Strike the Blood - Volume 18 - Chapter Ep

OUTRO 

The voice Kojou heard over his smartphone was the thoroughly serious-sounding, honors-student voice of Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella. 

“You were abducted by terrorists…?! What in the world have you been up to all the way in Aldegia?” 

“Hey it’s not like I wanted to be caught up in this stuff. I’ll arrive on Itogami Island tomorrow, so gimme the details later. And say hi to Rui and Amase for me, would you?” 

Leaving a suitable message for the friends he’d left behind on Itogami Island, Kojou pressed the button to end the call. 

“Ah, wait a… Kojou—!” 

Cutting off whatever Shizuri’s voice was trying to say, Kojou exhaled in relief. 

In place of silence, what he heard was a public announcement listing flight departure times. 

Kojou was sitting on a bench in the lobby of Verterace Airport. He was waiting for boarding information for a return flight to Itogami Island. 

“Was that Miss Kasugaya?” asked Yukina from beside Kojou. She sounded wary. 

If she’d overheard Shizuri’s voice from the smartphone, she had to understand it wasn’t much of a conversation, but somehow Yukina’s eyes had a pouting air to them as she watched Kojou talking to Shizuri. 

Kojou had no clue how she felt, though. He nodded vaguely to her question. 

“Yeah. I don’t really get it, but the gist was to get my butt back there soon.” 

Yukina’s eyes gave an entirely different glint of concern than they had held to that point. “Has something happened on Itogami Island?” 

“I don’t really wanna think about it…” 

Kojou gazed at the phone he’d just locked, sighing deeply. He was thoroughly exhausted from that holiday’s string of events. He could barely take being caught up in some weird incident back on Itogami Island on top of that, all the more because he hadn’t even touched the school homework assigned before the holiday break. 

Kojou glanced around the area, belatedly remembering someone. “Where’s Kirasaka?” 

The original plan was for Sayaka to return to Itogami Island on the same flight as Kojou and Yukina, and yet, even though it was almost boarding time, there was no sign of her. Kojou worried that she might have been injured from the Bifrost’s crash. 

However, Yukina wore a sympathetic expression as she shook her head. “Sayaka is remaining at the embassy to take care of leftover work. She said she had to write a proper report concerning this incident.” 

“Sounds rough. Seems La Folia and her dad are still cleaning up from the incident, too.” 

Kojou’s shoulders sank as he felt a fair bit of responsibility. 

The damage from the incident amounted to a single cutting-edge flying battleship, but it was being handled externally as an accident during the performance; the involvement of the North Atlantic Empire had not been divulged to the public. 

Of course, the Aldegian ruler seemed to be conducting under-the-table negotiations with the North Atlantic Empire over various matters, how to deal with the captive Trine and her subordinates included. La Folia insisted that the North Atlantic Empire compensate them for the equivalent of multiple Bifrosts, and the North Atlantic Empire side would have to make major concessions that would resolve outstanding territorial disputes and end in an announcement of shared ocean floor oil deposit extraction rights. That meant the failure of Trine’s scheme would result in the North Atlantic Empire coughing up painful reparations. 

But Kojou didn’t think a single saboteur had that much political value. 

Just maybe, La Folia, knowing Trine’s identity from the beginning, had given her free reign so as to allow the princess information to bring to negotiations with the North Atlantic Empire—such frightening speculation came to Kojou’s mind. 

As if to brush Kojou’s ominous thoughts away, Yukina turned to him with a sunny smile. 

“At the very least, I’m glad Kano was able to get along with everyone in the royal family.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she was watching Kanon and Nagisa happily shopping for souvenirs at a stand in the airport; there were little girls with them as well. These were La Folia’s twin younger sisters. 

For some reason, the girls were oddly fond of Nagisa, so they’d come all the way to the airport to see her off. 

The sight of Nagisa and Kanon acting like big sisters looking after younger twins brought a smile to Kojou’s face. 

“Well, guess all the hard work was worth it,” Kojou murmured, concurring with Yukina. 

He was pretty sure they hadn’t heard his voice, but the silver-haired twins noticed Kojou’s and Yukina’s gazes, waving as they rushed over. Both had hair that was a fair bit shorter than La Folia’s. The older twin, Londe, had her hair concealing her right eye, and the younger twin, Pascalia, had hers concealing her left. 

“Kojou!” 

“Yukina!” 

“Londe and Pascalia, was it? Came to give us a send-off?” 

Kojou made a languid smile as he watched the twins race over. For eleven-year-olds, the two girls were fairly short. Kojou and Yukina’s sitting on the bench put them at just the right height for speaking to each other eye to eye. 

The twins came to a standstill right in front of them, glancing between Kojou and Yukina’s faces with great interest. Then the twins met each other’s eyes. 

