A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 7 by Kazuma Kamachi Page B

carrying a good number of old Bibles, a lady hoisting a huge wooden wheel you might see on a horse-drawn carriage—all going to and fro in the crowd, busy as bees. He didn’t know how to use any of that stuff.
    All right. I wonder if there’s something I can help with…Wait, huh?
    He noticed something and stopped. Index’s tent, the one right next to his, which was plastered with cards—the zipper for the entrance was open. It didn’t look like there was anyone inside.
    Where did she get off to—Wait, whoa?!
    As he was looking over there and walking, he suddenly noticed that he had lost all sensation underfoot. He had unwittingly stepped into the equilateral triangular hole Amakusa had opened in the ground.
    Eek, I’m falling!!
    Just before his body slipped into the sewer without a sound, as he flailed about in midair, a sister in black hurriedly grabbed his hand. She pulled him up, then gave him an angry lecture in some foreign language. He didn’t really understand what she was saying.
    Aw, jeez, am I being a huge bother right now or what?
    A heavy, dark aura coiled itself around the dejected Kamijou as he observed the triangular hole he was about to fall into.
    Amakusa used the sewers as a route to directly attack the surface from underground. Until now, he had considered this place to be relatively safe to wander about, since it was essentially the Roman Orthodox base. Maybe, though, the line was a lot thinner than he thought. It was the command center of Amakusa’s pursuers. He realized they must be concerned about the fleeing Amakusa coming to this base and wrecking it, since it would make it easier for them to run away.
    Well, I doubt pulling an intricate surprise attack on an amateur like me would mean much. If there was an important point somewhere here, like an HQ, that could be in danger, though.
    That said, he couldn’t tell the difference between the tents that were important and the ones that weren’t. For the time being, he saw a tent that was a size bigger than the others and got the detached impression that they’d probably go for something like that. But then…
    All of a sudden, a loud
bam
exploded from the large tent.
    A girl’s shriek followed in its wake.
    “…?!” Kamijou’s mouth dried. His vague idea from a few seconds ago shot back across his mind.
    Amakusa was able to directly attack the surface from underground.
    And they would probably go after tents important to Agnes and the others.
    But that means
…
really? Are you serious
…
?
    “Damn it!”
    The silver lining was that the tent was quite close to Kamijou. He tightened his right fist hard as a boulder and dashed for it. There were many sisters nearby, but they were standing there at a loss at the sudden situation. Kamijou ran through them to the entrance of the big tent and pulled the zipper on it down in one motion.
    “Amakusa!!”
    At the same time he shouted, there was something heavy in the opened entrance—and
bam
! It slammed right into Kamijou’s gut. It was heavy and warm, and he thought he could feel watery moisture.
    Gah
…
?!
    Kamijou got goose bumps everywhere at the strange sensation. He was about to swing his fist down when…
    …he realized that the person with her arms around his stomach was a completely naked Agnes Sanctis.
    “………………………………………………………………………………………Huh?”
    Kamijou heard the sound of a huge bell ringing in his head as his mind went completely blank.
    The stark-naked Agnes’s hair was wet with water, and there was moisture on her skin, too. Her soft skin was tinged faintly in red, with white vapor rising from it. But his embracer was trembling all over, her eyes were firmly shut with her face buried in his stomach, and she was muttering things in another language—all these amounted to the fact that something was wrong.
    He didn’t understand what Agnes was saying, but as she clung to him, she pointed at something. He