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Strike the Blood - Volume 2 - Chapter 1




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CHAPTER ONE 

FROM THE WARLORD’S EMPIRE 

Wednesday, mid-September, 6:25 a.m.… 

That morning, for once, Kojou Akatsuki awoke alone. 

One could fairly call this a highly exceptional event. Though not a fact he could really divulge in public, Kojou Akatsuki was a vampire, and as a vampire, Kojou was doomed to be weak to sunlight. This held true even though he bore an extravagant title: the Fourth Primogenitor. 

The rays of the morning sun cut particularly deeply. Though they could not burn him to a crisp, he had to contend with a variety of symptoms such as feelings of fatigue and ennui, sleepiness, and loss of appetite. It was the latter symptom that was really troublesome, but to the uninformed, these symptoms were indistinguishable from a normal human being lacking sufficient sleep from staying up all night. For this reason, Kojou was deemed by the world at large to be a no-good high school student who was just not a morning person. 

As Kojou thought of such things, what he found truly regrettable was that his younger sister, Nagisa Akatsuki, was no exception. Thanks to this, every day his troublesome younger sister gave him long-winded lectures while slapping him awake; somewhere along the line it had become part of Kojou’s daily routine. 

However, this morning only, Kojou felt no sign of Nagisa having entered his room. 

Instead, he heard her through the wall in bits and pieces as she spoke in a happy-sounding voice. He didn’t think she would have a guest visiting at this early hour. Kojou wondered if she was talking to someone on the phone as he set foot out of his room. Still half-asleep, he dragged his feet toward the washroom to put his sleep-disheveled hair in order. 

When Kojou finished washing up and returned to the living room, he noticed that breakfast had already been set on top of the table. There were Nagisa’s handmade bagel sandwiches and Italian salad for three. The menu was slightly more elaborate than usual. Seeing this, Kojou understood. Apparently their mother had returned home for once. 

Due to their parents having divorced four years earlier, the Akatsuki household was currently composed of three people. But their mother, Mimori Akatsuki, was the head of research at one of the corporations on Itogami Island—a rather prestigious job—and most days she never made it back to the house. She’d be away for a week to ten days before showing up in the dead of night or the morning without any notice. She lived something like the life of an outlaw—or a stray cat. 

So in a sense, Kojou had no choice but to believe that his mother had returned while he hadn’t realized it and was now in Nagisa’s room, in spite of having no direct evidence whatsoever. Indeed, this was an act of God. 

“Nagisa. Sorry, I’m gonna eat breakfast first. If you’re gonna have coffee, I’ll make enough for you, too, when I mix…” 

Speaking with a yawn mixed in with his voice, Kojou opened the door to his little sister’s room. 

Nagisa’s voice, which had continued without a single pause until that very moment, suddenly broke off. She looked up at Kojou, eyes wide with a look of surprise. 

Though she still looked a little childlike, she was a middle school student with a constantly cute look on her face. She wore her long hair high enough that where it stopped it gave her a short-cut look. She was holding a cheerleading uniform over her lap. Nagisa was a member of the middle school’s cheerleading club. 

And as Kojou had anticipated, there was one other person in the room with Nagisa. 

However, as Kojou had not anticipated, this person was a girl, much younger than their mother. 

And this girl, her back to Kojou, was wearing underwear—and nothing else. 

“Wh…” 

This wholly unanticipated sight threw Kojou into complete confusion. Perhaps his morning grogginess explained why he couldn’t wrap his head around what was going on. 

The defenseless underwear-clad girl glanced awkwardly over her shoulder. 

Kojou immediately sucked in his breath at the girl’s serene beauty. Her body was delicate, but this lent it no impression of fragility. Even with the faint traces of youthful curves, her body possessed perfect symmetry, with a graceful curve to her back. She looked supple and tenacious, like a beautiful wild beast. 

Kojou’s eyes remained completely taken by her figure. 

His voice was broken as he asked, “…Why is…Himeragi here?” 

Yukina Himeragi. That was the girl’s name. She was in the third year of middle school, one year younger than Kojou. Only a half a month before, she had transferred to Saikai Academy, becoming Nagisa’s classmate. 

And she also bore the bizarre title of Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency. 

She was the watcher dispatched by that organization to observe Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor. It was her mission to stay close to Kojou, and should she determine him to be a dangerous being…to eliminate him. 

But that being as it may, it did not change the fact she was a very pretty girl. 

“S-senpai…?!” Yukina mumbled in Kojou’s direction, finally grasping the situation. 

“Hey,” replied Kojou, reflexively replying to the greeting like a complete idiot. Even so, his gaze did not shift away from her whatsoever. 

Gazing upon Yukina’s bare flesh as he was, one might say this was quite natural. 

Her white skin was like delicate glass. Her slender collarbone was like a work of art. She had a lean build, but even so, the body lines of her chest were mysteriously soft. It was impossible for the eye not to be attracted to all of these things. 

 

But these were not the only reasons Kojou’s gaze did not leave her, for the instincts of the Fourth Primogenitor, the World’s Mightiest Vampire, warned him of danger. 

Perhaps one might say he felt like he was face-to-face with a carnivorous beast, and should he avert his eyes for even a single moment, he would be attacked without hesitation. Perhaps it was more accurate to say it was like two master martial artists facing each other, neither making a move, each denying the other any opening. A precarious balance had been established between the staring, unmoving Kojou and Yukina’s silence. Even the slightest trigger would have surely broken that equilibrium in an instant. 

And the one who created that trigger, sitting on the edge of the bed, was Nagisa. 

“K-Kojou?! What are you doing—?!” 

Nagisa rose up with a yelp. Her voice broke the spell shackling Kojou and Yukina. 

Almost simultaneously, the flustered Kojou mumbled “um, um” as he backed up, while Yukina covered her breasts with both hands, turning without making a sound. Yukina’s fluttering hair, her white nape, her exposed back, and the smallness of the area of her body actually covered by clothes all flashed before Kojou’s eyes. The next moment, Yukina’s high sock-wrapped heel slammed into the side of Kojou’s face— 

By the time Kojou realized he’d taken a spinning roundhouse kick, his body was in a splendid spin as he flew to the far side of the room. It was enough of an impact that a normal human’s skull might well have been half smashed. 

Eeeeeek! With a slight delay, he heard Yukina shriek. Kojou would have liked to comment about the roundhouse kick having come before the shriek, but of course he had no opportunity to do so at the moment. On the floor, facing up, unable to rise, Kojou pressed his right hand against his face. As blood gushed vividly from his nose, he made a weak murmur mixed with a sigh. 

“…Gimme a break.” 

That was the beginning of Kojou Akatsuki’s very long day. 

“Um, senpai…your nosebleed…is it really all right now?” 

Inside the monorail car used to commute to school, Yukina, dressed in her school uniform, looked up at Kojou as she inquired. 

She had a black gig case for a bass guitar over her shoulder. 

There wasn’t actually a musical instrument inside, but rather, the Lion King Agency’s secret weapon—a frighteningly powerful spirit spear granted to her for the purpose of eliminating vampire primogenitors. As Kojou watched Yukina—the watcher for Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor—walk with that dangerous object never escaping her grasp, his mood became progressively more sullen. 

“More or less. Anyway, I’m the one at fault. Not that I intended to peek, mind you,” Kojou apologized while rubbing his still-itchy nose. 

The regenerative power of a vampire had healed the nasal bones broken by Yukina’s kick, but the nosebleed itself took a while to stop. But thanks to that, he had not been assailed by any vampiric urges—perhaps he should have been grateful for it. 

“It’s all right… I’m not upset about it anymore.” 

With a sigh in her voice, Yukina added, “And I did kick you full force.” Though her tone seemed to have resignation and embarrassment mixed in with it, she certainly gave off no hint of anger. A relieved expression came over Kojou’s face. 

“Th-that’s good.” 

“Er, well…I knew from the start that you were a pervert, senpai, so it is my fault for letting my guard down.” 

“Eh?” 

“I should have not forgotten the possibility such accidental behavior might arise from you, senpai.” 

“Why are you acting like it’s a given I’d peek?! That really was an accident, you know. I mean, I’m sorry about the mistake, but still!” 

“Hee-hee.” Yukina made a small laugh as she watched the flustered Kojou try to object. 

Apparently she really was minded to forgive him. As Yukina suggested that “Yes, some soul-searching would be good” with a demure, admonishing look on her face, Kojou’s lips twisted a bit as he exhaled and patted his chest in relief. However… 

“That’s no good, Yukina. If you forgive this pervert so easily…!” 

It was Nagisa who broke the reconciliatory mood, inserting herself as if to shield Yukina. 

Wearing the same uniform as Yukina, she looked up at Kojou with anger apparent in her eyes. 

Spread out beyond the monorail’s windows was a cloudless blue sky with an ultramarine sea. As the rays of the morning sun mercilessly illuminated the inside of the car, Nagisa’s shrill voice reverberated in spite of the restrained volume. 

“I can’t believe it. There’s just no way. And how do you call barging into a girl’s room without knocking an accident? Kojou, you’re the worst. I told you yesterday before bed that Yukina was coming over to visit the next morning, didn’t I?” 

“Ah…now that you mention it, I do sorta feel like you might’ve told me that…” Kojou’s face grimaced as he arrived at a rather vague memory. “But I didn’t hear anything about Himeragi changing clothes at our place. What were you two doing at that hour?” 

“Just stop with the weird imagination already, geez! We were taking measurements for adjusting outfits for the sports festival.” Nagisa added with a crude snort, “I told you about that yesterday.” But even being told this, Kojou didn’t have any grasp of the circumstances whatsoever. 

“…What do you mean, outfits for the sports festival? It’s all just gym jerseys, isn’t it?” 

“No. These aren’t for matches, they’re cheerleading outfits. We can’t use the cheerleading club uniforms to cheer on our own class, now can we? So we have to make new ones. The home economics club girls are doing the detail work, and the boys are putting up the money for it.” 

Nagisa babbled on, explaining details he’d never asked about. The sheer quantity of words that came out of Nagisa’s mouth was one of her few flaws, but at times like these he was grateful that she was a quick talker. 

“Cheerleading uniforms…wait, Himeragi’s wearing one, too?” 

Kojou raised his eyebrows doubtfully as he asked Yukina, who had a sullen look for some reason. 

Though the sports festival was an official school event, there was no rule that said girls had to dress up to cheer people on. He could understand Nagisa, an active member of the cheerleading club, running off to any cheer event, but he felt it was a bit unexpected for Yukina to volunteer to participate in an event like this. 

A gloomy expression came over Yukina’s graceful features as she spoke. 

“I had intended to do no such thing, but I wasn’t able to refuse…” 

She heaved a sigh, exhaling her anguish. “No, you couldn’t,” Nagisa said, her cheerful voice the complete opposite. 

“All of the boys in our class put their heads to the floor and begged Yukina. If the Princess cheered them on in a cheerleading outfit, they’d do anything for her as her loyal servants and work their rear ends off to win for her.” 

“All the boys bowed down?” 

Kojou was taken aback by Nagisa’s explanation. Yukina covered her eyes with an even more awkward expression. So “Princess” was Yukina’s nickname, was it? Not bad, brats, Kojou thought with a smidgen of admiration. Apparently, without Kojou knowing it, Yukina had risen to the rank of class princess. He could imagine how awkward Yukina must have looked with a mob of classmates bowing down before her. 

“Ordinarily I would’ve just blown them all off, but I can understand why the boys would say that. I mean, this is Yukina here, so I said, ‘Hey, girls, let’s work together on this.’” 

For some reason Nagisa was awfully proud of it. Kojou finally had a decent grasp on the circumstances. “So you’re both gonna cheerlead together, then.” 

“Tee-hee, nothing wrong with that. Ah, Kojou, maybe you wanted us to cheer you on?” 

Kojou gave an indifferent reply and shook his head. “Nah, it’s all the same to me really.” 

Nagisa’s expression, which tended to move around a lot, changed to an obvious frown for once. “Huh? Why not?! Doesn’t it make you happy?!” 

“I’d get embarrassed to have my little sister cheering me on, all worked up over just an intramural sports tournament.” Kojou let his comment loose with a very blunt tone. He’d only meant to convey the opinion that he had no interest taking pleasure in making his own little sister play cheerleader, but Yukina, listening from the side, seemed to derive a different meaning from it. 

“E-embarrassing…outfit…” Mumbling as if in shock, Yukina hung her head in dejection. To such an overly serious girl, wearing a cheerleader outfit must have been a high hurdle indeed. 

“Er, no. I’m not saying I’d be embarrassed to have you cheer me on, Himeragi.” 

“Hah? What’s this? Yukina’s fine, but it’s embarrassing if I cheer you on?!” 

“It ain’t that. I’m just sayin’, an intramural sports tournament’s just for fun, so you wouldn’t need to go out of your way to come see me at a match,” Kojou explained while waving his hand, looking annoyed at the bother. 

