Toaru Majutsu no Index Episode 07

"Cult of Science" (三沢塾(かがくすうはい)) is the seventh episode of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series and the first episode of the Deep Blood Arc. It was first broadcast on November 15, 2008, and was directed by Tomizawa Kazuo, the script for the episode was written by Tanizaki Akira, and storyboard is continued to be done by series director Nishikiori Hiroshi.

Touma somehow come across two of his classmates, Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu. Here, with Index, they all stop by a fast food restaurant. Despite the restaurant being packed, they manage to share a table with shrine priestess who calls herself a "magician". She could not go home for she did not have enough money for the train fare, but is later picked up by men in suits that are actually cram school teachers. On their way back, Touma encounters someone strange, Stiyl Magnus appears. Here, he explains that an alchemst called Aureolus Izzard has taken a girl who has the power to kill vampires, Deep Blood, and requires his assistance in rescuing her after she is confined with Misawa Cram School.

Synopsis
The episode starts with a red tinted sky on a remote farming village somewhere in a Japan. The entire village appears abandoned and desolate; however it is revealed that nearly all the villagers have been turned into corpses. The screen pans out to reveal that the corpses appear to have been aiming at a certain direction, which a little girl wearing a traditional miko dress is on the path, or that is to say, she appears to have been the objective of the now-dead villagers. The miko speaks, asking to no one in particular or perhaps to herself the words: "I killed again, didn't I?"

Back in present-day Academy City, Kamijou Touma and Index are waiting to cross the road when Touma complains about how expensive the reference book he bought is, Index berates him for spending the money but is later distracted by a billboard advertising ice cream, they later argue about his suspicions on her wanting ice cream. Touma narrates on how she is supposed to know the talkative sister that is with him all the time, and that he doesn't have memories beyond two weeks ago, and that he is keeping it a secret to people especially to Index.

Index interrupts Touma's gazing at the sky and continues to argue about the ice cream. Their argument is interrupted by the appearance of Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce, Touma's classmates from before his memory loss. They ask who the girl he is with is; however, he is unable to answer quickly enough – probably due to the surprise of having two strangers – in his perspective – talk to him. Aogami comments on his dull reaction and jokes that he may have lost his memories, and comments that losing memories is a special privilege that belongs to solely to mysterious, wave-emitting girls. They continue to talk and try to figure what kind of girl Index is, with Aogami going so far as suggesting Index might be a trap as her chest is too flat for a girl. This irritated Index, which prompts Touma to tell them that she is still a girl regardless of her figure, which irritated Index even more. Sensing the nature of his words he turns around and sees Index clasp her hands, telling him to repent for what he said. His apology being is to take her – with Motoharu and Aogami tagging alongside – to the ice cream parlour where Index showed interest on its ice cream. However, it was close due to renovation, irritating Index and forcing Touma to go to another restaurant. In the restaurant, Index seems pretty content with Touma's decision; he is however, exasparated to treat not only Index, but Aogami and Motoharu as well. Index later directs Touma to an occupied table where a suspicious-looking girl is laying on it. Touma asks her what the problem is, to which she replies that she has spent all her money on food. Touma, Motoharu and Aogami play rock-paper-scissors to determine who would be the one to answer her, with Touma naturally losing to his misfortune. Touma is forced to talk to the girl on how she managed to lose all her money; she replies that she spent all of it on the 100-yen burger the restaurant sold and had coupons for them, not knowing that it wasn't enough to cover the amount she ordered. She goes on to say that she doesn't have enough money for the train, and Touma tells that she should just borrow it from someone, to which she agrees upon and sits up, showing a beatiful girl with long black hair. Motoharu and Aogami are amazed on how lovely she is and the latter takes a picture of her. The girl keeps staring on Touma, knowing her look; he tells her that she shouldn't expect money from him. She gets irritated on Touma because of this; however, Touma asks her a rhetorical question on who was the idiot who doesn't even have the money for the train. Motoharu comments on how uncharacteristically frank Touma is to a beautiful shrine girl and tells him that he has grown up. Hearing the word "beautiful" the girl asks Touma for money because of the fact, but is turned down. She later asks both Motoharu and Aogami for money to lend to her, especially the latter who has taken pictures of her.

