Strike the Blood - Volume 22 - Chapter 3.7

7

As the sun set, Saikai Academy grew unusually silent.

The nearby residents taking shelter inside the school had gone home with the conclusion of the Electoral War. Since classes hadn’t resumed, there were no students around, either. The rays of the setting sun dyed the desolate campus building red, with complex shadows cast only by the desks and chairs in the classrooms.

A few students had snuck onto the rooftop of that campus building—Yaze and Asagi, Shizuri Kasugaya Castiella, and wearing a black cloak he wasn’t used to, Kojou.

Thanks to the effects of Sensai Aiba’s speech, the surroundings of Keystone Gate were in an uproar, a situation making any careless approach unwise. There were ongoing clashes in the streets between supporters and opponents of the Gigafloat Management Corporation’s policy of splitting with the Japanese government and negotiating with MAR on its own.

It wasn’t much of a situation for negotiating with terrorists, but even as this went on, the time for the meeting with Ladli Ren approached.

That was when Kojou and the others suddenly decided to change the venue for negotiations.

They wanted a site with a decent amount of size to it, no sign of life in the area, and its own private network connection to Keystone Gate. Hence, Kojou and the others picked a place they knew well—in other words, Saikai Academy.

“Sorry, Kanase, pushing the most dangerous role onto you like this.”

Leaning against the rooftop fence, Kojou spoke into a borrowed smartphone.

Its screen showed Kanon Kanase.

It was a real-time video call, but the poor transmission situation made the image dark with a lot of static. Even so, it was more than enough for Kanon’s soft, beautiful face to shine through.

At the moment, Kanon was wearing a perfectly skintight wetsuit. This emphasized her delicate yet surprisingly feminine figure, somehow leaving Kojou unsure where his eyes should rest.

Whether she knew of Kojou’s indecent thoughts or no, Kanon raised both arms above her head as if to emphasize those body lines on purpose.

“It is all right. It is very cute.”

“C…cute…is it?”

The smartphone’s little screen cut it out, but the memory of what was outside of the video frame brought a conflicted expression over Kojou.

“There is no need for concern. I am with Miss Kanon, after all.”

Cutting into his conversation with Kanon, Yume Eguchi poked her head up into the bottom of the screen. She was wearing the uniform of a famed girls’ academy, same as usual.

“Yeah. You take care, too, Yume.”

Kojou spoke earnestly. For various reasons, Yume and Kanon were taking independent action far removed from Kojou and company. They were Kojou’s trump cards in the negotiations with MAR.

Of course, there was no guarantee everything would go well. If the plan was a bust, the girls would be exposed to great danger. Yume and Kanon understood this full well yet had accepted their duties regardless. They’d requested a fair bit of compensation, though—

“Yes. In exchange, please do not forget your promise. It’s a date, just the two of us.”

Yume pulled her face close to the camera as she asserted this. Kojou gave her a strained smile and nodded.

“Yeah…all right, I won’t forget. How ’bout a sandbox in the park?”

“Do I look like a kindergarten student to you?! Please, I want a more adult-feeling date!”

“Er…you say adult-feeling but, um…”

Yume’s genuinely indignant objection put Kojou in quite a bind. Even if she was pretty mature for her age, Yume was still a primary schooler. Kojou felt as if he’d get treated like a criminal if he took her to the wrong place.

“Um…I would like that as well.”

Listening to the exchange between Yume and Kojou, Kanon bashfully, reservedly raised her hand.

“You too, Kanon?”

“Yes. An adult date.”

Kanon strongly standing up for herself for once made Kojou feel driven even farther into a corner.

Setting aside the age issues, going on an adult date with a close friend of his little sister’s felt bad in its own right, all the more so because Kanon was already Kojou’s Blood Servant.

“It is a promise. Do not forget.”

“Do not forget.”

After the pair’s voices spoke those words to drive in the point, the video call cut out. They were genuinely beyond signal range.

Kojou sighed with relief, feeling like he’d been bailed out. Abruptly, a voice addressed him from behind.

“Heh…an adult date, is it…? Is that so…?”

The flat, glacial tone made Kojou look back awkwardly. Standing there was a Saikai Academy schoolgirl with a very familiar black gig case on her back.

Her sudden appearance didn’t bring about any change in Yaze’s and Asagi’s expressions. The only one surprised was Kojou.

“…Himeragi?”

“To think, in the brief time you escape my sight, you have promised an adult date not only to Kano, but even to little Yume… I truly cannot let my guard down around a vampire like you for a single moment.”

Yukina’s expression was clearly annoyed as she sighed very deeply.

Quite so, concurred Shizuri. For some reason, neither Asagi nor Yaze tried to refute them.

“Er…wait a sec; you have to understand what you heard just now, right? It’s payback for their cooperation; it’s not like I asked them to go out to have fun; they’re the ones who—”

“Well, it is fine, really. I shall observe you very closely until the very end to ensure you do not act indecently toward Yume and Kano, senpai.”

Yukina sharply lifted her face and shot Kojou a powerful gaze. Her demeanor left Kojou bewildered. He didn’t know what had changed her mental state, but Yukina seemed like a completely different person than she had that morning.

“Observe… Wait, Himeragi, your mission’s over already, right?”

“I am a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency. In accordance with the Attack Mage Act, Section Sixty-Five, I have the duty and authority as an Attack Mage to act to prevent large-scale sorcerous terrorism, even when off duty.”

“…Huh?”

Yume’s official-sounding words made Kojou blink hard. He found what she’d said utterly incomprehensible.

