HOT NOVEL UPDATES

Tokyo Ravens - Volume 4 - Chapter Int4




Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

Story 4 - Bloody Holiday 
Love at first sight. 
I like this bright, joyful smile and couldn't help but want to see it again. But just as I dreamt of it, a rumor entered my ears. 
He had an inexcusable relationship with the boy he had played with since childhood. 
He had extended his claws to a little girl shikigami. 
I didn't think those rumors were true, but I couldn't help but worry. This couldn't go on. I made my decision soon after. 

Lunchtime. Students packed the cafeteria of the Onmyou Academy building. Tsuchimikado Harutora, Tsuchimikado Natsume, and Ato Touji managed to find seats, finally able to put their trays on the table and sit down to eat. 
"Ah, I'm starving, itadakimasu [15] !" After saying this, Harutora pulled apart the disposable chopsticks, and Natsume next to him called out lightly: "Ah." He glanced to the side, noticing that Natsume hadn't separated her chopsticks well and was angrily glaring at a pair whose lengths weren't the same. She was extremely bad at breaking disposable chopsticks. 
"You broke them badly again, huh. I'll go get a new pair of chopsticks." 
"......You don't need to take the trouble, it's not like I can't use them." Natsume replied snappily to the dumbfounded Harutora. "This pair of chopsticks didn't break well because of the moisture...... Also, it's too environmentally unfriendly to be using disposable chopsticks in modern times. It would be best to change to plastic chopsticks as soon as possible." 
"......Just because you can't break chopsticks......" 
"Th, That's not it! I'm thinking about the environment of the earth--" 
"Should I give this pair of chopsticks to you?" 
"I said, you don't need to take the trouble! Anyway, it's enough if I can use them to eat." 
Natsume huffily said: "Itadakimasu", then put her chopsticks into her mixed egg ramen. Harutora snickered silently, eating his mochi udon. Also, Touji sat across from them. He had already started eating, probably not intending to listen to the conversation of the Tsuchimikados. 
An ordinary daily life and a usual featureless lunchtime scene. 
However-- 
"......Look, it's him." 
"Natsume-kun is the one sitting next to him, right? He's so handsome, it's no wonder there would be a 'mistake'......" 
"No no, he reached out to his own shikigami......" 
"Ah, I saw that shikigami! She was a cute little girl who looked like a doll." 
"Which one is his true target though? His exterior appearance isn't remarkable, so it's really hard to understand." 
"But, this really is like something that would happen in a traditional family......" 
As Harutora ate his noodles, it seemed that secret whispers were rustling constantly all around him. Perhaps half of it was Harutora's own imagination, but the remaining half...... 
"............" 
He chewed the mochi, glancing in the direction the voices came from. The female students sitting in the distance and sneakily watching them immediately and hastily averted their gazes once they were glanced at. 
".................." 
Touji noticed Harutora's frown, speaking while chewing today's special of fried mackerel. "Don't pay attention to them. They're probably students who live in the female dorm. This kind of situation will probably go on for a long time since that manager's spreading rumors around everywhere." 
"......You sure speak carelessly when it's not something to do with you." 
"Sorry, this never had anything to do with me." 
Touji spoke leisurely, and Harutora's face became even more helpless. 
There were rumors that Harutora was not happy to hear about spreading throughout the Onmyou Academy with the students who lived in the dorms as the center. The rumors marked Harutora as going out with the 'male student' Natsume, or said that he had done something to his little-girl-shaped shikigami. 
Of course, these were nonsense - actually, they were misunderstandings. Unfortunately, he couldn't say they were 'groundless', as there was 'evidence' for the rumors to propagate, which made things even dicier. 
"This is good too, you can successfully work hard for now and focus your mind on coursework. It's a blessing in disguise." Natsume spoke leisurely. "Don't joke around." Harutora rebuked her hastily after hearing that. "This matter is tied to you. You don't want to be inexplicably misunderstood, right?' 
"Doesn't matter, I don't care about the chatter around me. I've done nothing wrong, so naturally I'm not afraid of what people say." Upon seeing how casual his childhood friend's attitude was, Harutora couldn't help but click his tongue and reproach her: "You don't understand at all how painful it is for a guy to be looked at by the suspicious gazes of girls." 
