Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament

Kihara Enshuu was said to lack a certain Kihara-ness even as a member of that family.

Her early life stood out in a way even among the Kiharas.

It was because of the ordinary people.

It was because of those claiming to be on the side of justice.

Those people took Kihara Enshuu away when she was very young. They did not do anything to her. All they did was imprison her in a dark room with no exit. 𝐟𝓇ℯ𝐞𝚠𝚎𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵe𝚕.co𝚖

Kiharas became Kihara-like because they were taught by other Kiharas.

If the young Kihara Enshuu was taken away from the other Kiharas while learning all the basic knowledge of being human such as language and customs, she might turn out to be something other than Kihara-like. That was the thought process.

In reality, that was nothing more than the justification someone gave for the clichéd revenge they took out of jealousy of the Kihara family that continued to create genius after genius no matter how twisted they might be.

He did not kill her.

He did not even cause her pain.

He merely threw her into a room and let time pass without teaching her anything. This way, the person could fulfill his twisted desire to be smarter than a Kihara.

Kihara Enshuu could not perform the multiplication table and she could not write even katakana, much less kanji.

It had nothing to do with being smart or stupid. She simply was not taught those things.

That was how it was supposed to go.

However, that childish revenge was overturned before long. One day, when the person was bringing food to the dark room like usual, the person discovered some scribblings written on the walls and floor. They were much more than just the multiplication table or katakana. They were incredibly complex collections of equations written in a strange code that Kihara Enshuu herself had developed. The person was only intelligent enough to wish to raise his position in the world by holding back others, so he never learned that it was a proof of the foundational ideas behind a cold sleep device.

If the person had not been an idiot, he may have noticed other things as well.

The three crayons seemingly scattered on the floor actually created a beauty that completely outdid the golden ratio. The wrinkles in the seemingly crumpled up balls of paper actually showed the plans for a parallel processing chip. The shadows cast on the floor by the light from the floor lamp functioned as a new form of test to show the deep psyche of anyone who looked at them.

No acquired knowledge was needed for a Kihara to be a Kihara.

Just by being a Kihara, a Kihara would love the concept of science with all his or her being.

For one thing, science was not merely something in text books. It was not merely something taught by one’s parents or teachers. Science was what made up all that existed in the normal world. As such, Kihara Enshuu had had countless things to learn from. Reference materials were piled up around her. The dust floating in the room and the feel of the plastic cup gave Kihara Enshuu plenty of knowledge. The only way to take science from a Kihara would be to destroy the entire world, leaving nothing behind.

The incompetent person never realized that.

Without being taught by anyone, the much too competent Kihara Enshuu continued to play with science.

She did so as much as she wanted.

In fact, without having anyone teach her the border between good and evil, she naturally gravitated for the most evil and pure form of it.

“It just came to me.”

That was why Kihara Enshuu gave a carefree smile to the person who brought her food. She knew very well what would happen to him if she carried out her idea, but she did not hesitate.

On the other hand, she had never felt displeased with being imprisoned in that dark room. (She could draw out countless bits of new science from a drop of water, so she felt no need for external information sources such as school, friends, TV, or the internet.)

She felt no hatred toward that person and his childish revenge. (She had enough toys in that dark room to play for her entire life, so she had no reason to hate him.)

She merely wanted to show off what she could do with the inspiration around her. (She had never been taught how to properly contact a benefactor and may not have even understood what one was.) 𝒇𝗿𝙚ℯ𝑤ℯ𝑏𝒏𝑜ѵe𝙡.c𝐨ｍ

She paid no heed to the fact that she was at the overwhelming disadvantage with the chains around her ankles. (To her, they were not restraints; they were just another toy.)

“I thought up a wonderful way of destroying this prison.”

She carried it out perfectly.

It was an absolute success.

The chains that should have never broken from the strength of a young girl broke as if they had melted.

The person had no idea what she had done.

However...

When the person’s body was discovered later, all but the head had been transformed into something like wax and his expression was one of extreme regret.

As if he had realized that the one he had been holding back so much had still risen far, far above him.

Kihara Enshuu lacked something as a Kihara.

By supplementing that from without, she somehow managed to keep up with the Kiharas.

However, her information source was not merely the graphs that analyzed the thought patterns of others.

Her true field lay elsewhere.

Even if she was immature and did not always succeed in it, Kihara Enshuu was still a Kihara.