Another Crisis Led By His Misfortune. Prelude to a War.

"Let me be clear on one thing, Senpai." Kamijou spoke while sighing to the person on the next receiving end of his phone. He sat in a family restaurant with his usual school uniform and ordered a set of french fries from a smiling waitress. Meanwhile he kept his phone into his ear, looking absolutely famished and irritated. 'And what would that be?' A female voice can be heard passing through the phone. If he could see her face at this point, then he could easily imagined her to be smiling flirtatiously like she always has "I really hate 'cloak and dagger'-ing like this." He grunted. 'Oh, I'm sure. But at this case, I'm afraid we can only rely on you. Or more specifically-" "My right hand. Yes, yes, I know. Why else am I here?" He sighed another time. " But... is this really the place?" 'Yes, Fuyuki City." "The place where several mysterious disappearances of hundreds of people, some theoretical secret battle tournament and several unknown cover-up attempts of several incidents related to some deep underground esper organization?" 'Pretty much.' Kamijou furrowed his brows, hearing his boisterous senpai's confident reply. He took another glance into his surrounding and spoke into the phone. "This peaceful, quiet and serene neighborhood doesn't seem like that kind of place." 'Which is why it's perfect. You do realize that peaceful scenery is the perfect cover stage for whatever is going on inside that city.' "I still find it hard to believe what you said about people with unnatural esper-like abilities subtly appearing in this city. This isn't Academy City, you know." 'That is precisely the problem.' Kamijou twitched a little, the usually playful senpai has changed to an all-business attitude. Whatever she's saying, it's serious. 'If there are people like that outside Academy City, then who knows what kind of problem they could be causing. And through classified sources, there are reports of various groups within this organization fighting each other, and bystanders are getting caught in the middle. Although, they tend to be very cooperative between themselves to cover these incidents up. We don't know their motives regarding these fights, but for you this is enough for a reason, right?' "Alright, that is problem enough." Kamijou nodded calmly.

And a second later he yelled into the phone. "THAT DOESN'T FREAKIN' EXPLAIN WHY A COUPLE OF MAN WITH BLACK MILITARY SUIT THREW A KNOCKOUT GAS GRENADE FROM THE WINDOW WHEN I WAS COOKING AND PUT ME INTO THE BORDER OF THE CITY WHEN I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED COOKING DINNER YET!" 'Ara? How do you know your room is on fire?' "It's because you can't turn the stove off like normal. There's a special way to turn it off. You see, the cable pin underneath the kitchen had to be switched- WAIT, MY ROOM IS WHAT?!" 'It was on fire. Don't worry the firefighters already put out the flames hours ago.' "WHAT ABOUT MY ROOM?! MY STUFF! MY MANGAS! MY LIFE SAVINGS! MY HOMEWORKS! ALL OF THEM IS THERE! 'If you've seen how big the flame is, you are going to abandon any nave hope that you have any stuff left untouched in there.' "NOOOOOOOOOOO! FUKOUUUUUUU DAAAAAAA!" Kamijou Touma pitifully wailed, surprising the waitress and other customers inside the restaurant. 'There, there.' Said the senpai, sounded almost sincere... well, almost... 'That's why you should take some days off outside the City while the higher-ups work to fix your room. Why don't you finish this job like a good honor student as a compensation for the repair cost?' "LIKE HELL! THEY'RE THE ONE THAT GOT IT ON FIRE AND THEY WANT TO BE COMPENSATED?! WHO AM I? STUPID?! 'Of course, you're free to return. But I imagine you'd find nothing even left on your dorm room. And accidents happen a lot lately, you know. A hunter might have mistaken you for a deer and shot you right in the head in the middle of the urban jungle~' "URBAN JUNGLE?! A HEADSHOT?! HOW CAN A HUNTER MISTAKE A DEER TO A MAN WHEN HE CAN CLEARLY SEE HIS FACE?! IS THERE EVEN A HUNTER OR A DEER IN THE CITY?! THAT'S JUST TWISTED! THAT'S AN ABSOLUTELY TWISTED WAY OF TURNING HELPFUL WARNING HINTS FOR HIKING INTO A VERY VIABLE DEATH THREAT! FUKOU DAAAAA!" ' So~? What's your respond going to be, Kamijou-kun~?' "...I'll do whatever you say, ma'am." Kamijou said while crying, finally surrendered to his fate. 'Good, now that's my cute kouhai~ tell you what, since Kamijou-kun is such a helpful boy, ask anything you want to this gorgeous senpai of yours~!' "Why me? Why is it always me?" Kamijou lifelessly asked, almost like he was asking to God who had given him such a fate. "Surely there's someone else in Academy City that is more suited for this. Shouldn't there be a branch in Anti-Skill that handle this types of trouble?"

'There is. Although, rather than Anti-Skill, it's more of a group of classified high-leveled espers that can easily topple governments. Something like this should be easy for them." Then why don't they just send them here then? Kamijou thought deep within his heart. But he refrained from speaking it out loud because he knew these types of espers generally don't pay any attention to other human lives. Sending them here could easily caused needless life to flew by, but that doesn't mean that the single boy named Kamijou Touma is confident enough to say that he can solve such a huge problem easily. The opponent is some big shot organization after all. 'I also thought those people really are more suited for the job.' His senpai seemed to have guessed what he was thinking because she sighed and said that half-heartedly. 'But I can't help it. I know this sounds ridiculous, but based from my sources, it seems like the General Superintendent himself was the one behind your assignment to this.' "Wait, the General Superintendent?! He got me into this? I don't even know who he is! Heck, I don't even know if he is a HE! And what's with this 'assignment' stuff? I'm not some badass black-ops secret agent! I'm not even getting paid for this! Fukou da!" Kamijou screamed out, understandably feeling pissed off. 'Well, whatever. Just do your usual hero thingie and save the day~!' "Again, this isn't Academy City. There is no day in need of saving here. This is just a normal everyday city where nothing abnormal like a sudden huge explosion from an esper battle will ever happen!" BOOM! "..." Oi, oi, oi. Just how bad is his luck exactly? This has been nothing but bad luck these past few days. 'Let me guess, a sudden huge explosion? Better move it, Hero, that church is only a few blocks away.' "Do me a favor and stop stalking me with your satellite camera!"

