Toaru Majutsu no Index

Volume 11, 2: The Preparations for going to London. Un_Frammento_di_un_Piano.

Volume 11, Chapter 2: The Preparations for going to London. Un_Frammento_di_un_Piano.

Part 1

Orsola’s house was on a lane from a turn off the road. There was a river nearby, and the smell of the sea could be sensed. There was a person standing on the stone road.

She was standing in front of a five storey rectangular apartment. However, this wasn’t a modern apartment; there was no auto lock or other kind of functions. The tea colour of the walls seemed to indicate that this was some sort of historical building. The antenna on the rooftop was rather subtle.

“All the buildings here give this sort of feeling. It sure is old.”

“They’re not just old, they’re very old. I do find the glittering buildings of Japan to be rather suppressing. The tall buildings that were too old were torn down 20 years ago — the progress of that country has proceeded really fast.”

“Were Orsola’s ancestors living here since a long time ago?”

“No, I was just sent here, so I rented a room.”

“So isn’t this just like my dormitory? Then what’s that green and yellow, fancy building behind it?”

“This place is a coastal city, so this building was made like this for sailors to be able to see their house from afar. However, since this building is not facing the sea anymore, there’s no need for it.”

It was not a major port for boats to gather, but rather, a required guide for locals who were sailing to find their homes. Seemed that way.

Hearing Orsola’s introduction, Kamijou walked into the apartment. Though her room was on the fourth level, logically, there was no elevator. Kamijou carried the heavy luggage bag up the metal staircase painfully.

“All right, are we there yet?”

Kamijou asked and looked past Orsola. Orsola was standing in front of a door in the corridor full of doors. Though it was an old wooden door, the new lock glittered unnaturally.

Orsola reached inside the sleeve of her nun's robes and, with a ‘clang’ sound, pulled out a key.

But before she could open the door, the door opened.

From inside, 4 Asians... Japanese youths, walked out.

Their clothing looked similar, but the colour combination and the way they wore their clothes looked somewhat different. However, compared to Kamijou, with his wallet chain attached from the belt to the pocket, and a backup wallet tied behind his thigh, their attire was rather similar to those of the locals. Orsola herself had been asked to go out and shop, and so she smiled and handed out a large amount of French bread and paper bags to them.

Kamijou suddenly remembered and hurriedly moved inside the room,

“Ah! It’s Touma, Touma~!”

He could immediately hear the familiar girl’s voice inside the room, and also the footsteps like Daihaseisai, in contrast to how the room looked.

Moving from the side of youths, Index came running out of the room.

She was holding a box of ice cream. Well, holding, yes, but the box was about the size of 4 to 5 manga volumes.

Index was using a cylindrical ice-cream scoop as a spoon, tucking in big mouthfuls of the vanilla ice cream.

“Touma, the ice cream here is delicious, and they even sold it at a great price! Wonderful!”

“You... I was so worried, and YET YOU’RE EATING ICE CREAM SO HAPPILY!! No, wait, you left me behind before doing this. INDEX, STOP INDULGING YOURSELF IN THE DESSERT!!!”

“But pulling me over here would mean that I have to help clear out the fridge, no?”

Staring at the smiling Index, Kamijou felt like he was about to collapse.

“Damn it! And yet you act as if you’re righteous... But I can’t accept this one-sided thanks of yours!”

While Kamijou was stamping his foot in frustration, Index continued to stay in front of him, scooping the ice cream.

Seeing them like this, Orsola just blankly smiled. The Asian youths stared blankly as they communicated in a special language.

So they were the ones who led Index here, Kamijou thought. So there are Japanese staying around here.

“Oh yeah, seems like the people who came to help are from the Amakusa.”

The Amakusa Christian Catholics. They were formerly a group of the Amakusa Christians, and were now an organisation under the protection of the English Puritans, like Orsola. They were said to have the special ability to ‘mix into modern life’... I see, Kamijou thought. Seeing their clothes like this, he understood.

Though he felt this way,

The whispered conversation that they were having was different from how it looked.

“...That’s the guy that the substitute Supreme Pontiff is keeping an eye on... but how strong is he?...”

“The reason why you’re thinking like this is because you weren’t involved in the battle for Orsola...”

“...He was the one who went unarmed and declared war on the famous 250 battle nuns of the Roman Catholics, you know...”

“And then there’s the latest news from the substitute Supreme Pontiff. It’s said that this guy sent the female Supreme Pontiff-sama flying together with that ‘Seven Heavens Seven Swords (Shichiten Shichitou)’ with just a single punch...”

The Amakusa stopped talking.

The first teenager wordlessly glanced at Kamijou, and then said,

“...Monster?”

“Oi, what’s with you guys making those kind of distorted remarks just by looking at a guy’s face?”

Kamijou lips twitched as he asked. Seeing this expression, the Amakusa turned blue with shock and frantically escaped into the room.

Speaking of which, as he had lost his memory, Kamijou didn’t even know about anything he had done involving Kanzaki, and he feared that his memory loss would be divulged if he asked around. To hit a girl’s face, what’s wrong with you, Kamijou Touma!? Kamijou thought angrily.

Orsola sighed and looked at Kamijou, asking,

“...You can’t give that terrifying expression, you know.”

Though she said this, noise could still be heard from behind the door, including ‘and at the end of summer, he saw the Supreme Pontiff’s naked body, took a strike from ‘Seven Heavens Seven Swords’ and didn’t even need a cast!’, ‘WHAT!? She’s a God-recognised Saint! How did he train his body to that extent?!’ and all sorts of curious voices. Is it really that scary?

