A Certain Magical Index [Male Reader Insert]

Chapter Five: The Magician Prick

"I thought...! I thought I was...! I thought we were really gonna die!!"

"Calm down!"

Kamijou's heart was still attempting to pound its way free of his chest following his seventh-story free fall without a lifeline.

He sprinted down the straight passageway followed by Kotarou looking around. He didn't wholly trust Index's assessment. At this point, his immediate concern was to get the hell away from Innocentius and regroup.

But faced with the reality confronting him, he couldn't help but shout, "Damn it! What the hell is going on?!"

The problem wasn't that he didn't know where in the sprawling dormitory the runes were inscribed. Actually, the two already found some of them: on the floor, on doors, on fire extinguishers. Paper scraps the size of credit cards hung everywhere he looked, just like in the fable of Hoichi the Earless.

He didn't want to think about her puppetlike expression, but according to Index, the magic was like an interference field, and those paper runes were antennae emitting the interference signals.

I...think? Can I even pull them all off? There are, like, thousands of these stupid paper antennae things all over the place.

Rumble! The two heard the thunderous roar of oxygen being absorbed as the humanoid flame descended over the metal railing.

"Crap!"

If they got caught again, he wouldn't be able to hold it back. Kamijou and Kotarou immediately ducked into the emergency stairwell running alongside the walkway. Even there, as he hopped farther and farther down the steps, more of the runic characters or whatever could be seen hanging in nooks and crannies on the stairs and ceiling—suspicious shreds of paper with symbols on them, adhered everywhere with cellophane tape.

They'd obviously been mass printed on a copy machine.

'How does something that stupid even work?!' Kotarou thought angrily. Considering it further, though, he realized that fortunes could still be read using free giveaway tarot cards that came with shoujo manga, and it was certainly possible to mass-produce copies of the Bible at a printer.

This whole occult thing is totally cheating...

The boys wanted to cry. There were tens of thousands of these runic seals stuck all over the building. Could they actually find every single one? Even if they tried, couldn't Stiyl just start hanging up more to replace them?

Their thoughts were cut short as Innocentius began descending the stairway after them.

"Damn!"

"Touma, let's split, I'm going to try something"

As Kotarou split off into a different hallway, Touma gave up on the stairs and exited onto the next floor's hallway. The flame giant collided with the pavement, scattering embers everywhere, and bounded down the passage in pursuit.

The hall was completely straight. At his usual speed, Kamijou wouldn't be able to shake Innocentius.

"...!" Kamijou grunted and glanced at the entrance to the emergency stairs. A label informed him that this was the second floor.
Rumble! Innocentius barreled straight for him to restrict his right hand.

"O-oaaahhh!"

Kamijou neither used his right hand, nor did he retreat farther. He hurdled the second-floor railing with everything he had.
As he fell, he realized that asphalt and a handful of bicycles were waiting below.

"Ack, aahhhh!!"

He barely managed to land between bikes, but the hard asphalt below couldn't be avoided. He tried bending his legs to absorb the impact, but he still heard his ankles crack. They didn't feel broken—maybe because he had only fallen two stories—but there was definitely some damage.