However, Index gets fed-up with her and comments on how shrine girls sell their faces in this city too. She kindly tells Index that she is not a shrine girl but is in fact a magician. This angers Index, and ask her for more details if she truly is a magician, and tells that she should at least pretend to be an oriental style astrologist, to which the girls agrees and says she will be like that. This infuriates Index, with Touma trying to calm her down, however, she comments on how his attitude is completely different from when he dealt with her; she goes on to say that back then, in order for Touma to confirm that magic is real he had to strip her naked. This shocks Aogami. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of several men in suits, apparently acquaintances of the girl, which she confirms by asking money from them and saying that they are cram school teachers. She later leaves as well as the men, prompting Aogami to ask why a cram school teacher has to look after a student. While walking home, Touma comments on how he never thought he would ever have such bad friends. Later, Index finds a stray calico cat inside a box and is immediately turned down by Touma to take home, much her to chagrin, even though she has already named the cat as Sphynx. The cat runs away while Index tries to go after it, but she suddenly stops when she notices a magical formation being activated and proceeds to investigate, leaving Touma alone. However soon after she has left, Touma suddenly feels uneasiness in his surroundings and is greeted by a tall man with red har who seems to know him, Stiyl Magnus.

Stiyl Magnus says that he should be familiar with this spell; it removes unwanted people from an area, leaving Touma and Stiyl alone. Touma wonders who the person before him is and is cautious in speaking with him, Stiyl interprets this as a sign that Touma still does not like or trust him which he understands. Feeling a threat, Touma wonders of the condition of Index, but is told by Stiyl that she went off to investigate a flow of mana and is most likely unharmed. Touma continues to wonder about his life before he lost his memories, whether or not his daily life was surrounded by strange occurrences like magic and other abnormalities. Touma then asks Stiyl what he wants from him, but mistakenly smiles while doing so, prompting Stiyl to attack him with his fire magic. Touma however, was quick enough to block it and is later told by Stiyl that is how their relationship should be, not friends.

Stiyl then talks to Touma about Misawa Cram School, which has recently become a sort of religious cult and has also imprisoned a girl. Stiyl says that the reason why the school is in its current state is because it was taken over by an alchemist, Aureolus Izzard. However, Stiyl suddenly realizes on how strangely attentive Touma is being in his explanation. Thinking quickly, Touma asks if Stiyl was the type of person who likes his conversations to be ruined; Stiyl accepts Touma's bluff and confirms that it is better that Touma would not interrupt and the conversation going on smoothly. Stiyl continues his explanation, saying that the alchemist has been in hiding for three years, and is now back for the girl imprisoned in Misawa Cram School, nicknamed: Deep Blood. Stiyl says that Deep Blood possesses a certain ability to kill a certain organism – vampires – and is what Aureolus Izzard is after. Touma asks what he wants from him after all his explanations, and Stiyl states that he is in a mission in attacking Misawa Cram School and rescue Deep Blood, and that Touma is going with him or else Index will be taken away.

Back in his dormitory, Touma discovers that Index has taken in the cat earlier, and after an argument is forced to allow Index to take the cat in. Outside, Touma discovers that Stiyl is applying runes that will summon Innocentius in surrounding area, as an extra precaution against magicians. Stiyl notes on how troublesome Index is for him to go to all the trouble, however, Touma asks him if he likes Index, which prompts Stiyl hastily deny while blushing; Touma notices this and quickly leaves their conversation at that.

They eventually arrive at the school, and Stiyl notes that the entire building has become the alchemist's seal. Touma asks Stiyl if Aurelous is strong, and confirms this by saying that he is achieved the original goal of alchemists, the power to model anything in this world, the power to bring out anying they imagined into reality. Stiyl then shows the picture of the imprisoned girl to Touma, which he says her name was Himegami Aisa, the girl Touma met earlier at the restaurant.

Touma and Stiyl go into the school and notice an object lying next to a column, Touma thinks that it is a robot but is told by Stiyl that it is a corpse lying in a pool of its own blood.