In place of Kojou, left completely adrift, Yaze laughed with a kuh, kuh. Sitting in classic delinquent style on the corner of the roof, he stood up, looking at Yukina with admiration for reasons unknown.

“…I see, an Attack Mage’s duty is to stop crime. It’s a bit pushy, but checks all the right boxes.”

“Yes.”

Yukina nodded firmly. Kojou still couldn’t understand what they meant.

“Whaddaya mean, Yaze?”

“As long as they don’t have a good reason not to, anyone with an Attack Mage license who has knowledge of large-scale sorcerous terrorism is duty-bound to stop it, even if off duty or outside their jurisdiction. In other words, Himeragi can act as watcher of a heinous sorcerous criminal totally independent of the Lion King Agency.”

“Heinous sorcerous criminal… Wait, you’re not talking about me, are you?”

This ain’t right, bespoke the way Kojou twisted his lips, but Yaze spoke with a rational air.

“Until now, the government of Japan never publicly acknowledged that the Fourth Primogenitor exists. That’s why Lil’ Himeragi ended up tailing you on the Lion King Agency’s orders. Now, though, you’re the unknown vampire who inherited the Beast Vassals of The Blood. That’s reason enough to make you an observation target.”

“Considering the damage you’ve inflicted on Itogami Island to date, you’re a pretty heinous criminal as it is.”

Asagi grinned heavily as she spoke.

That’s all unavoidable stuff, muttered Kojou to himself in clear dissatisfaction. In the first place, Asagi was wrapped up in a lot of the incidents happening on the island, so she counted as a coconspirator for at least half his misdeeds.

“Yukina Himeragi, this is the answer you have reached?”

Shizuri, silent to that point, glared at Yukina, inquiring with a sharp expression on her face.

Koko had a bad feeling as he looked between the pair’s faces.

Shizuri and Yukina had been at each other’s throats pretty seriously in the lowest stratum of Keystone Gate only the night before. The fight had ended in a draw rather than with any clear winner. Knowing how both hated losing, he was a little worried they’d throw down the gauntlet and pick up where they’d left off.

“Yes…I am Akatsuki-senpai’s watcher, just as I have been and always will be.”

Yukina stared right back at Shizuri as she spoke. The two continued glaring at each other for one more second. Hmph, huffed Shizuri, smiling as she lowered her shoulders.

“Not because the Lion King Agency commands it, but because you decided it? That makes us equal from now on, then…”

“So it does.”

Yukina smiled as well.

Shizuri, the Last Paladin of Gisella, had chosen to lend Kojou her strength of her own free will. Now Yukina was the same, acting independent of orders from the Lion King Agency. Perhaps thanks to that, the powder keg atmosphere between Yukina and Shizuri vanished as if it had never existed. Realizing this, Kojou breathed out in relief like a deflating balloon.

Shizuri sighed with exasperation, staring hard at Kojou as he acted like that.

“I really must say, Kojou…is that mantle not somewhat…pretentious?”

“You’re the last person I wanna hear that from…but yeah, it is kind of hard to move in this thing.”

Looking back at Shizuri, still wearing her blue wimple, Kojou rotated a shoulder.

Kojou was wearing a pitch-black cloak coat. Asagi had forced it onto him, saying it raised his intimidation factor. He also had a gel-hardened hairstyle, which gave off a very different impression than normal. He had no idea if it looked good on him, but the fact remained he just couldn’t calm down in the unfamiliar getup.

“This is your fault for not wanting to wear a suit, so put up with it. You can’t show up to negotiations in a Saikai Academy uniform.”

Asagi chided the sour-faced Kojou. He was forced to concede that she had a point, but still.

“These negotiations with Ladli ain’t public, so why can’t I wear whatever?”

“Because you look more dignified like this.”

Asagi gave him a tongue-lashing as if she were scolding a recalcitrant child.

Yukina interrupted Kojou and Asagi’s pointless war of words with a very serious expression.

“More importantly, senpai…how do you intend to negotiate with Miss Ladli? Do not tell me you intend to join forces with MAR and become enemies of the whole world?”

“Well, I thought that wouldn’t be so bad, either.”

Looking back at the worried Yukina, Kojou gave her a very suggestive smile. Asagi narrowed her eyes with visible amusement.

“If we do that we’ll as go down as some of the biggest criminals in history.”

“Do you truly mean that…?”

The look in Yukina’s eyes sharpened. The fate of the world rested upon these negotiations, yet Kojou and the others were not behaving tensely at all. This seemed to be annoying the girl, but Kojou looked at the irate Yukina with an amused-looking smile.

“If I do that, you’ll stop me, though, right, Himeragi?”

“Ah…”

Yukina stopped moving, seemingly shaken. Then, for whatever reason, she acted her usual, overly serious self, nodding with powerful resolve.

“Yes. I am your watcher for just this purpose.”

Soon after that, Itogami Island was enveloped by an intense magical aura.

Complex magic circles supported by vast magical energy floated in the sky, still tinted by vestiges of red light. It was the enormous gate leading to Nod.

Its final traces extinguished, the sun completely sank over the water’s horizon.

“Sunset, huh?”

Unconsciously, a rugged smile crossed Kojou’s face as he spoke. This announced the end of daytime on the artificial isle of everlasting summer, signaling that night had come to the Demon Sanctuary.

A roar like thunder echoed, and an ashen sphere appeared above Kojou and the others’ heads.

The enormous fortress floated in the sky like a second moon, the lordly castle hailing from another world.

“That is…a Necropolis…!”

A quiet murmur trickled from Yukina as she gazed up at the sky.

The Demon Sanctuary was encountering this Necropolis for the second time.

It was the beginning of the negotiations with the fate of the world at stake.