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Strike the Blood - Volume 22 - Chapter 1.1




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CHAPTER ONE

THE ITOGAMI ISLAND PURCHASE

1

Kojou Akatsuki had a dream.

He dreamed of going down a transparent, spiral stairway.

There was nothing around the stairs. There was only the vastness of unobstructed blue sky.

Overhead, he could make out the hazy sight of a calm, mirrorlike, deep blue sea.

It was a strange world where sea and sky were inverted. Alone in this upside-down world, Kojou continued descending the long staircase. He was clutching a bouquet of thorny roses, the red petals glossy like drops of red blood.

This is a pretty vivid dream, thought Kojou.

He felt like he was reliving a scene out of someone else’s past.

He heard the faint ringing of a bell mixed with the sounds of the strong sea breeze blowing.

At the end of the transparent spiraling stairway was a tiny peninsula enveloped by mist.

The ground was bare rock with moss growing on it. He saw an old building at the tip of the cape. It was a decrepit, stonework bell tower.

Someone was standing in front of the bell tower. It was a small figure wearing a pure white wedding dress. Kojou’s heart leaped in his chest the instant the sun’s rays illuminated the girl’s back.

The nostalgic longing welling up in him was almost enough to drive him mad.

He instinctively understood that he’d come to this place to meet her.

Her face was hidden by a multilayered veil.

Kojou stepped down onto the bit of land floating in the sky, and he approached the decrepit bell tower.

The bell continued to ring. Her dress fluttered in the strong breeze.

When the girl in the wedding dress turned toward him, Kojou sensed she was softly smiling at him.

She came running and leaped into Kojou’s arms, and she slowly pulled the veil back.

Startled, Kojou drew in a sharp breath.

Appearing from under the pure white veil was a badly sewn teddy bear patterned after some adorable animal.

Looking up at him, so close that their lips might touch, it laughed sardonically.

“Keh-keh…”

“U…uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Kojou screamed as he woke up.

He was nauseated from terror. His entire body was rigid, his back sticky and drenched with sweat.

Kojou fiercely shook his head and deeply exhaled in an attempt to drive the haunting image of Mogwai in a wedding dress out of his mind. He told himself it was only a dream and inwardly calmed his shaky nerves.

Yes, Kojou had been dreaming—a nonsensical dream that was the worst and most ominous nightmare imaginable. Putting a hand over his heart, which still beat quite fiercely, Kojou slowly shifted his gaze.

He was in a spacious, unfamiliar room. It had a thick carpet, an extravagant bed, and a number of large, multiperson sofas and guest tables against the wall. He was in a suite at a five-star hotel in Keystone Gate.

Exhausted from the berserk episode the night before, Kojou and the others had stayed overnight at a hotel under Gigafloat Management Corporation control. It wasn’t out of consideration for Kojou, victor in the Electoral War—more accurately, they were isolating him. They must have figured it was better to put a vampire who might go berserk at any moment somewhere they could watch him rather than leave him to his own devices.

The hands of the clock at his bedside told him it was a little before noon. He’d arrived at the hotel just before daybreak, so he must have slept almost seven hours.

Maybe owing to the awfulness of the dream, however, his entire body felt heavy. His chest hurt, and his stiff limbs limited his movement.

Feels almost like someone’s lying on top of my blanket, thought Kojou. The very next moment, a human figure filled his vision. It was a black-haired girl whose presence he could not sense—

“Sen…pai…”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Kojou screamed when the soft voice whispering in his ear reminded him of Mogwai from the dream. For some reason, the shoulders of the figure lying on top of Kojou trembled out of nervousness.

“P-please be quiet, senpai! It is me! Himeragi!”

The figure earnestly called out to Kojou while pushing him down as he tried to thrash away. Her familiar voice finally made Kojou stop screaming.

“H-Himeragi…?”

“Yes. Who in the world did you think I was…?”

Looking down at the weakly moaning Kojou, Yukina exhaled with a perplexed air.

She probably never expected the boy once called the World’s Mightiest Vampire to be that afraid of anything. Her pouty expression made her seem slighted somehow.

