Kamijou and Stiyl got out of the underground station, and onto the surface.
On the bustling streets, there was no sign that the heat would dissipate soon. Kamijou wiped the sweat off his forehead, hastily looking at the Daihaseisai tour guidebook.
"…The nearest interchange from here is…an auto-bus terminal 300 meters north."
"300 meters…?"
Stiyl pulled out a cigarette and answered bitterly.
"The next bus will arrive in 10 minutes time! We can make it if we rush there!"
Both of them exclaimed as they got into the crowd. There was a seven minute distance between them and Oriana, the situation was extremely urgent.
"If possible, I hope that we can at least capture Oriana. We have absolutely nothing on Lidvia Lorenzetti!"
Stiyl passed through the space as he looked forward.
Though their destination was 300 meters ahead, the road in front extended to both left sides and right, and the buildings blocked their view.
On the side of the crosswalk, a green pedestrian signal continued to flicker. Kamijou and Stiyl dashed over to the other side of the road.
There were many more people on this road than as compared to before.
The rows and rows of buildings looked like a giant wall; if they wanted to get to the bus stop, they'd have to walk through a small gap between some buildings. If not, they had to go in a roundabout way.
Kamijou and Stiyl started to look for a gap between the buildings as they continued to run on the extremely crowded road.
"You said that there are no clues, are there really none? Weren't you on the phone with someone when we were at the park just now!?"
"Ah, that's from London. I requested some people from the British Library to check something for me."
Looking around, they couldn't find the entrance of the alley. Compared to running in a straight line, the actual distance could be surprisingly long. It'd be great if Oriana was in a similar position.
"Are they looking for information about the Croce di Pietro?"
At this moment, Kamijou saw a crowd gathering somewhere.
"Yeah. But…the progress isn't very successful because there's too little information. Right now, we only know that keeping the Croce di Pietro would require a security vault, sealed windows, two doors and no light is allowed in…that's all we know."
Stiyl puffed out the cigarette smoke from his mouth.
"Just like that?"
Kamijou ran towards the crowd.
Stiyl answered back,
"Don't anger me. Later…damn it."
Stiyl suddenly coughed. It shouldn't be due to running, but due to him smoking quite often.
"It's too troublesome to explain it. Tell me your mail address, I'll send Orsola's e-mail to you. You can read it when you have the time."
To think that Stiyl and Orsola actually used e-mails…Kamijou was impressed as he gave his e-mail address to Stiyl. Come to think of it, wouldn't Index, who couldn't even use electronics, be the strange one?
Kamijou continued to run as he looked at the text that was sent to him.
"Vi riporto qua le informazioni che ha trovato nella Biblioteca Britannica…"
(Who…who can even read it!!?)
Seeing this wall of text on the screen, it seemed to be a language other than English, but he couldn't tell. Let's ask Tsuchimikado later, Kamijou thought as he closed the screen.
Stiyl, who was running behind him, irritatedly said,
"Cheh, forget about the grammar and language. Just grasp a rough idea of the pronunciation…don't read it if you can't, it's nothing major anyway."
"…Never mind, basically, we're in quite a predicament, huh. Damn it."
"That's right, this is why we have to find Oriana Thomson in order to get our lead. Just like this— eh?"
Stiyl frowned as he ran.
He looked at the crowd in front. They were blocking them, with a group of students at the center. Their gazes weren't facing Oriana, but at a dark alley that was away from the road.
"That seems to be the alley that we're looking for…I have a bad feeling about this."
"What?"
Facing this surprised Kamijou, Stiyl shook the cigarette in his mouth.
"It's the scent. This is a bad scent. When a certain group of people are nervous and excited, the feelings will spread out like smell. And this…is the scent of someone seeing fresh red blood."
Hearing such terrifying words, Kamijou's hairs started to stand.
In this to-and-fro situation, Kamijou and Stiyl reached the back of the crowd. They then reached the crowd, where some of them were straightening their backs to see what was going on, and some were even jumping.
(What…?)
Kamijou frowned. Right now, he didn't have time to confirm it. He half-forced his way past the human wall and tried to get into the dark alley.
At this moment, on the other side of the human wall, there was an unexpected voice.
"PLEASE…PLEASE MOVE ASIDE! EVERYONE, PLEASE MAKE WAY! HIMEGAMI-CHAN? ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HIMEGAMI-CHAN!!?"
"MOVE ASIDE!!"
