The abandoned "Gloaming House" was located about three kilometers away from Academy City.
Business had stopped just three weeks ago, which was why the building still did not look damaged. Furthermore, all the interior equipment had been removed, so it seemed rather empty inside right now, and, as no one had swept the area since then, everything was covered in dust. It could not be considered a ruin, though. The place could be reopened if one cleaned it up and reinstalled the equipment.
It looked like a "hibernating" building. Maybe the owner was not planning to take down the building for now and was looking for a new buyer.
Index was waiting on the empty stage. The hall was large, about as big as a sports hall, and the auditorium and the stage were joined together. There were no windows, and the lighting had been removed, so the only source of light was the setting sun outside the five opened doors. Index knelt on the dim stage, frowning and showing her displeasure.
"Despicable man."
"I can't deny that, nor will I do so."
Until he controlled his emotions, Stiyl Magnus looked a bit fearful facing the girl's hostile glare. In the dim area, the flaming tip of his cigarette twitched up and down. The white smoke swayed in the air before it grazed the "No Smoking" sign and disappeared.
"You should be able to understand all this, right? I won't ask you if I need to repeat myself, since with your memory, repeating the same thing over again is meaningless."
"…an official order from the Anglican Church."
Index remembered the explanation she had been given when she had first arrived here. There was finally someone who could decode The Book of the Law, which no one had been able to decode before. That person's name was Orsola Aquinas. It was feared that once someone successfully decoded The Book of the Law, the Angelic Technique could then be used. When Orsola had come to Japan, the book had been stolen, and the culprit was believed to be the Amakusa Church. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church had begun a series of actions to get back The Book of the Law and Orsola.
Kanzaki Kaori, the former leader of the Amakusa Church, now a member of the Anglican Church, was missing, and she might possibly do something she should not.
On the surface, the Anglicans seemed to be on the side of the Roman Catholics, but in actuality, they wanted to defuse this situation before Kanzaki Kaori could do anything troublesome.
"Such a formal 'job', and you want to get Touma involved?"
"To be honest, I don't see the need to get him involved, either; these are orders from the higher ups, however."
Stiyl twitched his cigarette and said,
"Besides, our position is rather awkward, too. If we were to ask Kamijou Touma, who belongs to Academy City, directly, people may view it as the science side interfering with internal affairs on the magic side. If this affair had happened within Academy City, we could use the excuse of self-defence for Kamijou Touma, but such an excuse won't work now. So, in order to get him to participate, we needed to give him a motive."
That was why Stiyl had kidnapped Index.
In other words, the reason Kamijou left Academy City would be "to rescue Index", and that would not be related to Orsola or The Book of the Law. But while doing so, he would "just so happen" to meet the Amakusas, and in order to protect Index, he would have to fight them: that was the excuse that Stiyl had planned for Kamijou.
Although she was from the magic side, Index could stay in Academy City temporarily due to a certain deal made between Academy City and the Anglican Church. Thus, for Kamijou Touma, a resident of Academy City, to rescue Index, the guest, was not a strange thing.
"I understand everything up to now, but I can't accept it."
"Really?"
"That's right; there's no need to beat around the bush to do this. Just a little 'Please help me!' will be enough to get Touma to come to my rescue. No matter how dangerous the place is, he'll always come. That's why I don't want his help."
"…really."
Stiyl smiled faintly.
Like a father listening to a girl talking about her favorite boyfriend, Stiyl revealed a slight smile.
"Okay, what will you do next? The Book of the Law and Orsola Aquinas are now in the Amakusa Church's hands, right? If so, are you going to rush into the enemy's base?"
The girl asked rather seriously. Now that Kamijou was involved, she wanted to get accurate information to try to decrease the level of danger that Kamijou Touma would face.
"No, the situation has changed."
Distressed, Stiyl blew out white smoke as he said,
"Eleven minutes ago, in order to rescue Orsola, the Roman Catholics began a fierce battle with the escaping Amakusas."
Index squinted her eyes.
The method of communication was most likely the smoke from that cigarette. Several times, Index had found that the long trails of smoke had magic in them, and though there was no wind, the white smoke quivered unnaturally. No matter the age, smoke signals have always been used as a tool of long-distance communication. Stored in Index's memory were many ways to utilize smoke signals.
"There is no need for me to be here if the battle was successful, right?"
"That's right. It wasn't a complete victory, however; it seems to have been an intense battle. Luckily, no one was killed. But The Book of the Law is still missing, and Orsola was reported to have escaped amidst the chaos."
"When you say that she has escaped, does that mean that she hasn't met up with the Roman Catholics?"
"That's right. She's still missing, so she might end up in the hands of the Amakusas again."
"…that doesn't sound good."
If a hostage tried to escape, the kidnapper would naturally respond with violence. If a hostage who had escaped once were to be recaptured, the kidnapper would use whatever cruel means necessary to make the hostage not think of escaping again.
It seemed that, in this situation, time was of the essence. Right now, the Roman Catholics and the Amakusas must have been trying to find and recover the escaped Orsola.
"Too bad I can't change the contents of the letter, or else I'd tell Kamijou Touma to get here faster. If possible, I'd like to meet him before my co-combatant from the Roman Catholic Church arrives…"
Right after Stiyl had finished speaking, a figure appeared in the wide-open entrance of the hall.
"…too bad; it seems like we can't wait for him. We have to go."
The figure belonged to the co-combatant.