“And now it seems that I fell to the ground without doing anything at all...”

“Don’t lie on the ground so tiredly, hurry up and come in.”

Orsola pushed the door open as she advised, with Kamijou and Index hurriedly following in.

The place she rented wasn’t a single room like Kamijou’s dormitory, but an apartment with multiple rooms that would allow even an entire family to live inside. In Academy City, most dormitories were like hostels, meant for one person to stay in, so this kind of flat was rather refreshing to Kamijou.

“Wa, the huge room is great... there’s a staircase inside the apartment!?”

“Ho ho, it’s like an attic. Anyway, it’s between the 4th and 5th level. It’s meant to store cheese and is a place where you’ll knock your head if you stand up straight.”

Seeing an awestruck Kamijou, Orsola smiled slightly, and said,

“Alright, let’s prepare lunch.”

One of the rooms was the living room, she did say this before. Index’s eyes were glowing, and in contrast, Kamijou felt somewhat ashamed.

“Eh? But isn’t lunch meant to be a repayment to those helping to move your stuff? And we didn’t do anything yet.”

“Don’t mind it. Don’t mind it.”

“WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT!?”

Kamijou inadvertently exclaimed, but Orsola quickly got back on topic.

“First, I have to accommodate you. And after that, when all the stuff is done, it’ll be time for dinner. I have to pack everything in order to move houses, which means I can’t take out my utensils and can’t clean my stove.”

I see, Kamijou accepted it.

Looking around, there was a stack of boxes in the living room. Orsola must have requested the Amakusa members to throw away the unwanted items and separate out the stuff that was to be sent to London. It was true that if she missed this opportunity, she wouldn’t be able to settle into her new property as easily.

Part 2

While Kamijou was looking at the different-shaped Italian sockets and Index was playing with the television remote control, switching channels, Orsola’s two hands were holding a tray full of cutlery as she walked out of the room.

The main dish was soup with oysters. Other dishes included a crab meat cold soup and something that was dyed black by squid ink and placed on the plate. According to Orsola, it was something made from corn powder and then boiled as a soup, and it could be directly consumed.

Just as Kamijou was about to sit down, an Amakusa girl who was delivering the plates of food said,

“Do you want one?”

She held out a hot napkin.

“Ah, thanks.”

Kamijou nodded and received it. The girl just said ‘my pleasure, my pleasure’ as she frantically walked out of the room. Double eyelids, Kamijou thought. He could hear all sorts of noises, including “Itsuwa, how’s the battle of the hot napkins?”, “Idiot, it’s too early now. The most important thing is to give a good impression,” “Isn’t that a bit too far-fetched?” What’s going on? Aren’t they supposed to have lunch with us?

“Eh, what’s wrong with those Amakusa guys?”

Kamijou stood beside the dining table as he asked a question regarding the four teenagers.

“I heard from them that they’re training now. If they don’t follow the designated method to cook the designated food, their reactions will become slow...”

“The Amakusa is a religion that uses all sorts of religious rituals in their everyday life, including sleeping, bathing, and walking. Since the situation is different, they can only eat a limited number of things.”

“Ah, such a troublesome group of people.”

Being prompted by Orsola, who had a somewhat deviated conclusion, Kamijou and Index immediately said “Itadakimasu”.

“Woah, this is great!? What’s this, the soup is so delicious, huh?”

“Mn, it taste 500 times better than what Touma cooks.”

“Don’t say that when you didn’t even help out one bit. But this is really delicious! Delicious!”

With the praise that was mixed with a bit of ill intent, Orsola bitterly laughed,

“I just hastily made these with the stuff that I already have.”

“Hastily made...but the guidebook did mention a few of them. At least we achieved our goal.”

“...Touma, I want to create the best memory of this trip earlier.”

The two tourists here were completely satisfied before they had even seen the world’s heritage that was 20km away. Orsola, who was supposed to be praised, now had to follow their conversation.

“Say... you’re here to see Venezia, right?”

“Sort of; that was our travel plan, but we couldn’t seem to contact the local guide. We had nothing to do after checking in at the hotel. Is Venezia really the leading tourist destination around here?”

“Going to Venezia to sightsee, coming to Chioggia to stay. Can’t drive around in Venezia, the humidity is so high, and the cold floor...”

“Compared to here, the accommodation fee there is several times more expensive.”

Orsola replied without any hesitation.

“But forgetting about those disadvantages, it’s still worth the visit. Besides, it’s called the ‘Water Capital’, ‘Queen of the Adriatic Sea’, ‘Bride of the Adriatic Sea’... Well, it’s a beautiful city with all sorts of accolades on it.”

“Seems like there are more of the ‘Adriatic Sea’ prefixes.”

Kamijou dipped a piece of the cheese-like coloured stuff in some pitch-black squid ink. Though it was covered in squid ink, it was surprisingly mild.

“Ma, Venezia was originally a marine military state controlling the Adriatic Sea, so the prefix is rather appropriate. Every year, Venezia would have a national-level ‘wedding with the sea’ ceremony. At that time...the ruler of the country would throw a gold ring into the Adriatic Sea to symbolise the merging of Venezia and the Adriatic Sea and be closer to it.”

“Eh, Venezia was originally a country?”

Kamijou asked. Index, who was drinking the cold crab meat soup with a scoop, replied,

“Touma, this country called ‘Italy’ was something that was only established recently. Before that, there were a lot of city states on the peninsula. It was somewhat like the Sengoku Era.”

