...I can't let this continue to happen...

A male figure floated inside an experimental tube. Bluish green-colored liquid filled the tube where the figure was floating lifelessly. Numerous amounts of electrodes attached themselves to gain data from every part of his body. The wires sent the information to be analyzed by the super computer nearby. Perhaps, the word "nearby" was not the correct word to use— it took up almost the entire space of the room.

No workers could be found inside the advanced-looking facility. Or, rather, no one knew about the existence of this place. No one would have thought the place was hundreds meters below the surface of the earth.

...How long has it been... I... must stop them...

It was kept as a top-class secret project that even the higher-ups did not know of. The ones who knew about the project had either died or had their memories wiped in order to prevent the information being leaked out.

However, it was not like the project had ended up as a failure. If that were the case, everything related to the project would have been eliminated right away. There was no way a project that spent a lot of money and efforts ended up without giving a good result.

...Has the war stopped already? Is she alright?

Actually, it was the opposite. The project ended up as a great success. The scientists that were taken part in this project had celebrated their success once they confirmed it. They made their names known all over the world. It was as if their dream comes true.

...I... must... find... out...

A success, no matter how great the changes it could bring out for the world, did not always bring good results. This project was considered one of those that did not end as planned. The scientists had finally decided to shut down the experiment. Once it stopped, they left the project one by one until no one left.

However, there was one exception.

...I'm still alive!

The figure opened his eyes. A pair of orbs that resembled the color of sky would once again see the light of days. It was the same pair of eyes that had seen more deaths than a normal human could even imagine. It was same pair of eyes that were forced to be closed with the intention never to be opened again.

The index finger twitched, followed by the middle finger, and the rest of his fingers. Those were the fingers that once were covered in blood. Those were the fingers that had taken countless human lives without feeling a slightest hint of remorse.

The glass tube that once contained the deepest secret of AcademyCity shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces for unknown reason. However, such a thing was not a surprising thing in this city of espers. Within 2.3 million populations in this city, 80% of them were students. However, most of the students were called espers, a human with psychokinetic power.

The espers were classified into different levels due to their abilities. A level 0, for example, was the weakest esper whose power had so little use or no uses at all. On the other hand, those at level 5 were considered the strongest. At this moment, there were only seven known level 5s in AcademyCity.

...

The figure stood in the middle of the lab. He looked at his surroundings only to find the super computer, which cost billions, had been reduced into wreckage.

As he gathered his fragmented memories, the figure muttered a phrase.

"...I wonder what year is it now."

It was early in the morning.

The calendar showed it was August 5th. From the date, one could easily say it was summer break. Most of the students spent their holiday by going on summer vacation with their friends or parents. Some of them were enjoying themselves with their hobbies, while the rest did anything else they had in mind.

However, there were exceptions.

Students who had failed their exam did not get the free-from-school ticket called a holiday. They had to attend extra lessons in order to catch up with the academy's standard. One of these unfortunate students was Kamijou Touma.

At this moment, Kamijou Touma was sitting on his bed, watching morning news on the TV. He was an academy city level 0 esper who was well known in his school for his misfortune.

And today was not an exception.

"...Touma! Touma! We have a problem!"

A girlish voice entered Kamijou's ears. He did not look for the source. Kamijou knew it very well. It was the young, silver-haired and green-eyed girl who was dressed in white nun habit with gold embroidery. Her name was Index Librorum Prohibitorum. However, since that name was too long and sounded fake, everyone just called her Index.

"What is it now, Index? Did you eat up all the food I've prepared and still wanna ask for more?"

Upon hearing Kamijou's question, the young girl named Index suddenly stopped. She looked at the spiky-haired boy in front of her and spoke with small voice.

"Um, that too, but the trouble is—"

The sound of something snapping filled the room. It was Kamijou, who had lost his cool and shouted on Index.

"What!? I've prepared both lunch and dinner for us and you ate them all!?"

Kamijou could not believe it. This nun-girl with monstrous amount of appetite really got into his nerves. He did not even know who she was, other than her name and the fact that she lived in the same place with him. Simply put, Kamijou Touma had lost his memory after a certain incident happened to him eight days ago.

"Uu...Touma becomes so cold nowadays."

"Stop talking as if I'm the one at fault here! Ahh, stop giving me that look. I'm not abandoning you so you'd better stop acting like that." Kamijou put both of his hands on his head and shouted in exasperation. However, the girl still looked at Kamijou as if she was on the verge of crying.

"..."