Kamijou suddenly rushed into the crowd, and arrived at the front. Most of the crowd moved aside, and though there was a rather angry atmosphere, Kamijou ignored this as he moved to the front.
Kamijou didn't slow down as he ran into the dark alley.
What he saw…
It was blood.
It was a narrow alley.
Because of the combinations of tall and short buildings, it was supposed to be daytime, but the sunlight couldn't shine in. The damp road looked dark, and there was a stagnant flow of smell.
This dark alley
Was dyed another crimson red.
"Ka…Kamijou-chan!!"
The familiar voice belonged to Komoe-sensei.
But, those small hands, and that soft face, and the sleeveless cheerleading vest and miniskirt, they were all dyed a crimson red. Tears rolled down from her large eyes, mixed with the blood and rolled down to her chin.
But it was not her blood.
There was a girl lying beside Komoe-sensei. The black haired girl, Himegami Aisa, was lying in a pool of blood. Compared to the fresh red blood, her face and limbs had gone pale green.
The top half of her shirt was tattered.
She was bandaged up at the top. From the collarbone, to the top of her navel…every part of it was wrapped. To an amateur, it was pretty well done, but the seeping fluid continued to dye the bandage red. The originally smooth curve of the girl seemed a bit uneven now.
"…!!"
Kamijou wanted to know the reason, but he immediately regretted it.
Amongst the pool of blood, there was a piece of flesh with skin attached that was like a boiled egg that was failed to be peeled.
Himegami remained motionless.
Maybe he was thinking too much, as he could still hear light breathing.
Kamijou felt a strong impact in his head.
He saw it before.
This feeling.
It was the same feeling as when Accelerator was attacking the Sisters.
"Why, how…Himegami, she…? Sensei, what happened! Who did it!?"
"I…I don't know."
Komoe-sensei, who was still trembling, looked over here.
"Sen…sensei knocked into a woman around here…then sensei did apologize to her. That person smiled as she also forgave me. But suddenly, her face looked very terrifying, in an instant…Himegami-chan…!"
"It's Oriana, right?"
Stiyl shook away his extremely long cigarette, and in annoyance, pressed it against the wall.
"To do this in this situation, there's a high chance that it's her…that person, she'll really do things that are despicable."
"Why?"
Kamijou looked confused,
"Why did she do this? She has no reason to attack Himegami! Himegami has nothing to do with this!!"
"It's that."
Stiyl pointed at the floor with his cigarette.
In the pool of blood, there was a blood-stained Cross. That was a little boundary that the Anglican Church had sent over as a decoration for her to wear in order to seal off her Deep Blood ability.
"This 'walking church' spiritual item is a special tool that was also given to me, Tsuchimikado and Kanzaki. Seeing this, it's not weird for Oriana to assume her to be a magician of importance that's of the same level as Index Librorum Prohibitorum. In Academy City, where science is the main subject, it's strange itself to have an Anglican spiritual item. Oriana must have thought that there were strong pursuers chasing after her, so she wanted to take the pre-emptive."
Kamijou knew what this meant, as his facial muscles started to twitch.
"She…made a mistake…?"
His throat bobbled strangely.
"Just…like that? She'll go to this extent, and land Himegami in this state; the reason is…she made a mistake?…Th…at…she…what the hell—!!"
Kamijou couldn't help but hammer hard into the wall. Now still crying, Komoe-sensei's shoulders inadvertently trembled.
Stiyl looked bored as he exhaled, and pulled out some runes from his coat. After tossing them, the cards stuck on the wall like there were magnets on it.
"TPIMIMSPFT (Let this place be hidden)."
Saying this, the crowd that was blocking the dark alley now moved back onto the road like a plug being pulled out.
This should be Stiyl's people clearing field.
"To carry out such emergency procedures, you probably called for an ambulance. If so, it's better to wait at the entrance of the alley. If you're to keep staying here, the paramedics won't be able to see you. But at least it's better than letting the bystanders stand around here."
In order to chase Oriana, Stiyl headed into the inside of the dark alley. If she wanted to get to the bus stop through here, she'd continue to move forward.
Thus, Stiyl moved forward without hesitation.
He stepped past Himegami Aisa, who was lying in the pool of blood.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!"
"What, what are you expecting now? Are you going to stay here and scream, or are you going to continue chasing after Oriana Thomson, and end this quickly?"
"It's because of us that she got involved! How can we just leave Himegami behind without taking care of her?"
"Kamijou-chan!?"
Komoe-sensei looked up, speaking in a soft voice.