“...”

“What, why are you so silent now?”

“—Nothing. You’re pretty knowledgeable.”

“Wu, what? Saying this just now?”

Index’s vision fell slightly onto the bowl, her face was somewhat red.

Orsola picked up an oyster with her fork as she continued,

“Venezia was one of the powerful city states, and said that she hated being controlled by outside, so she went against the Pope and nearly declared war. She didn’t declare war, but was viewed as ‘an enemy of the Roman Catholics’ as she continued to prosper. Besides that, during her heyday, Venezia, together with Padova and Mestre, continued to take control of many city states in Northern Italy and made her name into history.”

“Then what about here?”

“Ah, Chioggia and Venezia were competitive sea city states, and fought several times, that’s about it. In truth, there were many city states in Northern Italy which had salt and foreign imports like Venezia, but due to war, politics, calamities and other sorts of reasons, the numbers dwindled, and finally only Venezia was left.”

Kamijou made a sound in response.

Now, if the history had changed a little, the lasting name would have been Chioggia. Hearing this, Kamijou was somewhat touched despite not knowing too much about history.

It felt like playing a Sangoku-era or Sengoku-era game (changing history).

“No matter what, I do feel that since you’re here, you should tour through Venezia first. For a Christian like me, it’s a very interesting place where you can learn a lot of things. Even if it’s not so, you can tour through and see the beautiful scenery. Though Chioggia has speedboats, she doesn’t have tourist boats. The streets over there have scenes that can’t be seen here. Here in Italy, the only place to escape the vehicles and yet continue to operate as a city is Venezia.”

“Ho, seems interesting. Thanks Orsola. Then Index, we’ll go to Venezia after we clear the stuff.”

“Mn...I just want the food. It’s great to stay here.”

“You... how can you make such an unreasonable request to the person who fished you here?”

Part 3

“Then, let’s help clear the stuff.”

And with that, Kamijou and Index walked towards the items.

Orsola’s house had quite a few rooms, thus everyone was gathered in the same room, sorting out the items that were to be disposed of, and keeping those that were to be moved in boxes. After completing those, they then moved out the heavy furniture like cupboards and the bed, before cleaning the room up and heading to the next one. Orsola and the Amakusa seemed to have finished cleaning 1 or 2 rooms already.

Anyway, Kamijou and company decided to start from the living room. Kamijou wrapped the utensils with newspaper before moving the chairs and table to an outside caravan. The auntie driving the caravan seemed to be an Amakusa member as well.

This work continued to proceed for an hour.

“Wa, Touma, my nun's robes are extremely dirty!”

Index said this as she continued to battle against the pile of dust from the bookcase. Hearing her say this, Kamijou blankly responded,

“Didn’t I say that moving houses would make you dirty?”

“Oh my, you did say it before,” Orsola said.

Hearing this voice coming from beside, Kamijou turned around to look. Orsola was patting away the dust on her nun's robes around her breasts. Of course, that caused a certain body part to jiggle about. Kamijou immediately turned away. Index glared at Orsola, indicating ‘please don’t add on to the commotion when you’re doing this.'

Orsola looked like she didn’t notice it, and said,

“For how long were you on the plane to get here? You should be more mindful of it. How about you take a shower?”

While Orsola was saying this happily, a huge pile of dust fell from the lampshade onto her, like a black cap sticking on her head.

Orsola continued to smile,

“Come on, Miss Index, the bathroom’s this way.”

“OI!! THE ONE MOST AFFECTED BY THE DUST IS YOU!!”

"Really?" Orsola tilted her head in a cute manner. The huge amount of dust settled on Orsola’s head as she tried to shake it off. She grabbed Index’s shoulder from behind, saying.

“Anyway, Miss Index first. Eh, also, the blowdryer’s over there.”

“What’s a ‘blowdryer’?”

Hearing their words as they left, Kamijou let his shoulders drop, saying,

“Ah, right. Orsola~ where’s the newspaper stack?”

“Over here, no.”

He could hear Orsola’s voice from outside. With a slam, the sound of a door being locked could be heard.

...So girls are really mindful of sweat and dust, huh?

Kamijou carried the thought that if he was to try and confirm this, he would get bitten, and returned to cleaning and tidying the room. He sealed the boxes with tape, and then shifted them to the door. He used the newspaper as a buffer material by using it to wrap a mural, and put it inside a box.

Then,

“Eh?”

At this moment, Kamijou let out a surprised sound. He just so happened to finish up the newspapers.

Though I don’t know the value of this mural, it sure looks expensive...if I leave it on the floor, it’ll be bad if someone steps on it...

Kamijou let the mop lean on the wall and looked around. He remembered that Orsola said there was an extra stack of newspapers behind the door.

However, upon opening the door, it was not a room, but a short corridor. Two similar white doors were arranged on both sides of the room.

Which is the room? However, I should be able to know by going in.

Without thinking further, Kamijou grabbed the handle. Suddenly, a sound could be heard from inside,

“Hmmmm~hmmmm~.”

Such a delighted humming voice, and the sound of rain.

This singing and water means...

Kamijou immediately froze,

Is it the bathroom... Argh, that was dangerous!? Is this the trap called the bathroom!? It’s, it’s a dangerous place. And I would end up getting bitten!!

Kamijou gently exhaled, then released the handle of the door. By process of elimination, the other door must be where Orsola had prepared the newspapers.

But,

“Hm~hmmmm~hm~hmmm.”

There’s another voice here? What is this! There’s no signboard to designate the bathroom...hm? Italian bathroom?