Yukina was wearing a nightgown provided by the hotel rather than her usual clothes. That was why he didn’t immediately recognize her.

“Wait a sec… Himeragi, why are you in my room? Wasn’t it locked?”

Kojou inquired in a tone that still sounded a little sleepy. Being a suite room in a high-class hotel, last he’d checked, the bedrooms had imposing electronic locks.

Yukina spoke her next words like they were a matter of course.

“I opened it with a shikigami.”

“Why…?!”

“So that others would not notice. Everyone else should still be asleep.”

Yukina explained with a peculiar degree of calm. A great many of his friends were beat-up and exhausted from bringing Kojou back to sanity when he had been possessed by Beast Vassals and on a rampage. Those girls were likely still sleeping soundly at that very moment. Yukina had apparently seized the opportunity to sneak into Kojou’s bedroom.

“Is this something you don’t want anyone else to see?”

Kojou lowered his own voice as he followed up. He didn’t think a forthright girl like Yukina would resort to breaking and entering without a good reason. It was only natural for him to think some unavoidable circumstance had left her with no other option.

“Well, kind of.”

Yet for some reason, Yukina averted her eyes, seemingly uncomfortable with Kojou’s unwavering gaze.

Kneeling formally on top of the bed, she squirmed around a little as if she was hesitating to say something.

“Himeragi?”

“Er, um…senpai, you’ve regained your vampiric powers, I take it?”

“Seems like it. Guess you could say the end result is that Ki Juranbarada saved my ass.”

Kojou twisted his lips as he raised his right hand to his eye level and clenched it. Yukina nodded in apparent agreement.

“So you intend to enter Nod and bring Miss Avrora back hereafter.”

“Yeah. That was the deal.”

Kojou made a pained smile and shrugged his shoulders. Ki Juranbarada, the First Primogenitor, promised to provide Kojou with power on par with the Fourth Primogenitor. Kojou was to repay him by stopping Shahryar Ren’s actions in Nod—that was the agreement made between the two of them.

His methods were really out there, but Ki had fulfilled his promise to Kojou. It was Kojou’s turn to keep his end of the bargain.

“That is why, beforehand…I would like to do…that, with you.”

Yukina’s cheeks reddened as she murmured haltingly, unable to meet Kojou’s eyes.

“That?”

Kojou grimaced suspiciously. He didn’t know what Yukina was trying to say.

“I mean that. You know…using a vampire primogenitor’s demonic energy for the purpose of establishing, via a contagion ritual, a magical system to offset the excessive spiritual energy created by the Divine Oscillation Effect activation.”

“…Huh?”

Is this some kind of new spell? pondered the bewildered Kojou.

For some reason, Kojou’s vague reaction made Yukina’s voice flustered and angry.

“Goodness! I am telling you to please drink my blood!”

“R-right…well, you should’ve said that to start with… Er, why all of a sudden?”

Kojou was still a little confused as he sat up.

Yukina had been dispatched by the Lion King Agency to serve as his watcher. If anything, she was someone who should be scolding Kojou for vampiric acts without a very good reason. Even if you could justify it in an emergency where many lives hung in the balance, it wasn’t like her to seek out vampiric acts of Kojou in a situation lacking immediate danger.

He’d heard offhand that the one bitten felt pleasure during vampiric acts and that this became addictive over time. Don’t tell me a girl like her got addicted to having me drink her blood, Kojou began to worry, but Yukina spoke with her usual serious tone.

“If I do not reestablish a spiritual pathway with senpai, I will not be able to use Snowdrift Wolf. That would be very inconvenient when we go to Nod, would it not?”

“Ahhh…”

So that’s what it is, thought Kojou as he sighed in relief. The backlash from using the powerful divine armament called Snowdrift Wolf had the dangerous side effect known as angelification.


Powerful spiritual energy coursing back from the purging spear transformed the flesh, shifting one’s very existence into a higher dimension—in other words, one ran the risk of vanishing from the mortal realm entirely.

It wasn’t a hindrance to daily life, but any use of powerful spiritual energy would push her farther down the path to angelification. In other words, she couldn’t endure employing Snowdrift Wolf in combat.

