably get off with just a half-beating.

"...Now that I think about it, I haven’t introduced myself to you two yet, have I? I’m Reicia Blackguard, a second-year at Tokiwadai Middle School. As for Kamijou-san... let’s see, I suppose you could say we’re comrades-in-arms."

It felt like the perfect moment, so I introduced myself to Komoe-sensei and Index. That “comrades-in-arms” part mostly meant we’ve survived supermarket sales together.

Index didn’t quite seem to grasp the prestige of Tokiwadai Middle School, but... I think she got that I’m probably someone impressive.

"...Reicia, are you Touma’s girlfriend?"

Pfffftttt!!!

Kamijou spat his drink. I, on the other hand, maintained my ladylike composure.

...Was she even listening to what I just said!? Of all the things to fixate on, it’s that!? Is this nun already love-crazed!?

"I-I clearly said we’re comrades-in-arms, didn’t I...!?"

"...? But Touma’s just a normal student, right? I didn’t get how you two would be ‘comrades-in-arms,’ so I thought maybe you were just trying to hide the truth to spare my feelings."

"You’re way too considerate, you idiot!!"

Whack! Kamijou delivered a sharp smack to Index’s head.

Look, if you’re a love-interest heroine who's already raised a flag with the protagonist, you do not go around asking some other girl if she’s his girlfriend. Seriously, have a little pride. Poor Kamijou... As expected of a man-eater heroine who's swapped out more heroes than I can count.

"Ah, youth~"

Sensei, could you not sum it all up in one line like that?

---

And so... a lot happened after that. Well, not that much—if I had to summarize it neatly:

—Komoe-sensei tried to get an explanation out of Kamijou, but gave up once she realized he wouldn’t spill anything.

—Komoe-sensei went shopping. The way she left made it pretty clear she wasn’t going to press us for answers after that.

—Index opened up about her situation. If she used all the grimoires in her head, she could become a Magic God, which is why so many magicians were after her.

—Kamijou sweet-talked Index.

...That’s about the gist of it. Basically, Index fell head-over-heels for Kamijou. I didn’t have much of a role left to play, so I read the mood and quietly left the room.

And then I found Komoe-sensei, who’d supposedly gone out, standing outside waiting.

...Guess we were thinking the same thing.

"Ah, youth indeed."

"Indeed~"

Komoe-sensei and I nodded to each other in agreement.

Those two have no idea they’re living in a romcom. Being that dense should be a crime...