In this confusing circumstance, the female’s unguarded humming made Kamijou’s heart pound, but he continued to think calmly. Assuming neither of them were bathrooms, since Orsola had said that "the newspapers are here", then both of them should be normal rooms. Maybe both doors led to the same room?

If so,

Since the wall is thinner here, I can hear the sound from the bathroom on both sides...? One is the bathroom, the other isn’t. Damn it, what’s going on here!?

Kamijou cautiously listened to the voice and pondered,

Right? No. Left? No. This... is the left. I can hear humming and water from the left, but I can only hear humming from the right door! In other words, the real source of the sound is from the left side, and since the right side is further, the water can’t be heard, so I can only hear the humming! Alright, this Kamijou won’t just end up seeing other people’s naked bodies all the time!

“I got it!”

Kamijou, relying on his ears and with absolute confidence, opened the right door.

What was in front of him was a steamy bath.

“Eh?”

Of course, the one making this surprised sound was Orsola Aquinas. She was pulling away the curtain, reaching out for the bottle of shampoo. With the warm water sputtering out of the showerhead, he could clearly see her huge breasts that were normally covered by her nun's robes. He saw them.

“W...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! THIS IS THE BATHROOM!!!? AND THE SHOWERHEAD IS STILL ON! Sorry, Orsola, but I did hear that the left side is the dangerous one...!!”

In a confused state, Kamijou forgot to close the door as he escaped to the left door.

Over there.

At this moment, he could hear the sound of the blowdryer motor running.

At the same time,

“WAAAAAAAAAHH!!!? WHY IS HOT AIR BLOWING OUT OF THIS WEIRD HANDLE...!!!”

BOOM! With that, the left side door was opened from the inside, as a naked Index walked out. There was no point in just holding a towel with one hand. Her slightly red skin didn’t seem to be wiped clean by the towel. She moved her limbs, causing the water droplets to fly off her skin. Her long hair was coated with water vapour, sticking tightly to her runway-like chest.

Before seeing this, it has to be noted that beyond the left side door was another bathroom.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Kamijou was speechless.

“THE RIGHT SIDE IS THE BATHROOM, THE LEFT SIDE IS ALSO A BATHROOOOOOM!?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! THIS IS JUST HELL WAITING FOR ME ON BOTH SIDES!!!! ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!! WHY ARE THERE TWO BATHROOMS IN THIS HOUSE!?!?!?”

On realising that he had nowhere to run, Kamijou collapsed onto the ground. Of course, Orsola was embarrassed as well, covering her body with the translucent plastic curtain, her body backing away slightly.

“Eh, St Barbara promoted the ritual of turning a bathroom into a baptism pool. So one is used for everyday life, the other is used for religious rituals. But since I’m moving house today, I removed the function of it being a baptism pool to use it as a bathroom.”

“IS IT ANOTHER MAGICAL TERM THAT’S NOT SCIENTIFIC!?!? I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!!!”

Kamijou slammed hard onto the floor as he roars.

At this moment,

“...Come to think of it, why is Touma here?”

In contrast to Kamijou, who was prone on the ground, Index was carefully wrapping her body up with a towel.

“Ha?”

“...And then why didn’t you apologise for seeing other people’s naked bodies?”

“No, it’s not that, Index. I, Kamijou Touma, saw a mural which wasn’t wrapped completely in the room just now. I heard that the newspapers meant to absorb the impact were here, so...eh? Orsola, where’s the newspaper? Any ordinary person wouldn’t put the newspapers inside the bathroom, right!?”

“Eh, it’s not in the room, but at the corridor.”

“GACK...!? Damn it, it’s just placed in the corridor! Damn it, why didn’t you notice it, KAMIJOU TOUMA!? This wouldn’t have happened...”

Saying nonsense to himself, Kamijou suddenly noticed that Index’s temples were twitching unnaturally.

“SAY, SO—WHY—IS TOUMA PUTTING MY NAKED BODY AS A LOW PRIORITY HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!?!?!?”

“GGGGGGGGGGYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I FEEL THAT TODAY’S INDEX IS TWICE AS TERRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!!!”

Kamijou Touma had encountered the intimacy of the teeth twice already in this foreign land. He just hoped that Orsola didn’t think that this was a weird Japanese traditional culture.

Part 4

Being bitten hard, Kamijou rolled on the ground while Orsola continued to clear up the cutlery. At this moment, the sky was getting darker.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Orsola bowed towards the lorry driver who was shaking about. She was slightly worried about the brittle cutlery.

No matter what, the moving had already been completed.

Maybe the whole of Chioggia was like this, or maybe it was just this place, but there was no one around. Slightly further away, the voices and laughter of families could be heard.

Orsola was holding onto a rectangular luggage bag as a minimum, saying,

“Sorry to bother the two of you. It’s troublesome to slowly move all of this stuff.”

“No, it’s alright. Orsola, what do you intend to do after this? We intend to go back to the hotel and then go out sightseeing. Do you want to come with us?”

“No, no.”

She gently replied, her hand hiding her blushing face as she looked aside. She continued,

“I’ll feel awkward if I’m to go back to the hotel with both of you... that adult thing.”

“AHEEEEMMM!!!?”

Kamijou immediately coughed, Index however curiously asked,

“??? Adult stuff? What’s that?”

“It’s best not to hear it!! IT’S BEST THAT INDEX DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!”

Just as Orsola was about to explain, Kamijou interrupted in a loud voice. Index still didn’t understand anything at all, completely innocent.