To avert this issue, Yukina and Kojou had formed a provisional Blood Servant pact.

This allowed his vampire primogenitor’s inexhaustible demonic energy to offset the excess spiritual energy coursing through her body. Thanks to Kojou relinquishing the power of the Fourth Primogenitor, that pact had already been rescinded.

That was why Yukina had snuck into Kojou’s bedroom. Her objective was to reestablish the provisional pact so that she could use Snowdrift Wolf once more.

To become a vampire’s Blood Servant, you needed a mutual sharing of physical parts to serve as catalysts for the spiritual pathway. These catalysts could be pieces of Kojou’s flesh and bone sealed into a pact ring, or Yukina’s own bodily fluids—in other words, blood.

In short, Yukina needed to have Kojou drink her blood so she could fulfill her objective. So she’d slipped into his room under cover of darkness. He got that. He got that, but…

“Himeragi, you plan on going to Nod, too…?”

Kojou seemed genuinely surprised.

“Hah?!”

Yukina’s eyes flew wide open in astonishment.

“Is that not obvious?! I am your watcher, senpai! Or is it somehow inconvenient for me to see you with Miss Avrora?!”

“This’s got nothin’ to do with Avrora…! I’m worried about you, Himeragi!”

Kojou sullenly argued back in the face of the incredible force of Yukina’s statements.

Yukina pouted as she stared at Kojou.

“About…me?”

“Now, I know how strong you are. I recognize that. But when push comes to shove, that’s against demons, right? Against a guy like Shahryar Ren with his own private army, you can’t do anything, Snowdrift Wolf or not. Am I wrong?”

“Are you saying I will be a hindrance to you, senpai?”

Yukina retorted, an aggravated expression still on her face, but Kojou wouldn’t back down. She’d shed a great deal of blood in the past half day for the sake of dragging Kojou back from his berserk state. Properly speaking, she was in a state that required rest in a hospital. He couldn’t take her to a dangerous battlefield.

“Himeragi, I’m grateful you stopped my rampage, but because of that, you’re nowhere near top form. That’s why you should rest this time around. I’ll bring back Avrora before you know it.”

Kojou spoke with a painstakingly formal tone.

Listening to his words, Yukina sighed deeply, as if yielding to Kojou’s persuasion.

“I understand.”

“Th-that so?”

Kojou patted his chest, relieved that he’d come to an understanding with Yukina much more smoothly than he’d expected. That was when Kojou’s vision swayed.

Without a word, Yukina had firmly shoved Kojou down onto the bed. Looking down at Kojou with emotionless eyes, she undid the buttons of her nightgown one by one.

“—Er, Himeragi?! What do you think you’re doing?! Hold on a…?!”

“If you say you will not drink my blood, I will make you want to.”

Yukina spoke in a flat tone of voice. Kojou panicked as he looked up at the completely glassy expression in her eyes.

“No, wait, why?! Hold on, Himeragi! Calm down!”

“What is the matter, senpai? How does it feel to be shoved down and rendered immobile by the underclassman you called a hindrance? Senpai, I endured my feelings of embarrassment to come and meet you like this, and then you went and decided on your own not to drink my blood…!”

Yukina looked down at Kojou as she spoke provocatively. Apparently calling her useless in combat had really gotten to her.

“Isn’t that shifting the goalposts?! Also, using physical enchantment ain’t fair!”

“Be a good boy and drink my blood. I’m very familiar with what arouses you, senpai—”

Yukina grabbed hold of the back of her hair and bundled it together to make it seem short. Normally it was very hard to tell, but she had apparently taken great note of Nagisa’s hairstyle.

“Hold on a sec! Why do you think I’m aroused when I look at Nagisa?! That’s a pretty fundamental misunderstanding!”

Kojou shouted in indignation. The trigger for vampiric acts was not hunger or thirst but sexual arousal—in other words, lust. Yukina apparently thought that girls like his little sister Nagisa were his type. Kojou was used to people telling him he had a sister complex, but even he couldn’t let a misunderstanding like this slide.

