Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 14/Chapter 2

Synopsis
The encounter between Kamijou Touma and Kamisato Kakeru is immediately interrupted by mysterious beings, one is black whose appearance resembles molten rubber and the other is red and looks similarly to a rotten piece of carpet. The boys' focus switches to eluding the two unusual beings as the latter show lethal aggression against each other.

Touma takes a different path from Kamisato, and Othinus begins questioning whether the two creatures are an entirely different enemy or something called forth by Kamisato. Regardless, Touma decides to retrace his steps to the place where he separated from Kakeru despite complaints from Othinus. There, as well as seeing the goods he bought earlier go in the hands of a family of stray cats, Touma finds pieces of the red creature on the sidewalk there the fight broke out, as well as a larger piece covering none other than Leivinia Birdway.

Meanwhile, Kakeru, while speaking to a girl on the phone, has finished dealing with the black creature from earlier. This girl is a part of the Kamisato Faction, a group that opposes the Magic Gods and has infiltrated Academy City for some time already. After sending out a sample of the creature via a handmade drone to the girl on the other end of the line, Kamisato investigates the black creature's remains. There, in a larger clump, he finds a girl that he later identifies as Patricia Birdway.

Kamijou returns empty-handed after the recent encounter and Index and Nephthys confront him not only about going home without food but also for bringing another girl into his home. As Leivinia Birdway lies unconscious, a short discussion about magic is opened, and the combined knowledge of Othinus, Index and Nephthys soon leads Touma to think that Leivinia is dealing with a problem that is beyond her capabilities, which Index identifies as "cannibalization".

Patricia is brought to an apartment unit in District 7 (near the place where Tsukuyomi Komoe lives), and Kakeru has to deal with Patricia's defensive stance against him. Kamisato's companion Ellen manages to break up the commotion only to bare her fangs on Patricia for hurting Kakeru, but this situation is changed as the black creature that manifested earlier begins emerging hesitantly from the younger Birdway's body. By Kamisato's request, Patricia reveals that a creature called the Sample Shoggoth has infected her body during an expedition in the Antarctic and that she came to Academy City to look for a way to extract it from her body, to no avail. She also shows worry over her sister Leivinia's safety after leaning that the older Birdway has risked her life in a procedure that was made to save Patricia's life.

Despite her attempts to distance herself from Touma and the others, Leivinia eventually discloses her problem with her sister Patricia, as well as her decision to act single-handedly—without the help of Dawn-Colored Sunlight and her companion Mark Space—to save her. Her method involves growing an artificial organ using the concept of the Nya-Nya Bulembu to restore Patricia's body where neither science nor conventional magic would succeed.

Kamisato and Ellen are joined by two other members of the Kamisato Faction, Claire and Elza. The two learn about Patricia's situation from Kakeru and Ellen and they immediately understand Kamisato's tendency to rescue random girls. The three girls soon suggest going on a bath for tonight, and the problem involving the parasite in Patricia's body is sidetracked by the urge to visit the nearby hot spring. As Ellen, Claire and Elza try to get to Kakeru on the men's bath, Patricia ends up taking a bath alone.

The unusual growth in Leivinia's chest made Touma nauseous, and the topic becomes a dilemma about whether to focus on Kamisato Kakeru or on Patricia. Leivinia, who is beginning to realize the difficulty of asking Patricia to eat the organ she is growing, urges them to deal with Patricia first, but Othinus opens the possibility that Kamisato may have taken custody of Patricia.

After the bath, Kakeru continues to struggle in diverting the focus of Ellen, Claire and Elza, who plan to eat somewhere instead of helping out Patricia. Both he and Patricia soon give up on trying to reason against the three girls, but the idea of eating out suddenly changes to home cooking. Patricia soon finds herself joining the conversation of Kakeru's companions.

Touma continues to fight the cold and the lack of food with Index, Leivinia, Othinus and Nephthys. However, this suddenly becomes a fight to whoever grabs on to a piece of fish sausage Touma remembered having. Meanwhile, the plan by Kamisato's companions to cook something at home turns for the worst as Ellen inserts various chemicals in the food Elza is about to make. The noxious gases produced by Ellen's intervention forces them to eat outside, and Patricia suggests going to a "Japanese ramen" restaurant, which the girls approved. Inevitably, the visit to a nearby ramen shop develops once more into a quarrel between Ellen, Claire and Elza, and Patricia manages to watch as Kakeru smiles happily while somehow looking in pain.

Noukan visits a store owner where he usually buys his cigars. After a exchange of pleasantries, the store owner notices that Noukan is mellower than before, and the Kihara remembers Kagun, who was known as the only Kihara who made a connection with other people, and how he admired him. Noukan leaves afterwards, but not after hearing words of encouragement from the store owner. There, Noukan feels that the starless sky is an ill omen.