"I have no idea about that, seeking my sympathy is just asking for trouble." 
Harutora's face sank in anger after hearing Natsume's reply. 
Natsume wore a male uniform, but she was actually a girl. She was obeying the tradition of the main family and hid her gender every day, so naturally she couldn't sympathize with Harutora's trouble regarding boys. 
"Damn - I always thought that I was born unlucky, but it seems like I've been getting even more unlucky recently......" 
"Anyway, you were never well-liked by girls. Why don't you look at it normally, don't give up living." 
"What are you joking about, I've never been suspected of liking guys or little girls in my life." 
"Then think about moving forward--" 
"Have you thought about my future?" Natsume shrugged her shoulders, paying no heed to Harutora as he protested agitatedly. "You're just making it worse, you should just give up resisting altogether." After saying this, she lifted her bowl and blew on it to cool it down a little, then put her mouth on the bowl. Maybe because she was a girl, Natsume seemed calm. In addition, she even seemed satisfied with the situation. 
A wry smile flashed over Touji's mouth as he listened to the conversation of the two. 
"......But, you don't need to be afraid of him being entangles with strange people, so you can finally relax." 
'Pfah!' Natsume coughed violently while holding the bowl. "What's that supposed to mean?" Touji shrugged his shoulders silently, not replying to Harutora's question. 
The three of them finished eating lunch, gathering their eating utensils and leaving the academy cafeteria. 
"...H-H-Harutora-sama--" 
A light, stammering voice sounded at some time, catching Harutora's attention. That voice was from Harutora's defensive shikigami who was hidden to guard her master, Kon. 
"What is it?" Harutora asked back and Touji next to him noticed something strange first. 
"Huh? A simple shikigami?" 
A folded piece of paper flapped its wings like a butterfly, approaching Harutora and the others. It was a simple shikigami, one type of shikigami. 
The simple shikigami flew up next to Harutora and the others, suddenly stopping its movements. Harutora quickly reached out and grabbed the falling piece of paper. 
The paper - no, looking carefully, he noticed that it was a white envelope. 
"What is it, someone else sending a love letter to Natsume?" 
Touji's tone was sarcastic, and Natsume seemed troubled, her cheeks slightly flushing red. 
Natsume's looks were handsome and her grades didn't shame her famous reputation. She was an outstanding student who was a center of attention on the Onmyou Academy. There were rumors that the male students had ambiguous feelings for her, which hadn't affected her negatively for some reason. 
"But, this is really strange. I never received this kind of thing before you two entered." Natsume spoke in wonder. 
Natsume had been wrapped up by ominous 'rumors' for a long time. Basically, she gave off a cold presence that wasn't easy to approach, and hence no one dared to rashly get close to her even though she was such a center of attention. 
Touji grinned when he heard that. 
"Idiot, it's all thanks to us." 
"What does that mean?" 
"The next heir to the Tsuchimikado main family was originally high up, but he was pulled down by us two transfer students to the level of a commoner. Also, you're not posing as much as before - so you've become much easier to approach." 
"Wh, What posing, how rude." Unaccepting, Natsume refuted Touji's remark, but perhaps her own heart had already realized it, as her tone was obviously not very self-confident. Touji shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. 
"Always gilding yourself isn't as good as relying on your true nature. In the end, your true side will be liked the best whether the others are male or female." 
"......Hmph, that's not convincing at all when you say it, don't you act cool from morning till night." 
"That's where you're wrong, that's just the charm I was born with." 
Natsume stared at the serious-faced Touji, shaking her head. 
"Anyway, I can't return a letter to her even if I refuse her - Harutora, who wrote that letter...... Huh? Harutora?" 
Natsume turned around, blinking her eyes, and suddenly noticed that Harutora who had just been next to her had disappeared somewhere. 
"......That's weird, Touji, where's Harutora?" 
"......I don't know either." Touji's face was also perplexed and he looked around. 
"Could he have gone to the bathroom?" 
"I'm not sure." 
The two of them looked at each other in incomprehension. 