Nagisa looked up at his face for a while with her lips in a pout. And as her expression suddenly went stiff, she inquired in a vaguely concerned tone. “…Kojou, does it still bother you? I mean…about last year’s tournament.” 

“Tournament?” 

For a moment, Kojou seriously didn’t know what she was talking about, looking back into his little sister’s eyes as he replied. Noticing that, as rarely happened, she seemed hesitant to say something, he finally understood the meaning of her question. 

Back when Kojou had been part of the middle school basketball team, he had the youthful experience of being isolated on a team that was obsessed with victory. It had thoroughly depressed him and was the trigger for him having quit basketball. 

Watching Kojou while speaking of her coming to cheer him on must have made Nagisa remember all that. 

“Ahh, nah. Has nothin’ to do with that at all.” 

“Really?” 

“Not one little thing to do with me. And it’s not like I hate basketball or anything.” 

As Kojou said it, he shrugged his shoulders as if concealing embarrassment. 

It was true that he didn’t pay any heed to the past. Kojou wasn’t the only one to have quit his club when graduating to high school, after all; it held no special meaning. The guys from the basketball club at the time were striving to do well even now. 

Regardless, in his current state, Kojou couldn’t seriously immerse himself into sports. Kojou was, after all, the World’s Mightiest Vampire. He couldn’t be using the extraordinary physical and demonic abilities possessed by a “primogenitor” in the middle of ordinary high school varsity sports. 

But Nagisa, who didn’t know of those circumstances, smiled happily as she listened to Kojou’s words. 

“Is that so? So, maybe we can still see your match at this sports festival, then?” 

“Not necessarily gonna be in a match like you’re hopin’ for, though.” 

Kojou felt a faint throbbing feeling as he tossed the comment out. 

In the sports festival, high school boys had three events: basketball, table tennis, and badminton. It had not yet been decided that Kojou had any role to play. 

In the first place, they’d probably prioritize people with experience for the competition, so there was a high chance Kojou would be assigned to the basketball court. Maybe that’s okay, thought Kojou. 

Though he missed being able to have serious fun in intense team competition like he used to, if he thought of it as giving his worried little sister a freebie, playing while holding back quite a bit wasn’t so bad at all. 

“Can’t be helped. Well, if you do get an event we definitely have to cheer you on. Right, Yukina?” 

Nodding, in a good mood for some reason, Nagisa sought Yukina’s agreement. 

For a moment, Yukina’s eyes blinked in bewilderment. No doubt she never imagined she’d be made to cheer Kojou on, too. 

To Yukina, who was worried about wearing a cheerleader outfit at all, it had to have been a very troublesome invitation. In the first place, Yukina had been dispatched as the Fourth Primogenitor’s watcher; cheering Kojou on in a sports festival wasn’t exactly part of her mission. 

However, with Nagisa’s radiant face turned toward her, it was no surprise she just couldn’t say no. 

“I suppose you’re right…I’ll cheer, too.” 

Lastly, Yukina made a sigh, as if conveying to Kojou her grudging surrender. Seeing the faint, strained smile on her face, Kojou made a pained smile of his own. A moment later, the monorail arrived at the station they were heading to. 

As usual, the three of them got out of the car at the same time, trading the usual formalities. 

It was a common, everyday scene… 

Kojou had not yet noticed, but in Itogami Harbor, visible from the monorail car’s windows, was moored a single, unfamiliar, highly extravagant ship. 

Kojou parted ways with Yukina and Nagisa right about when they arrived at the school gates. Yukina and Nagisa turned toward the middle school campus a short distance away while Kojou went straight ahead to the high school building. 

Itogami Island was the Island of Everlasting Summer, floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

Even halfway into September, there was not even the smallest subatomic hint of autumn whatsoever; the merciless morning rays of the midsummer sun poured down upon the school grounds. 

As Kojou ran into the entrance, feeling much like a slime mold frantically trying to escape ultraviolet light, the preceding visitor was right before him. A schoolgirl was changing her shoes in front of the shoe lockers for Kojou’s class. 

She had a showy hairstyle and refined perfume. With good fashion sense, she wore her school uniform in just the right ways to stand out from her classmates. 

“Good morning, Kojou. To think, you arrived on time for once.” 

She spoke to him in an easygoing tone like she was one of the boys. Though her shapely lips were curled into a grin, it was a mysteriously affable and memorable expression. She took a large sports bag placed right by her loafers and tossed it toward him. 

“What’s all this stuff, Asagi?” Kojou asked casually as he retrieved his own footwear. 

As Kojou did so, Aiba Asagi grinned broadly as she looked up at him. 

“Sorry, you just happened to arrive at the perfect time. It’s heavier than I expected and a real pain.” 

“I haven’t said one word about carrying it for you.” 

“Oh, you’re a big help. If you could just put it in front of the locker…” 

Ignoring Kojou’s meager protests, Asagi issued one-sided commands. Kojou, giving up on any further resistance, reluctantly picked up the bag. Through the gap left by the partially open zipper, he saw a number of old rackets and white birdies—shuttlecocks for badminton. 

“A badminton racket? What’s this for?” 

“It’s for the sports festival practice. I called in a favor and my older sis lent it to me. The school doesn’t have enough equipment, see.” 

“Huh,” murmured Kojou in apparent admiration. “You do sensible things sometimes.” 

“You didn’t have to say ‘sometimes.’ After all, I’m also known as ‘Asagi, the Highly Considerate Beautiful High School Girl.” 

“A highly considerate beautiful high school girl wouldn’t say that about herself.” 

“Oh shut up. Well, actually Rin asked me to do this just yesterday.” 

Asagi made her unapologetic admission while they headed up the stairs to class. 

“So, what are you going to be in, Kojou?” 

“Who knows… I asked Tsukishima to make it as fun an event as possible, though,” Kojou replied in an unenthusiastic tone. Once the class representative, Rin Tsukishima, heard everyone say what sports festival event they wanted to participate in, she’d assign people using her own independent judgment. She took a hard-line stance: If you had a problem with your assigned event, you were on your own when it came to negotiating a trade. 

“Geez,” said Asagi, exhaling, seeming somehow dejected. 

“Give it up already. Former hot-blooded, annoying jocks are only worth anything at sports festivals like this, so put some more energy into it, Kojou the Irritating.” 

“Who’s Kojou the Irritating?! Careful what you say. Hey, you should apologize to all the former athletic club members in the country—” 

Reaching the top of the stairs, shooting the breeze in their usual fashion, Kojou and Asagi went into the classroom. 

A moment later, the atmosphere picked right up. 

About 70 percent of the students were already in the classroom. Every last one of them turned and looked at Kojou. 

“Wh-what?” 

“Don’t ask me. I just got here, same as you.” 

There was an eerie mixture of consent and trust floating in the classroom’s air. It was not a frigid feeling. Indeed, it was a strange feeling of anticipation. 

Responding to the puzzling behavior, Kojou and Asagi stood in place, feeling rather awkward. 

“Heya, Kojou. Showin’ up carryin’ your partner’s equipment like this, man, you’re really into this.” 

One student near the teacher’s desk called out to them in a very good mood. The boy, his short, spiky hair combed back and giving off a frivolous air, was Motoki Yaze. He was both Kojou’s bad friend from middle school and Asagi’s childhood friend. 

Kojou and Asaki glared with apparent displeasure at the friend who knew them so well. 

“Partner?” 

“…What are you talking about? Did getting dumped by your older girlfriend scramble your brain?” 

“I’m not scrambled, dumped, or acting! There, there! You see?” 

Speaking in an excited voice, Yaze pointed toward the blackboard standing behind him. 

Rin Tsukishima was standing right there. She was a tall schoolgirl who gave off an adultlike air. She had written on the blackboard, with her characteristic attention to detail, the names of all of their classmates. 

“I was just announcing who’d be participating in which sports festival events.” 

“Right…” 

Kojou and Asagi both tried to sound sensible as their faces met. They had no idea why this would draw attention to the two of them. Unable to settle down his nerves, Kojou looked over the curves of what was written on the blackboard in white chalk. 

“Badminton mixed doubles? Me and Asagi, paired up?” 

Kojou was in mild shock when he noticed their names in an unexpected place. 

Of course, Kojou had no experience in badminton at all; he didn’t remember asking to be in that event, either. He knew from the start that it was going to be mixed doubles. On top of that, all of the player pairs beside Kojou and Asagi were publicly acknowledged couples. 

“…Why do I have to team up with Kojou?” 

Asagi asked with a guarded expression on her face. However, Rin made a composed smile. 

“It’s a new rule for this year. Singles are scrapped, so there’s room for more mixed doubles pairs. Ah, and actual badminton club girls aren’t allowed.” 

“So why does it have to be me and Kojou?!” 

“Asagi, you told me before that you liked him, didn’t you?” 

“E-excuse me?! Wh-wh-when did I say anything like that…?!” 

“For badminton.” 

Rin spoke with her normal, serene voice. Asagi made a small sound and chose her words more carefully. “…I only practice with my older sister once in a while, so I’m not actually good or anything.” 

“If you understand the rules, that’s plenty.” Speaking in a very calm tone, Rin silenced Asagi. “Akatsuki said he didn’t have any preference for events, so no complaints there, yes? I’d actually thought about having him play basketball, but sorry, I had no idea.” 

Watching Rin awkwardly cover her eyes, Kojou bounced a question back with a suspicious look on his face. “What do you mean?” 

For some reason, Rin looked pitiably at Kojou as she shook her head. “There’s no need to force yourself. I heard from Yaze about Akatsuki back in middle school.” 

“Eh?” 

“That due to repeated perverted stalking incidents involving female basketball club members, you were ordered to stay clear of the basketball court, yes?” 

“Huh?!” Rin’s rather outlandish declaration made Kojou’s mental circuits short out for a moment. 

Certainly Kojou had some bad experiences related to basketball back in middle school, but he had no recollection of anything borderline criminal like that. 

“The heck’s that?! What stalking are you talking about?” 

“But don’t worry, it’s all right. Even if you are a twisted pervert addicted to the scent of girls’ basketball shoes and jerseys, our class will not forsake you, Akatsuki.” 

“Now hold on…! Don’t believe garbage like that! That’s a fabrication any way you slice it!” Kojou shouted insistently, but without saying a word, his classmates only sent lukewarm gazes tinged with pity back at him. “So that’s how it is,” said Asagi, her eyes narrowed as she made a great sigh. 

“I get it now. This is all your doing, isn’t it, Motoki?” 

“Nice assist, right?” 

As his childhood female friend glared at him, Yaze made what was, for whatever reason, his trademark thumbs-up. Apparently he was the mastermind behind pairing Kojou and Asagi together. 

Kojou didn’t know what he was up to, but it was probably some rotten scheme of his. 

“There you go sticking your nose where it’s not needed again…! And Rin’s in on it, huh?” 

Asagi had a pouty expression on her face as she cross-examined the serene-faced class rep. 

Rin made a rather mischievous smile as she spoke in the same cool tone as always. “You have permission to use the court. Have fun practicing today after classes.” 

“Asagi? You’re still in the classroom?” 

That day, after classes— 

Asagi Aiba, having taken her eyes off Kojou Akatsuki for a short time only to hear her name called out of the blue from a blind spot, froze for a moment. Suppressing the yelp that threatened to escape her lips, she turned around, maintaining her composure. 

Unaware of Asagi’s hard work, Kojou had his usual languid expression on his face. 

Apparently, even though they’d been picked for a doubles pair, Kojou thought of it as just a sports festival team-up, with nothing special about it at all. 

Though his indifferent expression threatened to turn her tension to spontaneous bloodlust, Asagi somehow limited herself to clearing her throat. She was self-aware enough to know she had no good cause for resentment. 

Faced with Asagi’s attitude of obvious displeasure, Kojou hesitated for a moment and raised an eyebrow. 

“If we’re gonna practice for this sports festival, we should get it out of the way as soon as we can.” 

“Ah… R-right. I’ll change clothes, so go to the gym ahead of me, okay?” Asagi’s smile twitched as she spoke. 

Kojou meekly nodded. “Well, see you later. I’ll borrow a racket.” 

“Ah, right, right.” 

Asagi saw off the departing Kojou with a wave before making a long sigh. 

As she did so, she suddenly heard a voice. 

“Hmmm.” 

It was the cool, composed adult voice of Rin Tsukishima. Rin, wearing blue gym clothing over her tall figure, had an expression that seemed pleased somehow as she watched and compared Kojou’s leaving with Asagi’s remaining seated. 

“What?” 

“Akatsuki left quite easily, didn’t he? I would have thought he wouldn’t have liked the trouble of practicing for the sports festival.” 

“When it comes down to it, he likes winning. He’s a little boy that way.” 

Asagi made a large shrug of her shoulders as she spoke. Rin, for her part, tilted her neck slightly with a serious look on her face. 

“I wonder. Perhaps it’s the fact he’s paired with you that has him pumped up?” 

