Disclaimer: To Aru Majutsu no Index and all associated characters, settings, and concepts are the intellectual property of Kazuma Kamachi and ASCII Media Works, and I claim no ownership.

_VOLUME 1_

-Prologue-

Impression

Brush_Past.

"My, you're rather bold, don't you think?"

The words came across almost playful as they left the lips of their owner between heavy breaths. The sound of shoes pounding against pavement and scuffling as someone darted around bystanders could be heard, but only if one listened closely enough through the noise of gossiping schoolgirls and laughing friends walking through the bustling shopping area.

This particular shopping district had been positioned strategically between many of the academies and their respective dorms, meaning that students walking to and from school would inevitably pass by the many shops and cafes lining the city streets. Yet it couldn't be said that this particular shopping district owed its popularity entirely to this convenient layout alone. Even students and other citizens who didn't go anywhere near this particular area in their normal routine would still drop by for some of the the many things this district had to offer.

However, there were at least two people in the shopping area who would not allow themselves to be distracted by the colorful signs of malls and arcades. After all, they weren't here for a shopping trip.

"Robbing a woman of her purse like this? A bit petty, isn't it?"

Despite the context of her words, the woman's tone was once again playful rather than displeased. One could easily mistake her teasing tone with a blissfully unconcerned one, but it wasn't as though she didn't care if she were robbed or not. On the contrary, she wouldn't have bothered tailing the scruffy delinquent so far from the park where he had snagged her bag if she didn't care about its contents. It was more to the point that she wasn't concerned with him getting away.

The same could not be said for the delinquent, who was no less than absolutely terrified of the eerily pleasant woman who had bothered chasing him this far. If one were to catch a glimpse of the robber's face as he ran by, with beads of sweat on his forehead and his face twisted into some combination of panic and unease, it would seem to them that he was more than immediately regretting his decision to rob this woman in particular. He didn't think he had ever encountered anyone this persistent before, and the thief was a simple delinquent, not a marathon runner.

The thief's shifty eyes darted around and fell upon a crowd of people walking close enough together that he could hide in it effectively. The thief ducked into the crowd unnoticed and hoped to lay low long enough to catch his breath.

The thief didn't dare look around to see if the woman was following him, as though the mere act of checking to see if she was behind him would cause her to appear out of nowhere. Not to mention that the act of looking around with a worried expression on his face would immediately pinpoint him as a shady character to anyone looking for him. As he was now, with his dark brown hair and plain school uniform that he still wore despite his tendency to skip classes, the delinquent would not stand out too much in a crowd if kept himself inconspicuous. It was out of sheer luck that he managed to even get out of her immediate line of sight like this, and he dared not give himself away in such a manner.

Yet despite his best efforts, a moment later he caught a quick glimpse of the woman's silver hair and broke out in a cold sweat.

She hadn't seen him yet, he was confident of that much, but she was making her way towards the crowd as though she knew he was hiding within it. He cursed under his breath and subconsciously tightened his grip on the handbag he had snatched from her. She'd catch sight of him sooner or later, and the closer she got to him, the lower were his chances of getting away unscathed.

The delinquent, in spite of his burning lungs and aching legs, took off in a full-on sprint once again.

As the thief turned to look back to see if the woman was on his tail again- and indeed she was- he failed to notice a young man in a high school uniform who was about to walk past him.

Perhaps it was his decision to look back that sealed his fate, or perhaps he was just destined to fail this particular heist, but in that instant he bumped shoulders with the high school student. It was at this moment that two things happened.

First, the woman's bag, which he had tucked more-or-less securely underneath his arm, grew heavy and dropped to the ground with a loud thud. The thief quickly grabbed hold of the straps in one fluid motion, but trying to carry the bag now was like trying drag a heavy rock.

The second and more immediate threat to the delinquent was that the high school student had spun on his heel and turned his attention towards him. The student was now glaring at the delinquent disapprovingly as he watched the thief's pitiful attempts to carry away the now incredibly heavy handbag.

The delinquent looked up with a nervous expression on his face. It was at this point he got a full look at the high school student.

The student had blood red hair which he wore down, mostly combed but with a few stubborn strands here and there. His eyes were a sharp amber and burned with a fiery glow as he stared down the unsuspecting theif. He had one of his hands shoved in the pocket of his navy blue pants, and another arm was raised over his shoulder, loosely carrying a school bag. He wore a white dress shirt and a maroon tie, the latter of which was worn loose and swayed a bit in the summer breeze.

It was quite obvious he was on his way home from school, an unlucky coincidence if there ever was one.

It was July 19th.

The fault lay in that date.

Today was the last day of school before the city-wide summer break. Had the thief waited one more day, perhaps he would've not run into such a person in these circumstances.

"Y-you!? What the hell did you do to this bag?"