“I left my work at London temporarily to come here, and it’s not suitable for me to stay here for long. Also...”

“Also?”

As Kamijou pursued on, Orsola smiled and replied,

“I intend to say goodbye to Chioggia... I don’t want you to see me not being like usual.”

Kamijou suddenly noticed it.

This was where Orsola had stayed all her life, but after today, she could no longer stay here. It was not like she wanted to move. If not to ease the tension between her and this huge organisation called the Roman Catholic Church, she wouldn’t move out at all.

Kamijou remembered the time when he saved Orsola from Agnese.

Strictly speaking, that had been not a painless problem.

It was after spending an ordinary day that he had managed to save her.

Even if it was a little compromise, it was for the greater good.

“...Sorry Orsola. I wasn’t very sensitive about this.”

“No, no. It’s not like I won’t ever be back. Alright, please don’t look so guilty. I do feel that London and Chioggia are rather similar.”

Under the starry night, Orsola smiled. Index, who was beside him, wordlessly knocked lightly onto Kamijou’s elbow, most likely hinting him to stop continuing this topic. Even Kamijou knew this, and he had to know this.

“Then, I’ll take my leave. If there’s a chance, hopefully I’ll accommodate both of you in London.”

“Mn, if you have the chance to come to Japan, we’ll do the same.”

“Before that, Touma has to tidy up the room.”

Saying this, the trio began to head off towards their respective destinations.

At this moment,

Index suddenly looked up,

“Don’t tell me... this is...”

Suddenly, she shouted,

“EVERYONE! GET DOWN!!”

Kamijou stared at Index in a surprised manner.

Get down...for what?

From afar, a sound of metal colliding could be heard.

Index’s expression became tense.

“FROM THE RIGHT!!”

The voice rang as if it was reaching the sky.

BANG!

An unnatural sound resounded, causing Orsola’s rectangular luggage bag to fly out.

“Eh?”

Orsola looked at the hand that had been holding onto the luggage bag a moment ago in an incredulous manner. The luggage bag gently dropped onto the floor. The metal buckle shattered, and the luggage bag opened like a book. A comb and lipstick dropped out from inside. There seemed to be some back-up food, and the burnt black food rolled down the road into the canal.

Kamijou stared at the luggage bag on the ground.

On the surface, there was an unnatural hole approximately 1 cm in diameter.

“TOUMA, GET AWAY FROM THERE!”

Index’s urgent voice could be heard.

Why is she panicking now... is it magic now?

He carried this suspicion as he looked back at Index, but Kamijou froze halfway. There was a very shiny spot on Orsola’s clothes, which silently moved from Orsola’s shoulder onto her chest.

Like an infrared sight to assist in aiming at a target.

Long range weapon...

“Sniper!? ORSOLA!”

Kamijou threw away the luggage bag in his hand and pushed a dumbstruck Index forward before knocking Orsola in the abdomen.

Charging down the road.

A soft gunshot could be heard.

On Kamijou’s back, from left to right, it started to hurt as if it was a string.

His skin was burnt off by something.

From where!? Who!? How!?

Enduring the blood that was flowing out, he looked around. The surrounding rectangular buildings were 5 stories tall, and there was only a straight canal. An outsider like Kamijou couldn’t tell whether this place was suited for sniping. Looking around, there was no one with any huge equipment hobbling around. Maybe it was from the opposite direction of where the luggage bag flew, but he could only see the wall of the building. However, Index seemed to know where the attack was coming from, and shouted,

“TOUMA!”

Hearing Index’s shout.

Just as Kamijou was about to change his focus from the inside to the outside, an icy hand grabbed Kamijou’s neck. Turning back, he could see a hand extending out from the canal beside the road. It was a pitch black hand. Someone was extending their hand from the water's surface to grab Kamijou’s neck from behind.

“!”

It pulled Kamijou into the water before he could think of anything.

Losing his balance, Kamijou fell away from Orsola and into the canal. The turbid waters irritated his throat, and the wound on his back was painfully stimulated as if it was about to explode. In his distorted vision, he saw someone walking down the road, their left hand holding onto something shiny and metallic.

A dagger, or in other words, a sword.

You scum... who are you!?

Kamijou extended his hand onto the leg of the attacker, but it was dodged. Kamijou then swung his limbs, gaining enough momentum to float up and appear on the surface.

Maybe it was low tide now, as the water was only several metres tall. But it was enough to obstruct Kamijou’s vision.

“Cheh!”

He used both hands to grab onto the edge of the canal and climb up.

The first person in his vision was Orsola. She was kneeling on the floor in an incredulous manner, in what seemed to be the same position that she was in when Kamijou had knocked her down. That expression wasn’t of fear, but shock.

Then,

Right in front of her was the attacker. The short man wearing pitch black priest robes. Like Orsola, there were zips on his shoulders. His back facing Kamijou, the purple-dyed hair was extremely obvious.

In that wet hand, there wasn’t a knife or sword like he expected, but a spear. It looked that it had been forcibly shortened, and on the front tip of the 70cm black wooden handle, there was a 10cm blade.

She’ll die if she’s stabbed with it.

The attacking male raised his hands in full force.

Like he was about to stab the ground.

Kamijou had to stop him, but Kamijou, who had managed to get out of the canal, was still sprawled on the ground. It would take several seconds for him to get to Orsola. At this moment, the spear of the attacker swung down hard.

“Go to hell, bastard!”

Kamijou grabbed the blowdryer from the items scattered from Orsola’s luggage and threw it without thinking.