Getting stared at like that by the petite nun, Kamijou's resolve wavered. He could not stay angry with her any longer than this. He had not forgiven her for eating his lunch and dinner, though.

"Fine... Fine! Let's change the topic. What's the problem you're talking about just now?"

The girl did not answer Kamijou's question right away. Instead, she pulled his arm and dragged him all the way to the veranda. Once they got there, Kamijou spotted someone else. The figure was lying face down on his balcony. He wasn't sure if the person was actually dead or alive.

Kamijou shuddered. He felt as if he was experiencing déjà vu. He had no memories of events prior to July 28th, so he did not know that his past self had experienced the very same situation like he did right now.

Kamijou looked at the figure closely. The person was actually a boy of his age, around 15 or 16. He wore a black and orange jacket over his white, sleeveless shirt. He also had short, spiky blond hair which was a complete mess. However, despite having such hair color, the boy did not look like a foreigner. Kamijou saw that the person had common Japanese face and his bodily figure was that of Japanese people as well.

"What we have to do, Touma?"

Kamijou could not answer Index's question immediately. He needed to confirm if the boy was alive or not first. With that thought in mind, he knelt down beside the person and checked his pulse and breathing.

"He's still alive, only unconscious. I'll bring him to the hospital."

On hearing Kamijou's words, Index shook her head. She pointed at the blond boy's body and said with a concerned tone, "That person is not hurt, Touma. I think he's just hungry."

He blinked, thinking whether he should take Index's strange suggestion into consideration or not. While doing so, the figure suddenly opened his eyes. As he tried to get up from his current position, the blond boy spoke.

"...What year is it now?"

Was that really a question one should ask when facing such a troublesome situation? Kamijou could not help but ask himself. He then tried to force a smile and answered the strange person's question. However, once he told him what year was it now, the figure's reply was,

"...twenty years..."

The person had a strange expression on his face. Kamijou did not know who this person was, but he felt worried. He thought he should ignore Index's words and bring the person to the hospital right away. This boy did not seem well. The fact that the stranger just asked a weird question about what year was now, and muttered something like 20 years afterwards, only made Kamijou feel more worried about his sanity. Maybe a mental hospital would be better instead of a normal one?

Somehow, the person had ended up on his veranda. Kamijou could not stop thinking as to how the person reached here at the first place. It was really strange because Kamijou's room was actually on the 7th floor of boys' dorm.

"Are you alright? I can bring you to the nearest hospital if you feel unwell," Kamijou asked the blond boy in a concerned tone.

The boy looked at Kamijou as if analyzing him. He got up, patted his orange-colored pants few times, then smiled.

"Ah, I'm sorry. It seems I just give you a trouble so early in the morning," the teenager said in quite a polite manner before continuing. "I'm actually alright, don't worry. I must have passed out after using my power."

Kamijou was not surprised at hearing the boy say "power". He had thought about that possibility himself. There was no way someone could land on the 7th floor without having some kind of power.

"Oh, I see. So you're an esper, huh? That explains a lot," Kamijou muttered, leading the boy and Index to come into his room. After all, it was kind of strange to have a conversation on his small veranda.

Once they got in, Kamijou apologized to his guest, "I'm sorry, but we haven't introduced ourselves properly. My name is Kamijou Touma and this is Index."

The boy nodded his head. He was about to say something to Kamijou but stopped before a word came from his mouth. His facial expression got darkened as if he was recalling something bad from his past.

Index was the one who noticed this first. "Have you, by any chances, lost your memories?"

A certain black-haired boy gasped on hearing the white nun's question. It was Kamijou. He faked it out as a cough and hope that Index would not find out. He had no intention to let the girl know that he lost his memory. The girl seemed to trust him very much— no, it was his past self whom Index was fond of. However, Kamijou did not want to destroy the girl's happiness if he told her about his memory loss.

The boy in question shook his head. He let out a warm smile as he spoke, "I'm sorry, it's not that. I just have something else in mind right now." He paused for a moment before continuing, "My name is N-A-R-U-T-O."

Index was confused while Kamijou decided to ask, "So it's Naruto, huh? It's kind of strange you have to spell it out like that. I feel as if there's a hidden meaning behind your name."

Naruto chuckled as he heard Kamijou's remarks. He was not saying his name like that because he wanted to be funny or anything. He had a completely different reason for that. However, he could not tell Kamijou and Index about it. Maybe it was better if they did not know about it; they might be in danger if they know it.

