Toaru Majutsu no Index II Episode 08

Synopsis
Academy City is filled with visitors from outside its city walls, a majority of them parents and siblings of the students inside. Tsuchimikado Maika takes the time to sell boxed lunches for the visitors while she travels around on a cleaning robot. Meanwhile, a familiar pair passes by her: Kamijou Shiina and Kamijou Touya. Shiina shows her fascination at the many schools composing Academy City, while Touya bumps into a woman who looks exactly like Misaka Mikoto, who is looking for Tokiwadai. Touya goes into gentleman mode as a jealous Shiina glares behind him.

Soon, Shiina catches a glimpse of her son Touma, who is walking with Mikoto. Touma is talking about a punishment game with the Electromaster, with the loser having to do whatever the victor wishes. Touma teases Mikoto for losing confidence after hearing the consequence, and Mikoto is forced to seal the deal.

As the two argue, their parents watch with relief. The day of the Daihasei Festival begins.

In England, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church, Laura Stuart speaks with someone from Academy City as she grooms her excessively long hair. They soon discuss about two magicians who have infiltrated Academy City, which Laura identifies as a high-ranking member of the Roman Catholic Church and her courier seeking a certain object: "Stab Sword". She explains that it has the power to slay a dragon and pin it to the ground, a weapon which can place the Anglican Church in a disadvantage. Laura is worried about having Academy City as the place for the trade, so the person on the other line decides to request someone to get involved...

Back in Academy City, Index accompanies Touma into the many food stalls provided for visitors. She finds herself hungry due to the various scents of food all around her, so Touma decides to treat her, though later. Touma then leaves her a brochure of events (with events he would join in marked) before sluggishly walking away.

At A Certain Highschool, Touma finds the entire class even more sluggish as he was; Aogami Pierce told him that the students lost a lot of energy arguing over a viable strategy to defeat the other schools.

Soon, one of Touma's classmates scolds him for transmitting his lack of energy to everyone: Fukiyose Seiri. She adds that her tardiness is understandable, given that she is part of a special committee. Although Touma tries to defend himself, Seiri instead picks him up and tells him that she hates people who blame bad luck on their lack of resolve.

Touma then finds himself being forced against a wall as she continues her speech, his foot eventually landing on one of the hoses, which then exploded after being clogged up. A gush of water drenched Seiri's clothes, causing her shirt to reveal her orange bra. Touma frantically apologizes for the accident, but Seiri looks away calmly and instead sips some milk instead.

As Touma realizes that they are hopeless for the next event, he overhears the voice of his teacher Tsukuyomi Komoe. She is in an argument with a teacher from another school who belittles the students of A Certain Highschool, and as the teacher leaves, shows a few tears in her eye. Touma and the other students saw what happened, and they managed to use it to psyche themselves for the upcoming event.

Soon, in an athletic track, the Pole Assault event begins, with Tokiwadai fighting against A Certain Highschool. Mikoto goes to watch the event and discovers Index sprawled across the seats. After stealing Mikoto's drink, Index finds her familiar and lets her sit beside her. Mikoto sees the determination in Touma's team instantly, which shook her a bit knowing about the punishment game, and watches as Touma's team charges against the clearly superior espers from Tokiwadai.

Bruised up by the event, they walk back as Komoe shows her concern for her students. Meanwhile. Touma goes to look for Index, but is unable to find her; unfortunately, he left his phone back at school, so he walks back to get it.

At a seemingly empty Certain Highschool, Touma returns to his classroom, only to find a set of dirty clothes neatly folded... and a Fukiyose Seiri completely undressed except for her panties. Touma nervously explained about his cellphone, and gets his bag mercilessly thrown to his face. Meanwhile, it turns out that Index is still at the athletic field, and hasn't been answering to his calls because her phone's battery is dead.

What's worse for him is that Index is still hungry.

They head over to a stall a short walk away, however, Yomikawa Aiho tells them that a parade going along the street would block their way, and an alternate route would be a detour 3km longer. Out of sheer frustration, Index tries to attack Index, only to be dragged away by Mikoto. As it turns out, Mikoto needed a high school student who has participated in the Pole Assault event, and Touma ends up being what she needed to win in the Borrowed Item contest. After the event, Mikoto gives Touma a towel and a drink before leaving with a flushed face.

Elsewhere, Uiharu Kazari helps a wheelchaired Shirai Kuroko around Academy City. Shirai seems unamused, until she hears an announcement on Mikoto's victory. However, her killing intent seeps out again when she sees Touma with Mikoto.

Touma fails to find Index once again as the parade begins. In his search, he finds a more unusual appearance: of Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Stiyl Magnus. They tell him that the relaxed security of Academy City would be easily exploited by magicians. Stiyl tells them that they only confirmed two who have infiltrated: Roman Catholic Church's Ridovia Lorenzetti and a courier named Oriana Thomson.