It hit the back of the attacker’s head.

The spear missed slightly.

The tip of the blade hit the floor, missing Orsola’s head.

“!”

The attacker turned around, rushing towards Kamijou, who was obstructing his mission. That spear was shining with an orange light in this black night. It is magic, huh?

Kamijou, who was still prone on the floor, clenched his fist.

“Stab yourself instead!”

The moment Index shouted this, the man pointed the spear back to himself. Now that the male in priest's clothing was unable to control his weapon for some unknown reason, he stopped.

“!”

Standing up, Kamijou lowered his body and slammed into the guy’s stomach, his right fist hitting his face. The force that came from below caused the guy’s head to shake.

“Eh, Ugh!”

Making such a sound, the man intended to lower his vision. Kamijou punched him again.

With a loud sound,

The fist that contained all of Kamijou’s strength hit the man’s nose without any remorse. Finally, the man whose back had been facing Kamijou was knocked down, not moving at all.

No time to stop.

“! WHERE’S THE SNIPER!?”

“No need to worry... it’s over for now.”

“What do you mean it’s over for now!?”

Hearing Index’s words, Kamijou was confused.

Then,

GYYYAAHHH!!

From afar, an indecent male voice could be heard. To a tense Kamijou, Index calmly said,

“To snipe here from afar, it means that he’s sending information of his location to us. Then no matter where he is, my ‘Spell Intercept’ can mow through it.”

Seemed like Index had done something, but Kamijou didn’t know exactly what.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard.

Kamijou looked at a corner of the road, as a man’s figure suddenly leapt out. A hand on his head, he was frantically running around, as if he had heard an explosion. It was too dark for Kamijou to see clearly. The man wasn’t running to Kamijou and company, but into the canal, saying,

“Abbandoniamo l'avanguardia! Ora si ritira di qua! Quella donna la ucciderò sulla nave! (Forget the front! Prepare the retreat ship! We’ll kill the woman on the ship!)”

He seemed to be shouting something in Italian, and just like that, jumped off the edge of the road and into the embankment.

Is the guy escaping the sniper from just now!? Damn it, should we chase him or not?

Just as Kamijou was considering this, the sound of water breaking could be heard.

But,

How could a person jumping into the water make such a large sound?

The surface of the canal broke open.

Like a reverse waterfall, the seawater flowed up, and the man landed on the thing that was coming out.

“Wha...!”

Kamijou held his breath.

From below the canal, a ship appeared. It was like a sailing junk that had 4 masts. What was different about those ships was the material. The ones used to find the new world had been made of wood, but this one that had just appeared was translucent and gave a chilly feeling. It was like it was made of crystal—even the sail and ropes on the mast were of the same material—making one wonder whether it really functioned as a ship. Maybe because of the light reflected from the streets and the moon, the ship was bright like a light bulb.

But,

What was even weirder was the size of the ship.

“WA!”

“TOUMA!”

The canal should be 20 to 30 metres wide, and the side of the ship smashed the embankments, forcing it to become smaller.

“HOW ON EARTH DID THIS THING REMAIN HIDDEN FOR SO LONG!!?”

A large number of motorboats were stopping like a bus stopping in front of a bus stop. Some were crushed and began to sink, some were knocked high up into the air. Kamijou’s fist hit a piece of shrapnel that was flying at Index’s head, but his footing was immediately drowned by the seawater that was gushing in like a sprinkler, as if a child had just jumped into a wading pool, Kamijou’s face was flipped like a face washing plate as he slipped on the ground.

“IT HURTS! WHAT’S GOING ON!?”

Looking up from the floor that was completely drowned, the triangular mast was only 40 metres tall. Also, the ship was still emerging from the seawater.

Kamijou felt it was weird. In fact, he knew that there was a certain depth for the river; it was basically 3 metres deep, so there shouldn’t have been enough space to hide such a huge ship.

The ship jerked.

Right now, the deck was barely as tall as the road, like it was jacked up. At the same time,

“AH...!”

Orsola seemed to be caught on the ship; she had been taken up by the ship from the road. Kamijou couldn't even respond because he was knocked from below by the translucent ship rope.

He was swept up.

During that moment of flight, his feet left the ground. Just as Kamijou lost his footing, the ship tossed him 20 metres high. He was about to fall right next to the ship.

He would die if he fell from such a height.

“!”

Kamijou frantically grabbed onto the handrails of the ship with both hands.

The ship that had been drowned in seawater was now like a 20 metres high cliff.

It seemed to be 7 storeys tall; his vantage point was even taller than the surrounding apartments. Kamijou looked around from the ship. Orsola was also hanging on the ship—the side of the ship’s hull should be 100 metres.

“Orsola, get up there!”

Though I would rather not get on this unsolicited thing.

Kamijou ignored the unhappiness in his heart, grabbed onto the ship’s hull that was extremely shiny, and climbed onto the deck.

It was really a big ship.

It was over 100 metres long, the height from the deck to the bottom was about 20 metres. Everything from the mast to the deck was made of translucent material and shined with a mild white light like a light bulb.

Kamijou and company were in the middle of the ship. The ship front and rear were like a staircase, coinciding at the cabins. It was like they were smack in the middle of a bowl. There were 3 levels up, and 5 to 7 levels down; it was a ship that was even bigger than Kamijou’s apartment. The ship was pressing against the embankments, and the seawater that was forced out gradually flowed onto the road.

“This is crazy... for such a thing to emerge from the canal...”

The hull was also made of this magical translucent material. It could reflect moonlight, creating a white light like that of a light bulb.