“Hey, Yukina’s really pretty.” 

The two brought their faces close to Kojou. He wasn’t really sure whether it was the older or the younger whispering into his ear— 

“If Kojou marries La Folia, that’ll make Yukina our older sister, huh?” 

“Of course. They’ll be Wife Number One and Wife Number Two.” 

“Which one will be Number One and which Number Two?” 

“Who knows?” 

“Well?” 

The twins peppered him with questions. 

When he looked closer, the twins’ eyes differed a little from La Folia’s and Kanon’s. Even though both had tints of blue, Londe’s were green, almost jade. Pascalia’s had a bit of red to make them amethyst. 

“Hey, stop talking like it’s a done deal that I’m marrying La Folia. And Himeragi just watches over me, okay?” 

Kojou remained calm. Over the last few days, his exchanges with La Folia had enabled him to build up resistance to jokes of that nature. 

In contrast, when Yukina heard Kojou’s words, she became incredibly expressionless. 

Though he noticed the glacial glare Yukina was giving off, the twins had suddenly changed the topic. 

“Hey, Kojou. You were talking to a white-haired girl just now?” 

“White hair? You know about Cas?” Kojou replied, bewildered. 

How the heck do the two of them know the color of Shizuri’s hair? he pondered. 

However, the twins did not reply to Kojou’s question. They seemed to be looking far into the distance. 

“Protect that girl, would you?” 

“And beware of The Blood.” 

The twins’ prophetic-like words made Kojou feel vaguely uneasy. 

It was said that without exception, girls who were direct descendants of the Aldegian royal line were born with the power of strong spirit mediums. If so, perhaps they were spiritualists just like La Folia and Kanon. Maybe that power’s why they know about Shizuri, he thought. 

“The Blood…” 

And, upon hearing the girls’ words, Yukina was shaken even more than Kojou. She bit her lip with a hard expression, almost as if she knew the name. 

Having finished their words of prophecy, the twins simultaneously grinned, elegantly curtsying in ladylike fashion. 

Gazing at Kojou and Yukina, they took on a mature demeanor. 

“As members of the Royal Family of Aldegia, we extend to both of you our thanks.” 

“We are most grateful you rescued our older sister, La Folia Rihavein, and our kingdom of Aldegia.” 

“R-right.” 

Thrown for a loop by the abrupt change in the girls, Kojou nodded and told them they were welcome. 

Then they both kissed Kojou on his cheeks. 

The unfamiliar sensation made Kojou awkwardly stiffen. Looking upon this with amusement, the twins exclaimed, “Bye-bye!” as they waved their hands in a cute fashion. 

“Come meet us again.” 

“Take care until then.” 

Leaving those words behind, the twins departed like a storm, leaving Kojou in a daze as he watched them go. 

Being little sisters of La Folia, it figured that even at that age, they were well versed in taking the people around them for a ride. At this rate, they’ll be terrifying when they grow up, he thought. 

Yukina glared at Kojou with frosty, half-lidded eyes. “What do you think you are doing?” 

Kojou was a bit taken aback as he looked at Yukina. 

“I didn’t really do anything. That’s a normal goodbye in these parts, right?” 

“You had an indecent look on your face when they kissed you.” 

“How would you know…?!” 

Yukina’s voice grew sour. “Because I am merely your watcher.” 

Kojou didn’t know what he’d done to anger her. But when Kojou, naturally put off, opened his mouth to refute her, he suddenly heard a voice heartily laughing. 

The speaker was a young man who looked like a tourist. From his appearance, he seemed to be in his early twenties. He had short hair and was a tall guy, probably over a hundred and ninety centimeters. He was slender, but thanks to his musculature, he didn’t give off a weak impression whatsoever. He gave off the air of a soldier, or perhaps an athlete. 

He was not what you’d call a pretty boy, but he was certainly a good-looking man. He was wearing rough, baggy pants and coarse work boots. On his upper body, he wore a tank top, and he had a leather parka slung over a shoulder. His exposed left shoulder was decorated with a dragon tattoo. 

“Yo. So we meet again, boy. I saw it all. You sure are popular.” 

The man spoke with a hearty voice as he gave Kojou’s back a few slaps. He probably meant them to be light, but they had excessive strength in them. 

“You sure are a lucky one. Those girls are gonna be real beauties down the road.” 

“R-right.” 

Kojou tilted his head as he watched the man chummily wrap an arm around his shoulders. 

“So we meet again,” he’d said, but Kojou had no memory of him, especially not a guy who stood out this much. This some kind of new scam? he wondered with concern. 

A woman who seemed to be with him tried to pacify the quite overbearing man. “Cool it, would you? You’re making his girlfriend jealous.” 