The delinquent wanted to have more tact than that, but he was already sweating bullets from the woman with the silver hair tailing him. This new development was doing nothing to calm him down.

The high school student scoffed a bit at his inquiry, "I used my ability on it. I thought that was obvious enough."

"A-ability!?"

Once again, the delinquent's response received a scoff. Or rather, it was something more of a sigh this time around.

"Honestly, I don't see why that surprises you at all. If this were any other city, I'd give you a break for not planning for it, but come on. This is Academy City. Did you really think you wouldn't run into a single Esper, pulling a stunt like this?"

The delinquent had in fact taken into account that he might run into an Esper looking to play hero. He had incorrectly assumed at that point that he'd be able to duck away from any attack and keep running like a madman.

In truth, there were many different Espers with abilities that would stop that plan dead in its tracks, but it just so happened that the red-haired high school student was the one the thief ran into today. As the thief watched the Esper roll his shoulders and crack his neck, he was beginning to think today was not his lucky day.

Still, not willing to wait around for the Esper to make the first move, the thief produced a knife from his pocket and charged at the red-haired student with a loud battle cry.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Perhaps in the delinquent's mind, his charge had some sort of tactical reasoning behind it, but all the red-haired student saw was a sloppy and poorly executed attack.

The red-haired student dodged to the left, still with his one hand in his pocket and his other hand holding his bag, and sighed yet again. The delinquent ran straight on past, still brandishing the knife, but with his back turned towards his opponent he left himself wide open for a counter attack.

"Seriously, I can understand you not reading books, or even manga for that matter…"

The red-haired student removed his hand from his pocket and closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, as though concentrating.

"But seriously, don't you at least watch TV? Since when does robbing someone in broad daylight ever turn out well for the culprit!?"

The delinquent whirled around just in time to see the red-haired student's fist headed straight for his face. The delinquent tried to duck, but his opponent shifted his punch's trajectory to meet the new location and landed a strong left hook.

Under normal circumstances, the blow would've dazed the delinquent for but a moment and given the delinquent an opportunity to recover and counterattack. Yet as the student's fist connected with his jaw, the wannabe thief noticed something odd about it. The punch was much heavier and had a lot more force behind it than a normal punch.

With a hit that hard, the delinquent could do little more than try to regain his balance as he was knocked backwards. After a few moments, he managed to shake off the punch and tried to lash out once again at the red-haired student.

At least, that had been his plan. Unfortunately for the delinquent, by the time he managed to recover from the hit, his opponent had already geared up for the next strike. The red-haired high school student had closed the distance the knockback had created and spun on one foot as he lifted the other to deliver a swift kick to the delinquent's stomach, once again with the same unusual heaviness that his punch possessed.

"Gaaaahhhh!"

The delinquent doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain. A bad move on his part, for this put the red-haired high school student in the perfect position to throw an uppercut. As the delinquent bent forwards, the red-haired student brought his fist up to meet the thief's face halfway. The delinquent was sent flying backwards, tripping over his feet as he tried to regain his senses and stumbling before falling onto his back roughly.

"You know," the high school student smirked as he spoke, "It's petty thieves and delinquents with no fighting experience like you that are just there to make guys like me look cool. Try to use your brain next time."

Even if the "advice" the red-haired student was actually meant for the thief in question, the delinquent did not hear his words. The delinquent had lost consciousness the moment he hit the pavement.

The red-haired high school student let out a deep breath as though shaking off the fight he just had and walked calmly over to the place where the thief had first dropped the woman's handbag. He reached down and snatched up the bag by its straps with little effort, having reverted whatever his ability had done to it entirely. The student looked down at the bag briefly before scanning his eyes across the crowd in search of the bag's rightful owner.

It was at this moment, however, that a look of horrified realization washed over the red-haired student's face. The student looked back down at the bag and his expression only deepened as though his suspicions were confirmed.

"Wait, this bag… it's…"

"Arakuyo-kun!"

The voice that called out for the red-haired student had in fact come from the owner of the bag. The silver-haired woman who had tailed the thief relentlessly to punish him for his misdeeds broke through the ever thinning crowd of people who had taken an interest in the situation.

The red-haired student known as Arakuyo Kenji turned around hesitantly to face its owner.

The woman that stood before him possessed long silver hair and gentle green eyes, and was smiling happily with her arm outstretched to receive her rescued bag.

There was no way Kenji wouldn't immediately recognize that ever-pleasant face that hid the true intentions of the woman's heart. The shock and surprise caused Kenji to utter her name in fear.

"K-Kamishiri-sensei!?"

To Be Continued...

AN: If you've read this far, thank you for reading the prologue chapter of my latest story-writing endeavor. New chapters will be released every Monday, at least until the entirety of Volume 1 is uploaded, so expect more to come in the future. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be back with another one next week!