“Now hold on a minute.” Asagi twisted her tongue in what seemed to be a pout as she glared at Rin. “Geez, would you and that idiot Motoki stop toying around with me and Kojou? Sticking your nose in and pushing this sports festival business onto me like this…” 

“Is it a bother?” Rin asked with a laugh in her voice. Asagi made a sullen-sounding sigh. 

“A big bother. In the first place, what’s with this outfit?” As she spoke, she pointed to the nylon bag on top of her lap. Packed inside the bag was a sports towel and gym clothes for practicing for the sports festival. 

“What, you ask…? It’s a uniform for badminton, of course. I put it aside for you, but maybe the size isn’t quite right? Could it be that you’ve grown so much in certain places that you can’t wear it?” Rin asked with a tone of concern. 

“I can wear it,” Asagi bluntly confessed without thinking. “Th-that doesn’t mean I should be wearing something this dramatic at just some little school event.” 

It was a short, pleated skirt and a sturdy, short sleeveless polo shirt; Asagi pointed out the numerous places where the uniform would leave her seriously exposed. Perhaps not for a public tournament match, but she couldn’t help but be embarrassed to wear it at practice for a mere sports festival. 

Yet Rin made a mischievous laugh regardless. “But Asagi, your legs are so pretty.” 

“—Um, what?” 

Asagi froze, unable to respond to the unexpected words from her friend, who usually was not one for jokes. However, Rin’s tone of voice remained perfectly composed. 

“…Well, Yaze said that transfer student in middle school couldn’t lay a finger on you where they’re concerned.” 

“Why did that Himeragi girl come up when talking about that…?” Asagi kept her voice low as she inquired. She meant to keep her composure, but the sudden shock put an unpleasant tone into her voice. 

Yukina Himeragi, transfer student to the middle school. A girl so ridiculously pretty that Asagi couldn’t even dream of being jealous, and on top of that, she’d strangely hit it off with Kojou even before her transfer. Some of the students had apparently pegged her as Kojou’s girlfriend. Though not a fact Asagi wished to acknowledge, without a doubt, that girl was the cause of Asagi having been thrown off-pace of late. 

“Although I believe you are well aware of the reason, even more than I am, Asagi…” 

Rin’s expression did not change as she glanced toward the corner of the middle school building. 

“She’s very cute. She’s Akatsuki’s little sister’s classmate, isn’t she?” 

“S-seems so, yeah.” 

Watching how Asagi was unable to hide her discomfort, Rin made a gentle smile. 

“Though I went through all the trouble of preparing the uniform, I won’t force you to wear it. If you want to use your sweaty gym outfit from morning classes while you spend time with Akatsuki, by all means…” 

“I-it’s not sweaty. I used deodorant and everything…,” Asagi protested in a weak voice. 

Rin said nothing in reply, waving her hand and walking off. “Well, I’m heading to the table tennis room. Good luck, Asagi.” 

As she headed out with the students who formed the table tennis team, Asagi was the only one left behind. 

Looking down at the uniform spread over her desk, Asagi exhaled with irritation. 

“Geez…why do I have to worry about things like this! Stupid Kojou!” 

I don’t really get all this, was how Kojou honestly felt. About Asagi, of course. 

He could understand why she was annoyed that Yaze and Rin had schemed to force her and Kojou together as a pair. But in fact he hadn’t sensed that Asagi was seriously angry at any point. 

After having been in such a sour mood during the morning, by noon break she’d recovered and had been talking normally to Yaze and the others. In the first place, Kojou and Asagi’s classmates teasing them about how nicely they got along had been a daily ritual since middle school. He didn’t think it was anything Asagi would suddenly get worked up about now. 

What he couldn’t figure out was her attitude toward him. 

Even when he tried talking to her, she seemed really stiff, yet she kept glancing at Kojou every so often; the whole thing was awkward. And yet her mood didn’t seem to actually be bad. 

He felt that he’d seen quite a bit of odd, uncharacteristic behavior from Asagi of late. 

Kojou finally remembered something. 

Asagi’s attitude had gotten weird right around the end of summer break— 

Right about when Kojou had met Yukina. 

“—Er, Akatsuki? All by yourself? Where’s Aiba?” 

When Kojou arrived at the gym, his classmate Uchida saw him and called out to him. He was a pretty boy of small stature and delicate lines who was sometimes mistaken for a girl, even in his school uniform. 

Standing close by Uchida’s side was Yuuho Tanahara. She was a tall, willful girl, but in front of Uchida, she seemed like a different person, showing a much cuter side. She was the archetypal young maiden in love. 

Both of them were in the middle of standing poles up on the gym floor for the badminton nets. Even though that was all they should be doing, for some reason, other people stood aside with a friendly disposition, as if not wanting to butt in. At any rate, the atmosphere said not to approach the little world they had all to each other. 

They weren’t the only ones that gave off that thick couple scent; other pairs inside the gym were exactly the same. Pressing shoulder to shoulder as they practiced their serves, gazing into each other’s eyes as the moment struck them—they probably didn’t even realize what they were doing, but for the very single Kojou, it made watching them unusually uncomfortable. 

This made Kojou decide on his own that it was natural Asagi would be angry. 

“Asagi’s apparently gonna take her time changing her clothes. Better start practice without us. I’ll just take it easy.” 

“Guess we’ll do just that. Sorry, pal.” 

Waving to the cheerfully replying Uchida, Kojou went outside the gym. 

It was already past four in the afternoon. The sky had already begun its gradual shift toward sunset, but the afternoon sun was strong, and the humidity was murderous. 

Kojou, walking along the connecting corridor searching for a place even slightly cool, sat down on the landing on top of the emergency stairs. He closed his eyes and laid down faceup. 

Then… 

“—Senpai?” 

He heard a shocked-sounding voice coming from above his head. 

The voice sounded familiar, so Kojou opened his eyelids a crack. 

What filled his field of vision were slender legs clad in deep blue socks. 

Kojou rose up with a start, meeting Yukina’s eyes as she glared, her expression frigid. She’d apparently just come down the emergency stairs. 

“What are you doing in a place like this?” Yukina asked while holding down the skirt of her school uniform. From the air she gave off, there was clearly some misunderstanding afoot. 

Kojou quickly shook his head and pointed at his own gym uniform. “As you can see, I’m…gettin’ ready for badminton practice. Waiting for my partner to come over.” 

“Badminton…? Not basketball?” Yukina’s eyes fluttered curiously as she asked. Then, her voice suddenly hardened. “By partner, do you mean a girl?” 

“Yeah, but it’s not like I asked to take part in a mixed doubles event.” 

Kojou, having the sense he was being scolded for some reason, made pains to defend himself. 

“I do not particularly mind, but…” 

As Yukina looked squarely at him, Kojou wanted to retort, Did I do something I should feel guilty for? 

Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Kojou forced a change of subject. 

“So, what are you doing over here, Himeragi? This is the high school campus.” 

“…Is that so? I’m sorry, senpai, do you know where the cheerleading clubroom is?” 

“The high school cheerleading club’s room?” 

“Yes. Nagisa asked me to come over, but I got lost along the way.” 

Kojou thought the words coming out of Yukina’s mouth were suspicious. Saikai Academy’s cheerleading club was divided into the middle school club and the high school club; each had their own activities, so surely they didn’t share the same clubroom. 

“I know where it is, but what’s she doing at the high school cheerleading club, anyway?” 

“Fitting clothes. Apparently she wants to borrow tennis skirts, so…” 

Yukina made a frail exhale as she spoke, her expression growing clouded. No doubt she just wasn’t cut out for the whole cheerleading thing. Even so, it was just like the overly serious Yukina to go to be fitted as she was told. 

“Guess I’ll help her out a little,” Kojou murmured to himself with a strained smile. “I’ll lead the way. It’s a bit complicated over there, so I’m not sure I could explain it well enough.” 

“Thank you very much. But, senpai, don’t you have practice?” 

Kojou made a lighthearted nod in response to the look of concern that came over Yukina. 

“It’s all right. Asagi’s not here yet, and I’ll be back in under five minutes I’m sure.” 

“Aiba…is it? She’s your partner for doubles, senpai…?” Yukina, suddenly halting in place, asked in a grave voice. 

For no apparent reason, Kojou felt nervous. 

“Er, she is, but it’s not what you think. It’s not like I asked to be paired up with Asagi.” 

He quickly voiced his excuse. Yukina’s unmoved eyes looked at Kojou as she made a sigh. 

“It isn’t that I particularly mind.” 

Hearing quite a bit of displeasure in her words, Kojou looked up at the sky and sighed. 

It was on the way back after seeing Yukina to the cheerleading clubroom. Kojou Akatsuki was standing at a vending machine corner, holding a soda can he’d miraculously found in the pocket of his gym outfit. 

“Shit…I feel totally wiped out…” 

He poured the flavorless shaved ice into the paper cup he’d taken from the vending machine, drowning it in the colored cola. “Don’t give me that look,” Kojou scolded the unresisting vending machine, then sat on a bench, gazing lazily at the setting sun. 

He figured Asagi should finally be done changing clothes and arriving at the gym right about then. 

Though he wasn’t really thrilled at returning to that couple-filled lovey-dovey atmosphere, Kojou knew that leaving Asagi there by herself would only create more trouble later. As he crunched down his ice, Kojou sluggishly rose to his feet, heading from the back of the gym to the entrance. 

A moment later… 

The bench that Kojou had sat on until just then suddenly swelled up and burst apart like a balloon. 

“…Eh?” 

Fragments of shattered wood grazed Kojou’s cheek as they flew. Even so, Kojou did not comprehend what had occurred. 

The remnants of the blasted-apart bench fell to the ground in slow motion. Instinctively sensing danger, his vampire nerve cells kicked in. Though it was but a single moment, he felt like it was drawn out dozens of times over. In exchange, his eyes and skin were suddenly in pain, as if they were on fire. His now-acute senses were screaming from the sunrays pouring directly onto him. 

But on the other hand, his painfully acute super senses alerted Kojou to new danger. 

A silver beam flew toward Kojou’s feet as he remained frozen in place. 

His body moved faster than he could think. He hit the ground hard, as if plunging headfirst, dodging the beam just in the nick of time. The beam was actually a metal arrow. Bearing the sharp tip and wings of a Western-style bow’s arrow, it plunged into the ground at Kojou’s feet. 

“Th-the hell?!” 

Unable to grasp that someone was targeting him, Kojou stared blankly at the arrow shaft buried into the ground. 

The connecting corridor, the emergency stairs, the gym, the roof, the shadow of the commemorative tree: No matter how much he looked all around, he couldn’t narrow down where the shooter might be hiding. In this circumstance, not knowing who was targeting him or from where, Kojou began to fall into light panic. Then… 

The arrow that had thrust into the ground suddenly lost its shape. Like a curtain that had lost its clasp, the metal became a thin sheet and spread out, finally taking a new shape. 

The metal sheet expanded, bent into acute angles, and changed into a complex, bestial form. 

“D-dog?! No…a lion?!” 

With false life breathed into it, the metal sheet roared like a beast as it trod upon the earth. 

It moved with the bestiality of a real predator. Without doubt, this was a monster created by dark forces. 

The moment Kojou moaned, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” the metal beast pounced. 

Kojou hit the ground and rolled once more, evading the downward swipe of the beast’s front legs. 

The steel-constructed beast’s legs made up for their lack of thickness by being as sharp and polished as knives. If he let those things touch him, he’d be sliced clean through the bone. 

“Is it after me?! Why…?!” Kojou asked, his breathing ragged. Of course, the beast did not answer. The only sound its steel throat made was a low, menacing growl. 

Then another beast appeared behind the agitated Kojou. It was indeed another metal beast that had appeared, a wolf kicking about the remnants of the bench. It had probably been the arrow that had first attacked him, altered into a new form. 

“This is…bad…” 

Kojou ground his teeth and groaned as the steel lion and wolf pinned him from the front and rear. 

Even though these things were produced via ritual, the monsters’ agility was no different from that of real beasts. As their entire bodies were like blades, they might well have been more dangerous than the real thing. 

Of course, if Kojou released his own Beast Vassal, he could vaporize monsters of this degree in an instant. 

But if he did that, the Saikai Academy building wouldn’t get off easy, either. If he wasn’t careful, he might envelop all of the students, wiping the entire school out without a trace. Kojou’s abilities as the World’s Mightiest Vampire were too powerful to unleash against this grade of opponent. 

That said, he had no chance of victory in physical combat. Under the burning sun, Kojou’s physical abilities were at their nadir; next time, if both beasts attacked simultaneously, there would be no escape. If Kojou were to suffer mortal injury, the odds of Kojou’s Beast Vassal going berserk were quite high indeed. 

“What am I gonna do?!” Kojou asked himself. But before finding an answer, the two beasts leaped at once. 

Knowing deep down he couldn’t dodge them, Kojou sucked in his breath. 

