A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 8 Read Online Free PDF Page B

regrets. Please take care of yourself, Big Sister.”
    Shirai headed off for the bus terminal, her destination changed. She could use the last bus to cut down on time compared to walking through Academy City.
    Then, suddenly, Mikoto said something. “Kuroko, I know you have to go do your job, but try your best to get back early tonight. The weather might go bad once night falls.”
    “Oh, I had not noticed. I forgot to check the weather report for today. Thank you very much. I will see you back at the dormitory, Big Sister.”
    Shirai gave a short bow, then turned around and headed for the bus terminal. She heard Mikoto’s footsteps walking away, too, but those eventually faded.
    Now worried about the look of the sky, she gazed upward. It didn’t seem like it was going to rain, but—
    Hm…?
    She suddenly felt that something had been wrong with what Mikoto just said.
    The weather might go bad once night falls.
    At first, that might have sounded like an everyday thing to say. But among the three satellites Academy City had launched into space, one of them, the Tree Diagram, was supposed to be a perfect simulation machine. Weather forecasting was no exception. Her usage of the vague word
might
was not something you heard every day here.
    That would mean Big Sister…
    Bothered though she was by what Mikoto had said, she had her hands full dealing with the immediate problem. The last bus would depart in less than ten minutes. She adjusted her grip on her cheap bag and began an outright sprint toward her destination. Soon the little inconsistency had all but slipped her mind.

INTERLUDE ONE
    Academy City’s seventh school district.
    In a corner of town in the same district as the Garden of Learning that lacked any of the school’s brilliance, there was a student dormitory where a certain young man named Touma Kamijou lived.
    It was a boys’ dormitory, of course, but this one room was overlooked as an exception. There was a girl of fourteen or fifteen with long silver hair wearing a completely white habit rolling around on the floor. She was a freeloader.
    The rolling Index was currently in complete control of the television.
    The weather forecast was on. With a giant map of Japan in the background, a smiling lady in a suit was giving the clothes-drying index. They’d been doing the UV ray announcements until a few days ago. For the average high school student, Touma Kamijou, it had finally started to feel a little like the seasons were changing. (They were still in the midst of a heat wave lingering from summertime, though.)
    “Touma, Touma! How do they know tomorrow’s weather?” asked the sister without turning around. “All they have on the map are things that look like the rings in tree stumps.”
    Kamijou’s exasperated voice came back from the one-room apartment’s kitchen space. “Index, sit farther away from the television when you’re watching it.” He continued to drop the seasoned chicken meat into the oil. He was making fried chicken for dinner. “And those tree-ring things are called isobars. They can roughly figure out whether it’ll be cloudy if they look at the atmospheric pressure on mountains and in valleys and stuff. Actually, sometimes clouds bump into mountains and make rain, so it’s not all about the pressure.”
    “Huh. Wait, really? You can read calamities in geography…? Oh! I see! Academy City figured out how to do geomancy using artificial methods!!”
    “You seem to be shaking all over in enjoyment, so I’ll leave you alone. I’ll talk to the cat instead. It’s time for the deep-fried taste testing!”
    Kamijou picked one of the freshly browned pieces out of the oil with tongs, set it on a small plate, and placed it on the floor. The calico, which had been curled up near Index, reacted immediately. Like an arrow springing from a bow, it shot over to the plate and started taking little bites, then rolling around as if to say,
Hot! It’s hot but I’ll still eat it! But it’s