Strike the Blood - Volume 12 - Chapter Ep

OUTRO 

In spite of being the middle of the New Year’s holiday break, the passenger terminal at Haneda Airport was packed. Apparently, a mysterious windstorm occurring in the airspace above Tangiwa had thrown flight schedules into chaos. 

As tourists and homecomers hurriedly went to and fro through the departing gate, Sayaka Kirasaka was huddled in a corner, hugging a little stuffed animal. She had long, chestnut-colored hair tied in a ponytail and wore a school uniform. 

The black keyboard case complimented her tall, slender physique. 

She possessed refined beauty to the point that anyone would look at her, even if she was just standing quietly, but at the moment, everyone was walking past her as quick as their steps could take them, apparently trying to avoid her. This was because Sayaka’s beautiful eyebrows were ruffled as she desperately spoke to a stuffed animal. 

Bewildered, Sayaka stared into the eyes of the stuffed animal in her hand as she exclaimed, “I-it’s over…?!” 

At a glance, it appeared to be a stuffed cat; and while, in fact, it was made from one, it was now a catlike shikigami. Yukari Endou was the one controlling it—a sorceress of exceptional skill as well as Sayaka’s mentor. 

Responding to her call, Sayaka had traveled long-distance until finally reaching Haneda, but… 

“What’s the meaning of this, master?! Wasn’t this a special order from the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency—?! What do you mean, the incident’s all wrapped up, so never mind?! I’m finally out from house arrest and threw away my vacation to come here, you know?! And I came, you know?!!” 

Sayaka shook the stuffed animal around as she lamented. The little bell stuck on the cat’s neck made a light ringing sound in the process. 

However, the stuffed animal gave no response. The other party had relinquished control of the shikigami, arbitrarily ending the call. 

“—Um, master? H-hey, master, come on, don’t cop out on me!” Sayaka stomped on the floor. “That bitch!” 

That was when someone patted one of Sayaka’s slender shoulders from behind. 

“Heya, better give the hysterics a rest. You’re standing out way too much, y’know…” 

“Geh, a—a man?!” 

When Sayaka turned around, standing there was a male high school student with spiky, combed-back hair wearing headphones around his neck. Largely on instinct, Sayaka attempted to smash his face in with an elbow, but a light backward sway on his part made the attack hit nothing but air. 

Sayaka was now livid, nearly drawing a ritual scroll from a pocket when she finally remembered that she’d seen his face somewhere. 

“You’re…Kojou Akatsuki’s friend…” 

“Motoki Yaze. I’d appreciate it if you at least remembered my name by now, Kirasaka.” 

The chummy demeanor Yaze addressed her with made Sayaka really want to kill him. 

Despite that, and with her face twitching, she spoke in as composed a voice as she could manage. 

“…What’s a resident of a Demon Sanctuary doing in a place like this? You don’t look like a tourist to me.” 

“Same as you, probably.” Yaze’s shoulders sank as he spoke with a pained smile. “My tomboy childhood friend rushed off and left Itogami Island. I thought I’d go and see what’s happening, but it looks like the party ended before I could catch up.” 

“What the heck, are you some kind of stalker…? That’s gross…!” 

“You’re not one to talk with the secret photos you’ve been taking…” 

As Yaze spoke, he took out and showed Sayaka her very own cell phone, the one supplied to her by the Lion King Agency. She’d only just gotten it back after having it confiscated due to her house arrest. 

On the lock screen was a picture of Yukina Himeragi heading into school with Kojou Akatsuki beside her, something of an afterthought. 

“Wait a… Th-that’s my cell phone! Why do you…?!” 

When did he pick my pockets? thought Sayaka in confusion as she put a hand to the instrument case on her back. The case was the sheath for a silver longsword, permitted aboard airplanes due to her Attack Mage license. Inside was Lustrous Scale, a prototype area-suppression weapon of the Lion King Agency. 

“I-I’ll cut you down!” 

“Wait, wait! Here! I’m giving it back, okay?!” 

Mindful of the eyes of passing travelers, Yaze hastily thrust the cell phone forward. 

Sayaka’s face went crimson as she took the cell phone from him and said, “J-just to make this clear, the picture here features Yukina, and the others shown in the background are chumps I have no interest in whatsoever! If anything, I think they sully the image—!” 

“Sure, sure.” 

Yaze tossed aside the casual comment, nodding with an irritating, know-it-all look. 