“—Senpai! Duck!” With truly last-second timing, a familiar girl’s voice echoed. 

Kojou bent down at once as a roaring wind seemed to pass overhead. 

It was the silver spear—a long, all-metal polearm, its construction resembling a fighter plane with swept-back wings. 

The spear seemed to fly like a gale-force wind as it pierced the steel-made lion attacking Kojou, shattering it. 

“Himeragi?!” 

The one who’d thrown the spear and saved Kojou from danger was a small-built middle school girl. It was Yukina, who he’d parted ways with just earlier at the clubroom. Resembling a beautiful beast as she sprinted over, she danced in the air with equal force, kicking away the steel-made wolf aiming at Kojou’s back. 

The wolf, its own flesh like a sharp blade, looked like a mere thin metal plate from the side. It was knocked away by Yukina’s powerful spinning kick, crashing against the wall with a roar. 

“‘Snowdrift Wolf’—!” 

Yukina withdrew the spear that was impaling the ground. With one fluid motion, the silver spear tip thrust into the steel wolf. This alone easily broke the wolf into pieces. One could no longer call this combat. The scene looked like simple pest control. 

Her combat ability was far in excess of the monsters that had backed Kojou into a corner. This was Yukina’s true form, that of a so-called Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency. 

“Are you all right, senpai?” Yukina asked while poising her spear, looking around the area without letting her guard slip. 

She was not wearing her usual school uniform, but rather, a cute cheerleading outfit with blue lines on a white background. 

Kojou breathed out in exhaustion, his sense of tension thoroughly wrecked by the cute outfit. 

The attacks by the unseen enemy seemed to have broken off. He hadn’t intended to involve Yukina, or perhaps he’d judged she couldn’t win. Either way, there was no mistaking that she’d saved him. 

“Sorry, you really saved me there. But what are you doing here, Himeragi?” 

Kojou brushed the dust from his body as he got up. 

Yukina continued to grip the staff as her back stiffened. 

“I’m sorry, senpai. The shikigami I had observing you came to inform me it detected offensive ritual energy, so I was concerned and came over…” 

“Hah? Observe? What the heck’s a shikigami?” 

As Kojou asked sharply, Yukina averted her eyes as her shoulders quivered. 

Watching from the side as Yukina hung her face, Kojou continued watching without a word when Yukina took pains to clear her throat and raise her face. She thrust her chest out in defiance as if saying, It’s nothing I should feel guilty about. 

“…It’s my mission!” 

“Wait a sec!! You mean you’ve been watching me the whole time?! Not just today?!” 

“Please calm yourself. I do respect your privacy, senpai.” 

“How can I be calm about it?!” 

Kojou scratched his head as he yelled. He’d let his guard down, thinking that lately she’d been more open, but she was indeed a nationally accredited stalker with an insanely overly serious personality. 

Simply not knowing how that shikigami stuff worked and moved around made Kojou really wonder about just how much of his privacy she allowed him. He didn’t think she was watching him in the bath or using the toilet, though. Either way, no matter how pretty a girl she might be, Kojou was not inclined to be pleased at her peeking into his private life. 

“More importantly, senpai, do you have any idea who is after you?” Yukina asked while clearing her throat once more. 

Kojou grimaced and shook his head. 

As Yukina was clearly asking that the observation incident be set aside until later, the question at hand was the existence of an enemy that had attacked Kojou. 

“So I was the one they were after?” 

“So it would seem…but rather than a spell targeting you, senpai, this is…” 

Murmuring as if talking to herself, Yukina picked up one of the fragments of the steel beast she’d destroyed. It was a thin piece of cheap-looking metal. Kojou groaned in shock as he watched. 

“…Tin cans? That’s what the monsters that attacked me really were?” 

“These too are shikigami. Originally, they were meant to deliver messages to others across long distances rather than being used offensively like this, but…” 

As Yukina muttered suspiciously to herself, she bent the metal fragment she’d picked up. She changed its shape to two triangles meeting together; it gently floated up into the air. She’d apparently meant it to act like a butterfly. 

The wannabe butterfly, resembling something an elementary kid would scribble, fluttered for a while as it flew all around along the breeze, but finally its strength gave out and it fell back to the ground. Yukina made a small sigh as she looked it over. 

“It would seem the caster has fled. I thought I could trace the ritual energy, but…” 

“I see.” As Kojou wouldn’t have understood even if she’d explained the fine details, he nodded in her direction. The gist was, by his reckoning, that she’d tried to track whoever it was and failed. If even Yukina’s ritual arts couldn’t track them, there was no way Kojou could chase them down. 

Looking over the destroyed bench, Kojou shrugged—it wasn’t like it was his fault—and Yukina made a seemingly dejected sigh as well. Yukina’s expression suddenly went pale. 

She was looking at a bicycle rack behind the gym. Two schoolgirls passing by on their way home from school were pointing across a fence toward Kojou and Yukina, talking about something. 

“…Himeragi?” 

“I’m sorry, senpai. They have seen Snowdrift Wolf. I have to capture them and erase their memories immediately—” 

“W-wait up, Himeragi!” 

Kojou quickly moved to stop Yukina, who was gripping her spear and seemed ready to fly off. 

“You don’t have to do that! Seriously, you don’t need to worry!” 

“How can you just dismiss it like that?!” Yukina looked back with an expression that had no room for doubt. For Yukina, an exceptional, overserious student who was ideal for dealing with trouble when it arose, this was her greatest weakness. Kojou tried to ease her back down while calmly pointing things out. 

“Er, but waving that around in those clothes, they’re going to think you’re just a girl really into cosplay.” 

“Uh…umm…” 

Looking down at how she was dressed, Yukina, unable to protest, held her tongue. 

A cheerleader uniform paired with a futuristic-looking silver spear. There pretty much wasn’t anyone who’d look at a middle schooler dressed like this and think, Oh, she’s a Counter-Demon Attack Mage from a secret organization! Even as she had a dissatisfied look at being mistaken for a cosplayer, Yukina gave up on pursuit of the eyewitnesses. 

Kojou made a strained smile as he watched Yukina’s dejected look. 

“Hey. Himeragi, those clothes, is that…?” 

“I ran out in the middle of fitting the outfit. Please do not stare so much.” 

Yukina glared up at Kojou while holding down the edge of her pleated skirt. Due to the skirt being so short, one could see what was under it with only the barest of movements. 

“But you, uh, have something on under it.” 

“Even so, you may not look, senpai. You have a dirty look on your face.” 

“Hey, now, that’s rude.” 

Kojou twisted his mouth, bothered by having such exceedingly unfair words spoken to him. Even so, he knew he ought to thank her for coming to rescue him while wearing such an embarrassing outfit. “Oh well. Anyway, I’m all right, thanks to you.” 

“It’s nothing. It’s my mission, after all.” Yukina spoke in the same blunt tone she usually did. As she made the expected reply, Kojou stuck his tongue out just a little. 

“Ah…and those clothes look nice on you.” 

“Huh?!” 

That instant, Yukina’s cheeks seemed to explode in a flush of red. Unable to behave calmly, she checked that her outfit was in order once more before a strange mix of embarrassment and anger came over her face as she said “thanks” in a voice that threatened to vanish entirely. 

She seemed tentatively happy. Kojou watched her, thinking that it was funny how her reactions were somehow like that of a puppy. 

 

Nagisa was fond of saying that girls should be complimented every time they wore something different. All Kojou had done was faithfully obey her words, but having seen this expression on Yukina’s face, his noisy younger sister’s advice proved to be well worth following. 

“That origami from before… You said it’s a way to send letters, right?” 

While Yukina was reeling, Kojou’s eyes came to rest over the ground. There was something that had fallen amid the shattered remnants of the bench. Looking like she’d regained her senses, Yukina nodded. 

“Yes. That is true, but…” 

“So this one’s addressed to me, then.” 

With those words, Kojou picked up a sealed, brand-new letter. The ornate letter, embroidered with gold leaf, was elaborately sealed with silver-colored wax. 

Yukina’s expression hardened when she noticed what stamp it was marked with. 

“That seal… It can’t be…” 

“Himeragi?” Seeing Yukina thrown off, Kojou spoke in a perplexed voice. “Do you know who this letter’s from? I have a bad feeling about this somehow…” 

“Yes…but this shouldn’t be…” 

As Yukina spoke, she bit her lip. The seal was decorated with a crest with a snake-and-sword design. It seemed very dignified, but Kojou felt the design was rather creepy somehow. 

Kojou waited for her to continue her explanation as both of them looked down at the sealed letter. 

“—Kojou?” 

That was when someone unexpectedly called Kojou’s name. 

Hearing Kojou’s voice, a classmate of his leisurely poked her head out from the shadow of the building. She was a schoolgirl with elegant facial features. Kojou and Yukina swallowed as their faces met. 

“What are you doing making a ruckus back here? You have some nerve not coming to practice, leaving me there with the lovey-dovey couples and making me come looking for you…” 

“A-Asagi?” 

The shocked expression that came over Kojou’s face was due to the unexpected outfit she was wearing. 

It was a sleeveless polo shirt with a frighteningly short, pure white tennis skirt. It wasn’t odd for a badminton uniform—and yet, given this wasn’t a public match, but rather practice for a mere sports festival, Kojou thought it was awfully revealing. 

For whatever reason, Asagi was expressionless as she looked over Kojou and Yukina as they stood still. Then… 

“…What’s that letter?” 

“Eh?” 

As she asked in a quiet voice, Kojou finally grasped the gravity of the situation. 

A boy and a girl meeting behind the gym after classes, avoiding prying eyes, and held in their hands was an unusually extravagant letter. Looking at this, she must have thought that either Kojou or Yukina was giving the letter to the other… 

By the thinking of any impartial observer, this was someone tenderly confessing their love. 

“Did I interrupt something?” Asagi asked with an awkward expression. Her attitude was that of someone in shock. 

Kojou and Yukina vigorously shook their heads at the same time. 

“No, you’re not. I met Himeragi here because of an unforeseeable incident, emergency situation; it’s absolutely not that we’re exchanging a letter here, right, Himeragi?” 

“I-indeed. This outfit’s for class cheerleading, I’m certainly not wearing it because it suits Akatsuki-senpai’s tastes…” 

Even though those were the actual facts, somehow even Kojou found them strangely unconvincing. He wondered if he’d normally be in a much happier mood being sandwiched by two girls in short skirts. 

Asagi maintained a strange reserve as Kojou and Yukina continued explaining in tandem. “That’s enough,” she said, making a long sigh. “It’s fine, whatever. It doesn’t have anything to do with me, anyway.” 

As she spoke, she made a small smile. Her smile was perfect, but Kojou did not sense the usual whimsical Asagi; rather, her smiling face seemed drained of all emotion. 

Keeping that artificial smile on her face, Asagi turned her back on Kojou and Yukina. 

“Ah, hey, Asagi…!” 

Ignoring Kojou’s words of restraint, Asagi vanished into the shadow of the building once more. 

Kojou thought, as if strangely detached, that Asagi had been concerned for him, only to have undergone a heavy shock due to a complete misunderstanding. 

“Oh, crap. She’s going to think she has something on me for sure. I’ll have to pay her something or bribe her with food to keep her quiet again…and why was she dressed like that, anyway?” 

Kojou held his head, trying to understand why Asagi left surprisingly easily. 

Seeing Kojou like that, Yukina looked up at him with a face that was somehow full of reproach. 

“Senpai…,” she muttered with a weak sigh mixed in. 

The man was in the corner of a dreary room with bare metal showing. 

The only sound in the quiet, thinly lit laboratory was that of cooling fans. The temperature was low enough to make exhales turn to white mist, no doubt to protect the electronic circuitry packed in the room like a dense grove of trees. 

The image displayed by the central monitor enumerated strange written characters of unknown origin. 

Without any warning, the lab’s dividing doors suddenly flew open. 

A group of three strange people barged in. 

Two of them were men wearing black business suits. The third was a young woman wearing a dress covered in frills. The woman had a cherubic face like that of a little girl. 

The man’s chair creaked as he turned to face the out-of-place intruders. 

“Who are you people? This is a Class Six classified zone. Entry of unauthorized personnel is strictly—…” 

Glaring at them like a bird of prey whose nest had been disturbed, he threatened the men in black. But his expression went rigid mid-sentence. He noticed the ID badges that the men in the suits were wearing. 

“…You are Yousuke Makimura of the Kano Alchemical Industries Research Branch, I presume.” 

One of the black-suited men spoke in an impersonal voice lacking in inflection. 

The badges identifying the men in suits bore simple five-pointed star magic circles for personal protection. These identified the men as national Counter-Demon Attack Mages assigned to the Special District Police Counter-Demon Unit that dealt with national sorcerous offenses. 

“Research Chief Makimura. We believe this laboratory is making use of materials in violation of the Sorcery Import Control Act. We demand that you hand over all research data on the premises as well as all materials.” 

“I-import Control Act violation?!” 