 

Harutora only finally returned to the classroom right before the afternoon classes started. 
He claimed that his stomach had suddenly started hurting, and told the worried Natsume to return to the dorms first after school ended, hurriedly rushing to the toilet. 
After Natsume left the academy building, the truth behind Harutora's unusual actions was immediately revealed. 
"That love letter was to you?" 
"That's right! The mail during lunch was a love letter to me, not to Natsume, a love letter to me!" 
"That person was way too careless, how could he have mistaken the name of the receiver--" 
"You're saying that she got it wrong without even asking? The contents of the letter clearly say it was for me!" 
Harutora was excitedly talking with Touji in the bottom of the emergency stairwell behind the academy building. Their classmate Momoe Tenma was also next to Touji, who had also been called to this place by Harutora's text message. Tenma seemed to not understand what exactly was going on, listening blankly to Harutora's torrent of words. 
"......Uh, so Harutora-kun received a love letter? Who sent it?" 
"It seems like a second-year senpai called Kinoshita Jun. Tenma, do you know who that is?" 
"No, I've never heard of her." 
"Ugh, I see, I called you over because I thought you would know......" Regret instantly flashed over Harutora's face, but he quickly regained his excited expression. "Anyway, seeing as someone gave me a love letter when there are rumors flying around, there are still people who don't believe that nonsense. Once I noticed the love letter was to me, it felt like I hit a game-changing grand slam, as if all my past actions were forgiven......" He clenched his right hand in front of his chest as he spoke about his mixed feelings. 
Touji helplessly scratched his head above his trademark bandanna. 
"......So you called us out here just for this kind of thing." 
"Don't be so cold, Touji, can you at least give me your opinion?" 
"If you want to find someone to talk, why don't you go find Natsume." 
"How could I! Also, isn't this the kind of thing one discusses with other guys?!" 
Though it wasn't something to be proud of, this was his first time receiving a love letter, and it was impossible for him to calm down. It had been hard for him to feign calmness during the afternoon classes, too. 
"......Harutora-kun? You said you wanted to talk with a guy, so isn't that more of a reason to call Natsume-kun here too?" 
"Huh? ...Ah! No, I meant......!" 
Tenma's words held reason, and Harutora only now realized his mistake. Touji helplessly saved him as if he were staring at an unredeemable idiot. 
"Tenma, you know how serious and outstanding Natsume is, but his mind's a bit inflexible." 
"Yeah, that's true......" 
"And Harutora's a dunce." 
"Th, That's true too......" 
"Harutora became Natsume's shikigami because of the Tsuchimikado family tradition. That stubborn Natsume definitely won't permit his stupid shikigami to busy himself with things outside of Onmyoudou, especially something like a relationship." 
"Is he really that stubborn? I didn't know that......" Tenma nodded in admiration. There were many points of this explanation that Harutora was dissatisfied with, but in the end he had misspoken, so he couldn't say any more. 
"Right, Harutora, you said you wanted to talk with us, so what exactly are you thinking?" 
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about!" 
"Honestly, you could just give it up without blood being shed......" 
"Uh - Wait, Touji, is there a reason why you said something so ominous?" 
"Alright alright, I'm jealous of you for being so well-liked by girls, Harutora-kun." 
"Huh? R, Really? I'm not actually that well-liked though." 
"If you truly were well-liked, you wouldn't find us to talk as soon as you got a love letter." 
"Ah......" 
"Shut up, Touji. You too, Tenma, don't accept it that quickly!" 
Harutora had originally smiled bashfully, but now he frowned angrily. Touji shrugged his shoulders in disinterest. 
"So? What did the love letter say? Did she ask you to go out with her?" 
"......Ah, no, she asked me whether I had time to meet her during the holiday tomorrow." 
"In that case, go meet her." 
"Th, That's true, but what do I do after meeting her......" 
"You can watch a movie or eat a meal--" 
"Wouldn't that become a date!" 
"What? Isn't she inviting you to a date?" 
"Huh? Ah, so that's what it was, so that's what meeting meant......" 
Tenma asked back in surprise and Harutora's forehead sweated as he mumbled a reply. It seemed like he hadn't thought that far ahead. 
"But...... A date, that...... Hm." 
"What is it? You don't like dates?" 
"It, It's not that I don't like them......" 
Tenma stared in wonder at the quietly mumbling Harutora, then uttered an "Ah", his face momentarily lighting up. 
"I know, Harutora-kun, there's actually someone you like." 
Harutora's face instantly blushed when he heard that. 
"Th, There isn't! There's no one that I particularly like--" 
"Oh, really? Then why are you so nervous! It's not like she asked to go out with you, she just wants to meet you." 
"I, I'm not actually nervous, I don't really care--" 
"......What? Harutora-kun, so you really only like little girls......" 
"That's not it! And what does that 'really' mean?" 
Harutora and Tenma chatted in a buzz, and Touji stood to the side helplessly. His appearance as he watched the two was like a college student whose parents had forced him to watch over children of their relatives. 
Not long after they started chatting, Tenma came up with a conclusion. 
"Anyway, even though she's a senpai, it was a girl's love letter after all, so you had better not stand her up. Never mind what you're going to do after you meet, you should first go meet her." 
"......O, Okay. After all, I can't just let her wait there." 
Harutora nodded his head with a stiff face. It couldn't be told whether he was excited or tense, and maybe it was both of those. Then, Harutora spoke with Tenma again, but Touji looked at Harutora with a rare complex expression. 
"......I have a bad feeling." Touji muttered. Unfortunately, those words didn't reach Harutora's ears. 


