Fanfic / Of Science and Magics

An Original Flavour fanfiction created by Stormwolfex. It may be found here.

Of Science and Magics is a What If? story set in the A Certain Magical Index universe. In this timeline, Touma Kamijou is a childhood friend of Mikoto Misaka, and the story approaches the Index and Railgun canon in that direction.

The story begins with the A Certain Scientific Railgun timeline at the Level Upper arc, with Touma meeting the Railgun cast.

The main story published fourteen chapters which concluded the Level Upper arc and the Index arc. Unfortunately, there have been no further updates since September 2011, which leave numerous plotlines unresolved.

A few months after the main story's final update, a side-story titled Of Science and Magics: The Side Stories written by Knowledgeseeker66 was produced. Knowledgeseeker66 had previously received Stormwolfex's consent to write this story. It details numerous things about the past of Touma and numerous other characters before the beginning of Stormwolfex's story.

---

Tropes found in this fanfiction:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Touma's backstory is notably darker compare to canon, with his misfortune being indirectly responsible for the death of a man's wife and child to Mikoto being a Living Emotional Crutch for him and vice-versa. Mikoto's memory loss of him at the end of the Index Arc justifiably weighs heavily on his conscience.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In this fic, both Touma and Mikoto are reimaged as Childhood Friends due to their mothers' close friendship. Furthermore, the misfortune caused by Imagine Breaker created tragic events that weigh heavily on Touma, leading him to become a member of Skill-Out and known as the dreaded "Devil of Academy City" in the Dark Side.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • While Touma is a skilled street fighter in canon, it was mainly Taught by Experience and it would often be a Curb-Stomp Battle for him when facing against those who were formally taught in martial arts and have greater fighting experience than him. Furthermore, Touma was also very reluctant to fight unless the situation calls for it. This version of Touma was once a member in Skill-Out, specifically for the Big Spider gang, and used to be infamous for being a dreaded vigilante known as "The Devil of Academy City." Also, unlike his canon counterpart, Touma is able to use the Invisible Thing without having Imagine Breaker severed off in the past.
  • Like with Touma, Mikoto also gets an upgrade. Her own experience in the Dark Side and constant matches against the former beforehand as training allows her to control her esper abilities better and use them in more offensive ways than in canon to where she could not only hold her against Teitoku Kakine (the #2 ranked esper) for a brief while, but she also manages to make Kanzaki Kaori get serious while being low on "juice" (at the same time, however, Kanzaki was also holding back as well).
• Adaptational Sexuality: Compare to the Light Novels and the Railgun manga spin-off, Kuroko confirms to be a lesbian with a slight exception for Touma in a threesome with Mikoto.
• Adaptation Name Change: Justified. The name of the "Girl in the Dress" wasn't revealed during the fanfic's released and Stormwolfex instead, gave her the name of Kokoro (meaning "Heart" in English), while the name of the girl is later revealed to be Kaibi Gokusai in canon.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Touma and Mikoto being childhood friends compare to canon, to which the latter is the only girl in his eyes who he's romantically attracted to and vice-versa.
  • In canon, Touma is the Unknown Rival for Kuroko due to Mikoto's growing fondness for him; would often drop-kick at his head every time she caught him and Mikoto together, would always refer to him as "The Ape" or "The Troglodyte", and never warm up to the boy regardless. Here, the very first time they meet has Kuroko expressing her in-canon disdain for Touma, but the latter quickly notices this hostility and resolve any sort of misunderstandings, leading Kuroko to become much friendlier to Touma because of his bond with Mikoto but still treats him as The Rival.
  • In canon, Touma and Teitoku never really met or knew each other, and the latter's animosity revolves around Accelerator and later Mugino Shizuri in New Testament. Here, the two of them knew each other during their younger years in Academy City and are bitter enemies.
• Affectionate Nickname: Unlike the Embarrassing Nickname Touma uses for Mikoto in canon, Biri-Biri considered this for Mikoto here.
• Arch-Enemy: Teitoku Kakine is one for Touma Kamijou and the feeling is equally mutual between them.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the end of every chapter in Knowledgeseeker66's story, he has certain characters, normally Touma and Mikoto break the fourth wall in Omakes for either comical or informational purposes. They also lampshade about certain things that happen in the chapters or the story arcs.
• Bonus Material: There is bonus material at the beginning and end of each of Knowledgeseeker66's chapters. In the beginning, there is a haiku poem, and at the end of the chapter, there are omakes where characters break the fourth wall.