"It actually does, but you don't have to worry about it. It's not something important."

Kamijou still felt the boy in front of him was hiding a secret but he did not want to pry into someone's privacy. He chose to drop the topic for now and ask another question, "So, Naruto, since you're an esper, which school are you attending?"

Naruto could not give an immediate answer. He had rough idea about what an esper was. It must be someone with a psychic power. However, he did not know that an esper must attend a school. Twenty years ago, he woke up in the middle of a war. He had no time to pay attention about school and such. Everyone was fighting to protect their land from enemies' attack at that time.

"...I didn't attend any school."

Kamijou stared at the boy in front of him with envious eyes. How could someone become that lucky as to not having to attend school? He would give up everything to switch position with this Naruto guy. Well, on second thought, that was not true because Kamijou knew it would never happen to him. With his misfortune, he would end up having more trouble than not if he somehow got the opportunity to switch position with the guy in front of him.

He did not know how true that thought of him was.

As he thought about it, Kamijou's glance landed on the round clock hanging on his wall. His eyes widened significantly.

"Oh crap! I'm late! I'm late!" Kamijou shouted frantically as he ran all across the room to find some books and literature. He then shouted, "Index, you're in charge, don't destroy anything! I'll be back after Komoe-sensei done with her additional lesson today."

Just like that, Kamijou left the nun dressed in white and the blond boy.

It was afternoon already. The sun emitted a golden light and was almost below the horizon.

Under the pleasant atmosphere, a black-haired boy ran at high speed. It was not because some delinquents chose to play hide-and-seek game with him. It was also not because he ran away from an evil organization after discovering their secret plan.

Kamijou was rushing toward his house for a completely different reason.

Since the moment he left his house that morning, Kamijou could not concentrate. Something distracted his mind and made him feel worried. Komoe-sensei's teachings today were all but forgotten.

Finally, Kamijou reached the boys' dorm. He rushed his way toward a certain room in 7th floor.

He made a lot of noise as he came to the entrance of his dorm.

...!

Naruto and Index jerked their heads in surprise. The front door had forcibly opened by a black-haired boy. It was the owner of the room they were residing in. It seemed the boy had finished his extra lessons and immediately rushed home for a reason they did not know.

However, Kamijou's reason was rather simple. He had left Index with a stranger at his house! How could he make such a stupid action like that? Index was a 13 to 14 years old girl who lacked common sense and had no self-awareness.

"You! Why are you still here!? What have you done to Index!?"

On hearing Kamijou's tone, two different reactions came from Naruto and Index. The boy understood the situation very well. He knew what was going on and how to react accordingly. However, he wanted to amuse himself, and possibly Index too, by seeing Kamijou's reaction when he pranked him. Needless to say, the girl was tilting her head with questioning expression on her face.

Naruto grinned at Kamijou and asked with a playful tone, "What is it, Kamijou? I'm only here because Index seems lonely when you left her this morning, so I took the initiative to console her by doing this and that. I don't have to explain it in details right? All you have to know that we are having fun today. Isn't that right, Index?"

Kamijou widened his eyes in surprise. A horrified expression appeared on his face. He shifted his glance toward Index as if trying to ask her whether Naruto's statement was true or not.

"What's wrong with your face, Touma? Don't worry, I have fun with Naruto today. Since it feels sooo good, I asked Naruto to do it again and again. In the end, I couldn't hold myself and fell asleep until just now. I hope I can do that kind of thing with Touma someday but I doubt it would feel as good as today with Naruto," Index said that with a cheerful tone. Her face was filled with joy and she seemed so happy recalling the event she participated in with Naruto.

Kamijou felt mortified. His jaw was wide open. What kind of horrible things had happened when he left Index this morning? And the source of this problem was here, right in front of him, smiling widely.

"What!? You bastard! How can you do that kind of thing with a pure girl like Index? I won't forgive you, and I'll beat you into pulp now! You can consider yourself lucky if you can get out of here alive!"

Kamijou leaped forward to take his words into action. He would not hesitate to pull his fist as long as there was a good reason to do so. And hearing Index's words was enough to make blood rush to his head and change his face's color into red for more than one reason.

As Touma pulled his fist back and was about to slam it into the blond's face, he stopped. He could not move his hand much farther.

It was not because Naruto blocked his attack or used his esper power to stop Kamijou. It was Index, who had stepped in and stood between the two boys. She had an angry expression on her face. It was an expression Kamijou had never seen before.

"Stop, Touma! What are you doing!? I won't allow you to hurt Naruto! He is my friend!"