 

"......Oh, so that's what was going on......" 
The dead of night. 
Natsume stood by the window in her dorm room, whispering quietly. 
The light inside of the room was reflected, and the window showed Natsume's face like a mirror. Her eyes were narrowed, her gaze like ice, keeping anything from showing on her face. Sometimes, it was hard for her to keep her lips from curling. 
"I thought his attitude during the day was suspicious...... So that's what it was......" 
Natsume's voice was unusually calm, but if Harutora heard it, his hair would definitely be standing up in fright. 
The window didn't only reflect Natsume's figure. It also showed a small figure behind her back. For some reason, that person had her back to Natsume. A pair of pointed ears poked out from her head, and a leaf-shaped tail grew out from behind her back. 
 
"......Thank you for coming to tell me about this matter, Kon, this information is extremely valuable." 
"......There's nothing to thank me for, I was just talking to myself." 
"Ah, that's right, you weren't revealing a secret, you just 'happened' to be 'talking to yourself' about what happened today." 
Natsume and Kon spoke far-fetched words with their backs to each other. Their voices were empty but concealed a force to be reckoned with. 
"......This unknown girl... Though she's a student, she is still an Onmyoudou user trying to get close to the master I have pledged to protect. This would certainly cause great inconvenience to me as a retainer...... But as a mere shikigami, I dare not transgress." 
"Yeah, that's true. It seems like I've misunderstood you before. You're an extremely excellent shikigami, Harutora is very fortunate......" Natsume smiled lightly as she said this, her voice still calm, but it was doubtful whether the expression on her face could be described as a smile...... 
"Alright, I should be sleeping now. Tomorrow seems like it will be a busy day." 
The dead of midnight. 
Touji's premonition was realized. The bloody holiday was about to unfold. 


 


