History Recap / ACertainMagicalIndexArc1Index

Touma meets a mysterious nun by the name of Index, which pulls him into the mysterious world of magic that coexists with science, as he struggles in fights with magicians who wish to take Index. Their belief being that the nun must have her memories constantly wiped, or else her brain will overload.

Touma meets a mysterious nun by the name of Index, which pulls him into the mysterious world of magic that coexists with science, as he struggles in fights with magicians who wishes to take Index. Their belief being that the nun must have her memories constantly wiped, or else her brain will overload.

Touma is baffled by this, so Index explains that she is a magician on run. Due to her PhotographicMemory, she has memorized 103,000 [[TomeOfEldritchLore grimoires]], and now several magical cabals want to capture her to use the knowledge for their own desires. She entered Academy City during the blackout seeking sanctuary, RoofHopping until she landed on his balcony. Touma scoffs at this, saying that he knows that advanced technology and esper powers are real because they have a scientific basis and structured laws, but magic is just fiction. He asks her to prove that magic exists by performing a spell, but she says she does not have any mana and can't perform magic on her own. Normally, reading a grimoire would cause catastrophic damage to the reader, but since she doesn't have any mana, the texts she read didn't do anything to her.

The next morning, Touma wakes up in his apartment slightly miserable. The blackout meant that his air conditioner didn't work, and the food in his refrigerator spoiled. He also stepped on his ATM card and broke it. He then finds a girl with knee-length, silvery hair wearing a nun's habit hanging from his balcony. She incessantly says she's hungry, so Touma offers her some slightly spoiled food, and to his shock, she gobbles it all up. She thanks him and introduces herself as a nun in training, Index Librorum Prohibitorium. He thinks that name is fake, but she protests and also says her magic name is Dedicatus545 - The Dedicated Lamb Protects The Knowledge Of The Strong.

He touches her on the head with his right hand, but nothing happens. Determined, he starts touching her all over, then worries if he might have to touch her some place inappropriate. He opens her mouth and finds a rune on the back of her throat. He reaches in and touches it... and is blown back by an explosion of power as the rune is destroyed. Index goes into John's Pen Mode and floats in the air, glowing. Stiyl and Kaori enter the room and are shocked to see Index using magic. In her monotone, she says the "collar" has been destroyed and cannot be repaired, so the first order of business is to eliminate the threat that destroyed it. She says Touma's right hand cannot be analyzed, so she will go for shear power. She fires a magical laser called St. George's Sanctuary. Touma blocks the attack with his right hand, but is nearly blown away, and like Innocentius, the beam is continuous and doesn't instantly disappear. While holding back the beam, Touma tells the other two that obviously, their superiors lied to them: Index can use magic and she was not in any danger of her brain overloading. Touma's strength is almost spent, but Kaori uses her wires to trip Index and knock her on her back, causing the beam to destroy the roof and take out the Academy City satellite Tree Diagram in orbit.

Touma asks why they didn't just confront Index and reintroduce themselves, instead of presenting themselves as enemies after her knowledge. Kaori goes berserk and proceeds to beat the shit out of him. She screams that he has no idea what it was like. They did try that a few times, even using pictures, but the fact that she didn't remember them was too much. They had to stay separate from her because they now can't even bare to see her smile. He says that's no excuse and that they didn't even consider Index's feelings. If he was in their shoes, he would have never given up and would have tried to find a way to make her memory erasure unneeded. She swings her scabbard, but he catches it and punches her in the face. However, it has no effect and he passes out from his injuries. She is shaken up by his words. In the anime version, after Stiyl removes the people-clearing field, Mikoto and Kuroko look at the damage to the windmill and road and wonder what happened.

[[caption-width-right:270:Touma vs Kaori]]

The first arc of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', consisting of volume 1 of the light novel, chapters 1-10 (volumes 1-2) of the manga, and episodes 1-6 of the anime.

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White feathers start floating down from the hole in the roof. Horrified, Kaori tells the other two that this is the spell Dragon's Breath. If a feather comes in contact, it could be lethal. Index gets up and fires the laser again, but Stiyl quickly throws his rune cards around, summons Innocentius, and uses it as a shield. However, Index analyzes Innocentius and adjusts the laser to it will be vulnerable to it. As the fire demon slowly dissolves, Stiyl yells at Touma that this is their last chance. Touma charges up and touches her on the forehead. She instantly drops out of John's Pen Mode and passes out. Touma cradles her in his arms, relieved. Stiyl and Kaori shout a warning and try to get to him, but it's too late. One of the feathers lands on his head and he falls over, as if he were dead.

