Toaru Majutsu no Index:Volume SP Chapter1

Stiyl Magnus

Part 1

The darkness smelled of something burning.

The location was a small city in Siberia.

A slight crackling sound reverberated through the city at night. Orange flames seemed to wipe away the darkness in places. Things were not burning normally. The streets, the streetlights, the benches, the vending machines…regardless of what it was, bright flames were scattered around on them as if the flames were a sticky mud.

“Really…” sighed Stiyl Magnus.

The cigarette at the edge of his mouth glowed brighter from the additional oxygen.

He had shoulder-length hair dyed red, earrings in his ears, silver rings on all 10 of his fingers, and a barcode pattern tattoo under his right eye. He also smelled of perfume and cigarettes, so no one would have thought that large British man was a priest. They would have still doubted it even though he was wearing a priest’s habit and could shut his eyes and recite the Bible from memory.

And…

(I head out all over the world, but it’s always the jobs like this I end up with.)

The bottom of his shoe trampled on something hard.

It was a human face burned black to the extent that not even the expression could be read.

It looked like a failed attempt at making a cookie. There was not even the slightest moist feeling in the portions that were split open.

“Now then…”

Stiyl stuck an arm into his habit and pulled out a small schedule book.

He opened it and brought the hand holding his cigarette close in so he could read it by the light.

“…So my next job is in Academy City.”

Stiyl Magnus. Simply put, his job was to defeat the evil magicians who made people suffer. But thinking back on that previous scene would immediately tell one just how much a difference there was between that explanation and the reality of his job.

Stiyl belonged to Necessarius, the 0th Parish of the Anglican Church. That organization killed all magicians who would bring negative effects to society. And they left the corpses in a state where they could not have a proper funeral or memorial service. Their reasoning was that trash that had strayed from the proper path should suffer even after they died. They would not allow the dead to flee to heaven.

Stiyl himself used rune magic, but the inquisition viewed lies, tricks, torture, violence, or any other means justified in defeating their heretical enemies. The trash they hated so much may say that was unfair, but they did not listen to heretics, so it did not matter.

Stiyl had burned 19 members of a Western magic cabal to death in Siberia. They had felt that people who were merely born had no hope and that people only received true hope upon dying and being reincarnated. As such, they had been enjoying themselves in “giving hope” to some young children they had felt sorry for.

This very same Stiyl was now getting nervous in front of a girl.

He was in an underground mall in Academy City. Academy City was a psychic powers development organization that took up the western third of Tokyo, but the fact that he was in an underground mall was the more important part. It was underground, but it did not have a damp atmosphere to it. Instead, the brightly polished floor was lit up by the fluorescent lights and LED light bulbs that were bundles of LEDs. On the other side of a large window covering one side of the passageway, young waitresses were energetically working in a café.

Stiyl was standing in a smoking section set up in a corner of that underground mall. Adults wearing suits and lab coats were breathing out smoke as if to say, “Even so, we love smoking!!”

A girl was also standing in the smoking area.

Or rather, she was grabbing Stiyl’s arm and trying to drag him out of that area.

The girl said, “Hey!! Why is a 14 year old child here!? Secondhand smoke is harmful. This completely defeats the purpose of having a designated smoking area!”

The girl was 135 cm tall and looked about 12, so she was not very persuasive.

Stiyl sighed and pulled a faded package from his pocket.

“I’m here because it’s polite to go here when you smoke.”

“A 14 year old is breaking the rules if he smokes regardless of where he is! As a teacher, I cannot just ignore this!”

Stiyl ended up being dragged out of the smoking area and even had his box of cigarettes confiscated.

But she was a teacher.

Despite how that girl looked, she was a high school teacher in Academy City.

(…Why did things end up like this?)

Stiyl brought his hand up to his forehead.

Just after he had finished his previous job, Stiyl had been told he had to head to Academy City for his next job. He had spent an entire day getting on an airplane, crossing national borders, receiving permission to enter Academy City, and dropping his luggage off at the hotel. He was guessing his job would once again not be something decent and he had decided to go smoke while he waited for his next instructions, but…

He had been caught there by that minimum teacher, Tsukuyomi Komoe.

“Sigh…”

“Mh? That’s a heavy sigh for someone so young. Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Stiyl responded as he forced his arm out of Komoe-sensei’s desperate grip.

However, he was a 14 year old who did not get many opportunities to hold hands with a girl like that.

(…Dammit. This age difference is just wrong. What am I doing?)

Stiyl’s body temperature had risen slightly, but he was not a perverted lolicon. Stiyl’s actual age was 14, so it was only natural for him to fall in love with a girl of the same generation.

However, Komoe-sensei’s actual age was something else entirely. To Stiyl, she was more of a mature woman…or possibly on onee-san type.