"Ah, Harutora-kun! You really came! Hello, I'm Kinoshita Jun." 
"Oh, h-hello." 
Eleven in the morning, in front of a certain building in Shinjuku. 
Harutora inadvertently doubted his own eyes at having a girl call him out from among a sea of people. Frankly, he held some expectations, but the girl was unexpectedly cute, far surpassing his imagination. 
She had shoulder-length light brown hair and eyes dressed up with sophisticated makeup. She wore a simple white coat on the outside, and a pair of pretty legs wearing black stockings extended from underneath her short skirt and into pink low boots. 
She was small and couldn't be counted as a 'mature woman', more like 'cute' instead. In particular, her lively movements and expression were very much like a girl's. 
Harutora happened to like this type of girl, and he finally realized that he was incredibly tense. 
"But...... It's really great that you were willing to come, I was so worried." 
"Huh, w-why?" 
"After all...... There's a lot of gossip regarding you recently." 
"Oh, that's all nonsense! It's the dorm managers spreading rumors everywhere!" 
Harutora defended himself forcefully. Jun seemed a bit hesitant upon hearing that. 
"None of it is real?" 
"That's right! Didn't I come to meet you today?' 
"I see, but then......" Jun murmured, her face thoughtful. 
"Wh, What? What's wrong?" 
"Ah, sorry, it's nothing. Anyway, thank you, Harutora-kun. Let's have fun today." Jun smiled lightly after saying that and Harutora inadvertently replied: "Yeah." Maybe feeling that his response was funny, Jun broke out into laughter again. 
Harutora's face reddened and a strange feeling rushed through his heart, part embarrassment and part joy. 
However, in the next second-- 
A cold feeling shot through his entire body-- 
"...Uh." 
His expression changed and a frightful chill ran through his back. He frantically turned around to look. 
"......What happened, Harutora-kun?" 
"Ah, s-sorry, I was just a bit......" Harutora hastily searched for excuses, replying vaguely to the shocked Jun. He sized up the surroundings for the sake of caution, not noticing anything strange. "......It's nothing, I was just overthinking things." 
"I see. Then, let's go." Jin strode forth briskly after saying this and Harutora recovered his calm, leaving along with her. 
Only then did the holiday truly begin. 


 

"......Ah, they left, Touji-kun!" Tenma hid himself behind a tree, secretly watching Harutora and Jun's movements while excitedly speaking with a quiet voice. "I didn't think it would be such a cute girl, I'm so jealous of Harutora-kun. But Harutora-kun seems like he's so tense! ......Haha, I didn't really want to follow someone else on his date originally...... But it's actually pretty exciting!" 
Tenma's eyes lit up. Touji had invited him to secretly observe Harutora during his date 'just in case'. At the start, he hadn't been too willing, but now he was completely into it. 
"Touji-kun, let's quickly follow them!" He turned around after saying that, but noticed that Touji's gaze wasn't on Harutora for some reason. In addition, his brow was even furrowed as he looked around, his expression giving off anxiety and tension. 
"What's wrong? Didn't Harutora-kun and the girl leave? Besides, aren't you afraid of our movements being too obvious and them noticing us?" Tenma asked worriedly. 
However, Touji didn't answer his question. 
"......Tenma, do you feel some kind of unusual atmosphere around?" 
"Atmosphere? Not spiritual or magical energy?" 
"Right, it's nothing specific, it's more like a killing intent or anger......" It was rare for Touji to say things that weren't clear, and he continued carefully watching the surroundings, but ended up finding nothing. "Let's go." He clicked his tongue, urging Tenma to move. 
"What is it? Do you think we shouldn't be following them secretly?" 
"......No, just the opposite. Though things shouldn't come to it...... Be prepared." 
"B, Be prepared?" 
"Right, never mind Harutora, I'm worried about that girl." 
"I don't think Harutora-kun would do anything to a girl." 
"Harutora wouldn't......" Touji murmured words dismally. "Anyway, it's right to keep our eyes on those two. Right, have you still not contacted Kurahashi?" 
"Yeah, she said she was busy today......" 
Kurahashi Kyouko was the classmate of Touji and the others, the eldest daughter of the famous Kurahashi family, whose Onmyoudou power was second only to Natsume in the class. 
"But, is there really a need to call Kurahashi-san? I don't know what Harutora-kun thinks, but we should only involve guys with this kind of thing......" 
"Don't think too much about it, hurry up and contact her. If things go sour, just the two of us won't be able to deal with it." 
"Huh." 
Tenma was confused, but Touji's face was extremely grave as he secretly chased after Harutora and the girl. 


 

