Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08

Publisher's Summary
Tokiwadai Middle School. The girls' school that every schoolgirl in Academy City envies. Of course, all of the students attending this school can be called "Onee-sama" in their own right.

One of those "Onee-samas", Misaka Mikoto, has just finished her Physical Education class, and takes a shower to douse off sweat and to cool off from her tiring class, only to hear a voice from a girl from the shower stall beside hers.

Shirai Kuroko. Member of the committee that protects public order in Academy City, Judgment, and a Level 4 Teleporter. She would later invite Misaka to join her in shopping.

This is the beginning of Kuroko's long, long day. The day when she finally sees the truth behind Misaka Mikoto.

When Misaka Mikoto and "that guy" cross paths, Shirai Kuroko's story shall begin!

Prologue: One of Five Fingers — A_TOKIWA-DAI's_World.
September 14.

Tokiwadai Middle School's System Scan has been scheduled, and among those who participate are Teleporter Shirai Kuroko and Kongou Mitsuko, an Aero Hand. As Kongou considers forming a student faction of her own, only to have the idea shattered by Misaka Mikoto, who is conducting her System Scan as well.

Chapter 1: After School of Girls — After_School_of_Angels.
After the tension and sweltering heat brought by the System Scan, the students of Tokiwadai proceed to take a soothing shower. Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko take a shower on adjacent shower stalls, and the Teleporter listens with caution as Mikoto talks about "that idiot". Mikoto makes sure that Kuroko would not try to use her ability to molest her once, but she is forced to fend off a vicious flying kick from the determined Teleporter.

Mikoto, nonetheless, decides to join Kuroko to the School Garden's shopping district, and gets dragged on to a lingerie shop. Their talk about caring for one's figure soon becomes Mikoto pulling Kuroko's ear due to seeing embarrassing or downright erotic underwear.

The mood soon shifts to a more serious note when the Electromaster sees news of various countries outside Academy City launching shuttles to outer space. Kuroko doesn't seem interested on hearing stuff from economics' perspective, and proceeds to purchase underwear based on her personal taste; on the other hand, Mikoto can only look with dismay as she is unable to choose underwear that are more childish. Although one item — a pair of breast pads — was able to arouse a reaction from Kuroko: outright shock.

Their afternoon of shopping soon ends, and Kuroko receives an urgent call from Judgment. Before leaving, Mikoto tells her that it might rain that night.

Between the Lines
Touma is preparing dinner for him, Index, and her calico cat Sphynx. Index is soon interested to find out what the symbols used in weather reports are, and while Touma explains in science's perspective, Index tries to convert it into magical knowledge.

Index is soon distracted by Touma's prejudice towards Sphynx for eating first. While Touma is busy defending their dinner from a sudden attack, Index is confused about the weather prediction system of Academy City... which seems to be losing its perfect accuracy.

Chapter 2: Girls Facing Off — Space_and_Point.
Kuroko starts her Judgment duties with a bang and asks a report from Uiharu. It turns out that they will handle a case that doesn't concern the school: a robbery that involves a certain luggage bag. However various clues reveal that this might not be a simple robbery. The Teleporter decides to act alone to apprehend the suspects.

The task seems easier than expected, with all advantages in her favor. She takes down ten men with relative ease despite the fact that they are armed with pistols, and retrieves the luggage bag. As she tries to gather more clues about the men she took out and the luggage bag in her hands, she is attacked.

By a Teleporter.

Shirai tries to fight the Teleporter who took away the luggage bag, but the other Teleporter, whose ability is called "Move Point", demonstrates her superiority on teleportation abilities. The girl with the Move Point soon reveals what the luggage bag contains, and Kuroko is shocked to find out that the supercomputer Tree Diagram has been destroyed, and what they are fighting for is part of it — a Remnant.

Kuroko suffers a bloody defeat on the hands of the user of Move Point, and she is helpless as the luggage bag is dragged away.

Between the Lines
After almost losing his abilities as an esper after his rescue of Last Order, Accelerator suffers defeat of the most unusual kind as he is forced to take a bath with the playful Misaka Clone #20001. They are staying on Yoshikawa Kikyou's place, with Yomikawa Aiho serving as the guardian of the two. Although a bit annoyed that she has to do babysitting, Aiho doesn't complain about the task, though she would need to leave them behind for some Anti-Skill work.

Chapter 3: The Light that Conceals the Fragments — "Remnant"
With the very metal spikes she uses to restrain enemies now buried in her flesh, Kuroko heads to the Tokiwadai Girl's Dormitory to tend to her wounds. She also recalls the events that happened on August 21, the day where rumors of the "strongest Level 5" being defeated by a Level 0 spread. She also remembers seeing an arcade coin where the supposed battle happened.

Time is at the essence, so Kuroko plans to continue with her investigation of the luggage bag, and also looks into Academy City's files to look for the identity of the Teleporter who defeated her, which she would find out as Musujime Awaki from Kirigaoka Girls' Academy. It turns out that Awaki is on the same side as the men who attempted to steal the luggage bag.

All this while keeping everything a secret to Misaka Mikoto, who appears to be connected to what is going on, especially since the Tree Diagram has helped researchers to push through a certain experiment.

As Kuroko leaves to pursue Musujime Awaki, she discovers important information about Awaki. According to Uiharu, Move Point used too much can be detrimental to Awaki herself. Kuroko soon hears the sound of thunder on a clear night, and she rushes towards the direction of the noise... which would take her to Misaka Mikoto.

Upon arriving at the battlefield where Mikoto is located, she realizes that the Electromaster is fighting Awaki herself, and has just crippled Awaki's allies with a destructive force that did not kill anyone. However, Awaki sees this as Mikoto's weakness, and plays on the defensive as she keeps the Remnant on her side. Kuroko soon gets the shock of her life when she finds out that Mikoto knew what she had to face... and that she is angry because someone has to be hurt for her sake.

However, it is clear that Mikoto does not have the heartlessness to kill civilians, and Awaki uses this to get away unscathed. While she watches the Electromaster's anguish, Shirai decides that the only way to solve things is to dive into the heart of the battlefield.

Between the Lines
The Misaka Clones have mobilized.

While #10032 is still recovering from her injuries, she decides to act immediately as the race to retrieve the remaining remnants of the Tree Diagram has reached the Misaka Network. Even Last Order has contributed to the discussion, pointing the ones responsible for the collection of Remnants as a certain Science Association.

And #10032 decides that she should move to retrieve the Remnant, even if it would damage her body in the process. And the only way for her to help is to call a certain someone back into the battlefield.

Misaka Clone #10032, despite the injuries in her body, rushes to Kamijou Touma's dormitory room, bringing a request: to save her and the remaining MISAKA Clones.