Stiyl explains that they are taking the fact that Academy City is neutral ground for both science and magic to perform an exchange involving a weapon called "Stab Sword": a weapon which can instantly kill Saints in one strike. (This rules out Kanzaki Kaori's involvement.) Tsuchimikado later explains to him that it was patterned after how the Son of God was killed. He also adds that the exchange is preparation for a war, another reason to exclude Index from their mission.

Meanwhile, Komoe sees a shriveled Index on one of the benches on the sidewalk and decides to feed her the food she bought. Index is worried about her being separated from Index throughout the day; Komoe then thinks of a good way for the two to meet more often.

Touma goes back to looking for Index and is found by Maika and Aisa, who then points him to the park where they saw a nun being dragged by a young teacher. He follows their lead, and after finding Sphinx, sees another unexpected sight inside the park: Komoe dressing up Index in a cheerleading costume. Index attacks Touma in response, but her bite missed, and Touma receives a kiss instead. What's even worse for Touma is that Fukiyose saw everything on her way looking for Komoe.

Because of that, Touma receives a nasty punch in the face and is dragged back. Seiri scolds Touma for goofing off instead of helping the school, and by Touma's request, drags him holding hands.

On the streets, Seiri asks Touma if he finds the Daihasei Festival as boring. She finds that Touma's mind is always elsewhere, and she wonders if she is not doing well as one of the committee members for the festival. According to her, she only wanted everyone to enjoy the festival and gain nice memories from it, but she might just be selfish for forcing it to others.

Soon, Touma gets bumped by a running student and is pushed back, his forehead touching Seiri's and his lips only an inch from hers. Embarrassed, Seiri retaliates with a headbutt, which sends him into the breasts of a lady with golden yellow hair and an unusual outfit. The woman apologizes and offers a kiss to Touma as an apology; Touma agrees instantly, but is interrupted by Seiri.

They shake hands instead, and there, Touma feels Imagine Breaker being invoked. The woman is startled by that, and hurriedly leaves them. Seiri is confused, but Touma feels that she is a magician.

Meanwhile, the woman with golden yellow hair tears a slip of paper and contacts someone using it, introducing herself as Oriana Thomson. She reports that the spell she had on her body is dispelled, much to the shock of the woman on the other line. Oriana assures her and tells her she has devised countermeasures, but she needs to lose Kamijou Touma.

Adapted From

 * Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09

Major events

 * The first day of Daihasei Sports Festival begins.
 * Oriana Thomson infiltrates Academy City.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Tsuchimikado Maika
 * Kamijou Touya
 * Kamijou Shiina
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Laura Stuart
 * Aleister Crowley
 * Index
 * Sphinx
 * Aogami Pierce
 * Himegami Aisa
 * Touma's schoolmates from A Certain Highschool
 * Tsukuyomi Komoe
 * Yomikawa Aiho
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Stiyl Magnus
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu
 * Kanzaki Kaori (mentioned-only)

New Characters

 * Misaka Misuzu
 * Fukiyose Seiri
 * Oriana Thomson
 * Lidvia Lorenzetti (voice-only)

Abilities

 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma, level 0

New Abilities

 * Several unnamed projectile-like esper powers
 * Chaos and calm on the surface - Lidvia Lorenzetti, Oriana Thomson
 * Shorthand Original - Oriana Thomson

Locations

 * Academy City
 * Ryouran Domestic Studies Institute for Girls (mentioned-only)
 * Tokiwadai Middle School (mentioned-only)
 * St. George's Cathedral
 * A Certain Highschool

New Locations
No notable locations were introduced during this episode.

Trivia

 * The Tokiwadai Middle School and A Certain Highschool sports attire make their debut in the Toaru Majutsu no Index storyline during this episode.
 * Shirai Kuroko is seen on a wheelchair, despite being able to stand perfectly without trouble in the previous episode.
 * Though accidentally, Index is the first girl to have ever kissed Touma.
 * Though both members of Necessarius, as well as Stiyl referring to Tsuchimikado back in the 2nd episode, this episode marks the first time both Stiyl Magnus and Tsuchimikado Motoharu appear onscreen.

Referbacks

 * The Daihasei Festival that was referenced as far back as of episode 24 of the first season, as well in episode 2 and episode 6 of the current season is finally featured.

Cultural References

 * The operating system that Laura's computer uses is similar to that of the Windows 7 OS.

Animation Trivia

 * The episode marks the first onscreen appearance of the "Spiky-haired girl with glasses" and "Girl with the headband" in the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime adaptation. Originally appearing in the background of some of the Light Novel artwork, they later appear in the manga adaptation as well.

Unanswered Questions

 * Does Laura know that the General Superintendent of Academy City is Aleister Crowley?
 * Which school won the first event?
 * Why was Stab Sword brought into Academy City?