With a rather violent click sound, the boy on the other side of her phone hanged up. Leaving her in her room with a laptop showing a screen of a burning church from a bird-eye view and two other men. A boy with a hawaiian T-shirt and an older man with a formal business suit. "Was it really necessary to lie like that to him, Tsuchimikado?" She asked. Losing her gentle and playful tone, replacing it was a stern and angry one. "Nya, of course. As far as I know only Kami-yan can do it."

"If this is about the matter of the other side, then it's pointless, Kamijou Touma doesn't have any knowledge of it." She went silent for a while and then sighed. "For now at least." "Rather than that, I am more curious with this entire ruse." The man in suit finally spoke up. "As far as I'm concerned, there are no such incidents in Fuyuki City, no mysterious disappearance, no 'outside espers' movements, no nothing. Like Kamijou Touma had said, there is nothing like that in that city. Not until that explosion at least. Is there something that warrants an outside force to draw our attention now?" "No, you're wrong director." The beauty senpai, Kumokawa Seria, pointed out. Her superior raised his brow curiously. "I think the explosion is not from an outside force. This guy grinning ear to ear might be able to explain." "What?" Said the director, confused. Meanwhile, the smiling bastard that was Tsuchimikado Motoharu put up his frivolous air and said nothing but a smirk. Kumokawa Seria smiled, with a hidden irritation visible on her fist-formed hand. "Tsuchimikado-kun, would you mind to explain why you blew up a church to draw Kamijou-kun's attention? What do you want him to see in that place?" "Tell me, Kumokawa-senpai." Tsuchimikado said after a pause, not losing his frivolous air and smile. "What do you know about the Holy Grail?"

"This has got to be the most unluckiest day ever!" the aforementioned Kamijou Touma ran into the direction of the roaring flames that engulfed an entire church. Soon he arrived into the scene of the church where a crowd from the nearby neighbourhood was already gathered, keeping their distance from the burning building. "A fire in the church?" "Is there anyone inside?" "Someone call the fire station!" Such murmurs were heard from the concerned neighbors as they watched the building set aflame. They were likely asleep several minutes ago before they were forcefully woken up by the fire, as most of them are still wearing their sleeping attire. Kamijou Touma who had just arrived on scene clicked his tongue when he realized just how his bad luck has turned to worse. Gotta get this people out of here or they'll be caught in the crossfire of whatever crazy thing is going on inside that church! It was then that his train of thought was stopped when he realized the phone in his pocket was vibrating, he hurriedly accepted the call after he'd seen the display name.

'If you want to evacuate them then don't bother.' Came the sound of the senpai he knew, guessing his intent perfectly well. "Are you suggesting I should just leave them there where they could get wrapped up in this out of ordinary situation and robbed them of their everyday life? You know that is something I could never do." Kamijou said sternly. 'That bravado of yours is cute, as usual, but I'd advice strongly against it, because it's just a waste of time.' She warned. 'Think Kamijou-kun, if the culprit behind the explosion was smart enough to conceal their outrageous activities from the eyes of the world, then they won't be doing something so stupid like harming a mass of crowd where a satellite from Academy City is focusing its sight over there." "Ah!" Kamijou exclaimed as he processed that piece of logic. 'If you understand, then just hurry up and get over there! Whatever's going on inside that church won't spread into the outside, just be careful not to get yourself burned down together with the church.' "Alright. I got it." Kamijou nodded reluctantly. 'One more thing, there's an alley to the left with a backdoor leading to the cellar of the church. With that, you can get into the church without drawing too much attention from the crowd. Remember, this isn't Academy City, cleaning up after an esper's mess outside of the city isn't as easy as cleaning it up inside.' "Then don't get me involved with this kind of thing in the first place, damn it!" Kamijou quickly hanged up the phone and ran. Sadly, even after having so many dealings with his troublesome senpai, he still forgotten that Kumokawa Seria was a genius with a mastery of deceit and lies. He hadn't thought that any organization skilled enough to conceal their presence while still doing their controversial activities won't make any unnecessary risk like drawing attention to themselves by blowing up a church in a middle of a crowded residential areas. Well... being blackmailed by a beautiful senpai or a smoke grenade between his dinner dishes or a fight to the death might be a terrible turn of event that most people would have a trauma over but this IS Kamijou Touma we're talking about. For Kamijou Touma, who is currently crying to fate, it was just another ordinary day. Correction: it was just another 'unlucky' ordinary day. Further correction: It was the most unlucky and extraordinary day he will ever have... ...At least for the next 4 months. In July 19th, his encounter with the number 3 Level 5 and a girl with 103.000 grimoire will lead to a permanent amnesia and a series of misadventures that will engulf the world on the brink of a World War.

But that is another story altogether.

The date is February 26th.

This is the day where Kamijou Touma met an old man with gleaming red eyes and a weird looking stick inside the burning church. And, unsurprisingly, he soon found himself screaming 'Fukouuuuuuuuuuuuuu Daaaaaaaaaaaaa!' as he was thrown mercilessly into another world along with a Panzer tank, a merry-go-round and dozens of teddy bears. And most importantly,

This is the day when the story of Kamijou Touma and the Holy Grail War starts.