She was clearly one of the affected parties, but as nobody had told her what was going on, she couldn't understand what they were saying.
"Then, what can you do?"
Stiyl stood beside Himegami, who was not moving at all, and stared straight at Kamijou's face.
Then, he extended out his hand that had a ring on each finger.
"—STOP GETTING ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY, YOU AMATEUR!!"
He suddenly grabbed Kamijou's hair and forcefully pulled it down. In front of Kamijou, was a girl lying in the pool of blood, breathing weakly.
"In front of this injured girl, what can an amateur like you do? Even a specialist like me can't do anything, NOTHING! Will staying with her heal her up? Will grabbing her arm cause her pain to go away? If you believe so, fine, then do it, right in front of me! During this time, this cold and hard reality will only rob her of her strength! Right now, we can only chase Oriana! And if we are to do that, we have to step past her! If you're not willing, then just stay here and mope all you want!!"
Stiyl roughly let go of Kamijou's hair.
Kamijou took a few steps back.
"…You think that you're the only one angry, Kamijou Touma? Anyone will feel something by just seeing this. Even if it's Stiyl Magnus, he will feel it. The girl that I risked my life to save from 'Misawa Cram School' is now injured to such an extent; you think that I can remain calm!?"
Stiyl pointed his index finger, with the shiny ring on it, downwards.
"Step over it, Kamijou Touma. Step over her and chase after Oriana! This is our world. Terrible, isn't it? We can't treat this girl: this fact will not change. If you want to protect others, clench your fist. There's a limit to what we can do in the first place. Your right hand has the ability to break illusions, since when did it have the ability to protect an illusion?"
"…Damn it."
Kamijou lowered his face as his bangs blocked his view. He was gritting his teeth so hard that his molars were about to break.
In this hidden regret, was it directed at Oriana, or was it the fact that he couldn't rebut back?
"That…bastard…!!"
Kamijou let out a roar that sounded like he was going to cry. Then, he lifted a leg, as that trembling leg was about to make a first step. Instead of staying behind to look after Himegami, he chose to chase after the escaping Oriana.
"—"
The magician, Stiyl Magnus, narrowed his eyes as he saw the ritual in front of him.
It was when Kamijou's foot was about to step past Himegami Aisa's body.
The priest saw it.
It was Tsukuyomi Komoe, who was slightly far away from Himegami Aisa, now drenched in blood.
Her hands, face, clothes, all dyed a crimson red thanks to the blood. Komoe-sensei was sitting on the floor, not caring about her skirt or the ground, as her butt directly sat on the ground.
But, that wasn't the focus.
She slowly began to collect the surrounding pieces of rock and cans and stacked them up like she was playing with toy bricks, arranging them. But she was not placing them anyhow. It looked like a lame miniature model of the buildings.
"Wait a minute."
Stiyl suddenly said something.
Kamijou, who was about to take a step forward, lost his balance as he stepped backwards. Stiyl completely ignored him, as he just stared at Tsukuyomi Komoe's face.
"What…are you doing?"
"That time…"
The female who was only 135cm tall looked at the magician with her reddish eyes.
"…Didn't it work for Sister-chan the last time? So, this…this time…I…should…be able…to do it. The last time…Sister-chan…was slashed in the back, she was bleeding profusely. But…if sensei follows…what Sister-chan…instructed…"
"No way…"
Stiyl Magnus suddenly thought of it.
When that Index had first come to Academy City, Kanzaki Kaori had accidentally slashed Index in the back. Kamijou had carried that injured girl to Tsukuyomi Komoe's apartment.
But,
Index and Kamijou couldn't use magic. That was not a technical problem, but a physical one. Then, the one who had used healing magic on Index was—
"Don't tell me, it was you…?"
Stiyl said in a low voice that was full of surprise and respect.
The petite girl didn't notice his transformation.
"…Before, everything was alright after I did this. Sensei…remembers it very clearly? I really…followed what…Sister-san…instructed…! Why? Why, isn't Himegami healed…!? Himegami…just talked about the night tour, she wanted to go out with Kamijou. She checked the tour guidebook a few days ago. WHY…MUST THIS HAPPEN…!!"
Such an outcry wasn't directed at anyone.
And Stiyl and Kamijou could only listen to her sobbing.