• Car Fu: Touma rams a taxi into Teitoku Kakine.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Possibly skirting into unlucky childhood friend considering recent events.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Played for Laughs and ultimately subverted. Try as he might from taking a few pages from Kurozuma's book, he'll still be seen as an Accidental Pervert thanks to his misfortune.
  Touma: "You should drink more of those. I once knew a girl with bust size like the both of you. She's grown rather marvelously thanks to the milk." (Mikoto and Kuroko blinked.)
  Kuroko: "Somehow... even though he just talked about breasts..."
  Mikoto: "It didn't sound lewd at all... but what's this about the girl growing marvelously!?"
  Touma: "You don't have to so jealous, just drink more milk and you'll be fine."
  Mikoto: "Why you!" (Mikoto pounced without warning.)
  Touma: "Oi! I'm still... argh! Such Misfortune!"
• Composite Character:
  • This version of Touma holds traits associated with Accelerator and Shiage Hamazura, the other two protagonists from the canon series. Like Accelerator, Touma has to deal with constant hardships due to possessing supernatural power, along with having to once fall into the Dark Side due to a personal failure of protecting a close companion. For Hamazura, Touma was once a former Skill-Out member with a bad view on some espers after a traumatizing event involving numerous Super Supremacist espers, leading to him being rescued by Ritoku Komaba and being willing to get his hands dirty in order to achieve his goals.
  • While the character wasn't introduced at the time of the fic, thus, as a result, is Adapted Out, Mikoto's status as Touma's childhood friend does channel an aspect from Ayu Mitsuari, being the first girl who gives the starting point of Touma's adventures. Tragically, Mikoto also shares her lenore status when losing her memories of Touma at the end of the Index Arc.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Touma in spades! His early childhood was much worse than what is suggested in cannon, and a certain event that occurred when he was 11 drives him over the Despair Event Horizon leading him to join Big Spider, claiming That Man Is Dead and becoming a Death Seeker bent on revenge while trying to shoulder the whole world's misfortune. Mikoto brought him back from this a bit later on (but still before the start of the story) returning him (for the most part) to the Touma we know.
  • Several original characters in Knowledgeseeker66's story has a Dark and Troubled Past as well.
• Dead Fic: This is a bit of an odd case. The story by Stormwolfex has not been updated since September of 2011. The author has also retired from the Fanfic community due to various personal reasons. However, despite the main story being halted, Knowledgeseeker66's story continues to be updated. According to him, Stormwolfex shared several plot details before his departure.
• Demoted to Extra: In Knowledgeseeker66's story, several characters, such as Misaka, Kuroko, Saten, and Uiharu, who were important in Stormwolfex's main story have reduced roles in the plotline due to Knowledgeseeker66's story being a prequel.
• Dramatic Irony: Instead of Touma losing his memories from the Feather of Light near the end of the Index Arc, it's Mikoto who gets some of her memories destroyed instead. Arguably, this leaves Touma in a very worse state of anguish by having a near mental breakdown with Tears of Remorse upon seeing his closet friend recoiled in fear of him because he's now a stranger to her, to which he blames himself for failing to prevent her memory loss in the first place.
• Early-Bird Cameo: All the other known Level 5 espers aside from Accelerator. The invisible thing inside Touma also appears after Kakine cuts Touma's right arm off.
  • Accelerator along with the other Level 5 espers receive early bird cameos in Knowledgeseeker66's side stories.
• Evil Counterpart: Arguably, Kakine is this for Touma; moreso than with Post-Character Development Accelerator and Mugino. The two of them were teens with powerful abilities that suffer from a Dark and Troubled Past with a Start of Darkness that involves failing to save a close female friend from death (Sasaki Ai for Touma and an unnamed girl from Kakine's canon spin-off manga), have confidence issues that lead them into doing what they do to validate their purpose in life, have a tendency to reject the reasoning of adults and apply their own ideas to a situation, and did many morally dubious things in the Dark Side along with having a female companion who cares for them (Mikoto for Touma and Kokoro for Kakine). The big difference between them is that Touma's motives are entirely rooted in saving those around him and he was able to return to the side of the light thanks to his bond with Mikoto, along with being surrounded with True Companions while Kakine's motives are entirely self-centered and further involves himself in the Dark Side with Kokoro being his Only Friend, along with being surrounded by acquaintances (at best). Tellingly, aside from both of their full