Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 12

Publisher's Summary
September 30 — the day where students in Academy City change into their Winter uniforms. Everything is in a hurry, while Tokiwadai Middle School's elite Level 5, Misaka Mikoto, is in front of a concert hall. She is waiting for someone.

However, "...He won't come."

"That guy" who should be in the punishment game can't be seen anywhere. Misaka heaves a sigh, carrying a flimsy schoolbag and a violin case in her arms as she waits.

When Kamijou Touma and Misaka Mikoto meet, the school-life (love) comedy about the punishment game shall begin!

Prologue: Shirai Kuroko, Pillow, and Bed. Suffering_of_a_Negligee.
Shirai Kuroko's night becomes tense as she hears her beloved Onee-sama talk about a certain penalty game with an unfortunate teenager.

Chapter 1: Sunny Morning Classes — Winter_Clothes.
September 30 begins, and Kamijou Touma manages to skip the chaos that is the seasonal uniform change due to some advanced planning. Although he needs to go to class because of this, Touma doesn't have to worry about being bored, since Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce are there — and arguing over a shoulder massager advertisement. Then, Fukiyose Seiri becomes involved in the three idiots' commotion. A whole world of pain soon followed for the three, which not even their teacher Tsukuyomi Komoe could stop.

Elsewhere, the Frog-Faced Doctor is handling the uniform orders for four of Misaka Mikoto's clones. Serial Numbers 10032, 13577, 10039 and 19090 are there to attend a session for gathering their body measurements, and the first three soon discover that 19090 is hiding something: it looks like she is trying to win over a certain teenager by losing weight.

While a Radio Noise Clone is jumped by three of her fellow clones, Accelerator and Last Order finally received the permission to leave the hospital. They are accompanied by Yoshikawa Kikyou, who plans on bringing them to Yomikawa Aiho's apartment as their new home. Accelerator tries to talk Yomikawa into reconsidering her plans of sharing her home with him, but Yomikawa did not budge, much to his annoyance.

That afternoon, after a tense morning thanks to Fukiyose, Touma encounters Misaka Mikoto, who reminds him of the game that she won in the Daihaseisai: the penalty game. To Mikoto's surprise, Touma easily submits to her, only to give Shirai Kuroko, who just arrived, the shock of her life.

With that finally settled, Kamijou Touma's day ends with dinner over at Tsuchimikado's place.

Between the Lines
Stiyl Magnus storms into the residence of the Archbishop in Lambert Castle, interrupting Laura Stuart's moment to relax to confront her about a certain decision she made without his knowledge. Although it was quite a tense moment, Laura still manages to joke through the confrontation, which further ignited Stiyl's rage.

Chapter 2: What Kind of Penalty Game? — Pair_Contract.
Mikoto patiently waits for Touma for their penalty game, but she has to take care of a few things first. Uiharu Kazari, who becomes interested to learn violin, asks Mikoto to teach her the basics, only to see Kuroko, who exposes Uiharu's plans to dump all the Judgment work to her.

Touma eventually arrives half an hour late and, considering that Mikoto arrived half an hour early than the planned time, he receives a mix of scolding and lightning bolts. Soon, they travel to their destination: the underground mall.

Meanwhile, Accelerator arrives at his new home, and he is guided by its owner Yomikawa Aiho inside. A short talk between Aiho and her friend Kikyou reveals their relationship as close friends, but neither Last Order nor Accelerator are interested in this certain detail; Last Order is too curious to their new home, while Accelerator is simply uninterested.

Mikoto drags Touma into the mall which was once the battlefield of Touma and Sherry Cromwell. Touma discovers that Mikoto is very interested in a specific Gekota accessory, and the only way to acquire it is to sign up for a mobile phone rental for lovers. Mikoto was at first uncomfortable at the thought of posing as lovers to get an exclusive Gekota accessory, she eventually pulled through... while Touma receives a sharp drop kick from Kuroko, who manages to tail the two.

Accelerator wakes up from a short nap, and he faces the reality that without the electrode attached to his neck, his life is entirely crippled. However, he decides to focus his mind elsewhere and goes to take a bath. He did not know that Aiho, Kikyou and Last Order are still inside the bathroom. Without a sliver of emotion on his face, he closes the door.

Several minutes after, Last Order is outside talking to Misaka Clone #10032. Last Order becomes interested with 10032's goggles and swipes it from the Misaka Clone. As Last Order disappears elsewhere, Misaka Clone 10032 declares war against Last Order.

Between the Lines
The female magicians of Necessarius face a difficult challenge in their dormitory in London's Lambeth District: properly operating an Academy City-made washing machine. While Sherry Cromwell suggests a more old-fashioned way of doing the laundry, Kanzaki Kaori decides to face the challenge head-on. At first, things run smoothly, but Kaori realizes that her obi (which is designed to be handwashed) is mixed with the laundry.

She tries to retrieve the obi from the washing machine, but she is drenched in laundry water instead.

Chapter 3: Misaka and Misaka's Younger Sister — Sister_and_Sisters.
In a chance encounter after having separated from Misaka Mikoto, Touma meets Misaka Clone #10032. He listens to 10032 as she comes to the mall looking for a "small version of her". Meanwhile, Accelerator catches wind of what happened to Last Order, and plans to head off, not until Aiho gives him an idea on where to look.