She was an adult beauty with golden-red hair like the glimmering sun. Her outfit consisted of leather pants with knee cut-outs and a simple shirt, but the ensemble made her look frighteningly gorgeous. 

She was without question a beautiful woman, but she didn’t give off a frivolous, flirtatious image at all. She had a sunny, colorful charm that easily attracted attention from any who caught sight of her. 

Overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the beautiful woman, Yukina hastily denied her words. “No, not at all. I am not his girlfr…” 

When Yukina shook her head with reddened cheeks, the redheaded woman stared at her with her impressively large eyes. “Ohh, you’re so cuuute! I like you!” 

Yukina’s eyes bulged when the woman suddenly hugged her. The Sword Shaman stiffened like a cat picked up by a stranger as the woman rubbed her cheek against Yukina’s. 

On top of attracting too much attention, the man and woman were far too friendly. What’s with these two? thought Kojou. 

“Just who are you…?” 

“Shh! Be quiet. We don’t wanna stand out,” the strange man said. They had already raised quite a ruckus. 

Still hugging Yukina, the woman also went “Shh!” as she cutely raised a finger. “A troublesome bunch is after us. Let us hide just a little bit.” 

Kojou blurted out the thought from his head. “R-right… You eloping or something?” 

Short of being criminals or running from debts, it was the only reason he could think of for a couple at their age to be trying to avoid attention while coming to an airport. 

Hearing that, the woman let out a little laugh. 

“Tee-hee. I suppose you could call it running away from home. There’s a lot of annoyances at home, you see.” 

“And you are going to Itogami Island?” Yukina asked with a hint of surprise. She must have noticed the ticket to a flight for Itogami Island sticking out from the woman’s shirt pocket. 

“Yeah. Haven’t been out Far East in a while.” The man made a leering smile. 

“You’re going to Japan, too? Shouldn’t you be at the boarding gate?” the woman asked. 

“Yeah. But we’re taking a different flight.” 

The tickets the couple had were of an airline different from the one Kojou and company were using. Furthermore, the boarding time for their flight was drawing near. 

They surely understood that. The man stood back up with some regret, extending his right hand toward Kojou. 

“Right. Hope we can meet again on the other side. I’m Ki. Ki Juranbarada.” 

Shaking the man’s hand, Kojou introduced himself. “Kojou Akatsuki.” 

That instant, he felt a chill run up his spine. It was the kind of fear one had from thrusting one’s hand into the maw of some ferocious beast. 

“I’m Zana. Zana Lashka. Nice to meet you, Yukina.” 

The woman gave Yukina a peck on the cheek and waved cutely toward her. 

Then, as if to shun the eyes of others, they lowered their bodies and raced toward the boarding entrance. 

“Himeragi, why did that person know your name…?” Kojou asked with a tilt of his head. 

If they know Yukina’s name, maybe we did meet them sometime before, he thought. 

“Senpai. That couple just now… Perhaps they might be…” Her voice was wavering. 

“…Himeragi?” 

Kojou was thrown off from seeing Yukina go pale. Yukina’s head remained slightly bent down, her entire body going rigid. She, a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, was cowering in fear. 

“Himeragi…what’s wrong? Something happen?” 

Kojou touched Yukina’s shoulder. Yukina slowly lifted her face, seemingly trying to tell Kojou something. 

But before she could, they heard the ragged footsteps of someone else rushing over. It was a vampire with black hair wearing an old-fashioned coat, appearing with a number of subordinates in tow. 

“Kojou Akatsuki!” 

“Aradahl? What’s the big rush? Some incident or something?” 

Aradahl’s vividly haggard expression left Kojou feeling an inauspicious premonition. If a man of Aradahl’s caliber was nervous, he couldn’t imagine it being something trivial. 

Coming to a standstill in front of Kojou and Yukina, Aradahl was catching his breath. “Have you seen a suspicious couple? A man and a woman who unusually stand out.” 

“A couple that stands out…?” 

Kojou’s premonition turned into a chill. They’d only just finished speaking to people with those exact characteristics. 

“I met some person named Ki. Ki Juranbarada… I think? The other was—” 

“Why do you know His Lordship’s name?!” 

Aradahl grabbed and shook both of Kojou’s shoulders. Aradahl’s ghastly expression made Kojou unwittingly draw in his breath. 

“H-His Lordship?” 

“Ki Juranbarada is the true name of our Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord…!” 

“L…Lost Warlord…?! That guy’s the First Primogenitor?!” 

This time, Aradahl’s shocking statement left Kojou aghast. 

The First Primogenitor was the ruler of the world’s oldest Dominion, the Lost Empire, and he was the man who’d drafted the Holy Ground Treaty stipulating coexistence between humanity and Demonkind. It was no exaggeration to say that he had single-handedly brought the peace and prosperity of the present age into being. 