The man named Makimura rose from his seat, sweat appearing on his forehead. 

“Wait. There must be some mistake! This is a laboratory that decodes ancient languages. We have permission from the Administration Corporation. If you just speak to the manager…” 

“A few days ago, we apprehended one of Kristof Gardos’s subordinates.” 

The other black-suited man drew a pistol, informing the researcher in an overbearing manner. Makimura sharply inhaled. 

“I hereby place you under arrest under Article Five of the Special District Public Security Code. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You should be careful what you say and do.” 

“Ugh…!” 


The man in the black suit moved to grab Makimura’s arm and slap handcuffs on him… But that moment, the black-suited man was assailed by a dull impact. 

Compared to the slender, helpless-looking Makimura, the man in the black suit had a far more robust frame. There was a weight difference between them of forty kilograms or so. But when Makimura shook the arm the man in the black suit had grabbed, it was the latter that went flying. The man in black slammed against a nearby pillar, making an anguished exhale as he collapsed onto the floor. 

Just as certain reptiles altered the pigment of their cells according to their mood, Makimura was capable of changing the very nature of his cells according to his own will. He was a beast man—a werewolf. The researcher had transformed into a fearsome berserker with the strength and explosiveness of a ferocious beast. 

The other man in black instantly turned his pistol on Makimura. With a well-trained motion, he fired silver and iridium alloy bullets popularly known as Lycan-Killers. However, Makimura slipped past the raining bullets and knocked the pistol out of the black-suited man’s hands. 

He then made a powerful leap toward the still-open dividing doors, attempting to flee outside. 

“So he is an unregistered demon…a Black Death Emperor Front sympathizer?” 

The woman watching Makimura’s back as he fled, Natsuki Minamiya, murmured as if quite bored. Then, she quietly issued her command. 

“…Astarte, I don’t mind if you’re a little rough. Arrest him.” 

“Accept.” 

As if to block Makimura’s escape, a small indigo-haired girl stood in front of the dividing doors. 

She had white, seemingly translucent skin and blue eyes. She had a perfectly symmetrical face. The girl felt like a living being, but she seemed frail and fairylike. 

The girl wore an apron dress with a large gap open over the back. Seeing the weaponless girl, the bestialized Makimura ferociously bared his fangs with a laugh. 

“Homunculus?! Do you think this brat can stop me…!” 

“…Execute ‘Rhododactylos.’” 

The next instant, it was as if Astarte’s flesh was ripped open by the wing that emerged from her back, glowing with the colors of the rainbow. The shock wave from them warped the air inside the lab. It was a pulse of magical energy so dense that it gained solidity and physical mass. Bathed in it at close range, Makimura screamed. 

“Wha…?!” 

The wing that had sprouted from the girl’s back changed shape to that of a giant arm. It was the arm of a golem, covered in rainbow-colored armor. With all the force of a cannon, its fist slammed into the werewolf man head-on. 

The dull, crashing sound conveyed the sense of bone and flesh being smashed. 

It was might that surely would have killed any normal human. But the small girl called Astarte had apparently not held back whatsoever. 

“A…a Beast Vassal?! That’s crazy… Why does a homunculus have a Beast Vassal…?!” 

Coughing up a mass of blood, Makimura made a frail groan that seemed delirious. 

Astarte’s expressionless eyes, like the surface of a calm lake, looked down upon Makimura as the arm extending from her back restrained his body. The true nature of that giant arm was a sentient mass of magical energy known as a Beast Vassal. 

These were summoned beasts from another world, taking physical form in exchange for consuming the life force of their host. 

As familiars went, these were the worst of the worst, suddenly exhausting the life force of their summoners and granting them death. 

But by the same token, the combat ability of a Beast Vassal was immense. It was because vampires could use Beast Vassals that they were the most feared of all demonkind. 

And only vampires, with infinite “negative” life forces, could tame Beast Vassals… 

Astarte was the one and only exception. For Rhododactylos was an artificial Beast Vassal constructed for a certain objective by a Lotharingian Armed Apostle. 

Makimura, unable to maintain his bestialized state due to the heavy wounds he’d sustained, coughed violently as he returned to human form. Rushing over while they had the chance, the men in black suits fastened a metal ring around Makimura’s neck. It was an anti-demon restraining device that employed a weak electrical current to throw the nervous system into haywire and prevent bestialization. 

“…I’m very sorry, instructor Minamiya. Your aid was invaluable.” 

One of the men in black, pressing down on his broken arm, said words of thanks to Natsuki. She elegantly shook her head as she opened up a black-frilled fan. 

“No need to thank me. I’m not the one who did the work.” 

As she spoke, she made an annoyed-sounding snort. Though her manner of speech was overbearing, her overly childish-sounding voice and natural-born grace kept it from feeling grating. 

Indeed, the men in black looked quite pleased at how coldly she treated them. It was all part of Natsuki’s charm. 

In the meantime, she looked over several photographs spread out over Makimura’s desk. 

They were photos of stone tablets that had been excavated from some ancient ruin. Engraved on the faces of the stone tablets were the same indecipherable symbols as those displayed on the laboratory’s monitor. But merely by looking at those lines of text, she instinctively understood. 

What was written here contained frighteningly dangerous power… 

“So this is what the Black Death Emperor Front went through the trouble of smuggling in from Southeast Asia… It seems to be no mere relic after all… Where’s the original?” 

“…Cannot confirm target. Hypothesis: Target has already been removed from this facility,” Astarte casually replied to Natsuki’s musings. The homunculus girl pointed to a metal shipping case left in a corner of the room. 

Though it was a special type that had ritualistic seals piled upon it, it was empty, the seals already broken. 

Someone must have taken the stone tablets contained within somewhere else. 

“So we’re too late, in other words?” 

As she asked herself in a voice of displeasure, Natsuki looked up at the image displayed by the monitor. 

Somehow, Makimura had used his own company’s research facilities to decipher the stone tablet. But the deciphering was not yet complete; the only thing he’d managed to decipher was a single word. Natsuki’s expression sharpened as she looked over the characters that spelled “Nalakuvera.” 

“This is insane… What are you thinking, Kristof Gardos…?” 

Makimura, still on the floor, made a high-pitched laugh as he listened to their conversation. 

It was the loud, mad laugh of a terrorist who yearned for global destruction. 

Kojou Akatsuki was walking along a seaside footpath illuminated by the rays of the evening sun. 

Beside him was Yukina, carrying her guitar case on her back. Thanks to Asagi’s whims turning sports festival practice into a pretzel, they’d ended up just going home together. 

Both were taking a minor detour, heading to a supermarket close to where they lived. Thanks to Nagisa coming back late from club activity, buying ingredients for supper on the way back to her place had become a daily ritual for them. 

“The sender is…Dimitrie Vattler, Duke of Ardeal… Who’s that?” Along the way, Kojou gave her the sealed envelope they picked up behind the gym, mumbling with a perplexed look. 

The letter left behind by the metal shikigami was an invitation to a party to be held that night. It was apparently a pretty big deal held on a cruise ship moored at Itogami Island. 

But Kojou didn’t know anyone named Vattler. Of course, he couldn’t imagine why he’d been invited to this party. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing. 

“The principality of Ardeal is one of the self-governing territories within the Warlord’s Empire,” Yukina explained in a grave tone. Kojou and Yukina had just arrived at the supermarket they were headed for. The air-conditioned air flowing out of the automatic door entryway felt really good. 

Kojou replied with a question as he put a shopping basket on top of a shopping cart left near the entrance. 

“The Warlord’s Empire?” 

“A Dominion in Eastern Europe…the land under the control of the First Primogenitor. You know about the First Primogenitor, the ‘Lost Warlord,’ yes?” 

“I’ve heard the name, at least. That’s the vampire conqueror served by seventy-two Beast Vassals…isn’t it?” 

Kojou was flabbergasted that something so completely nonsensical had come out of his own mouth. 

After all, even a single Beast Vassal controlled by a primogenitor-class vampire could wipe out a city or two; they were genuine monsters. He couldn’t wrap his mind around controlling dozens of them. 

He felt like he should doubt that such a being could even exist. 

It was actually Kojou, thinking such thoughts, who was the World’s Mightiest Vampire, surpassing even the First Primogenitor, but… 

“It is said that the Holy Ground Treaty that enabled the coexistence of man and demon was made possible only with that ruler’s cooperation. Otherwise, the remaining primogenitors probably never would have joined the negotiations, for even among fellow primogenitors, the Warlord’s Empire boasts overwhelming military superiority and is the oldest Dominion.” 

Yukina explained the frightening power of the First Primogenitor like she was chiding the nonchalant Kojou. Kojou quietly shrugged his shoulders. At any rate, the problem in front of him wasn’t the “Lost Warlord” himself. 

“…So, this Vattler guy is a retainer of that First Primogenitor?” 

“That’s what it amounts to. He’s a noble ruling his own autonomous territory—in other words, a blood relation of the First Primogenitor himself, what one might call a pure bloodline vampire.” 

“Hmmm.” 

Relying on the note Nagisa had given him, Kojou stuffed vegetables and fruits into the shopping cart. The ingredients were enough to feed three people, enough for Kojou, Nagisa, and Yukina. This was the result of Nagisa, well aware Yukina lived by herself, strenuously inviting her over for supper. 

Nagisa was overjoyed at having someone to talk to during meals, after all. Kojou was quite grateful that Yukina was playing the role of listener in his stead. In the first place, with observing Kojou being Yukina’s prime objective, it wasn’t exactly a bad deal for her, either. So, since all of their interests coincided, it had at some point become customary for Yukina to come to the Akatsuki residence for supper. 

“What’s a big shot like him coming to Itogami Island for? Hey…that’s too many onions!” 

“You mustn’t be picky about your vegetables. Also, I think his aim is probably to meet you, senpai.” 

“It couldn’t be because I’m the Fourth Primogenitor, is it…?” 

“There really wouldn’t be any other reason…and senpai, don’t sneak green onions back onto the counter. You are not a child.” 

Yukina sighed as Kojou brought the greenish-yellow onions he detested back into the cart. They looked like a young, recently married couple getting along nicely as they shopped, but neither of them realized it. They were trying to converse about what was a rather serious subject. 

Actually, between the store employees and the neighbors, people whispered rumors about such as, “They’re living together?” “Not brother and sister?” “He seems to live with some other girl…,” “Don’t tell me the three are living together…,” and so on, but of course the persons concerned did not notice any of this. 

“Why does some vampire from somewhere in Europe know my name…?” 

Kojou murmured in dissatisfaction as he checked the name the invitation was addressed to one more time. 

Yukina, seemingly feeling guilty somehow, made a sigh. 

“I believe he noticed your existence because of the Lotharingian Armed Apostle incident in recent days. It’s because you spectacularly burned the city like you did…” 

“That wasn’t me! That Beast Vassal did it on its own!” 

“Of course, I understand that…but the world at large may not think so.” 

“Shit…that’s no reason for some piece of origami to come attacking me. Did he come all the way overseas to pick a fight?” 

Kojou made a groan of loathing as he recalled the steel beasts he’d encountered at school. He managed there because Yukina had come, but if she had not, Kojou’s Beast Vassals might have gone berserk. 

For someone well aware of the danger posed by a primogenitor’s Beast Vassals, it was a rather violent way of doing things. 

“A declaration of war…perhaps?” 

Yukina’s lips formed the ominous words. A primogenitor holding sway over a Dominion was treated the same as a national army under international law. Kojou, though lacking both retainers and brethren, was technically no exception. 

“Although it is not impossible, I believe he seeks negotiation for the moment…” 

“So I’ve gotta respond to this invitation either way, huh…?” 

As Kojou unfurled the invitation as he spoke, a perplexed look came over his face as he read the content. 

As Yukina’s sharp eyes picked that up, she dubiously looked up at Kojou. 

“Senpai? What’s wrong?” 

“Err…it kinda says here to bring my partner with me…” 

“Partner?” Yukina went “ahh” and made an affirming nod. “Come to think of it, it’s standard to bring one’s spouse or lover with you when attending a party in the West.” 

“…Hey, this is a pretty big problem, out of the blue like this. What’s a single guy supposed to do?” 

“In this circumstance, perhaps you could ask an acquaintance to act as a substitute?” 

“Substitute…you say.” 

Kojou’s lips twisted as if he was conflicted. A substitute for a lover would have to be someone close in age, a family member or good friend, and furthermore, of the opposite sex… 

“I can’t take Nagisa to a party hosted by vampires, and Asagi seems angry over something, and I don’t really wanna get her wrapped up in anything bad, anyway…” 

“I suppose not.” Yukina cutely cleared her throat and looked at Kojou. “I think you have no choice but to select someone who knows your true nature and who can deal with dangerous situations.” 

“Suppose so.” 

Kojou lowered his eyes and made a reluctant sigh at how troublesome this was. 

“I don’t like involving her, but…maybe I can try asking Natsuki.” 

“Wh-what?” 