Touma soon finds himself calming down a pissed Misaka Imouto by buying her a cheap accessory and treating her to a set of chick-shapred taiyaki. (It turns out that Misaka Imouto wants to receive a ring from Touma.) More misunderstandings followed between the two of them, and Touma ends up failing in cheering up Misaka Imouto.

The original Misaka Mikoto soon joins 10032 and Touma and she demands an explanation from the two. Soon, 10032 boldly shows Mikoto the gift she received from Touma while clinging to Touma's arm; soon another person holds on to Touma — it's Last Order, 10032's target. Touma and Mikoto are once again left alone as 10032 continues her pursuit on Last Order.

Meanwhile, Accelerator walks under a rainy afternoon while accompanied by Aiho by phone. Aiho continues to help Accelerator in giving clues to Last Order's location, and their conversation eventually shifts to Accelerator's bad past and the possibility of him having a good side in spite of all that happened to him.

Between the Lines
An unusual event happens elsewhere: the appearance of a girl wearing a school uniform, the girl named Kazakiri Hyouka. As an Anti-Skill witnesses the girl's image shift from complete visibility to 0% visibility, her presence signifies something, and exactly what is still unknown.

Chapter 4: Gently Crossing Pairs — Boy_Meets_Girl(x2).
Once again, Mikoto runs off from Touma due to something he can't understand, and Last Order finds herself bugging Touma once again. Last Order eventually chats about her status as the moderator of the Misaka Network, and she thanks Touma for shutting down the "Experiment" due to his intervention. Soon Touma becomes Last Order's guardian, giving her snacks to eat and adjusting the goggles (that she stole from Misaka 10032). He even protects the "petite Misaka" from Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce's comments on his choice of girls.

Meanwhile, Accelerator reaches the underground mall, where he stumbles upon a nun who appears to be starving. The nun, who is in fact Index, is then taken by Accelerator to a fast food chain, and as she burns through Accelerator's wallet, he takes the chance to ask Index about Last Order. Soon, Accelerator heads off to continue looking for Last Order, but Index decides to tail him, much to Accelerator's annoyance.

Mikoto is still annoyed at how Touma handled the penalty game, and she is in fact angry that Touma has the time to interact with another girl (i.e. Misaka Clone 10032), although she does consider that she dragged Touma into the penalty game in spite of his response. After destroying a gaming machine to vent up her frustration, Mikoto decides to talk to Touma again.

Soon, 6:00 PM comes, and Last Order decides to say her goodbyes to Touma, knowing that she needs to go home so that a certain person doesn't worry. Elsewhere, Index sees Touma inside the underground mall; Accelerator, due to the thick nighttime crowd, doesn't see what is in the other side.

As Accelerator and Touma wait on opposite sides of the underground mall, Last Order and Index return to their usual companions.

Between the Lines
Inside on of the Russian Orthodox Church headquarter's many buildings, Sasha Kreutzev reads on to a book while quenching her thirst by drinking black tea-flavored brandy. She is soon accompanied by Vassilisa, who startles Sasha by showing her perverse side. On a serious note, however, she is there to confirm the presence of Telesma in her body due to a certain Angel possessing her body.

Soon, Vassilisa continues on her shenanigans, forcing Sasha to wear a "Magical Powered Kanamin" costume. Sasha escapes immediately, leaving behind a disappointed Vassilisa.

Chapter 5: Sunset Unknowingly Passing By — Hard_Way,Hard_Luck.
Accelerator heads back home after finding Last Order, and the "youngest" of the Misaka Clones is starting to test the Rank 1 Level 5's patience. Last Order soon hurt hurself by tripping on the street, and Accelerator later finds himself in a nearby pharmacy to look for something to tend to her wound.

On his way back, however, he is ambushed by what he discovered as members of an unknown party. Accelerator's bloodlust is awakened yet again, and the leader of the ambush — none other than Accelerator's mentor, Kihara Amata. A fight broke out between mentor and student, and Accelerator's Redirection proves no match for the scientist who was able to study every single mechanic of his ability.

As Accelerator is helpless to Kihara's assault, the scientist reveals that his target is Last Order, and in one last-ditch effort to save her from the clutches of Kihara's Hound Dog, he uses his ability to throw her into somewhere safe. Meanwhile, a nun clad in white arrives in the scene, not knowing what is going on.

Kamijou Touma is out in the streets again looking for Index, who ran off to look for a certain white-haired boy to return something. On his way, he discovers a group of Anti-Skills losing their consciousness on their spot. He soon discovers that there is an intruder in Academy City, and it makes the task to look for Index even more urgent.

Instead of finding Index, however, he finds Last Order with tears flowing from her eyes.

Between the Lines
The newest intruder to Academy City, a woman dressed in yellow and whose face is decorated with piercings, continues on its march towards the city. Soon, the intruder contacts none other than the Superintendent of Academy City and taunts him into doing something about her actions; however, even with three of the Directors of Academy City killed, the Superintendent keeps his cool.

In fact, he gives an even bigger warning to the intruder: to not underestimate the power of Academy City.

As the intruder, God's Right Seat's Vento of the Front continues on her rampage, Aleister prepares his hidden plan for Vento — FUZE Kazakiri — while ordering the immediate custody of Misaka Clone #20001.

The long-awaited "showtime" is close at hand.