The shocking fact that this individual had been there moments prior left Kojou feeling dizzy. Small wonder Yukina had such a fright. 

“Quiet. Keep in mind where you are, Kojou Akatsuki. If people knew His Lordship was present, there would be an airport-wide panic.” 

“W-well, that’s true, but…” 

Don’t surprise me like that, then, Kojou thought, but he swallowed the words as he begrudgingly nodded. 

Aradahl’s words were fact. Even among the three Primogenitors publicly acknowledged to exist, the Lost Warlord was both the most dangerous and the most mysterious. If it was known such a man had appeared, forget the airport—there would inevitably be a worldwide incident. 

“So where is our primogenitor headed?” Aradahl asked with a serious look in his eyes. 

“Ahh?!” went Kojou, letting out a moan that was very near to a shriek. “Those two were waiting for a flight to Itogami Island! He said he hadn’t been to the Far East in a long time…” 

“Wh…at…?” 

Aradahl’s jaw dropped wide open. The First Primogenitor was heading to a Demon Sanctuary—however non-public it might be, he was visiting the Dominion ruled by the Fourth Primogenitor. The calamity that such a whim might invite had unnerved even Aradahl. 

“Are you saying His Lordship is visiting Itogami Island because the happenings there have piqued his interest…?!” 

Aradahl seemed completely beside himself as he turned his face toward the heavens. 

The airport’s internal information board indicated that the flight to Itogami Island in question had already taken off. 

Seeing this for himself, he gave Kojou a sharp glare with bloodshot eyes. 

“We will pursue him immediately. But please, Kojou Akatsuki. You are not obliged to do as we say, but I ask you to watch over His Lordship to ensure he does not engage in fruitless conflict.” 

“Watch over him…?” 

You’re kidding, right? thought Kojou, more shocked than surprised. 

To be blunt, Kojou didn’t think he could lay a finger on that Ki guy in a fight. Indeed, his premonitions said that nothing good would come from contact between the two. However, he couldn’t think of any other option. 

Aradahl had the demeanor of a person backed into a corner. “Above all else, do not cause His Lordship to lose interest. Otherwise, there is no telling what might happen!” 

With that, Aradahl spun on his heel. He was heading outside the airport, subordinates in tow. He was no doubt heading to prepare to pursue Ki. 

“H-hey, Aradahl…!” 

Kojou called on Aradahl to stop, but the black-haired vampire never even looked back as he ran off. He was in such dire straits that Kojou’s voice didn’t even reach him. 

“Gimme a break…” 

Kojou sighed heavily and slumped limply against the bench. Yukina’s eyes wavered with concern as she watched Kojou without a word. 

“So we meet again,” said Ki. Yes, Kojou had met him once before. He had to have been there at the Garden of Whispers at the height of the war of the primogenitors. 

Kojou had struck a deal with him—a deal that made Itogami Island the territory of the Fourth Primogenitor. The price of that deal was Kojou’s victory over a retainer of the First Primogenitor—Dimitrie Vattler. It was this fateful ground of Itogami Island where the First Primogenitor was headed. 

As for what his objective might be, no answer was forthcoming, no matter how much he thought. 

Having finished their shopping, Nagisa and Kanon had returned to Kojou and Yukina. Realizing the despondent state the pair were in, Kanon asked with concern, “Akatsuki? Is something amiss? Yukina?” 

Nagisa had a little box of sweets in her hands. These were the famous black plums of Aldegia. Don’t take sweets from people you don’t know, Kojou would have scolded, but he couldn’t summon the energy for even that. 

When Yaze and Asagi returned with bags from a tax-exempt shop, they immediately noticed something was off with Kojou and Yukina. Apparently, the two had horrid expressions on their faces right then. 

“Well, that’s that. We bought souvenirs, so now we can finally go back to Itogami Island.” 

“Yeah. When I get back, I want to loaf around for a while—um, Kojou, what’s wrong…? You have an awful look on your face, you know?” 

At that moment, Yukina finally recovered from her fright. “Senpai,” she called out in all seriousness. 

“Yeah,” Kojou merely said. 

Whatever that man’s objective, what Kojou had to do was obvious. He’d protect Itogami Island—just as he’d protected La Folia and Aldegia. 

Sensing from the mood that Kojou and Yukina were privy to something just between the two of them, Nagisa asked with a suspicious tone, “Hey, something’s going on between you two, right? Guys…?” 

The looks on Asagi’s and Yaze’s faces showed they were very tempted to press the issue with Kojou. 

Kojou languidly sank his shoulders, turning his eyes toward the window. 

The setting sun shone golden upon the foreign land nurtured by forests and glaciers. 

An unfamiliar airplane took off into the twilight sky visible through the glass. 

He stared at a sky that continued all the way to Itogami Island, far, far away.