Index wraps herself in a blanket and tries to repair her outfit, and settles for using several safety pins to hold it together. She thanks Touma for his hospitality and food and says she must be going, for until she reaches an Anglican church, her pursuers will never stop chasing her. He says she's welcome to come back and stay as long as she likes. She asks if he would follow her all the way to Hell, hinting that he would be in danger if she stayed with him. He's disturbed by the question and she leaves. As she's walking away, she gets surprised by Academy City's cleaning robots, calling them Agathions ({{Familiar}} spirits). Touma notices she left her hood behind, but when he turns back, she's gone.

White feathers start floating down from the hole in the roof. Horrified, Kaori tells the other two that this is the spell Dragon's Breath. If a feather comes in contact, it could be lethal. Index gets up and fires the laser again, but Stiyl quickly throws his rune cards around, summons Innocentius, and uses it as a shield. However, Index analyzes Innocentius and adjusts the laser to it will be vulnerable to it. As the fire demon slowly dissolves, Stiyl yells at Touma this is their last chance. Touma charges up and touches her on the forehead. She instantly drops out of John's Pen Mode and passes out. Touma cradles her in his arms, relieved. Stiyl and Kaori shout a warning and try to get to him, but it's too late. One of the feathers lands on his head and he falls over, as if he were dead.

Stiyl, Kaori, and Index take Touma to the hospital, where a doctor named Heaven Canceler, (who is implied to know about the Magic Side) treats him. Stiyl and Kaori hand the doctor a letter to be passed to Touma when he wakes up, then leave. Index impatiently snatches the letter and reads it. The letter is Stiyl grudgingly thanking Touma for saving Index, and thanking him for letting them know that they were being lied to by their superiors. They are going back to England to confront them, and will leave Index in his care for the time being. The final part says the letter self-destructs shortly after being read. She throws it away and it bursts into pieces.

The man introduces himself as Stiyl Magnus, then declares his magic name: Fortis931 - I Prove Why My Name Is The Strongest Here. A magician traditionally only gives his magic name when the situation is serious. In this case, since Touma has seen too much, he can't allow him to live. Stiyl launches a fireball at Touma, but he catches it with his right hand and it instantly goes out. Shocked, Stiyl conjures up a FlamingSword and swings at him, but Touma grabs it with his right hand and it disappears as well. Touma concludes that his right hand works on magic as well as esper powers. Stiyl says he has no idea how Touma did that; Touma has no magic and Stiyl can't think of any esper powers that could do something like that. However, he is far from defeated and summons his trump card, the fire demon Innocentius, a giant made of 3,000 degree flames. The demon lunges at Touma, but he punches it and it disappears... only to reappear after a few seconds. It forms a massive crucifix of flames and swings it down. Touma catches it, but is nearly brought to his knees by Innocentius' massive strength. Innocentius is so hot that the hallway is catching fire and the door handles are melting. Touma is able to tolerate the heat because of his right hand, but the monster and his weapon are not disappearing. Index suddenly starts talking in a machine-like monotone. She is now in John's Pen Mode, where her mind goes on automatic to retrieve her magical knowledge from the grimoires she read. She explains that to summon Innocentius, special runes must be applied to the surroundings, and as long as the ruins remain, it can regenerate indefinitely. Stiyl tries to blast Touma in the back with his flames, but he swings Innocentius in the way and uses it as a shield, then jumps over the railing.

After losing Mikoto, Touma heads home to find three cleaning robots in front of his door surrounding something. He shoos them away, and is horrified to find Index lying face down with a massive slash wound on her back. A man wearing a black longcoat with a barcode tattoo walks up and says he is a magician.

