Anime, Girlfriend Shokuhou Misaki.

……

"This is?"

Fremia, who was eating, was startled by the view outside the window.

In fact, it wasn't just Fremia; even Makoto Haramura and Frenda, who were sitting opposite him, were the same.

"Index, what are you doing here?"

Outside the glass window, a girl dressed as a nun, with long silver hair and looking like a demon, was pressed against the glass, her gaze fixed on them.

No, that's not quite right to say it.

To be precise, she was looking at the food on their table.

"Index?"

"Mmm... Ah... Mmm..."

Don't get me wrong, this isn't some strange sound; it's simply the sound humans make when they eat.

However, this frequency is not a sound that an ordinary person could produce; it must belong to a hungry ghost.

The sounds that hungry ghosts can make.

And now, this ravenous ghost is right next to Frenda, devouring the food on the table like a whirlwind.

Makoto Haramura, Fremia, and Frenda all stopped eating and stared at Index with astonishment.

Just now, this rather thin-looking little girl swallowed ten portions of food—no, no, fifteen portions.

Her stomach was like a bottomless pit; despite eating so much, her lower abdomen remained perfectly flat without any bulge.

"What's going on, Index? Isn't Kamijou-senpai with you?"

He just told me he went to look for you.

With one hand supporting his left cheek, Makoto Haramura tilted his head and looked at Index with great interest.

These two are usually so clingy, yet Touma wasn't even with her.

"Touma never came to see me."

Index pouted, her eyes filled with anger.

I really wanted to cheer for Touma Kamijou, and I even practiced a cheering dance, but I couldn't find him at all.

Her anger level has now reached its peak.

"That's really strange. Didn't Kamijou-senpai leave you any contact information or anything?"

Makoto Haramura continued to press for answers.

"Yes, Touma taught me, but he hasn't called me yet."

Index swallowed with difficulty as she took her phone out of her skirt pocket and placed it on the table.

"Is your battery dead?"

Frenda pressed the button and then made a very confident assertion.

"If the battery is dead, no matter how many times the other party calls you, you won't be able to answer."

"Is that right?"

"Can you fully charge my phone?"

Index blinked in confusion, then pushed her phone toward Makoto Haramura.

Of all those people, only Makoto Haramura had met her once.

Moreover, Touma seemed to trust Haramura Makoto a lot that day. Since he was someone Touma trusted, she could trust him too.

Otherwise, even if she is a foodie, she wouldn't just sit at the table whenever someone invites her.

"Of course, Frenda."

"Yes, I understand."

Frenda resignedly stood up, picked up Index's phone, and went to talk to the shop assistant.

"How about this, I'll contact Kamijou-senpai for you."

A flicker of interest ignited in Makoto Haramura's eyes.

This is a very simple reasoning.

The fact that Touma Kamijou hasn't contacted Index for so long means that he forgot he needed to contact her, or that he simply didn't have time to.

Or perhaps, Touma Kamijou is currently in trouble and doesn't want to involve Index, so he's severing his connection with her.

Then, based on Touma Kamijou's physique and personality, the answer can be roughly deduced.

And he is now very interested in what Touma Kamijou is doing.

"Hey, Kamijou-senpai, what are you doing right now? I just ran into Index, who's starving."

The call was answered immediately.

Makoto Haramura narrowed his eyes, and the corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

(Running, running, you can see from the panting that he's running.)

"Excuse me, Haramura, is Index with you? Could you please look after her for a while?"

"I have some urgent matters to attend to and can't pick her up right away. I'll go get her as soon as I'm done here."

Touma Kamijou's voice came directly from the other end of the phone. Index, like a puppy that had heard its master's command, immediately stopped eating, jumped up from her seat, and pounced on Makoto Haramura with her outstretched hands.

"Touma—!"

Meanwhile, Makoto Haramura unceremoniously restrained Index with his own hands.

"That's possible, but don't you need help with Kamijou-senpai?"

"If needed, I can lend a hand."

Makoto Haramura's tone became somewhat slow and deliberate.

"No, no need. I'll leave Index to you for a while."

"It's nothing serious here, I can resolve it quickly."

After saying that, Touma Kamijou hurriedly hung up the phone, looking as if he was afraid that Makoto Haramura wanted to get involved.

"Frenda!"

"Hi!"

Upon her return, Frenda immediately stood at attention, her respectful demeanor perfectly embodying the term "lackey."

