August 30, in a certain student dorm room.
When the completely normal high school student Kamijou Touma returned to his neither large nor small room, he heard a violent pattering of feet from within. A silver-haired nun wearing a splendid habit of white cloth and gold embroidery ran toward him.
The girl of about 14 or 15 who still had some youthfulness left in her face was named Index.
It was obviously a fake name, but no one bothered to point that out.
Incidentally, she was also a ridiculous girl who was charged with storing 103,000 grimoires.
But in exchange, Index had no basic or scientific knowledge to the point of not even knowing how to use a microwave oven.
The girl said, “Touma, Touma, Touma! A book of prophecy called Malachy’s Prophecies arrived by something called ‘express delivery’! I used your seal for it!”
“…Um, could you not accept such obviously suspicious items?”
“Something called a ‘door-to-door salesman’ and ‘mail-order video salesman’ came by, so I used your seal there too!”
“Don’t use my seal for anyone that comes to the door!!”
Kamijou moved from the entrance to his room and saw a new massage chair he did not recognize sitting in one corner.
The boy held his head in his hands while Index grabbed a paper box about big enough to hold a cake from the glass table.
It was an odd-looking box.
It was a basic white square box, but the corners were crushed, it was yellowed with age, and it had marks like some kind of charm or talisman had been ripped off of it.
In the “contents” box on the shipping label attached to it, the words “Malachy’s Prophecies” were written in solemn handwriting using jet black ink. However, it was so fancily written that Kamijou had trouble reading it.
The writing in the “sender” box on the label looked more like some strange hieroglyphs than kanji, so it was impossible to tell whose name it was.
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He was not quite sure how to describe it, but the shrine maiden looked quite dusty due to hiding down there the whole time.
And then the door to the bathroom opened.
“Misaka borrowed your bath, reports Misaka to the owner of this room while completely naked except for this baggy T-shirt.”
When Misaka Mikoto saw the girl who – true to her word – was wearing one of Kamijou’s T-shirts over an otherwise nude body, her expression changed to match Kamijou’s.
A closer look showed that this new girl was Misaka Imouto who was identical to Mikoto down to the genetic level.
“Misaka arrived slightly before you returned, but the high temperature had caused a high level of perspiration. That substitute owner of the room wearing a white nun’s habit suggested Misaka take a bath, so she took her up on the offer, says Misaka in a long explanation. …? Why have you fallen silent? asks Misaka while tilting her head. Misaka cannot imagine why you would be blushing and averting your gaze, says Misaka as she stares you directly in the face and asks you a question.”
“Um…” replied Kamijou while frozen in place.
Misaka Imouto’s thighs were bared below the baggy T-shirt up to a place very, very close to their base. And she had just taken a bath, so her skin was slightly flushed and she smelled of soap.
Meanwhile, Himegami grinned slightly underneath the bed and said something along the lines of, “My appearance ends here. Heh heh heh. This is always how it turns out for me.”
Incidentally, if Kamijou had been under the bed in Himegami’s place, the angle might have ensured he died of shock the instant he saw Misaka Imouto.
“Well…This certainly is a lot of people all of a sudden,” said Kamijou as he glanced around the small room.
Index sighed and said, “Honestly, what are you saying, Touma? The guy-girl ratio is always like this around you. Oh, here’s Volume 3.”
As she spoke, she continued to flip through the pages of Malachy’s Prophecies.
The 10th day of the 9th month of the 2004th year. A Certain Magical Third Version. When a wind with a purpose blew through the city at night. The number of girls appearing may be quite high. By the way, Misaka’s little sister shows off her panties, but the big sister does not. What a disappointment.
“Wh-who wrote this!? And not showing them off is normal!!”
As Mikoto shouted out common sense, the little sister in the anything-but-common outfit of naked with a T-shirt simply stared blankly.
Index turned to the next page.
The 10th day of the 12th month of the 2004th year. A Certain Magical Fourth Version. When a curtain of dark night falls over the summer sea. The characters show off more skin than usual. This of course means girls in swimsuits, but the female swordsman’s outfit was revealing to begin with and the red nun’s outfit is enough to make one think she is an exhibitionist. But if you let your guard down, you will receive a great visual shock from a swimsuit. By the way, the female swordsman also appears in such a state of undress to make one think obsessing over small things like swimsuits and panties is ridiculous.
When they read that last line, Index and Mikoto said “Wow…” in unison.
Kamijou arbitrarily folded his hands and began thanking god that the person in question was not there. When Index, a legitimate nun, saw that, she began lecturing him on how to properly cross himself.
As Index entered her occult explanation mode, Misaka Imouto began expressionlessly flipping through the pages of Malachy’s Prophecies.
The 10th day of the 4th month of the 2005th year. A Certain Magical Fifth Version. When the peace and rest of the summer season meet their demise. Misaka’s little sister’s little sister appears. The little sister of the little sister does not wear panties, yet the big sister does not show off her panties. There may be some rule saying their guard grows more lax as their age goes down.
“Is everything about me related to panties!?” shouted Mikoto in indignation and Kamijou tried his best to pacify her.
When Index flipped through the pages some more, the first five volumes came to their end and they returned to the prophecies related to the 6th volume once more. That was where it read “The 10th day of the 7th month of the 2005th year. A Certain Magical Sixth Version. The day of Academy City’s opening ceremony.”
Kamijou looked through what it said once more.
“Ahh, what kind of opening ceremony is this? I get attacked by enemy and can’t stand, a pair of naked people appears before me, and I become intertwined with Index? …What is this!? What is with these rare events that have never happened before!?”
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This preview is a work of fiction. It may have nothing to do with the characters, groups, and incidents in the real A Certain Magical Index series which will have a new volume on bookstore shelves on July 10.