Touma is baffled by this, so Index explains that she a magician on run. Due to her PhotographicMemory, she has memorized 103,000 [[TomeOfEldritchLore grimoires]], and now several magical cabals want to capture her to use the knowledge for their own desires. She entered Academy City during the blackout seeking sanctuary, RoofHopping until she landed on his balcony. Touma scoffs at this, saying that he knows that advanced technology and esper powers are real because they have a scientific basis and structured laws, but magic is just fiction. He asks her to prove that magic exists by performing a spell, but she says she does not have any mana and can't perform magic on her own. Normally, reading a grimoire would cause catastrophic damage to the reader, but since she doesn't have any mana, the texts she read didn't do anything to her.

Heaven Canceler tells her she is free to visit Touma, but warns that based on the brain damage he took, he may have suffered memory loss. She enters his room and is elated to find he is awake, but he asks her who she is. She frantically introduces herself and describes some of their experiences from the past few days, but nothing rings a bell. In tears, she declares her love for him and begs him to remember her. Suddenly, Touma laughs and says she fell for it. As she's stunned, he explains that he did lose his memories, but since it was caused by magic, all he had to do was touch his head with his right hand and they were restored. Enraged that he made fun of her, she bites him several times and storms out.

Heaven Canceler tells her she is free to visit Touma, but warns that based on the brain damage he took, he may have suffered memory loss. She enters his room and is elated to find he is awake, but he asks her who she is. She frantically introduces herself and describes some of their experiences from the past few days, but nothing rings a bell.

White feathers start floating down from the hole in the roof. Horrified, Kaori tells the other two that this is the spell Dragon's Breath. If a feather comes in contact, it could be lethal. Index gets up and fires the laser again, but Stiyl quickly throws his rune cards around, summons Innocentius, and uses it as a shield. However, Index analyzes Innocentius and adjusts the laser to it will be vulnerable to it. As the fire demon slowly dissolves, Stiyl yells at Touma this is their last chance. Touma charges up and touches her on the forehead. She instantly drops out of John's Pen Mode and passes out. Touma cradles her in his arms, relieved. Stiyl and Kaori shout a warning and try to get to him, but it's too late. One of the feathers lands on his head and he falls over, as if he were dead.

He touches her on the head with his right hand, but nothing happens. Determined, he starts touching her all over, then worries if he might have to touch her some place inappropriate. He opens her mouth and finds a rune on the back of her throat. He reaches in and touches it... and is blown back by an explosion of power as the rune is destroyed. Index goes into John's Pen Mode and floats in the air, glowing. Stiyl and Kaori enter the room and are shocked to see Index using magic. In her monotone, she says the "collar" has been destroyed and cannot be repaired, so the first order of business is to eliminate the threat that destroyed it. She says Touma's right hand cannot be analyzed, so she will go for shear power. She fires a magical laser called St. George's Sanctuary. Touma blocks the attack with his right hand, but is nearly blown away, and like Innocentius, the beam is continuous and doesn't instantly disappear. While holding back the beam, Touma tells the other two that obviously, their superiors lied to them: Index can use magic and she was not in any danger of her brain overloading. Touma's strength is almost spent, but Kaori uses her wires to trip Index and knock her on her back, causing the beam to destroy the roof and take out the Academy City satellite Tree Diagram in orbit.

He touches her on the head with his right hand, but nothing happens. Determined, he starts touching her all over, then worries if he might have to touch her some place inappropriate. He opens her mouth and finds a rune on the back of her throat. He reaches in and touches it... and is blown back by an explosion of power as the rune is destroyed. Index goes into John's Pen Mode and floats in the air, glowing. Stiyl and Kaori enter the room and are shocked to see Index using magic.

Touma laments not being able to do anything, but realizes something: if 15% of the brain holds one year of memories, then a person with photographic memory would only live to be about 6 or 7, and that is clearly not the case. Furthermore, where did Stiyl and Kaori get 85% and 15% from?

Index falls unconscious with a horrible headache. Throughout the day, Touma looks through Komoe's various textbooks for anything involving memory. He also calls several research facilities, but most of them are closed and the others hang up on him, thinking he's a prank caller. He tries to call Komoe, but she's relaxing at the bathhouse. Midnight rolls, and the two magicians return. Touma begs them not to do it, but Stiyl calls him out and points at how much pain Index is in. They have to erase her memories or else she will die. Kaori takes pity on Touma and tells Stiyl that they can wait until 12:15 to do the spell without endangering Index. Touma deserves the chance to say goodbye. Stiyl grudgingly agrees and they step outside.