"Take good care of them both, I have some errands to run."

……

"How annoying, do you really want to catch me that badly?"

In a corner of Academy City, a beautiful woman with long, fluffy blonde curly hair and fair skin was panting slightly as she scanned her surroundings with her azure eyes.

This woman's attire was quite bizarre. Although she was wearing light gray jeans, only one button of her top was fastened at the chest, barely covering her impressive bust and revealing her fair navel and smooth, flat abdomen. The buttons on her jeans were simply left undone, loosely secured with a belt, as if they could fall off at any moment, revealing the concealed mysterious area.

Her entire being exuded a strong aura of seduction.

However, that's alright, since everyone has the freedom to dress as they please. What's really concerning is that she's carrying a long, wooden plank-like object wrapped in a cloth bag under her arm.

Her alluring attire attracted the attention of countless men along the way.

"As expected, I still need to deal with that guy who's been tracking me first."

"Otherwise, this will never end."

Looking up at the azure sky, the woman bit her tongue, a ruthless glint flashing in her eyes.

Turning her head, the woman assumed a posture ready to run at full speed.

"Um, excuse me for bothering you, miss, who is dressed so provocatively."

"My friend is pursuing you very hard, could you please wait a moment?"

Even though she didn't hear anything, it was as if the sound had been sent directly into her mind. The woman's steps froze instantly, and she stopped in her tracks, her pupils constricting.

At the same time, a gaze fell upon her without any attempt to conceal it.

Looking in the direction of her gaze, the woman saw a young man. Her face immediately hardened with wariness, but she maintained a rather forced smile.

"Oh my, little brother, are you trying to strike up a conversation with me, your big sister?"

"Although I am also very interested in younger men, I have something very important to do right now, so I won't keep you company."

Suddenly, a word card with a metal ring appeared in the woman's hand.

"Bah-"

With a deft flick of her thumb, she tore off the top card from the pile and put it in her mouth.

The card also had several magical symbols written on it.

"Shadow Sword!"

The word bitten at the top suddenly emitted a light, then disappeared, and what followed was a solidified black energy that enveloped the woman's right hand.

"Didn't I just say that already?"

"My friend asked me to wait here because I didn't explain myself clearly enough. Didn't you understand?"

Even faster than the woman's movements was Haramura Makoto's sudden disappearance.

The woman's pupils constricted, but as she tried to adjust her posture in mid-air, her abdomen was suddenly subjected to an unimaginable impact. Accompanied by excruciating pain that almost made her faint, the woman crashed to the ground like a cannonball.

"puff--"

Committing a crime in the street, and it's still during the Daihasei Festival; who knows how many people are here.

Reporting to the disciplinary committee and security personnel—someone should have done that a long time ago.

However, the reality was quite different. For some reason, the pedestrians around them all left on their own, before Haramura Makoto could strike and send the woman flying.

“Oriana Thomson, a notorious ‘delivery girl’ in the wizarding world, known as ‘Tracking Blockade,’ is best known for her escape tactics…”

He was a man over 1.9 meters tall, with long, red, shoulder-length hair, his ten fingers adorned with thick silver rings, his ears covered in silver earrings, and a barcode-like tattoo under his right eye, dressed as a priest.

He was the one who said those words just now.

As for the other one, that's the unlucky protagonist, Mr. Kamijou Touma.

"Haramura, why are you here?"

Kamijou Touma appeared quite shocked.

Makoto Haramura raised his eyebrows and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Because I heard that you seemed to be in some kind of trouble, Kamijou-senpai, I asked someone to investigate your whereabouts."

"I don't think Kamijou-senpai would mind this kind of thing."

"No, no."

At that moment, another man's voice echoed through the space, a voice that sounded frivolous and dissolute.

The sound was coming from the phone that Touma Kamijou was holding up.

"The former deputy director of the village really helped us a lot."

"You've heard of me? Who are you?"

Makoto Haramura's eyes narrowed as he became interested in the man on the other end of Touma Kamijou's phone.

It was obvious that his address was directed at his position in the Talent Workshop.

The only person who knew about his position was that guy Aleister.

So this guy was so close to Aleister that Aleister told him about his situation.

"I am Tsuchimikado Motoharu, and I am also working for that person."

Makoto Haramura nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to the tall, red-haired man.

"cut--"