(No Teaching License)

"That's why I've brought along my familiar!"

With these words, a young man with white bandages—at a closer look, wrapped multiple times around his eyes—named Satoru Gojo spreads his arms wide to welcome the girl standing on the stage.

"Hey, she's frozen stiff."

Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical School. A new face arrives in the classroom for the first-year students, which consists of four students and one teacher.

The newcomer is a sister dressed in a pure white habit.

The girl, who had been suddenly treated like a familiar, would have certainly complained if she were calm, but her consciousness was currently elsewhere.

"Brainstem Sensei, when did you turn into a panda...?"

"So, is she also a transfer student?"

Ignoring the mumbling girl, Maki Zen'in, a female student with a ponytail and round glasses, asks. Gojo's earlier statement about the familiar is dismissed as nonsense.

Just when Yuta Okkotsu thought he was no longer the "new kid," another one appeared. Maki was internally annoyed, wondering if new students would keep coming like an endless stream of wanko soba noodles.

"No, she's going to be my teaching assistant."

"Huh? Do you even need one? What grade is she? She looks like a middle schooler. And is she a foreigner?"

Maki bombards her with questions, more out of exasperation than genuine curiosity.

"Shouldn't we ask her name first?"

"Salmon."

Yuta Okkotsu tries to bring some order to the chaotic introduction. Toge Inumaki, whose nod barely suggests agreement, mumbles in his unique speech.

"My name is Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum. Please call me Index."

"From her first name, it doesn't even sound like a human name."

The one likely to make that comment is Panda. Quite literally a panda, both in appearance and name. Nobody questions this anymore.

"That's Toge Inumaki, Maki Zen'in, Panda, and Yuta Okkotsu," Gojo introduces the classroom members all at once. No one bats an eye at the inclusion of Panda.

"I came from England. Officially, I'm 14 years old, but I don't attend school. What do you mean by 'grade'?"

After memorizing everyone's faces and names meticulously, Index responds to the questions directed at her.

"Grades are grades."

"It's a way to measure the strength of sorcerers and curses. From lowest to highest, it's 4, 3, semi-2, 2, semi-1, 1, and special grade," Gojo explains, and Index processes this information while staring into space.

Maki is visibly annoyed, wondering how she doesn't know this, even though it's possible the British Sorcerer community doesn't use such classifications. She sees Index as an assistant teacher at best, not someone significant. At least, as long as she isn't a hindrance like Yuta initially was, she doesn't mind.

That perception is soon to be corrected.

The beginning of this change is Gojo's announcement of a practical training session involving teachers and students. He mentions something about a friendly competition, but Index and Yuta, who have relatively normal sensibilities, are the only ones surprised by the idea of beating each other up to deepen friendships.

At the school's training ground, where combat training usually takes place, Index, under the pretense of being a new teaching assistant, faces off against the four students. Gojo spectates, clearly intending to heckle from the sidelines.

Without any weapons, dressed in an impractical habit, and with movements indicating she's not used to combat, the four hesitate to attack all at once, showing some mercy. Maki, who doesn't hold back, strikes first with a bamboo sword.

"What?"

Maki's attack misses. Not even a hint of evasion is seen; Index simply wasn't there. Maki repeatedly changes her attack angle, but every strike misses by a hair's breadth.

"What's with her?"

The trick is simple: relying entirely on the superhuman reflexes of a saint, and lacked even a shred of technique, purely by speed. Even if not at the speed of sound, she moves faster than a bullet. From such a close range, human reaction time can't keep up.

The students changed their minds. Maybe this girl is really a teacher. It's clear that it would be difficult for Maki to even land a single hit on her.

If Yuta doesn't summon Rika, he's more likely to become a liability than an asset. Protecting Toge, who isn't suited for close combat, seems like the best strategy. They all understand this without needing a signal.

"Tuna mayo."

Toge holds Yuta back, positioning himself protectively. Panda jumps at Index, blocking over 90 degrees of her escape route.

As Panda closes in, Maki attacks from behind. Index leaps to evade, but lands directly in front of Toge and Yuta.

"Fall."

Toge's cursed speech fails to affect Index.

"Golden Transmutation Ars Magna? No, more like simple words of power," Index mumbles, thinking aloud.

Unfazed by the second curse, Index leaps over Toge and Yuta, landing behind them. She stops, pondering Toge's cursed speech, dismissing the idea that true names or powerful enchantments were involved. Her auto-defense mechanisms neutralize such attacks, making them unnecessary to counter.

"Don't move."

The third attempt with cursed speech also fails. Panda and Maki attack again, while Yuta steps forward, realizing Toge is ineffective.

"L B T S Those who live by the sword, die by the sword, D B T S."

Index conjures a makeshift spell. It's a countermeasure based on the principle of poetic justice, causing weapons to backfire.

"What?!"

Maki and Yuta's bamboo swords fly out of their hands, targeting each other. Both are hit before they can dodge, the swords crashing into their heads.

"Ow!"

Index cuts the airborne swords effortlessly with her hands, displaying a humanly perceptible speed this time.

"Prioritize. The human body above, the bamboo swords below."

Despite her physical limitations, she cleanly slices through the bamboo swords without breaking them into dangerous fragments. But Panda uses this opening to strike from behind.

"Huh, it's soft?"

Panda's punch feels like hitting a cushion, absorbed without harm. Index's reflexes couldn't help her this time, but her unique physiology made the attack ineffective.

"Should I consider myself defeated since I was touched?"

"Yeah, let's call it."

Index checks with Gojo, who casually affirms, showing his usual nonchalance.

"But this proves she's a suitable teacher, right?"

The students now see her as a legitimate teacher, given her evasion and neutralizing abilities, even against Toge's cursed speech.

"But she lacks basic knowledge of curses and the sorcerer world. You might end up teaching her more outside combat training."

"What kind of knowledge gap is that!?"

As Gojo signals the end of the session, he asks Index.

"By the way, Index-chan, have you ever exorcised a cursed spirit?"

"Because I have this kind of constitution, I've never encountered this before."

As she said that, an extraordinary amount of positive power began to overflow from her.

!?

She didn't release the energy she had stored up, but simply let out the excess she had been forcibly containing within her body. Even so, the amount was more than enough to make the students' eyes widen in shock. Excluding the special case of Rika Orimoto, they had never encountered a Special Grade Cursed Spirit in person. Nonetheless, the sheer overwhelming aura, reminiscent of something sacred, flipped their perception of malevolence on its head.

Their spines straightened instinctively. If this had been a church or temple, they might have even perceived an illusion of a divine halo. If she constantly emitted such an aura, low-grade Cursed Spirits would likely flee in terror, and some might even evaporate before getting close.

In a place like England, where Cursed Spirits were weak and scarce, this trait would only make it even harder for her to encounter one, even if she actively searched.

"Well, this works out perfectly. Can you suppress that and accompany Toge and Yuta?"

With a casual explanation, Gojo dumped the job of chaperoning onto the new teacher, displaying what could only be described as classic Japanese workplace harassment.

---

Omake

It was far too large to be called a stuffed animal.

Too big, too thick, too heavy.

And monochrome.

It was truly a mass of fur.

"…A golem?"

"It's a panda."

"Kyaaaaaa! It talked!"