Yukina’s eyes went wide with shock and froze that way. Kojou didn’t notice as he scratched his head. 

“I’m scared what favor she’s gonna drag out of me later, but this ain’t the time or place to complain… Well, I bet she’ll come along to a mere party if one of her adorable pupils seriously asks her to.” 

“…How did Ms. Minamiya’s name come up there?” Yukina asked in a low voice. There was no great change in her facial expression, but her every word was so charged with electricity that they conveyed a very thorny impression. She seemed upset for some reason. 

“Er, I mean, she knows all about my condition, she has her Counter-Demon Mage certification, so she’s suitable, right? Although I do think looking a little too young might be a bit of a problem.” 

“I believe there is someone else who is of appropriate age, who knows your condition, and who also has Counter-Demon Agent Agacertification, senpai,” Yukina murmured in a blunt tone, almost as if speaking to herself. As Kojou listened, he finally realized the reason for Yukina’s anger. 

“Can I ask you to come? It’s not gonna be a problem with the Lion King Agency?” 

“It cannot be helped. In this instance, I think letting you out of my sight would be the greater problem, senpai.” 

Yukina spoke coldly, as if to conceal her blush. Seeing her mood somehow recovering, Kojou breathed a sigh of relief and made a strained smile. 

“I see. Sorry.” 

“No, watching you is my mission after all, senpai…ah!” 

After speaking in a tone of jest, Yukina’s expression suddenly darkened. 

“Himeragi? So there is some kind of problem?” 

“I suppose it…could be a problem. I do not have clothes to wear to a party.” 

Yukina had a brooding look as she bit her lip. Watching her face like that from the side for a while, Kojou spontaneously burst into laughter. As Kojou’s slumped shoulders shook, Yukina snapped him an indignant glare. 

“Is something funny?” 

“Er, sorry. I thought, you’re just like Cinderella. So even you worry about these things, Himeragi.” 

“…I suppose so. If I am the soot-covered princess, you must be the mean stepsister, senpai.” 

The gaze Yukina turned toward Kojou was like ice. Kojou looked a bit hurt. 

“If you’re not gonna say I’m the prince, at least make me the wizard or something!” 

“In the Grimm fairy tale, Cinderella scraped the heels and toes off the mean stepsisters and put their eyes out. Please be careful, senpai.” 

“…I’m thinking you’ll look cute in anything, so it’s not that much of a problem, Himeragi.” 

Kojou strived to put on an earnest face as he spoke. He did not intend it as idle flattery, since this was his honest opinion, but all the same… 

“You’re so transparent, senpai.” 

Yukina simply made a sigh, as if giving up. Still angry, Yukina walked off at a rapid pace, with Kojou pushing the cart ahead of him as he followed. 

Having finished their shopping, Kojou and Yukina carried various shopping bags as they headed home. 

The evening sun had already sunk below the horizon; dusk was already starting to envelop the city. It was three hours and change until when Dimitrie Vattler’s party was due to start. That really wasn’t much time to spare. 

“If you went all the way to Island West, there’s rental shops, but I doubt they’d still be open at this hour. Nagisa doesn’t have any clothes for a party, either, so maybe borrowing something from Natsuki might be our only…” 

“Ms. Minamiya’s Western clothes…you mean…? I don’t think I can wear them, though…” 

Yukina pressed upon her own breasts as she muttered. Certainly, both were small girls, but Natsuki was still significantly smaller than Yukina, both in height and in overall figure. 

“Er, but…” 

“I won’t wear it, but what is it?” 

Kojou, who was about to say there wasn’t much difference between them in breast size, went silent as Yukina glared at him. The glacial atmosphere continued until Kojou and Yukina arrived back at their apartment building. Then… 

“What’s that package?” 

Kojou inclined his head slightly as he noticed a slip with a delivery notice on it. Apparently a package had been delivered to the locker for home deliveries. Though nothing came to mind, Kojou held no special doubts as he opened the locker. 

Inside was a flat, rectangular cardboard box. Considering its size, it wasn’t very heavy. 

But when they saw the name of the sender on the package, both Kojou and Yukina were beside themselves. 

“Lion King Agency?” 

“But…why to senpai’s address?” 

Both of them were in shock at the package from a completely unexpected sender. 

The Lion King Agency was a special agency under the Japanese government for dealing with large-scale sorcerous disasters and terrorism. 

Their having dispatched Yukina to be Kojou’s watcher was also for natural security… In other words, they had judged Kojou’s very existence to be a grave threat on a national scale. 

And yet, such a group had gone out of its way to send something to Kojou. Kojou couldn’t believe it meant anything good. 

Even Yukina, a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, seemed to be in the dark about what it was. 

Kojou and Yukina’s eyes met with sharp looks on their faces, seemingly hardening their resolve before stretching their hands toward the top of the cardboard box. They cautiously peeled the wrapping off, opening the parcel with bated breath. 

Within the box was something meticulously folded, made of thin, glossy fabric. It was clearly made of expensive material. Kojou immediately came to suspect that there was some kind of curse embedded in it. However, Yukina only shook her head in silence. Apparently she did not sense any special danger. 

Kojou spotted a note with fine print in the corner of the package’s box and picked it up. In the meantime, Yukina gently pulled up the fabric by the edge. With a soft rustle, it spread into a skirt with voluminous frills. The rest of what was packed gently fell with a soft patter. It was an slip, complete with cups, and silk underwear. 

“The heck is this…Order-Made Party Dress, Type One? Height a hundred and fifty-six centimeters, B seventy-six, W fifty-five, H seventy-eight, C sixty…to Miss Yukina Himeragi, paid in full…eh?” 

As Kojou read what was written on the note out loud, he suddenly lifted his head, looking at Yukina, who stood right before his eyes. 

Looking from the slip in the grasp of the red-faced Yukina back to the note with mysterious letters and numbers on it, Kojou finally grasped the reason why Yukina’s shoulders were shaking in embarrassment. 

An awkward silence came over the two. Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Kojou judged that remaining quiet was a poor plan of action. Thinking he ought to console her first, he looked to the chest of her uniform. 

“Err…C, huh? More there than I thought. Mm, I’m impressed.” 

That instant, the air itself seemed to freeze over. The expressionless Yukina’s entire body emitted an incredible surge of bloodlust. Realizing he’d spoken poorly, Kojou stiffened, unable to move, like a corpse in rigor mortis. 

“Is that all you have to say before I erase your memory, senpai?” 

With a wobble, Yukina soundlessly rose up, clenching her fists as she posed her question to Kojou. Wait, calm down, deep breath, he thought. Kojou desperately tried to talk her down. 

“It’s all right, Himeragi. The dress has dress padding and everyth—” 

Before Kojou finished that last word, Yukina’s unleashed heel plunged down onto Kojou’s crown. “Hrgh!!” he uttered in anguish as he clutched his head. Looking down at him, Yukina’s cheeks swelled up in what seemed like a pout. 

A little past 9:00 p.m., Kojou finished changing his clothes and came out of his room. 

He was wearing a three-piece tuxedo. It had been packed together with Yukina’s dress in the package sent by the Lion King Agency. Their objective was unclear, but apparently the Lion King Agency bunch wanted Kojou and Yukina to meet this aristocrat from the Warlord’s Empire. 

Though he found being used for no apparent reason to be distasteful, it’s not as if he had any other clothes he could wear to a party. The clothes had committed no crime, Kojou told himself as he fastened his necktie and closed the buttons of his vest, heading toward the entryway. Then… 

“K-Kojou? What’s that? What’s with those clothes?” 

Having come face-to-face with Kojou in the living room, Nagisa, fresh out of the bath, widened her eyes as she looked at him. 

Her hair was drenched; her cheeks were still a little pink. With water droplets still on her skin, she looked quite defenseless with only a bath towel wrapped around her. Kojou was a bit taken aback at her gawking at his outfit while she walked around like that. 

“Ah, this. Actually I’m doin’ a part-time job.” 

He gave her the excuse he’d thought up beforehand. 

Nagisa was instantly taken aback, looking over Kojou’s whole figure in what seemed like shock. 

“A part-time job? At night?” 

“I’m subbing for a classmate who collapsed from workin’ too hard. It’s just for tonight. On his end, his parents have a hundred and fifty million yen debt left to pay, so if I don’t do this in his place, they won’t be able to pay the medical costs for his sick older sister.” 

“I-is that so…?” 

Kojou thought it was a sorry excuse by his standards, but Nagisa seemed to believe it with surprising ease. The tuxedo must have added credibility. In point of fact, a normal high school student had very few opportunities to wear something like this unless he was part-timing at a bar. 

“I guess it can’t be helped. But don’t do anything indecent,” Nagisa warned him with an uneasy expression. 

What in the world is she worried about? Kojou thought with a pained smile. 

“Yeah, it’s okay. Not gonna happen. Sorry about leaving you to hold the fort, but thanks.” 

“Yeah, I get it… You take care, Kojou.” 

Kojou left while Nagisa saw him off with a cheerful wave. 

Though he of course felt guilty about tricking his younger sister, he couldn’t be honest with her and say he was meeting a vampire from the Warlord’s Empire, so it couldn’t be helped. 

Kojou went into the corridor, making an annoyed exhale, thoroughly disgusted with himself. 

As he did so, Kojou sensed someone right beside him coming even closer, as if to nestle against him. 

When Kojou looked, there stood Yukina. She’d no doubt heard Kojou’s conversation with Nagisa. 

Glancing sideways at the door to the Akatsuki residence, she spoke as if trying to console Kojou. 

“Nagisa’s a good girl.” 

“Well, the wilder a story, the easier she’ll believe it, you could…sa…” 

As Kojou spoke, turning around to face Yukina, he was suddenly at a loss for words. 

His gaze was stolen by the outfit so very different from what she usually wore. 

It was a white party dress with deep blue highlights. The cleavage was conservative, but in contrast, the outfit was boldly cut from her shoulders all the way down her back. The thin fabric made the contours of Yukina’s body stand out, with her white, firm thighs poking out from under her elegantly frilled miniskirt. 

As might be expected of something made-to-order, it suited Yukina to a frightening degree. The outfit was tidy, pretty, and gave off a slightly risqué feeling. Even Kojou, well acquainted with Yukina’s beauty, could only look in shock with a dumbstruck look on his face. 

“Senpai?” 

As if delivering a warning, Yukina glared at Kojou with her eyes half-narrowed. 

“Y-yeah?” 

“This outfit… It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?” 

“No, it’s not at all… But! Eh?! Wa… Why’re you pointing that spear at me?!” 

Seeing the tip of her spear thrust right before his eyes, Kojou’s expression tensed in a hurry. Still keeping her silver spear at the ready, Yukina coolly gazed at Kojou, finally speaking in a sharp tone. 

“I’m sorry. I sensed danger and reacted without thinking.” 

“Th-that so.” 

Kojou’s face scowled as he sensed the presence of a metallic scent inside his nostrils. 

Though he was poorly aware of it himself, Kojou was now a vampire, and the vampire species was known as such because of the existence of a dangerous instinct. Namely, vampiric urges—the craving to sink his fangs into another’s neck and suck on blood that he desperately wanted to resist. And the trigger for vampiric urges was lust. Just now, Kojou, aroused from looking at Yukina, had apparently been in danger of having his mind taken over by vampiric urges. Yukina had no doubt drawn Snowdrift Wolf because she’d instinctively sensed that. 

So this is a Sword Shaman’s Spirit Sight, he thought in quiet admiration. 

“…You’re too easy to understand, senpai. When you’re thinking indecent thoughts, it’s written all over your face.” 

Timed as if she was reading Kojou’s mind, Yukina spoke with a sigh mixed in. 

“The back really is…too exposed, isn’t it? The fabric’s thin, the skirt so short, it’s just…” 

“Means it’s easy to move in, doesn’t it? It’s better than if the skirt’s in your way if it comes down to a fight.” 

“…Even if what you say is sensible, your ulterior motive’s smeared all over your face.” 

“It is not.” 

Kojou sullenly groaned. Yukina made a small shrug, and thinking something, she suddenly tugged down on the edge of her skirt a little. 

“Well, it’s fine. The underskirt the cheerleading club gave me has been put to good use.” 

“An underskirt?!” 

Unconsciously leaning his body forward, Kojou slumped his shoulders as he lamented. 

“Senpai, so you really were…” 

“Er, no. I wasn’t trying to peek at all, I just mean, an underskirt with that outfit is like, unfair, I feel like my dreams have been shattered, I mean, the reason Schrödinger’s cat has philosophers all worked up is because they don’t know for sure if it’s dead or alive…” 

“I have no idea what you are referring to, but I do take from it that you have an extraordinary interest in what is under a girl’s skirt, senpai.” 

“So stop pointing that spear at me already!” 

Kojou, driven all the way back to the wall, made desperate, pleading gestures. 

“Senpai, really, you’re…” 

For some reason, Yukina made a sigh of apparent surrender, quietly lowering her spear. She transformed it back to its storage configuration and put it in the case at her feet. 