Though...this feels like glass or crystal, it’s not. It’s more like ice.

Speaking of practical buildings that were made of ice, the Inuit tribe from Canada were famous for using ice to make ‘igloos’, but not of this scale.

Kamijou prodded the deck with his finger. It was definitely something similar to ice, as skin stuck to the surface upon contact. It was not cold; it was slightly warm like plastic... but ice freezes at 0 degrees Celsius under atmospheric pressure, which was common knowledge. Under certain conditions however, the freezing and boiling points could be changed. There existed ice at 20 degrees Celsius and steam at 80 degrees Celsius.

It was obviously made from magic.

So even if it was ice, the floor wasn’t slippery. The reason why ice was slippery was because the surface of the ice would melt into water, reducing friction. By changing the melting point, even if the ice touched human skin, it wouldn’t melt, so there wouldn’t be any water on it. This magical stuff was probably similar to Stiyl’s "Innocentius" and wouldn’t break even with Kamijou’s right hand touching it.

Suddenly, the ship jerked. The impact came from below, and Orsola, who was rather slow, was knocked high.

“AH!?”

“Hang on tight!”

Kamijou immediately reached his hand out from the deck, grabbing onto the woman. Good thing the female wasn’t heavy, but with the unstable positioning, she seemed several times heavier. Breaking out cold sweat, Kamijou pulled Orsola onto the deck.

Just like that, Kamijou and Orsola were lying on the ice.

“Touma! Are you alright, Touma!?”

Kamijou heard Index’s worried voice as Index continued to run along.

But Kamijou had no time to reply.

Suddenly, the ship jerked again. This time, it was shaking back and forth in a regular manner. Orsola, who was on Kamijou, slowly approached Kamijou’s chest.

Kamijou looked around. Besides both of them, there was no one around. The silent giant ice ship reminded Kamijou of something.

Is it moving forward? Normally, wouldn’t such a large ship be unable to move in such a narrow river? Isn’t this like a whale in shallow waters!?

In contrast to what Kamijou expected, the giant ship moved forward as if it was an ice hockey puck skating on ice... Thinking further into it, Kamijou realised that if this shining ship was created by adjusting the melting point of ice, it was most probable that the water film created at the bottom of the ship had reduced the friction.

“Orsola, are you alright?”

“Mn...”

Hearing Kamijou’s words, Orsola answered uncomfortably. She seemed to have noticed that she was pressing onto Kamijou. Normally stable, she was somewhat puzzled as she nimbly tried to get up— only to lose her balance again.

Even if it was Kamijou, any female, whose clothes were drenched by seawater, sticking onto him would cause his heart to race. But now wasn’t the time.

A section below Kamijou’s hand, extending from the handrail of the ship to the higher walls was shining. Leaning out from the ship, Kamijou was stunned. The ice ship continued to force its way, squeezing aside the embankments, swallowing the ferries around, and moving down the canal.

“WHAT’S GOING ON!?”

No matter how Kamijou sighed, what was happening in front of him didn’t change.

And as he looked closely, he noticed something.

“From here, it’s at least 20 metres down...even if it’s seawater below, I’ll probably break a few bones if I jump down. No, wait. This ship is bigger than the canal, yet it can still move forward, so the bottom of the canal is made of stone? Damn it, is the seawater I’m seeing now on the road!?”

The seawater seemed to flow into the gaps between the buildings. He could hear frantic voices from the surrounding buildings— understanding the ‘reason’, all of them were dumbstruck.

“Ah! Wait!”

Suddenly, Orsola stood up.

She just stared at the front, wide-eyed.

“For this to happen...”

“Wha, what? Orsola?”

“This ship is forcing its way forward. Seems like it’s moving from the middle of Chioggia to the Adriatic Sea.”

As Kamijou was wondering what was going on,

“Get down! The Viggo bridge is right in front! This ship will force its way through it!”

“You kidding me!?”

Kamijou immediately grabbed Orsola from behind. At this moment,

A strong quake could be felt.

The bridge was destroyed in one blow.

“Ack!?”

The hand that should've been holding Orsola released her. Suffering the impact, Kamijou was unable to breathe as he lay on the deck.

Gack...ah! Or, where’s Orsola...!?

Orsola barely managed to support herself on the deck. Good thing that she had managed to fall inside like Kamijou, and was on the floor as well. To be honest, it was a relief. If she flew out, it’d be a 20 metre drop.

Damn it...

In this helpless situation, Kamijou continued to think,

Attacked by some weird people, getting onto an ice ship, getting separated from Index... just what the heck is going on?

Orsola held onto the handrail on the side of the ship, and blankly said,

“We’re leaving...the ground.”

“Ah, where are we going, this ship...”

Adjusting his breathing, Kamijou stared at the land that was becoming smaller and smaller.

But this silence didn’t remain for long.

This time, from afar—actually, from within the ship, many footsteps could be heard.

“Cerca! Loro devono essere a bordo!” (Find them! They should be on this ship!)

Kamijou heard a man’s growl.

Though he didn’t know what it meant, he could feel the animosity in it.

Orsola lowered her voice and said,

“What now, they seem to be looking for us...”

“I know! If we jump off the ship...nope. It’s too dark, I don’t even know which side is which anymore.”

Frantically looking around, there was nothing in the sea. Kamijou idly thought, are we that far away already? It seemed that ever since they got onto the sea, the ship wasn’t as tall anymore. Compared to moving around in the canal a while back, they were now floating on the sea. Seemed like half of the ship’s height was submerged in water. In other words, this meant that the sea was a 10 metres drop.