Sayaka glared at him with teary eyes and insisted, “If you’re done, get going already to Itogami Island—or to hell, if you prefer!” 

“I’d just love to, but I found something that tugged at my mind a little—and if you kick up a big fuss here, those folks will get their guard up and that’d suck for me, so please, calm down a bit, won’t ya?” He squinted as he spoke. “Seriously, I’m begging you.” 

Apparently, the entire reason for Yaze speaking to Sayaka was to prevent her from unwittingly standing out too much. 

Meaning, the people who he didn’t want to see a Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Organization were close by… 

“By ‘folks’…you mean them?” 

Sayaka followed Yaze’s gaze to an airplane parked at the entrance to the airport’s loading apron. It was a small jet-engine passenger plane with specs like a cargo plane’s. 

Individuals looking like engineers were gathered around the plane, seemingly inspecting the cargoes being swapped. “Ohh,” went Sayaka, blinking her eyes when she saw a familiar face among the inspectors. 

“Kojou Akatsuki’s mother…?” 

“What, you know her?” 

Yaze asked as if that was somewhat unexpected. Sayaka nodded without a word. 

The woman dressed in a well-worn white gown with a sleepy face was Mimori Akatsuki. Sayaka had met her in a guest room of MAR Inc., an international sorcerous industrial conglomerate. Behind that fluttery, unreliable-looking baby face, Mimori was the chief researcher of MAR’s medical branch. 

“That plane’s a cargo plane chartered by MAR,” Yaze whispered, cupping his hand. “On paper, what’s in the cargo hold came in from Hokkaido, but it comes from somewhere farther up north.” 

“North… Wait, do you mean the Moscow Empire? But it’s a non-signatory to the Holy Ground Treaty…” 

Sayaka’s expression grew grave. The Moscow Empire, located in the northern reaches of the Eurasian continent, was a great nation with vast territory and abundant mineral resources, but it had next to no contact with Japan. As a non-signatory to the Holy Ground Treaty, the nation was under international trade sanctions. 

“That’s probably why they’re opening the container up here. If they treat it as humanitarian aid, you can receive patients with incurable diseases even from countries under trade sanctions, and inspections are lighter here at Haneda than they’d be in a Demon Sanctuary.” 

“…A patient with an incurable disease?” 

Sayaka’s eyes glazed over, feeling something ominous from the odd detail in Yaze’s words. 

“That sounds a lot like smuggling… Why is a corporation on MAR’s level going that far to…?” 

Sayaka’s train of thought was derailed when, immediately before the cargo was brought aboard the aircraft, the container door opened, and she caught a glimpse of the contents for a single instant. 

Packed inside the blue-glass container was something that looked like a coffin of ice. 

Within it, a beautiful girl slept. 

“A…girl…?” 

Perplexed, Sayaka furrowed her eyebrows. 

There was but a single, brief word engraved on the container to identify the girl within. 

Oracle. 

It was nearly sunset when a helicopter arranged by the Lion King Agency came to pick up Kojou and company. 

As an apology for causing them so much trouble, they had made arrangements to return Kojou and Yukina to Itogami Island. Apparently, their absconding from the Demon Sanctuary and smuggling themselves onto the mainland was being swept under the rug as well. Of course, neither Kojou nor Yukina was going to complain. 

If there was one problem he could name, it was that Nagisa would be taking the same helicopter as he was. 

“Hey, listen, Kojou. Even though Shirona told Granny to check herself into a hospital over and over, she wouldn’t listen one bit. She was all… Don’t treat me like I’m old and stuff! And Gajou—the instant they told Gajou they were sending him to the hospital Mimori works at, he started thrashing around and saying Don’t! She’ll kill me! That’s because of that thing that happened when he came home drunk that one time, which, like, never happens, right?” 

The little sister whose face he hadn’t seen for some ten-odd days continued her monologue toward Kojou and Yukina with incredible vigor, seemingly to vent all of her frustrations. The pair could only listen dumbfounded as Nagisa kept talking for nearly two hours before tiring herself out and falling asleep. 

Though exhausted from the battle with Azama, Kojou felt like he ought to be grateful just knowing that Nagisa was all right. Incidentally, Nagisa apparently had no memory from the moment she’d collapsed in the bath at the temple, and no one had told her of the appearance of demon beasts. 