Kamisato, Patricia and the three girls return to their apartment unit, but the three remain unfocused about helping Patricia with her situation. Instead, they prepare for resting for the night. Patricia later takes the chance to leave Kakeru and the girls to make a solitary effort to look for Leivinia, but exhaustion and pessimism consume her before she could manage to completely search District 7. Minutes later, Kakeru appears to Patricia's side to clarify that he and his companions are willing to help, but he also confronts Patricia for resigning to her helplessness. Kakeru then gives Patricia the option to be erased by the World Rejecter is his right hand, something that the younger Birdway eventually rejects in favor of wanting to save Leivinia as well. Due to her resolve, Patricia stays intact despite the contact with the World Rejecter, and Kakeru shakes her hand out of respect for her conviction.

On a rooftop near their apartment unit, Ellen, Claire and Elza watch as the rest of the Kamisato Faction gathers in order to support Kakeru's actions.

Between the Lines
In an Egyptian ritual that aims to prove the existence of heaven, a girl was sacrificed by removing her organs except for the heart, replacing the displaced organs with sawdust and wrapping her in bandages. A man wept as he knew that the girl is a human being aside from being a subject to be used as a sacrifice and he realized that there is no guarantee that the experiment would be successful in determining the existence of a soul.

Eventually, a brown-skinned goddess appeared in front of the weeping man. This goddess introduced herself as Nephthys, and with a shrill cry the goddess immediately turned the faction responsible for the sacrifice into ash.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Kamisato Kakeru
 * Othinus
 * Nephthys
 * Index Librorum Prohibitorum
 * Leivinia Birdway
 * Patricia Birdway
 * Sphynx
 * Hitotsui Hajime
 * Kihara Noukan

New Characters

 * Ellen
 * Claire
 * Elza

Locations

 * Kamijou Residence
 * Apartment near Tsukuyomi Residence

Abilities

 * World Rejecter - Kamisato Kakeru

Referbacks

 * The topic of aeons was an active topic back in the original light novel series.

Cultural References

 * The African tale of Nye-Nye Bulembu was referenced in this chapter.
 * The Shirley Temple is a mocktail that is prepared by mixing grenadine, lemon-lime soda and orange juice, then topping it with a cherry. Another mocktail liked by Leivinia, Cinderella, is made by mixing lemon juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, ginger ale and grenadine, with slices of pineapples and orange as garnish.

Quotes

 * Touma: "I know I’m being naïve, being inconsistent, and getting my priorities backwards, but I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t check. It would be no laughing matter if I was saved while he was captured and devoured." Othinus: "You’re aware how foolish it is, yet you’re still going back!? How am I supposed to control this idiot!?"
 * Leivinia: "An investigation isn’t needed to know that I have more than you."
 * Ellen: "I may not look it, but I specialize in unofficial forensic investigation. If you don’t trust Kamisato-han and you’re worried about your body, I can check to see if you’re pregnant. If you just squeeze your eyes shut and spread your legs, it’ll be over in no time."
 * Narrative: "The girls rushed forward to devour Kamijou Touma’s sausage."
 * Unnamed store manager: "I’m sure you have your own path to walk down, but make no mistake. Your framework of being a Kihara or whatever else isn’t what truly matters. What matters is what’s in your heart. That passionate current that tells you what you want to do will never lie to you. And Kagun-sensei has already shown us just how great a power it can give us. Isn’t that right, sensei? He cast aside being a Kihara, protected the smiles of so many children, and apparently even settled his grudge with Kihara Byouri in Baggage City. That’s what matters, not what you’re born as or what group you belong to. So, sensei, you don’t have to act so tough."
 * Patricia: "I have to save my sister. I can’t let her plan continue because the tumor inside her will kill her, but if I die first to rob her of her motivation, she’ll have to live with the label of someone who abandoned her family! Neither of those options will save her!! Neither of us can die!! No matter how much I have to struggle, no matter how pathetic it might be, and no matter how cheap it has to be!! If I don’t find a third option, I can’t save her!! So!! I don’t need your salvation. I don’t need an easy way out and I don’t want a new world! I won’t throw anything away and I’ll continue to struggle in this world. If my sister is going to throw everything away for me, then I’ll find an option that doesn’t require that!! It doesn’t matter what options I have now! If I don’t have one, I just have to make a new one! I’ll create one!! And to do that, I don’t need a power to help me run away and avert my gaze from the harsh reality! I need a power to break through it all and continue forward! I need a power to oppose it head-on!!!!!"
 * Nephthys: "I am Nephthys. I am a goddess who objects to the legends of death that are treated as necessary sacrifices in our mythology. So let us weep, no matter how pitiful it might be. Let us accuse all that claims perfection yet could not reject death."