What she had with her was not the usual black guitar case, but a case with an attaché-style handle. It didn’t seem all that out of place with her party-dress look. She looked like a player of a classical instrument heading to an orchestral theater performance. Then… 

“This outfit…it’s really not ridiculous?” 

Yukina, closing the case and standing up, suddenly looked up at Kojou with upturned eyes, inquiring in a quiet voice. 

“No, not at all. It looks good on you.” 

“Is that so?” 

Kojou nodded curtly in reply and proceeded to walk with Yukina ahead to the elevator. Where her hair was raised, her nape was faintly red. She seemed to be secretly blushing. 

Kojou inclined his head as he noticed the hair ornament holding Yukina’s hair up. It was a silver hair clip styled like a Christian cross. It wasn’t in the box of stuff sent by the Lion King Agency, either. It was rare for Yukina, who had few personal possessions, to accessorize herself in this way. 

“Himeragi, that hair ornament…” 

“Eh…?” 

Yukina put her hand to her hair in surprise, wearing an expression like that of a child whose prank had been discovered. 

“Is this…odd, by any chance?” 

“No, not at all. It suits you.” 

Kojou repeated the exact same line from earlier. This time, too, an honestly happy look came over Yukina. 

“Sayaka…my roommate when I was at High God Forest…gave this to me.” 

“Roommate? Is she a Sword Shaman like you are?” 

Kojou asked, his interest somewhat aroused. 

High God Forest was the name of the all-girls school Yukina had attended until only the last month. 

However, it was really a Counter-Demon Attack Mage educational facility for the Lion King Agency. 

Yukina had told him that her own Sword Shaman abilities were drilled into her in that place. 

He thought it highly unlikely a girl living together with Yukina would be an ordinary person with no connection to ritual magic. 

“She is not a Sword Shaman, but Sayaka is a CDMA for the Lion King Agency as well.” 

Yukina gave the answer Kojou expected. For some reason, her voice was tinged with pride. 

“She’s one year older than I am, so she’s already left High God Forest on an official assignment.” 

“Huh… Good friends, you two?” 

Yukina made a shy assenting nod to Kojou’s murmur. 

“I suppose so. I think of her as a sister, really. She’s beautiful and cute, and her personality is cute, too; she’s so gentle… I’m proud to have had her for a roommate.” 

“Makes me wanna meet her a little,” Kojou thought out loud in a casual mood. That instant, Yukina’s expression suddenly darkened. 

She touched her hair ornament once and informed him in a very small voice, “It might be best that you do not, senpai… I think it’s likely she’d seek to kill you.” 

10 

The cruise ship of Dimitrie Vattler, Duke of Ardeal, was moored at a huge pier on Island West. The party was due to begin at 10:00 p.m. They could see a large group of invitees climbing the gangway and getting aboard the ship. 

“…A floating graveyard…huh? Name’s in pretty bad taste.” 

Looking up at the name engraved onto the hull, Kojou was beside himself as he read the ship’s name, Oceanus Grave. 

But in spite of the ominous name, the lit-up hull had a palatial, elegant dignity proudly on display under the evening sky. 

“That’s his personal…? Geez, how rich are these Warlord’s Empire aristocrats, anyway?” 

“I believe there is a strategic objective in proudly displaying his authority in this manner,” Yukina explained in a serene tone. 

“Though it is mere superstition that vampires cannot cross the ocean, it is nonetheless true that their abilities are limited when over water. For a Dominion such as this, its nobles merely boarding ships openly acts as a show of force toward other nations. That’s even if it’s mere civilian ships rather than warships.” 

“Hmm…or maybe it’s just that they like showin’ off.” 

His mood rather weighed down, Kojou looked up at the blue-white hull once again. 

The civilian vessel Oceanus Grave bore no weaponry. However, the ship’s owner was a vampire noble. The Beast Vassals he could summon had combat ability equal to top-notch aircraft carriers. In other words, Itogami Island currently had the equivalent of a Dominion warship here, right before its eyes—a delicate situation. 

Perhaps because of that, many of the people boarding the Oceanus Grave had faces he’d seen on the news. They were big-shot politicians and financial heavy hitters, VIPs from the government and Itogami City. 

Since the party’s host was a noble from the Warlord’s Empire, this much was not unnatural by any means. But… 

“…We’re the only ones who look out of place, huh?” 

Kojou muttered to himself, “I wonder if coming here was the right call,” feeling quite uneasy. 

Now that he thought about it, that invitation could have been a forgery sent by someone to trick Kojou and Yukina. Given the circumstances of the invitation’s arrival, it wasn’t exactly baseless speculation. 

However, as Kojou thought of such things, Yukina looked up at him, looking beside herself. 

“No, an envoy from the First Primogenitor arriving on this island should greet the ruler of this land, the Fourth Primogenitor, before all others. You are the main guest of the party, senpai. Please act more appropriately.” 

“Easier said than done, geez. I’m just a normal high schooler!” Kojou weakly objected. Though arbitrarily treated by others around him like a primogenitor, Kojou himself had been a normal human being until a few months ago. Even if he stuck out like a sore thumb here, there was no reason for him to know how to act “appropriately.” 

When his invitation was checked and he boarded the ship, he felt even more like a fish out of water: The lighting was dazzling, the food was exquisite, all these important-looking people gathered in one place. A young man like Kojou walking around warranted no more of a glance than a rock on the side of the road. 

“So…where’s the guy who called us over here, anyway?” Kojou murmured as he looked around the interior of the reception hall, continuing to feel very out of his element. 

The reception hall inside the ship, now a party venue, was unthinkably large. There had to be at least five hundred invitees. 

Finding an envoy of the First Primogenitor, whose face he didn’t even know, in the middle of that was no simple task. 

But on the other hand, Kojou had had a strange feeling since the moment after he came aboard the ship. 

It was like the rise one got just before starting a basketball game. Fear, delight, the sense of urgency and exhilaration all seemingly combined into a single pleasant sense of tension. 

Realizing he was close to one of his brethren possessing great power, he felt like every nerve of his body was sharpened. As a vampire, Kojou’s blood…and the Beast Vassals that dwelled within…boiled in anticipation of encountering a powerful enemy. 

That stirring told him that the noble from the Warlord’s Empire was without doubt very close. 

“Above us. Duke Ardeal is likely on the external upper deck…” 

As if to confirm Kojou’s premonition, Yukina spoke while looking up above her head. Similar to Kojou, Yukina likely knew where Dimitrie Vattler was thanks to her Sword Shaman’s Spirit Sight. 

“Upper deck…huh? How do we get up there then?” 

“This way, senpai.” 

Yukina pointed to a stairway in the corner of the hall, making her way along a path where invitees were mingling. 

As Kojou hurried to catch up to her, Yukina looked back and extended her hand. Without questioning at all, he moved to grasp her hand. 

It was the next moment that Kojou sensed a silver flash, accompanied by bloodlust, swooping down at him. 

“…Sei!!” 

“Uoo?!” 

As Kojou instantly leaped back, the well-sharpened tip of a fork right before his eyes grazed his arm. 

The fork was gripped by a young woman. She appeared nearly 170 centimeters in height, but seemed to be a girl still in her midteens. She had long, chestnut-colored hair and white skin. Her face had a charming, eye-catching elegance about it. 

The cheongsam-style outfit she wore over her slender body suited her very well. 

“Pardon me. My hand slipped.” 

The long-haired girl spoke, not acting like she was particularly sorry. Kojou glared at her in displeasure. 

“If you know how someone can slip and swing a fork down at someone else’s arm, by all means, tell me… Wait, weren’t you yelling like some martial artist just now?!” 

“It is because you tried to touch Yukina with your filthy, lust-stained hand, Kojou Akatsuki.” 

“What…?!” 

Kojou stared at her in surprise at her knowing his name. She continued to hold her fork backward while giving Kojou a frigid glare. 

The aura she gave off was a little like Yukina’s right after they met, but this one was far more hostile. It seemed like, if he showed the slightest opening, she would attack him without mercy. 

“Who the heck are you?” 

Kojou was perplexed as he asked her. The party guests all around them were raising their voices in alarm. Yukina arrived back the next moment. 

“…Sayaka?!” 

Wedging herself between the glaring parties, Yukina looked dumbfounded as she called out the long-haired girl’s name. 

That moment, the girl named Sayaka showed a highly dramatic change. Like a hard bud blossoming into a flower, an elegant smile broadened over her entire face, with the surge of bloodlust emanating from her entire body replaced with an aura full of gentle affection. 

“Yukina!” 

The long-haired girl gave Yukina an earnest hug. Kojou felt like he was watching sisters who got along well being miraculously reunited. Her hair, in a ponytail behind her, swayed like the tail of a happy dog. 

“It’s been so long, Yukina. Have you been well?” 

“Y-yes.” 

 

Yukina seemed a bit at a loss at being suddenly reunited with the girl. She looked like surprise was winning against her joy at being back together. But not paying any heed to Yukina’s reaction, the girl called Sayaka pressed her own cheek against Yukina’s neck, rubbing it. 

“Ahh, Yukina, Yukina, Yukina…!! You poor thing, having watcher duty on the Fourth Primogenitor pushed on you while I wasn’t there! I wonder what made the Lion King Agency Executive Committee treat my Yukina in such a cruel manner!” 

“Ah, er…Sayaka…?!” 

“But it’s all right now. If this pervert lays one finger on you, I will immediately eliminate him. Both in a societal and a biological sense…” 

“Wa…! S-Sayaka…that’s a bit…yah!” 

“Hey.” 

As Sayaka fawned over Yukina, leaving herself wide open, Kojou delivered a chop to the back of her head. “Eek!” Sayaka exclaimed in a bitter voice, seemingly startled as she pulled back. 

Yukina, finally released from Sayaka’s clutches, had a look of relief on her face as she circled behind Kojou’s back. 

Sayaka, pressing a hand to the back of her head where she was smacked, glared sharply at Kojou. 

“What are you doing?! Don’t touch me, Fourth Primogenitor! No, Pervogenitor!” 

“Who’s the pervert?! Take that back! Primo and Perv don’t sound anything alike, so you did that on purpose!” Kojou bared his teeth as he yelled back. 

With a “hmph,” Sayaka exhaled roughly “I suppose. I’m sorry, oh Great Pervert Primogenitor. First off, I don’t want Yukina breathing the same air as you, so I don’t want you entering a five-meter radius around her. After that, I’ll gouge out your eyeballs. I won’t have your impure gaze looking at Yukina.” 

“Like hell you will! What the heck’s with you, popping out and mouthing off like this?” 

“Don’t come any closer. It’s gross,” Sayaka shouted as she threateningly thrust the fork at Kojou. 

What a rude woman, Kojou thought indignantly as he turned back toward Yukina. 

“Sayaka, that’s the ex-roommate you mentioned, isn’t it, Himeragi?” 

“…Yes.” 

Yukina looked up at Kojou and nodded in a way that seemed apologetic somehow. As if trying to interrupt their conversation, Sayaka wedged herself in from the side. 

“Sayaka Kirasaka, War Dancer of the Lion King Agency, Kojou Bakatsuki.” 

“It’s A-ka-tsu-ki. Don’t say it wrong on purpose!” Kojou yelled back, having had quite enough. 

Mysteriously, in spite of having raised such a ruckus, the guests in the party venue didn’t seem to be taking much notice. It seemed Yukina had quietly used an aversion incantation. 

“What’s a War Dancer? Is that different from a Sword Shaman?” Kojou asked Yukina another question. Yukina shook her head a little. 

“Both are Counter-Demon Attack Mages, but the skills we are trained in differ.” 

“Skills?” 

Looking at Kojou raising his eyebrows, Sayaka announced with pride. “War Dancers specialize in curses and assassinations. In other words, it is my duty to eliminate perverts hovering around Yukina, like you.” 

“I’m not hovering around her! If someone’s being hovered around, it’s me!!” 

“What are you so proud of?! It’s not like I’m jealous or anything!” 

“Then don’t say stuff that makes people think you’re jealous!” 

Kojou and Sayaka both glared at each other indignantly. Yukina covered her eyes while weakly shaking her head. 

“But why are you here, Sayaka? Weren’t you assigned to Multinational Sorcery Crimes in the Foreign Branch?” 

“I still am. I came to this island because of my mission.” Sayaka answered in a gentle tone of voice that seemed to come from a different person. Yukina narrowed her eyes in surprise. 

“Your mission?” 

“Same as yours, Yukina. Watcher duty over a vampire. It’s my duty to watch over Duke Ardeal so that he does not bring about any harm to the residents of Itogami City. At the moment I’m here because he asked me to show you in.” 

Hearing Sayaka’s careless explanation, Kojou finally grasped the circumstances. 

Just like Yukina had come to Itogami Island on watcher duty, Sayaka had been ordered to observe Vattler. 