names starting with a T and a K respectively (vice-versa when written in the eastern order), their abilities and fighting styles are practically diametric opposites to each other. Touma's a Close-Range Combatant with his Imagine Breaker being limited to touching with his right hand and it revolves around the destruction of the supernatural (i.e. magic, esper, etc.), which goes in line with his perchance to "shatter the illusions" of others and being more grounded in the natural world; while Kakine's a Long-Range Fighter with Dark Matter being only limited to his imagination and it revolves around creation by pulling "theoretically" existing matter out into the ordinary world, which goes in line to how esper abilities are described by rejecting the normal reality surrounding them and substituting it with one's own personal reality.
• For Want Of A Nail: Several things, such as the Level Upper timeline coinciding slightly with the Index arc, Touma having a considerably darker backstory which involves SCHOOL and Skill-Out, and the Index arc ending with Mikoto losing her memories of Touma.
• Glass Cannon: Despite her immense power as the #3 Level 5 Electromaster, Mikoto is still a 14-year-old girl who's no less durable than a regular athletic teen of her age. The author lampshades this when comparing her to Kanzaki, who's practically an Uber, who he then compares to Acqua of the Back as the Superman for defying all logic centered around the Saints.
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: A cruel variation occurs in Chapter 14. Mikoto gets hit by the memory-erasing feathers of Index instead of Touma, just before she gets to confess.
• Hypocrite: Touma tells Saten that she doesn't need powers to be strong since he's also a Level 0 just like her only for Saten to call out on his hypocrisy since he still has the power of Imagine Breaker.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Unexpectedly, Kuroko thinks this in regards to Mikoto's love for Touma.
• Japanese Delinquents: Touma was one before the canon events, having been a member of Skill-Out.
• The Lost Lenore: Mikoto doesn't actually die, but having her memories of Touma being erased by the feathers of light effectively destroy the girl who was by Touma's side through thick and thin. The revelation that Mikoto's memories of him having a low chance of recovery only brings the latter into Heroic BSoD.
• Morality Chain: Mikoto serves as this for Touma, considering the morally dubious things he committed in the Dark Side to protect those around him as the "Devil of Academy City."
• My God, What Have I Done?: During a flashback scene at the beginning of chapter 6, Touma has this reaction when he realized that he harm Mikoto in his 'Devil' attire since latter was snooping around in the Dark Side to find him.
• Original Character: The main story by Stormwolfex only has a few original characters while Knowledgeseeker66's story has numerous original characters.
• Original Flavour: It's a retelling of the original Light Novels and spin-off manga with Touma and Mikoto being childhood friends.
• Psycho Lesbian: Like in canon, Kuroko would sexually harass Mikoto constantly whenever the latter enters the picture. In fact, Kuroko is explicitly described as this by Mikoto at one point in the very first chapter.
• Red Baron: "The Devil of Academy City" for Touma.
• Ship Tease: Touma has loads of it with Saten, but he really only has eyes for Mikoto.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Kuroko comments on Touma's scars, he calls them a "legacy of a misspent youth".
  • Mikoto almost says Superman's world-of-cardboard speech word-for-word, realizing that Kaori is an opponent she can go all out on.
  "All my life, ever since I've reached Level 5, I feel like I'm living in a world of glass. Where everything is breakable and fragile. Especially humans, if I don't control my powers correctly, I could end up stopping their hearts in an instant or burn them to death with the heat produced. But… you can take it, can't you? A 'Child of God' means you must be blessed with some powerful protection. Then that's good. Maybe, just for today, I can cut loose and show you just how powerful I can be!"
• Shown Their Work: Not only has the author taken pains to research canon materials, but he has also shown his work with the selective amnesia that hits Mikoto in Chapter 14.
• Single-Target Sexuality: While also being a close friend, Mikoto is the apple in Touma's eyes. The same holds true for the latter.
• Supreme Chef: Touma upgrades to this after spending several years working at a restaurant in his backstory, with Mikoto, Kuroko, and Index enjoying his cooking.
• The Gadfly/The Tease: Misaki Shokuhou, specifically towards Touma and Mikoto.
• Tsundere: Mikoto hasn't lost this aspect of hers at all, even as a childhood friend to Touma.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 14, the end of the Index arc. While Touma doesn't lose his memories, Mikoto loses her memories of Touma instead.
• The Worf Barrage: With luck, Mikoto was able to grab onto Kaori Kanzaki and point-blank electrocute her. The only result Mikoto got was Clothing Damage and she was now at the mercy of the Saint.