"A, Are you alright, Harutora-kun?" 
"......I, I'm okay. That strong wind just now blew a signboard over and it almost hit me, but fortunately I just barely avoided it......" 
The surroundings were in a clamor. The signboard rolled across an asphalt ramp, the surprised pedestrians hastily avoiding it. Fortunately, Harutora had escaped unharmed. He broke out in a cold sweat as he looked at the signboard in the distance that had just brushed past his nose. 
"That was close, did they not attach the signboard properly?" 
"......Maybe." 
"But, that's strange, there wasn't any wind just now - It's the same right now, I can't even feel a breeze." 
"......Yeah." 
Harutora replied listlessly, his face pale. 
Similar unexpected events had already happened several times. 
After Harutora and Jun met up, they had gone to a fashionable terraced cafe that Jun recommended to eat lunch, though it was a bit early. 
However, once they entered the store, the waiter had immediately fallen and dumped a glass of water on Harutora. As soon as he sat on the chair the waiter brought, he had immediately fallen onto the ground because the chair was broken. Then, as he was preparing to eat, bird poop just happened to fall into the dishes. Though they had changed the dishes later, bugs had constantly been flying back and forth while they ate, circling around Harutora. 
Those weren't the only surprises. 
Once he walked next to Jun, his shoelaces broke. 
Once they walked into a small alley, he was attacked by wild cats. 
Once they walked into a clothing store, the mannequins fell over. 
Once they walked into an arcade, the arcade lost power. 
The benches in the park had wet paint. 
The vending machines broke down and didn't give them change. 
The branches of trees suddenly fell down. 
Strange smells permeated the air. 
In addition, there were countless small surprises, and something would suddenly happen every time Harutora and Jun were chatting happily or when they almost held hands. Also, the level of danger had been steadily rising, like the signboard shooting at his face just now. If it had truly hit, the aftermath would have been disastrous. 
Harutora had been born unfortunate. He knew that he was unlucky from first-hand experience. However, today's situation was far too unusual, as one misfortune happened after another. In particular, after he met Jun, he had constantly felt some kind of chill coming from somewhere, as if there were some unusual pressure behind his back. It was completely different from the imagined paranoia from yesterday in the cafeteria, as it was more genuine, more dangerous, and more crazed. 
"It looks like today's a bit unusual, Harutora-kun. You must be disappointed, right?" 
"What? That's not true! I should be apologizing to you, since weird things keep happening." 
"I'm alright. Harutora-kun, you're really gentle." 
"That's not--" 
As soon as an embarrassed smile emerged on Harutora's face, strong winds whipped up around them. Jun cried out, hastily holding down her hair, but Harutora's hair was blown around everywhere, a chill still running through him. 
"E, Excuse me for a bit!" After saying this, Harutora rapidly left Jun's side. "......Kon! Kon, are you here? Don't you think there's someone messing around in the shadows?" He lowered his voice to ask for his shikigami's opinion. But, "Kon...... That's weird? Kon?" Kon, who had always answered when he had asked before, didn't speak up, and Harutora's back went cold in fright. 
"......I am here." 
"Kon! So you were here, don't scare me! ......Hey, don't you think this situation isn't quite right? I feel like my life's in danger." 
"......I see." 
"Don't brush me off! Aren't you my guardian? Have you noticed anything unusual?" Harutora wanted to check, but Kon just said: "Nothing is out of the ordinary." 
"......R, Really?" 
"Yes, nothing is out of the ordinary...... If the situation becomes grave enough to endanger you, I will guard you with my life, so be at ease." 
"I see, that's good......" 
"......I will take my leave......" 
After saying this, Kon's voice vanished again. "Huh." Harutora's face sank. Maybe he would have noticed that Kon hadn't been stammering like before if he wasn't plagued by this strange chill. At the same time, he hadn't heard the shikigami's 'other meaning'. He walked back to Jun's side. 
"Harutora-kun, are you okay?" Jun's face was worried. 
"Yeah, I'm alright, sorry for making you worry." 
Jun's concern moved him, and he forced himself to smile, scratching his chin to conceal his embarrassment. "Ah." Once she saw Harutora's hand, Jun quickly cried out. 
"Harutora-kun, your hand is hurt!" 
"What? Ahh, I put my hand out to block the signboard just now - It's alright, it's just a small bruise." 
"You can't ignore it, let me have a look." Jun pulled Harutora's right hand, taking out a handkerchief and carefully wrapping it on the wound. Jun's small hands moved deftly, continuously touching Harutora's hand, and the soft fragrance of shampoo wafted from her hair. 
"...Okay. But it's best to disinfect it as soon as possible--" 
After wrapping it, Jun lifted her head and their gazes intersected at a close distance. Once Jun noticed the situation, her face tinted red, and Harutora also blushed in embarrassment. 
They stared at each other, and silence spread, and immediately after-- 
An earthquake happened. 
The ground suddenly shook and a fissure appeared in the asphalt road. Jun screamed in shock, stumbling backwards, and Harutora lost his balance for a moment, inadvertently tumbling to the ground. The two of them separated, and the earthquake calmed down at the same time. 
"......This is......" 
Harutora knelt on the ground, stunned, unable to help but look around. He noticed that there was a pair of lovers in the distance looking at him, unable to conceal the shock on their faces. 
It seemed that the earthquake had happened with an extremely limited scale - more accurately, it seemed that it had only happened in the location of Harutora and Jun. A crack was split open in a space very close to the two of them as if the ground had been sabotaged. 
"......Kon? This is......?" Harutora asked with a hoarse voice. 
"Nothing is out of the ordinary." 
Her tone sounded like it didn't count as abnormal because it had been the road that was split instead of Harutora. 
Something was wrong. 
Even the slow Harutora had to admit that the situation was indeed strange. 