Kojou had passed off his reason for being at the temple as being concerned by her long absence and being unable to wait any longer. Though only so-so as an explanation, it paled compared to the wild tale Gajou had her buy into—that he’d sexually harassed the priestesses at the temple and Hisano had stabbed him for his trouble. 

“Are you coming back with us, too?” 

With Nagisa’s slumber leaving Kojou’s hands free, he pointed at the idling transport helicopter as he posed the question to Asagi. Apparently, on-site inspection related to the incident meant there was still a little time before the helicopter was set to depart. 

“I’ll head back after I shop in the capital for two or three days. I went through all the procedures to leave the island, so it’ll be a problem if I don’t head back on a proper airplane.” 

Asagi had already begun rapidly sifting through brand stores on her cell phone. Now that she was finally on the mainland, it seemed she intended to buy up some clothes, handbags, and cosmetics for her trouble. 

“And what will you do, Tanker? That tank of yours is in pretty sorry shape…” 

“I wait in anticipation of a recovery craft from Didier Heavy Industries. All the data gathered from this incident was well worth the effort.” 

The redheaded girl straddling the legged tank replied to Asagi with a face overflowing with a sense of accomplishment. 

“Well, if you’re happy with it, then that’s fine with me… Iblis? Er, where is Iblis…?” 

Speaking those words, Asagi surveyed the area with a suspicious look. At some point, all sign of the foreign boy with them had vanished. In the end, he and Kojou hadn’t had any proper introduction. But that’s just fine, really, thought Kojou. 

“Incidentally…,” he said, “…why are you wearing a swimsuit in a stupidly cold place like this?” 

“Huh?!” 

Kojou drawing attention to it made Asagi’s face redden in embarrassment as she finally remembered. She was wearing a pilot suit resembling a competition swimsuit that highly accentuated her curves; it even courteously provided a name space stretching right over her breasts. 

“Th-there are various circumstances involved in… Wait, how long are you going to stare?!” 

“Hey, you’re the lewd one here! You’re completely fine looking like that in public! 

“Uwaa?!” 

Asagi let out a shriek and unleashed a short uppercut right at Kojou’s face. Launched out of the blue, the attack knocked him directly on his back. During that time, Asagi fled into the robot tank. 

What the hell was that for? Thought Kojou as he wiped away his nosebleed and sat up. 

As Kojou did so, a pretty, folded handkerchief was held out right before his eyes. When Kojou looked up in surprise, he saw Yukina standing there, smiling at him. 

It was a strangely repressed, artificial smile. 

“Speaking of indecent, senpai— You drank Miss Glenda’s blood, didn’t you?” 

Yukina began roughly wiping Kojou’s bloodstained lips. 

Instantly judging that clumsy attempts to gloss things over would backfire, Kojou desperately composed himself and said, “W-well, yeah. Couldn’t be helped ’cause we had to get out of that weird in-between Nod place. Besides, Himeragi, Glenda had changed into you at the time…” 

“Changed into me…? You mean, she shape-shifted?” Perplexed, Yukina inclined her head a little and crouched down beside Kojou. 

Kojou nodded. “Well, somethin’ like that. I think she read the memories of the blood in me to re-create what you look like…” 

“Memories of the blood… I see…” Yukina pressed a finger to her lips as she made a little nod. 

Then, as if just remembering something rather important, Yukina’s big eyes narrowed as she said, “But Glenda was naked at the time, wasn’t she…?” 

“Ah, er, yeah, because she’d changed into a dragon. I mean, she’s a dragon, so being naked is no big deal for—” 

Kojou desperately pressed the point. When she’d first appeared, she was very much in dragon form, so it was by no means a total lie. 

However, Yukina gazed at the shaken Kojou’s face with frigid eyes as she said, “So Miss Glenda changed into me, meaning…… Senpai, did you see…?” 

“What?” 

For an instant, Kojou’s gaze wavered, not understanding just what Yukina was saying to him. With him like that, Yukina pulled very close to his face. 

“Did you see me…naked?” 

“Ahh… Th-that’s… How should I put this…?” 

More precisely, he hadn’t just seen, he’d touched, too, but of course he couldn’t tell her that. 

During the time Kojou did not answer, Yukina’s rage turned into an icy frost of bloodlust. 

“Did you see anything?” 

“Er, but it was Glenda on the inside…” 

“Did you see anything?” 

“……” 

“Senpai?” 