“Then what kind of girl’s blood would you drink?! Even though you…told me before that I was cute…”

“Y-yeah. I get it. You’re cute. You’re cute, Himeragi. So calm down a bit, and let’s talk this over…!”

Figuring he’d better do something about Yukina’s blatantly sour, bent-out-of-shape mood, Kojou tried to compliment her to his utmost. Kojou’s flattering words didn’t come off as sincere, making Yukina puff her cheeks in annoyance, but the next moment…

“…Kojou?”

Kojou and Yukina gasped when they heard a quiet voice from the bedroom entrance.

Wearing a plain T-shirt, Nagisa Akatsuki gazed, mystified, at the sight of Kojou and Yukina tangled on top of the bed. Since they were siblings, Nagisa had been sleeping in the other bedroom in Kojou’s suite.

“N-Nagisa?!”

“Nagisa?!”

“…Yukina? What are you doing on the bed with Kojou?”

When Nagisa inquired without any change in expression, Yukina timidly shook her head.

“Y-you are mistaken, Nagisa… This was out of profound, unavoidable circumstances…”

“Yukina, were you thinking of having Kojou drink your blood?”

In an extremely calm voice, Nagisa sought to confirm her deduction. Yukina nodded awkwardly.

“Y-yeah…I require a spiritual pathway with senpai to block Snowdrift Wolf’s side effects, so I need senpai to drink my blood to serve as a catalyst for this, so, ah…”

“…Hmm, I see. So you really need him to, huh?”

“N-Nagisa?”

Nagisa’s completely unexpected response left Kojou and Yukina glancing at each other.

It would have been natural for her to be far more surprised, worked up, or even bursting out in anger. They were grateful Nagisa was taking it well, but she was so coolheaded that it worried them.

“It’s all right, Yukina. I’ll help, too.”

Nagisa smiled gently and headed out of Kojou’s bedroom. With no clue as to what was happening, Kojou and Yukina remained close against one another as they fell silent.

Humming all the way, Nagisa returned about ninety seconds later. Her right hand was gripping a large kitchen knife with a blade some seven inches long.

“Eh?”

“Uh, umm, Nagisa? What’s with the kitchen knife?”

Yukina paled. Kojou’s voice went shrill. Nagisa went Mmm, tilting her head with a mystified expression.

“Oh, this? It’s a steel chef’s knife. These high-end hotel suites are really something else. I mean, they even have real kitchens in them.”

“No, I mean why are you holding a kitchen knife?”

“Well, the sharper the blade, the less you’ll have to suffer, Kojou.”

Nagisa grinned as she ran a finger along the kitchen knife down to the tip of the blade.

“N-Nagisa?”

Yukina’s voice was trembling as she tried to stop Nagisa’s approach. Nagisa, however, nodded to her with an expression filled with a tragic sense of duty.

“Yukina, don’t worry. I get it.”

“Er…what do you get?”

“Sorry, Kojou.”

Nagisa bit her lip hard as she reversed her grip on the kitchen knife. Then, without any hesitation whatsoever, she swung it down toward Kojou’s heart.

“U-uaaaaa!!”

Kojou yelped and rolled across the top of the bed. Nagisa’s kitchen knife sliced the pillow apart, causing the goose down packed within to fly into the air.

“Why are you running, Kojou?”

Nagisa spoke with an irritated tone. She was genuinely peeved at Kojou for dodging her.

“Wait, Nagisa, senpai has done nothing wrong! I am the one who tried to coerce him into…!”

“Anyway, calm down! We can talk this out…!”

“I am calm, Kojou. Yukina wants you to drink her blood, right? Then I have no choice but to stab you.”

“Why?!”

Bloodlust rose from Nagisa as she raised the kitchen knife high. Kojou and Yukina double-teamed her to try to hold her back. Nagisa, unconvinced, vigorously resisted.

The three were fiercely jostling around like this when Kojou sensed yet another person at the bedroom door.

Standing there, with her suite room smart key in hand, was Asagi Aiba. Clad in a tight-fitting suit for some reason, she gazed at the sight of Kojou and the others thrashing around with a kitchen knife, murmuring with weariness from the very bottom of her soul.

“What in the world are you doing?”



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