 

"You still haven't contacted Kurahashi?" 
"Sh, She hasn't responded to my message." 
Touji's tone wasn't leisurely at all as he asked. Noise sounded all around him, and a signboard rolled down a slope. Touji's gaze was worried as he looked at the destroyed signboard. 
"......What I was worrying about happened after all......" 
"T, Touji-kun. Maybe I'm overthinking things, but I feel like I've been constantly feeling magical energy since just now......?" 
"Don't worry about it. You don't need to wait for Kurahashi to reply to your message, you should just call her directly and tell her to come over. It might be too late if we wait any longer." 
In the direction that the signboard had come from, Jun was using a handkerchief to bandage him, maybe because Harutora had been hurt. Touji hid in the corner of the street, watching the two of them in boredom. 
"......Damn, we could do something if we could chase down the source of the magical energy, but unfortunately the magical energy was too weak. She's using stealth magic, this top student's really hard to deal with......" 
"No good, Touji-kun! I can't reach Kurahashi-san's phone." 
"In that case, we can only pray that things get resolved before the surroundings get damaged even more severely...... Like a fire or a building collapse......" 
"......Building collapse?" Upon hearing his classmate speak so exaggeratedly, Tenma couldn't help but grin, thinking that those words were a joke...... Unfortunately, Touji didn't have any trace of a smile on his face. 
"Thing will be difficult if they're using a shikigami from afar...... But considering that person's personality, she definitely can't hold her temper, and she should be nearby......" Touji also hid himself as he said this, carefully sizing up the surroundings again. 
Touji never hated to get his feet wet, and the more troublesome things got, the happier he was. But, he really couldn't be relaxed while watching the storm this time, or else the rare holiday would be completely destroyed. 
"That idiot Harutora, he won't go out with that girl anyway, so he should hurry up and brush her off." 
"H, He won't? Harutora-kun really has someone that he likes?" 
"I don't know what he thinks." Touji frowned, uttering that remark. 
In the next second, "Huh? A, An earthquake?" Vibrations rumbled underneath his feet, but the degree of shaking wasn't large, and he could only faintly feel light vibration when he was standing still. However, right in front of Touji and Tenma, Harutora tumbled down violently and Jun also staggered, the ground shaking significantly. 
An extremely small-scale, local earthquake - No...... 
"......Th, This really is magic! Also, I think I hear someone's voice chanting 'order'......?" Tenma's eyes widened and Touji immediately rushed out from the street corner where he hid, charging towards the area behind a tree on the other side of the road. 
There was no one there. 
No, there was someone here. 
He looked intently, finally understanding the scene in front of him. In addition, with that glance, he wondered how on earth he hadn't noticed there was someone 'right there' for the entire time. That person was using stealth magic. 
That person had stuffed her hair into a rather large baseball cap and wore a pair of sunglasses that looked very cheap at first glance. She wore loose athletic clothing that didn't suit her at all. 
Touji, who had hurried forward, sighed. 
"So it really is you. Don't go too far, Nat--" 
"Shut up!" 
Once he heard that extremely tense tone that wouldn't allow any opposition, Touji couldn't help but flinch. Natsume didn't even turn around to glance at him, clasping the tree as if she couldn't wait to peel off the bark, glaring angrily in the direction of Harutora. 
"......N-Natsume?" Touji's face went rigid and he called out gingerly. 
"......This...... This is intolerable...... I really can't stand this...... I can't take it...... I can't take it any more...... Bastard...... Stupid idiot...... That stupid-- Baka-- Tora!" 