With Yukina glaring at him with that cold, bladelike gaze, Kojou was frozen stiff as he continued to sweat profusely. 

“Gimme a break,” he unwittingly murmured under his breath. The murmur melted into the night sky and vanished. 

“—Yuiri!” 

As she got out of the transport helicopter, Shio Hikawa raised a cheerful voice as she caught sight of her good friend. 

It was in the Tangiwa Mountains far removed from civilization. Thanks to the ferocious clash between the Cleansers’ Major Azama and the Fourth Primogenitor, traces of a giant explosion had been carved into the foothill; it resembled the vestige of a volcanic eruption. 

Yuiri Haba was standing in front of a cabin left intact near ground zero of that explosion. 

“Shio! I’m so glad you’re all right!” 

“Yeah, same here!” 

Reunited, the two joined hands with happy, smiling faces. Both had their clothes all torn up, but somehow, they had managed to make it through alive. Considering that they’d been surrounded by monsters like the prince from the Fallen Dynasty and the Fourth Primogenitor, their good fortune was truly miraculous. No one could blame them for rejoicing like ordinary schoolgirls, forgetting that they were Attack Mages of the Lion King Agency for that one moment. 

“Yuiri!” 

Watching the pair so worked up must have made the steel-haired girl want to copy them, for she rushed over and embraced them, too. Strangely, though they were a little surprised, they didn’t find it uncomfortable at all. Perhaps that was due to her expression being the innocent smile of a baby’s. 

“Hey, Glenda! Shoes! Put those shoes on!” 

Yuiri was fussing over the steel-haired girl as if she were her guardian. 

The girl named Glenda dutifully sat down and commenced hand-to-hand combat with her shoelaces. Yuiri aided the girl with an unpracticed hand. The scene was heartwarming, somehow. 

“That girl’s a dragon?” 

“Yeah. Probably.” 

“That so. Nice to meet you, Glenda. I’m Shio Hikawa.” 

When Shio squatted next to the girl and spoke, the steel-haired girl’s face turned amiable. “Shio,” she repeated, practically singing the word. 

Yuiri watched the interaction between the pair with a smile. However, Shio realized immediately after that Yuiri was periodically glancing behind her back. 

At the end of Yuiri’s gaze were two children wearing uniforms of the same color. One was a small-statured girl with a silver spear; the other was a boy with a languid expression. 

“Hey, Yuiri. Isn’t that…Yukina Himeragi?” 

Shio posed the question to Yuiri with a nonchalant tone. 

“Y-yeah.” 

Yuiri gulped; her shoulders trembled as she nodded. “Hmmm,” Shio murmured, scrutinizing the pair that was the object of Yuiri’s attention. 

Yukina Himeragi had her face very close to the boy’s; they seemed to be having some kind of argument. The atmosphere was plainly stormy, but despite that, the ambiance between the two seemed very relaxed. She felt very much like she was watching a bickering couple bothering those around them. 

“That girl’s gotten…cute somehow? Well, ah, she had a pretty face to begin with, but…” 

As Shio watched Yukina’s angry expression, she mumbled those words without realizing it. She didn’t even understand why she had thought that. 

However, Yukina agreed with a serious look, perhaps feeling the same. 

“Yeah… You might be right.” 

“Then…that’s Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor…” 

“…Yeah. He looks better than I expected. I’m actually kind of jealous…” 

This time, when Yuiri murmured, seemingly to herself, her quiet words genuinely took Shio by surprise. 

“Hmm, well, he does look like he’ll turn into a nice man in another twenty years or so.” 

From a distance, she stared at the side of Kojou Akatsuki’s face as she subconsciously said exactly what was on her mind. 

Then it was Yuiri’s turn to be surprised. 

“Eh? Shio, don’t tell me you…” 

Yuiri’s eyes opened wide in surprise, her voice trembling. 

That was when Shio finally realized her verbal slip. After all, both had a very good idea of what a Kojou Akatsuki with twenty more years on him would look like… 

Wait, no, Shio thought, shaking her head. Shio absolutely did not think kindly about that wicked, middle-aged lecher. There was no way she’d even dream of it. 

“Eh? Ah… N-no, you’re wrong. Just forget what I said. It’s really not like that…! It’s not!” exclaimed Shio, her voice echoing across the dusky sky. 

The same sky as Itogami Island—and the same, silver moon—silently looked down upon them.