Kamijou tried to make a rebuttal. He could not let this thing slip out just because Index stand in his way.

"But he is a bad person, Index! I'm sorry; it was because of me he did horrible things to you. Maybe you don't understand what about it was bad, but it was. That kind of thing wasn't something you can do with a stranger, Index."

"…?"

While Index was having a questioning look on her face, Naruto decided it was enough. It was the time to stop this prank and move into something else.

Naruto chuckled, Kamijou's reaction was amusing for him, who had been "sleeping" for twenty whole years. "I didn't do those kind of thing with Index, Kamijou. It was a prank."

Kamijou was surprised. If he think about it again, it was actually unknown what Naruto had done with Index in the first place. It was only his assumption that made things go down that road just now.

"You... didn't? What exactly did you do with Index, then?"

Naruto chuckled as he saw Kamijou's face. The black-haired level 0 esper had an expression of disbelief. "I just brought her around the city, sightseeing."

"Touma, why did you never bring me to see those amazing places before? I have so much fun with Naruto there, especially at the amusement park and the underground shopping district. I bought lots of food there."

Kamijou realized what happened. It was true that he had never walked around the city while bringing Index along. The first reason was because he had been hospitalized for a few days since July 28th. The frog-faced doctor who was in charge treating his injury just let him go home five days ago. Aside from that reason, there was another fact that Kamijou had to attend the extra classes held by Komoe-sensei. Almost all the extra lessons ended up pretty late, making Kamijou unable to have free time. He had planned to bring her out on the weekend, but still. He had better not be making any more excuses.

"I... I'm sorry." Kamijou lowered his head to apologize. He thought of himself as a fool who acts before thinking. However, a sudden realization hit him. It was Index's words just now that intrigued him.

"Wait, Index, did you just say 'you' bought a lot of food?" Index nodded her head excitedly. Her green eyes were shining, as if saying she wanted more of them. "You? Not Naruto? How the hell you could buy food on your own?"

"...Touma left his wallet this morning."

...!

Kamijou widened his eyes in surprise. He checked his pocket and noticed that his wallet was not there. He then looked at the nearby table and saw it lying there. He took the wallet and opened it. Needless to say, it was empty.

"Index-san, you spent all of Kamijou-san's money to buy food, although I'm sure I still had more than 5,000 yen before I left!? Kamijou asked Index in a dangerous tone while showing her the now-empty wallet.

"Uu... Touma is angry," Index muttered in a low voice while hiding herself behind Naruto, afraid of Kamijou's death-glare.

"How could I not!? It was supposed to last until next week and you spent all of it!" Kamijou yelled and began chasing Index around the room, breaking some glasses and put things into disorder during the process.

Long story short, Naruto decided it was pretty late already for him, a stranger to Kamijou and Index, to stay any longer so he excused himself from the dorm. He promised that he would come again later but did not say exactly when. It seemed that Index was looking forward for Naruto's next visit— no, she was waiting for the next time she could go out with him and eat those delicious foods again. After all, aside from the 103,000 grimoire that she had memorized due to her perfect memory, all she had in her head was food.

The full moon shone brightly. Numerous amount of stars sparkled, as if trying to show off their beauty to the world.

Under the magnificent sky created by nature, a figure walked along a dark, narrow alley in AcademyCity. His black and orange jacket fluttered behind him as he walked. It was Naruto, the boy who had just left Kamijou and Index without telling them where he lived. To be honest, he too did not know where he would spend the rest of the night, so he ended up wandering around the city, which had changed a lot over these past twenty years. As he walked with a steady pace, Naruto thought about various things.

When he brought Index all around the city today, Naruto asked her many questions. The girl amazed him by explaining things that happened long before she was born. It felt more amazing to him because she gave him very detailed information. He felt like reading a book in library.

He learned from Index that the war had ended twenty years ago. Neither the science nor magic faction won the battle. For now, the two sides were currently on "understanding" terms with each other. This condition seemed to be able to maintain peace for the last twenty years.

Naruto also asked Index about a certain organization in England called Necessarius. However, he did not get any information about it from Index. It seemed the nun was reluctant to say anything about it so Naruto chose to drop the topic. Although he was sure that Index hid something important, he did not pry any further.

"Well, well, look what we get here." A gruff voice entered Naruto's hearing.

However, the boy ignored the delinquent who said that to him. Naruto kept walking as if he had never heard anything just now. He paid no attention about the delinquent's comrades either. There were only five of them and although they brought weapons with them, they posed no threat to him.