But, to even consider jumping, they would need to be able to swim in these raging waters for a long distance. If they recklessly challenged the sea, there was an 80 to 90% chance that they would drown before they could even reach the shore.

Looking down, this ice ship seemed to be a replica of an ancient battleship. Ten translucent cannons extended out from the side of the ship. Without an oxygen tank, they could only swim at the surface. One could immediately see the unnatural waves from the deck of the ship. If those cannons could really fire, it would be their deaths if they were seen on the water.

Besides, upon seeing that tiny land, Kamijou knew that it was impossible for them to get off the ship.

“Damn it...!”

Footsteps could be heard from all over the ship.

In other words, this wasn’t a safe place.

The light source of the ship itself wasn’t that strong.

Though the surface of the ship was reflecting light, it was rather dark inside.

But even though it wasn’t very bright, the floor and walls were glowing. Kamijou and Orsola’s shadows could be seen, so it was hard for them to hide in the darkness.

The good news in this misfortune was that, as this 100 metre long ship was extremely big, there were some things for them to hide in, as well as cabins.

“Orsola, get inside the ship. We’ll be spotted if we stay here. Anyway, let’s find a place to hide in.”

“Yes. I know.”

Kamijou grabbed Orsola’s hand, crouched down, and moved along the ice ship.

What was supposed to have been a delightful trip to Italy was now developing towards another direction.

Between the lines 2

Let’s rewind time to a few weeks back.

The bumps on the road caused the wheels of the carriage to jerk. Because of this sharp jerking, nobody on the gradually moving carriage was able to sleep.

Agnese Sanctis was sitting inside the cabin of the carriage. The carriage wasn’t one made of cloth and frames, but a real one made of wood.

Her age was approximately between 10 to 15, and her height was slightly shorter than those of her age. She had white skin and lemon-tea eyes, red hair that was between coffee and blond, and braids that were several pencils thick.

She was clad in black nun robes and 30cm thick sandals. Though her clothes were made of highly flexible fabrics, it looked unnaturally clean. Normally speaking, there would be wear and tear when one washed the clothes, but there was no sign of it on her clothes. Just on this point, it was fair to say that she was really eye-catching.

The petite nun looked outside the window.

The rectangular window was about as large as a tray, and there was iron mesh hammered on the outside as if it was a metal net. Though the window was closed, one could sense the faint smell of the tide. On the other side of the glass window was the satellite city of Venezia, which was designated as a worldwide tourist attraction. There were families dragging their luggage around and coffee shop attendants approaching them.

“Is this your first time here?”

At the front of the carriage—the driver driving the carriage asked. As the wooden wall was blocking, Agnese couldn’t see it.

The gruff voice of the middle-aged man was rather special, Italian mixed with some French. This man should be from Milano, Agnese guessed.

“Yeah, I’ve never been here before. Though I was born in the north, I am from Milano.”

Due to the way she was learning it, her Japanese was somewhat rude, but her Italian was rather polite.

On hearing how the other person was replying in a similar manner, the driver’s tone becomes even gentler.

“That’s good. I prefer the mainland as well. How should I say it... the air there is fresher, I’ll even feel motivated. But there are lots of things to see here. Even though it’s my job, I do feel that going around sightseeing is an interesting thing. I’m glad that my workplace is in Italy; there are unique things everywhere. I might get sick of it if it was another country.”

Hearing this, Agnese smiled.

She looked out of the window and said,

“There are many wonderful places overseas as well.”

“Really?”

“Yes, because I like new things. Isn’t there a phrase called ‘World Heritage’ or something? After looking there, I would find that it really is worthy of being hailed as a world heritage. Like the Fontainebleau garden, it really is a renaissance of plain art involving water and greens. The Cologne Cathedral can be said to be pointing the sharp edge to the sky. As for Japan, before saying whether it’s nice or ugly, I have to say that the first thing I felt was an inexplicable feeling.”

“I see.”

The driver answered flatly.

The carriage continued to move forward. The reason the carriage was so slow was one, because of the driver, and two, because the thing pulling the carriage was not a horse, but a donkey. Obviously, this kind of carriage had no significant horsepower.

“Those people who walk the earth certainly say a different story.”

“Not really. Most of the places I go to are in Europe.”

“I never had the chance to leave Europe. Because of work, I can only move to where my carriage can go.”

“Then if it’s outside this area, you’ll take a plane?”

“Yeah. But considering the practicality, the ground is much more stable. If we’re to tangle with the science side, we can’t use spells to prevent escaping... oh my, this topic isn’t suitable for you right now.”

“Please don’t mind. But it’s true that there’s a sense of pressure when I’m taking a plane.”

“Really? Just as I expected. The plane feels like it’s forcing itself to fly in the air. If there were a hole, it would collapse due to the difference in pressure. Though this is a special rule in the air, I do feel that it’s extremely scary. If it’s a hot air balloon, I’ll just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

“But a hot air balloon is considered a type of plane.”

“Ah, is that so? Then no matter what the thing is, as long as it involves the science side, I don’t want to get involved with it in the future. Oh, we’re here.”

Agnese’s body slightly trembled due to habit. The donkey-pulled carriage seemed like it had stopped. Her eyes turned from the window to the two doors behind.

She looked at the door that hadn’t opened yet, and quietly said,

“The destination is... ’The Queen of the Adriatic Sea’ and the ‘Queen’s Fleet’, huh?”

As if in response to this sentence, the lock on the door opened.