Adapted From
Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 02

Major events

 * Touma and Index meet Aogami and Motoharu, with Touma meeting them for the first time since losing his memories.
 * Touma, Index, Aogami and Motoharu meet Aisa.
 * Touma and Index acquires Sphynx.
 * Touma meets Stiyl for the first time since losing his memories.
 * Stiyl recruits Touma in his mission to rescue Himegami Aisa, and infiltrates Misawa Cram School.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Index
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu
 * Aogami Pierce
 * Stiyl Magnus

New Characters

 * Himegami Aisa
 * Sphynx
 * Aureolus Izzard (mentioned only)

Abilities

 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma, level 0
 * Rune Magic - Stiyl Magnus
 * Fire Magic - Stiyl Magnus
 * Innocentius - Stiyl Magnus

New Abilities

 * Unnamed magic spell to levitate and control paper - Stiyl Magnus
 * Deep Blood - Himegami Aisa

Locations

 * Academy City
 * Kamijou Residence

New Locations

 * 326 Ice Cream
 * Macronall Hamburger
 * Misawa Cram School

Trivia

 * Touma uses his "Such misfortune." phrase for the first time since the first episode.
 * Sphynx is a calico cat, which makes its gender likely to be female.
 * Vampires are introduced in the story for the first time.

Referbacks

 * Index references Touma destroying her Walking Church that occured back in episode 1.

Cultural References

 * The Macronall Hamburger restaurant is an obvious parody of the McDonald'schain of hamburger restaurants.
 * Himegami is wearing the traditional costumes of shrine maidens or mikos who serve at Shinto shrines.
 * Index references that the samisen – a traditional Japanese string instrument – uses cats as a skin for its drum.
 * Touma references on how England hunt foxes. As of November of 2004, England has introduced several sanctions to ban and control the huntings.
 * Stiyl mentions that Aureolus is a descendant of Paracelcus, a famous Renaissance era alchemist, botanist and many other professions. Credited for giving zinc its name and regarded as the first systematic botanist. In fact Aureolus' first name maybe derived from Paracelcus' second name from his full name, which is Phillippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim.
 * The word Parsifal is engraved on the right arm of the corpse's armor, which may be a reference to Richard Wagner's opera of the same name.

Animation Trivia

 * The animation where Stiyl attacks Touma with his fire magic from episode 2 is reused in this episode.
 * The reference book that Touma bought and was carrying during Stiyl's attack on Touma, disappears before he uses his Imagine Breaker to block his attack. The book is not seen and is mentioned only once during the episode, where Touma indicates that he had lost it.
 * While thinking about hiding his memory loss from others, Touma has a flashback about events that he has supposedly forgotten. This is obviously a direction fault instead of something with hidden meaning.

Unanswered Questions

 * Why did Aureolus go into hiding for three years for?
 * What is the purpose of him taking over Misawa Cram School?
 * Why is there a corpse of a knight inside Misawa Cram School, and why are the people in there not paying attention to a dead body in their school?

Quotes

 * Touma: "This very talkative sister and I have known each other for a while, it seems. There's a reason why I say 'it seems'. I don't possess any memories beyond two weeks ago. And, for another reason, I am keeping this from others. I especially don't want this sister to find out. Her tears and her smile were directed at me before I lost my memories." -Touma referring to Index and his memories.
 * Aogami: "Losing memory is a special privilege that belongs solely to mysterious, wave-emitting girls." -to Touma, after mentioning that Touma may have lost his memories due to the heat.
 * Motoharu: "To be responding with such a frank response to a beautiful shrine girl. You've grown up, Kami-yan!" -to Touma, referring to his bluntness towards Aisa.
 * Aisa: "Lend me 100 yen since I'm beautiful." -to Touma.
 * Index: "When I had to prove that magic was real, you didn't believe me until you stripped me naked!" -to Touma.
 * Touma: "Wow, you've grown some splendid ones since the last I saw you, Index." - to Index, referring to the unusual growth of her bust size.
 * Touma: "You...like Index?" -to Stiyl.
 * Touma: "I don't know what I thought of Index or how I treated her before I lost my memories. I have no choice but to desperately keep pretending to be "me". What can I say... such misfortune... It's like there's two of me."