"Hey! We are proud members of Skill Out! Do you think you can get away from here alive after ignoring us like that!?

"Huh? Never heard anything about that," Naruto gave an honest answer. However, being honest could sometimes bring disaster, too. A perfect example for the statement was this situation Naruto got himself in. Naruto's answer did not sit well with the delinquents. They became angry, hearing his words just now. It was as if the boy deliberately mocked their organization.

"Just die already!" one of them yelled furiously and took out a handgun from his jacket.

Since he was only six meters away from Naruto, he was sure he would not miss the shot. He aimed the black metal weapon to Naruto's head and pressed the trigger.

"Aghh!"

It was not Naruto who screamed in pain. It was one of the delinquents who was going to kill him. As for Naruto himself, he had not moved a single step from his location. He looked at the group of surprised delinquents with a cold stare.

"...Get out of my sight."

His words sent a chill down their spine. They swallowed down their saliva to moisten their dry throats, but it had no effect.

"Don't be afraid, he's only one person. Where is your pride!? Kill him now! After that, we'll kill his family, his lover, his friends, everyone that's related to him!"

Hearing their leader's command, they overcame their fear of Naruto and took out various weapons of their choices: a gun, a sword, a mace, a knife, and a metal pipe. They decided to fight him despite getting a chance to escape. With a single word from the leader, all of them attacked Naruto.

"I've given you a chance to escape before, but you let that chance go and even provoke me with your words just now..." Naruto continued his previous activity. He walked with a steady pace through the dark alley. He was heading toward the border of AcademyCity.

Behind him, the five delinquents, including their leader, were nowhere to be seen. In their place, piles of scorching hot ashes lied innocently on the ground. If it were taken to a scientific lab, the scientist there would probably able to tell what it was. Rather, he would be stuck explaining how a human body could turn into ashes in the first place.

After walking for a while, Naruto finally reached his destination.

He stood before a large gate that connected AcademyCity to the outside world. However, he did not take a step farther. It was not because there was a city guard who prohibited him to do so. It was also not because he was afraid of something.

It was because a different reason.

"Damn it... I thought they had removed it after twenty years passed," Naruto muttered under his breath. However, his tone was that of annoyance.

He had a hard expression on his face. His blue orbs glanced toward the sky. He was thinking about visiting someone from his past. He did not know if that person was still alive or not. What he did know, though, was that he really wanted to meet that person.

However, that person was not in AcademyCity. In fact, that person was not in Japan either. The person Naruto wanted to meet so badly lived on another side of the earth.

It had been twenty years, but Naruto still remembered that face very well. He could imagine the warm smile that person was always giving him. He could still remember the warmth of that person's embrace.

Thinking about it brought a smile onto his face.

"I wonder how she looks now." Naruto let out a chuckle as he walked away from the gate.

At first, he was trying to find what purpose of this "new" life he had. He was considered to be dead twenty years ago but yet, he was here, wandering around the city with no real destination.

He was lucky he met Kamijou and Index that morning. It was also fortunate that the level 0 esper and the library-girl were good people. If they were bad people, maybe they would have died at his hand by now.

It was not like Naruto was good person himself. It was actually the opposite. The blond boy had killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people before. He had done it without feeling a slightest hint of regret or sadness. If he had to, he could do the same thing right here, right now.

However, there was no reason for him to do that now.

The world was at peace now. At least, Index said it was under "understanding" terms. There was no need to be afraid of anything now. A war would not happen any time soon.

If that was the case, then maybe, just maybe, he could live a new life as a good person. He wanted to try what that person had taught him twenty years ago. He wanted to show her he could change from the cold-blooded monster he was before.

Still, he did not feel pity for those delinquents he killed a while ago. There were still people in this world that deserved death.

If it was necessary, Naruto would not hesitate to kill.

Naruto thought about his current situation. He had neither a house nor relatives. There were only two people he knew but he did not want to give them trouble.

At his moment, the blond boy could do nothing but let out a sigh.

"I need to find more information about this city."

With that thought in mind, he walked alone through the darkness of the night.

No one knew how his life would turn from now on.

Only time would tell.

End of chapter.

This chapter has been beta read by: Mon Esprit Libre

Disclaimer: Naruto and Toaru Majutsu no Index are belong to their respective owners. All the copyrights associated with these two are belong to them. Only the ideas contained within this story are the property of the author. No profit is being earned by the writer of this story.