Not that it accounted for her trying to stab Kojou with a fork out of the blue, but… 

“Fine then. Show us in already.” 

“I’ll bring you with me, but not because you said so. So please die already, like now.” 

“Hell no!” Yelling back in annoyance, Kojou trailed behind Sayaka up the stairs. Yukina, last in line, gave both of them a worried look. 

Looking over Sayaka’s graceful form from behind, Kojou let out an exasperated sigh. 

She’d said Vattler requested that she bring Kojou and Yukina to him. 

That being the case, she’d likely been the one who’d sent the invitation along with the shikigami that had attacked Kojou during the day. 

It wasn’t that she had any strategic objective; she just plain hated Kojou’s guts. 

Apparently, Sayaka was enveloped by deep, sister-like affection toward Yukina. So, from her point of view, Kojou was a wicked vampire putting her precious Yukina in danger. 

Kojou was afraid to even think about how Sayaka would react if she found out he’d sucked Yukina’s blood. Now he understood quite well why Yukina had been worried Sayaka would come for his neck. 

But to Kojou, Sayaka wasn’t the real threat here. 

The stirring in Kojou’s “blood” grew even fiercer. The primogenitor’s blood that flowed within Kojou’s body told him that a vampire possessing vast power was nearby. 

Kojou didn’t know the other guy’s true nature or his objective. He didn’t think that the cease-fire agreement between the primogenitors applied to the Fourth Primogenitor, who didn’t officially exist. Depending on how negotiations went, worst case, combat might break out right there. 

He was a noble of the Warlord’s Empire. A pure-blooded vampire directly descended from a primogenitor. Even if not on the same level as the First Primogenitor, it was safe to think he possessed combat ability near the same scale. 

To the contrary, even though Kojou was called the Fourth Primogenitor, he couldn’t use the vast majority of those abilities. He figured he had next to no chance of victory in a straight-up fight. 

Feelings of unease and confusion seeping through once more, Kojou climbed onto the ship’s upper deck. 

There was a lone man there, standing in the corner of the broad deck against a jet-black sea and the night sky. 

He was a handsome young man wearing a coat that was pure white. He was tall, but his contours were refined, not overbearing in any way. 

Stroking his blond hair back, the young man looked at Kojou with his pale blue eyes. 

That moment, his entire body was enveloped on a beam of pure white light. 

“…Senpai!” 

Yukina was the first to respond. Drawing her spear from her instrument case, she leaped in front of Kojou. To shield Yukina, Sayaka moved as well. It was all in the blink of an eye. 

However, even the girls’ prompt actions could not protect them from the pure white beam. 

The true nature of the light unleashed by the man in the coat was a serpent of flame glowing with white. It was a vampire’s Beast Vassal surrounded by scorching heat. Even as the Beast Vassal shot out at the speed of a comet, Kojou made no reaction whatsoever. He didn’t even know what was happening. 

“Guo…oo…!” 

It was not Kojou who reacted, but the Beast Vassals that dwelled in Kojou’s blood. Dazzling lightning enveloped Kojou’s entire body, releasing a lightning bolt that counter-attacked the serpent of flame. 

This was one of the twelve Beast Vassals that served the Fourth Primogenitor. It was the thunderbolt of “Regulus Aurum,” the only Beast Vassal Kojou could properly control. It fended off the attack in the place of its dumbfounded master. 

Firing indiscriminately with such enormous power would have destroyed the ship, and perhaps the entire harbor with it…but apparently, this time, even the calamitous lion Beast Vassal had thought better of it. 

The moment the pure white flaming serpent was annihilated, Kojou’s lightning was annihilated as well. 

“Th…that was close! The heck was that?!” 

Witnessing the scorched deck and the burning air, the aftereffects of the violent collision of two vast magical forces made Kojou, finally back to his senses, raise his voice. That moment, the sound of light clapping echoed through the air. 

The clapping came from the man in the white coat. Having launched the attack at Kojou to begin with, he actually seemed pleased that Kojou had fended it off. 

“My, my, quite splendid. So that level of Beast Vassal was indeed unable to even scratch you.” 

The man spoke in a relaxed voice. His voice sounded innocent without a shred of tension. 

Kojou kept his center of gravity low as he glared back at the man. 

The man’s frivolous behavior concealed the vast power behind it. That’s what Kojou’s flesh instinctively told him, putting him on his guard. The flaming serpent was but a portion of his power. If he’d unleashed his Beast Vassal in earnest, even Regulus Aurum might not have been able to stop it… 

Thinking that with a shudder, Kojou stared as the other man approached. 

But the man’s subsequent behavior caught Kojou by surprise. 

He lowered himself to one knee before Kojou, bowing as a reverent noble. 

“I apologize from the bottom of my heart for behaving rudely in testing your strength. My name is Dimitrie Vattler, he who has been granted the title of Duke of Ardeal by our primogenitor, the Lost Warlord. I am extremely delighted that you have come to visit this evening…” 

Kojou was completely thrown off by the man’s exceedingly eloquent manner of speech. 

Yukina, with her silver spear poised, and even Sayaka, were dumbfounded as they stood in place. 

“So you’re Dimitrie Vattler…? The guy who called me over here?” Kojou asked in a halting voice. 

Vattler raised his face in a broad grin. It was an affable smile broadcasting slyness and mischief in equal measure. 

“Perhaps I should say, it is a pleasure to meet you, Kojou Akatsuki. Or rather…‘Kaleid Blood,’ the Fourth Primogenitor, my beloved!” 

As Vattler spoke, he gave Kojou an affectionate, longing look. He opened both arms wide as if welcoming Kojou. “So it’s like this after all,” went Sayaka with a shake of her head. Yukina was beside herself. 

“…Huh?” 

Unable to comprehend the meaning of the words directed at him, Kojou let out a frail murmur. In one sense, Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor, meeting Dimitrie Vattler, Duke of Ardeal, was a fateful encounter indeed. 

11 

“Eh? And then you just ran away?” 

She heard the exasperated voice of her childhood friend over the phone. 

Asagi, who’d been lying down on her bed, was somewhat peeved as she vigorously sprung up. The time was just before midnight. She was in familiar surroundings at her residence. She was dressed in a tank top and underwear, not a look she really wanted others to be seeing. She’d wrapped her hair, still damp from getting out of the bath, with a bath towel. 

“I-it’s not like I ran away. It was so stupid, it just pissed me off a little so I couldn’t stay there anymore.” 

The other party to the long phone call was Motoki Yaze. Though there were no intimate feelings between them, he was a precious friend she could have pleasant, frank conversations with thanks to having known each other for so long. She’d meant to air her complaints about the sports festival incident, but at some point, it’d somehow changed to complaining about Kojou personally. 

“Certainly I never expected a middle school transfer girl to go on the attack with a cheerleading outfit. You had a tennis skirt on, though, so you should’ve been equally matched. And you should’ve had even more of the element of surprise than she did.” 

“Equally matched…what are you talking about?” Asagi asked in irritation at Yaze’s teasing-like tone of voice. 

Yaze said, “How to put this?” thinking a little. “A no-holds-barred fight between two girls about who owns Kojou?” 

“It is not!! Whoever goes out with Kojou has n-nothing to do with me.” 

“Doesn’t look like it to me.” 

Yaze spoke in an oddly serious voice. 

“Oh, shut your trap,” Asagi said in a low voice. 

“What I don’t like is how the idiot’s sneaking around hiding something. If he’s dating that Himeragi girl, he should just do it out in the open. How he’s keeping secrets even from us is really annoying me. It’s really fishy.” 

Asagi sought Yaze’s agreeing as a matter of course, but Yaze replied with unexpected words. 

“That’s if they’re really dating, ain’t it?” 

“Eh?” 

“I mean, Kojou seriously thinks of you as just a friend, so there’s no reason for him to keep dating li’l Himeragi a secret from you.” 

Asagi reluctantly agreed with Yaze’s surprisingly logical statement. 

“Mmm…yeah. You’d think he’d be bragging about it.” 

“Having said that, I don’t think he’s got the balls to go two-timing girls.” 

“Ah…no. Definitely not.” 

This time Asagi immediately concurred. 

“For sure,” Yaze went, proudly continuing. “So yeah, Kojou doesn’t have any reason to hide dating li’l Himeragi from us. But all the same, he’s been sneaking around with li’l Himeragi with a guilty look on his face…” 

“Yeah.” 

“There’s only one possibility I can think of, then.” 

“…What?” 

“That transfer student’s got something on Kojou, I’m sure of it.” 

“H-huh? Something on him?” 

Asagi was taken aback for a while at Yaze’s off-the-wall suggestion. But Yaze spoke in a very serious tone of voice. 

“Well…something like an embarrassing secret she’s threatenin’ to expose… Anything come to mind like that?” 

“Come to mention it…his behavior when he’s with that transfer student is definitely not natural.” 

Asagi groaned as she recalled Kojou’s behavior of late. They were unpleasant memories all, but she could accept that behavior as the result of Yukina Himeragi’s intimidation. Come to think of it, Yukina had said something herself. 

That she was Kojou’s watcher or something… 

“Yeah. Y’see?” 

On the other side of the phone call, Yaze raised his voice in apparent triumph, really annoying Asagi in the process. 

“So what should I do about it?” 

“Hmm…how about you throw a wrench in her plans by seducing Kojou?” 

“Huh?! Why do I have to s-seduce…?!” Asagi yelled back in panic at the line, irresponsible even by Yaze’s standards. But even now Yaze spoke with a serious tone of voice. 

“Now, now, the sexy approach is one of your intel-gathering basics. Y’know, honey traps.” 

“Motoki…you’re having a really good time with this, aren’t you?” 

“Oh no, what are you saying. I’m thinkin’ serious for once for the sake of my childhood friend. I wanna help Kojou as a friend, too, seeing he’s all worried and can’t talk to anyone ’bout this.” 

“R-right…as a friend. Friends through and through.” 

Though well aware that Yaze was up to no-good scheming, Asagi had a hard time disputing his logic when he put it like that. But even if she did try the sexy approach, she was at a loss how she should go about it given her and Kojou’s relationship. If it was that easy to rope in that blockhead, Asagi wouldn’t have had this much trouble to begin with. 

“Well, it’s time for me to call Hiina. We’ll talk about this another time.” 

Suddenly interjecting, Yaze cut the call short from his end. Hiina was the name of the older girlfriend Yaze had met on summer vacation and was currently dating. 

“Wai—I wasn’t finished tal—Is that how you behave toward your precious childhood friend?!” 

In spite of Asagi’s vehement objections, the call was already over. Asagi crudely discarded her cell phone, tossing it onto the bed. 

“Geez, if it’s not one thing, it’s another…” 

Grumbling to herself, she sat in front of her desk. Western clothes poured out of her closet. 

There were magazines, cosmetics, and stuffed animals here and there. Asagi’s home was a very girlie room. 

But the corner around the desk was the sole exception. A spartan office-use monitor was connected to a rack-mounted, parallel PC cluster. The computer was on par with those used at IT corporations or university lab rooms, but here it rested on a simple study desk. It was something of a surreal scene. 

Though none but her closest friends knew, Asagi was a highly gifted computer programmer. Of course, she didn’t call herself this, but the world of hackers had granted her the embarrassing nickname of “Cyber Empress.” She put her personal hobby to good use doing part-time, high-paying work for enterprises on Itogami Island and the Artificial Island Management Corporation. 

That said, she didn’t feel much like working today. Thinking she might complain to Rin Tsukishima, too, if she was still awake, Asagi checked her messages and noticed the existence of an unfamiliar e-mail. 

The sender’s address was from the Kano Alchemical Industries Corporation. It was a large-scale enterprise that had contracted Asagi to do work numerous times before. 

But this wasn’t a request to do a paying job. The message contained only a pair of words. 

“Requesting Decipher…” 

“What’s this? Doesn’t feel like a virus e-mail, but…” 

As Asagi inclined her head, she opened the attached data. 

An assortment of bizarre characters of unknown origin was displayed before her. The system was exceedingly complex, the arrangement completely bonkers. It differed from any language known to exist among the peoples of Earth. But it differed from the spells used in sorcery and ritualism. No doubt any linguist, or even teams of magic users, would find this difficult to decipher. But… 

“A puzzle? You have a lot of guts to be challenging me.” 

Asagi chuckled amusedly, repositioning herself before the monitor. 

Her hacker instincts told her that these were not characters that existed for the sake of men. That’s why they couldn’t be deciphered by any ordinary linguistic approach. 

This was a language written for something that was not human. It was a program…command codes for controlling something with special architecture unknown to modern man. 

Asagi immersed herself in deciphering the characters; in part, it was out of spite and to escape the realities of real life, and also, because she’d been stimulated out of pure intellectual curiosity. The dismantled, bizarre characters formed a translated word on-screen. 

“Nalakuvera…?” Asagi muttered brusquely as she gazed at the single word that came over the monitor’s surface. 

In the Demon Sanctuary of Itogami City, the night wore on… 



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