“So what is it that you want with me, sensei?”

“My lecture as a teacher has not even begun. Don’t try to smoothly imply it’s over! You aren’t going to smoke, right? Promise sensei that you won’t smoke anymore.”

Komoe-sensei was now grabbing at the waist area of Stiyl’s clothes and looking up at him. Her eyes stared straight ahead and did not move even slightly. It did not even take 2 seconds before Stiyl could not stand it anymore and averted his gaze. He wondered in his heart how that was supposed to be a lecture.

And then a cell phone started to ring.

It was a light melody that had likely been downloaded from somewhere. As that ring tone made clear, it was not Stiyl’s phone that was ringing. Komoe-sensei rummaged around and pulled out her cell phone.

“Yes, this is Komoe-sensei.”

The conversation began. Komoe-sensei spoke leisurely with whoever was on the other end.

“Yes, yes. That priest is here right now.”

“Hey!” Stiyl yelled out and started seriously considered trying to take the cellphone from her. She had no way of knowing, but he had snuck into Academy City on a covert mission.

Meanwhile, the teacher who was utterly ignorant of that fact smiled and switched her cell phone to speaker phone. She then held it out toward Stiyl.

A voice came from the phone.

It was a boy’s voice.

“Ahh… Are you really here…?”

“I don’t want to hear your voice any more than you want to hear mine.”

Stiyl’s voice was completely flat. As she held the phone, Komoe-sensei started looking flustered, but there was nothing she could do.

The voice over the phone continued casually.

“What? Did you get stuck with another dangerous ‘job’? Well, that’s fine. By the way, are you okay with spicy foods? We’re having jjigae today.”

“What do you mean, ‘well, that’s fine’? I don’t need your permission to-…”

Stiyl started to reply, but he trailed off partway through.

What had that boy said?

“Jjigae? What?”

“Oh, you aren’t familiar with it? The weather’s been getting cold lately, so I was thinking of going with a Korean stew. I got a magazine that had a special on Korean recipes. Jjigae doesn’t look too difficult.”

“That’s not what I meant,” said Stiyl cutting the boy off before asking his question again. “Why do I have to know what you’re having to eat tonight? And why does it matter if I’m okay with spicy foods?”

“Eh? But aren’t you eating here tonight?”

“Hell no,” Stiyl spat out.

Perhaps because she had seen his expression straight on, Komoe-sensei started getting even more flustered while stammering.

“Oh, right. Is there anything you simply refuse to eat? I’m at the supermarket right now, so tell me if there’s anything you want left out.”

“…Like hell I’m going to tell you anything.”

“Well, don’t complain later. I’m filling my basket with all sorts of spicy things from around the world to season it with like Yatsubusa and red peppers.”

“That’s not what I meant! Are you even listening? I’m not going. I’m definitely not going…Hey!”

Before he could finish speaking, the line was disconnected from the other end.

He stood there blankly for a bit, but Komoe-sensei finally started saying something while trembling.

“B-but sensei can’t stand spicy things…”

“…Why did that boy call his teacher about his dinner plans?”

“Eh? We’re all eating dinner together today.”

“And I’m also curious as to how he knew I was here…”

“I emailed him when I first spotted you. I told him to buy some more ingredients because someone else would be joining us.”

When Stiyl saw her puzzled look, he slightly averted his gaze.

It seemed the student took after the teacher in some ways.

“Won’t you come?” asked Komoe-sensei.

“No, I won’t,” Stiyl responded strongly and definitely before leaving.

He turned around and saw that Komoe-sensei was trying to follow him, so he ran full speed and lost her.

“Really now…” he finally sighed after leaving the underground mall and walking alone along a street.

It was so ridiculous that he just couldn’t stand it.

Stiyl Magnus was a magician of Necessarius, the 0th Parish of the Anglican Church. He was a blood-stained person whose solution to over 70% of problems that occurred was assassination. He had burned 19 magicians to death the day before and he was thinking about how to write the report for the incident.

And yet he felt like he would forget that in conversations like the previous one.

He felt like he would forget all those truths.

It was most likely the same feeling as when one looked at fiction. A girl at a rebellious age would cry while watching a drama with a theme of familial love. No matter how opposed it was to yourself, just seeing it filled you with emotions.

That was why there was a strong feeling of despondency after it was over.

The worst moment was the one when you turned off the TV and saw once more what your situation was.

As if it had been intentionally timed, his cell phone started ringing.

It was an email from one of his colleagues in Necessarius.

“Here is your job. The mission description is in the attachment. Follow what it says and take care of the traitor.”

Stiyl nodded in confirmation.

Necessarius’s coldhearted report continued on and on.

A stimulating situation started spreading out before him and it was far removed from the peaceful appearance of things.

Part 6

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