What Tsukuyomi Komoe was doing was a healing spell, one that required delicate mixing of a magician-made hakoniwa (Note: A hakoniwa is a miniature piece of art. It may be a miniature garden, a landscape or a bonsai. Places in a box or a basin.) to a fixed amount of space. By using this method, if one was to patch up a ragged doll, the person could heal an injured person. But, if one didn't separate a fixed perimeter and just completed the 'hakoniwa', there wouldn't be any effect. Not just in the physical sense, the caster had to consider the magic symbols and the way the Angel's power was to flow in.
It wasn't a simple process that any magician could do.
Even for Stiyl, who could flexibly control the runes and the Christianity, he could only heal burns.
Though it was a recovery spell, due to the differences in sects, rules and spells, just chanting the incantation wasn't enough to heal. It was like how flu medicine was not going to heal a fracture: if one didn't carry out the appropriate spell, it wouldn't have any effect on the injured person.
Moreover, if they wanted to heal laceration, beatings, fractures, and internal injuries, they needed a specialized caster. If there was a person with knowledge that was of Index's level, maybe even an amateur could do it. But such a condition may be too unique.
Like he expected, Tsukuyomi Komoe's spell wasn't complete.
Of course, it was a different case when she had been instructed by Index to activate the magic spell. But for this kind of 'hakoniwa' that was made when she just learned a bit of, it was a bit too loose, and there were no magical symbols at all. This was expected, as Komoe-sensei, who was from the science side, didn't understand how the spell works in theory.
But, she had called an ambulance.
And she did all the emergency procedures that she could do.
Tsukuyomi Komoe tried every single method that she could think of, but there was no effect at all. In the end, she had to seek help from the 'magic' that she had no knowledge of.
She may not know how outrageous this thing that she did was.
She may also not know that she was betting on such a lousy contraption.
Even so, she was just doing it for…
A girl in front of her who she wanted to save.
"Damn it…"
Stiyl Magnus inadvertently looked away.
This female called Tsukuyomi Komoe was very similar to a certain girl.
A petite figure, extremely naïve, one who got angry for others sake, one who cried for others sake, one who had magical knowledge, but was unable to use magic, that crying look when she got dyed in other people's blood.
Stiyl felt this unhappiness in his heart as he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
He inhaled, and tossed the cigarette aside.
"—Nope, it's not like that."
Eh?
Tsukuyomi Komoe looked up.
Stiyl pulled out several rune cards that had complicated symbols on them from his pitch-black coat.
"Like using a bucket to store seawater, first, we have to set the 'hakoniwa' area. Also, it's too little to just think of an angel. We have to set where the angel is to come in, and where is it going to stay. You just need to imagine it. We're not really summoning an angel that has wings, we just need some sort of force."
He immediately bent down.
Facing Himegami, who was wrapped in bandages and could only let out feeble breathing.
He faced the girl who he had just stepped over.
"Kamijou Touma, go and chase after Oriana."
"What?"
"I'll tell you Tsuchimikado's new number. Even without me around, it'll be troublesome if you can't contact him."
"Wait a sec. That means…you'll…"
"Don't expect too much. I'm pretty much an amateur in this aspect."
The magician, Stiyl Magnus, said unhappily.
"I can only heal burns; loss of blood and fractures will require another type of spell. Also, this is a territory which I've never stepped into before. To heal such a serious injury…even those that specialises in surgery may not be able to do this…"
But he continued,
"…This person seems to know something that's part of Index's knowledge. I'll borrow some knowledge from her to confirm this theory. I can't even memorise Tsuchimikado's 'all-around reality array' and 'divination circle array'. To be honest, I'm a little worried…but we can still gain some time before we send her to the hospital. After this, we can only hope for a highly-skilled doctor to heal her."
"Eh, ah…?"
Tsukuyomi Komoe forcefully rubbed her eyes.
Seeing her like this, Stiyl couldn't help but look away.
"Wait till my instructions are over, then get to the road to call the paramedics in. Kamijou Touma, you go ahead and chase after Oriana. If even you stay behind, that right hand contraption of yours will destroy this healing spell completely. When this is over, I'll immediately talk…let me repeat this again, if you want to settle all these, hurry up and get out of here."
"…Got it."
Kamijou stared at Himegami's face, her body lying in the pool of blood.
He then exerted some strength into the five fingers of his right hand.
"I will, if this will solve everything. So Stiyl, I'm leaving Himegami to you."
"I should have said it before, but don't expect too much."
Stiyl heavily exhaled as he said this.
He then said in an extremely irritated tone.
"I'm not used to this either. In this world, I wish that I could use magic that's not used for attacking others."