Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 15/Chapter 1

Synopsis
October 9 is Academy City's independence day. Last Order heads back home after being discharged, and Accelerator reunites with the Frog-Faced Doctor with a gun in his hand. The Level 5 demands for plans of the device maintaining his ability, and as quick as he appears, Accelerator vanishes when he already has the schemes on his hand via a USB storage device.

Meanwhile, Tsuchimikado asks Unabara Mitsuki to extract information from Management's hideout; the magician-esper hybrid needs to learn who Management's last client was, and stop it before it could harm others. However, most of the evidence was destroyed by several armed men in a sudden attack.

GROUP meets at the scene of the siege, except for Unabara. In the middle of their attempt to look for evidence that survived that attack, Accelerator unexpectedly digs up something vital to their mission. They soon discover a corpse of a man who had his skin peeled off, and they realize that Unabara is on a covert mission himself.

In one stopover in the middle of the trip, Last Order decides to alight, and the nervous driver asks help from Uiharu Kazari, who easily catches Last Order.

GROUP soon discovers that the grunts who are supposed to take Management have been knocked out and Management is missing, oblivious that a boy with a strange head accessory has just executed Management. Tsuchimikado soon decides to decode whatever data they can trace from the money they picked up, and it reveals its last user: Sunazara Chimitsu, who used the money to purchase an MSR-001 magnetic sniper rifle. Although they haven't determined whom he was working with, they manage to trace simple plans on Sunazara's sniping plan.

That night, they attend a cultural festival event and Tsuchimikado and Accelerator waits as the target, Director Oyafune Monaka, recites a speech in front of a crowd. They determined that the director is Sunazara's target, and now they have to guess on which spot the sniper will position itself for the kill. For a moment, they are forced to stand down when Uiharu Kazari, Last Order and someone dressed in a maid's outfit appear in the crowd, and there, Sunazara strikes.

However, Director Oyafune survives. And Accelerator gets a visual on the sniper.

Later, Tsuchimikado reports that Oyafune survived, but they failed in retrieving the sniper. Meanwhile, Awaki manages to extract the information they struggled to get earlier: Sunazara works for SCHOOL, another of Academy City's underground organizations.

Between the Lines
A man called "Professor" talks to a woman in a red seifuku. They discuss about things "a magician cannot understand", the Professor's "pet" reports about the movement of GROUP and SCHOOL and the possibility of the movement of other underground organizations as a result. Meanwhile, all they decided to do is wait.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Heaven Canceller
 * Last Order
 * Accelerator
 * Etzali (as Unabara Mitsuki)
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu
 * Musujime Awaki
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Management
 * Oyafune Monaka
 * Tsuchimikado Maika

New Characters

 * Unnamed Taxi Driver
 * Boy with goggles
 * Sunazara Chimitsu
 * Professor
 * Xochitl
 * Baba Yoshio (voice-only)

Abilities

 * Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli - Etzali (as Unabara Mitsuki)

New Abilities

 * Psychokinesis - Boy with goggles

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School District 7
 * Heaven Canceller's Hospital

New Locations

 * Academy City
 * School District 7
 * Management Residence
 * Concert Hall Front Plaza
 * School District 6
 * Unnamed Amusement Park (mentioned-only)