Aura poured from Natsume's entire body and swirled into a giant eddy as if the stealth magic lost its effectiveness completely in the face of her anger, or perhaps as if she didn't care about hiding anymore. 
Tenma ran up from the other side of the road. 
"Touji-kun, why did you suddenly - huh? Natsume-kun? Why are you dressed like that? Are you following Harutora-kun as well--" 
"Order!" 
"Guh." 
"Hey, Tenma!" 
Natsume threw out a charm without turning around, which hit Tenma perfectly in the forehead. Touji hastily grabbed his collapsing classmate. He hadn't expected that Natsume would be this unreasonable. 
"Tenma, get a hold of yourself. Natsume! You're going too far--" 
"......Gg......rr......rr......rrrrrrrr." 
"--Actually, it's okay, yeah, it's still at an acceptable level......" 
Natsume bared her teeth and growled like a wild beast, staring her childhood friend like a devil's face. Touji unconsciously swallowed. 
"......N-Natsume, I understand your feelings, so why don't you calm down a bit first. Breathe deeply, calm--" 
"Me? I-- am-- calm!" 
"...Okay, okay, you're very calm, extremely calm. Anyway, breathe deeply first, come on." 
Touji tried to persuade Natsume with a gentle tone, as if he were pacifying a wild leopard. Natsume's gaze still stared intently at Harutora and Jun, and she breathed deeply and then exhaled slowly. 
Taking advantage of that moment, Touji hastily checked Tenma's condition. Though he had lost consciousness, he was still breathing, so it looked like he had just fainted. Touji hesitated over whether he should remove the charm on Tenma's head, and in the end decided to leave it that way. Anyway, even if Tenma woke up right now, he feared that he would just see many things that it was better not to. 
He draped Tenma's arm around his own neck. 
"Hey, Natsume? That's not a date, they're just - meeting and chatting a bit, so you don't need to worry--" 
"I'm not worrying!" 
"...Yes, of course you're not, okay, you're not worrying at all. If you were worried, you wouldn't have hit him with a signboard or caused an earthquake, you're completely right...... But, as I said just now, there's truly nothing between them, it's just students meeting up and chatting, nothing big. So you don't need to worry or be mad--" 
"I'm not mad!" 
"--Yes, yes, I know, you're not worried and you're not mad, that's great." Touji spoke with a smile, his temple frequently pulsing. He felt like he was negotiating with a criminal whose body was strapped up with bombs. 
"Th, That handkerchief...... To think he would take it as a gift...... And he even wrapped it around his hand......!" The suicide bomber stared intently at Harutora. 
"......I really wonder who hurt him." 
"......Wh, Why is he so embarrassed...... They...... look so lovey-dovey......!" 
"......It looks to me like he's pale from fright." 
"Ah, they're leaving again! Are they planning on moving to another place?" 
"......I think it's escaping rather than moving......" 
"Escape as much as you want! I didn't sleep at all yesterday, my preparations are seamless! Don't think you can escape my grasp even if you run to the ends of the earth!" 
"............There's no helping this person, I'd better think of something fast......" Touji murmured deeply, his face grave. Of course, those words didn't reach Natsume's ears. In order to chase Harutora and Jun who had left again, Natsume immediately rose to leave her spot behind the tree. 
"Wait, Natsume." Touji hastily spoke up. 
"I can't!" 
"Just listen then. Why are you following Harutora? Why do you need to watch him secretly?" 
"......Why?" Touji changed his style of questioning. Natsume was surprised by his words, questioning herself. Naturally, Touji didn't let that 'weak point' go. 
"Right, do you have any reason to interfere with who Harutora meets?" 
"H, Harutora-kun is my--!" 
"Yes, Harutora is your shikigami, but he's not a 'personal item', and that's not enough of a reason for you to follow him around behind his back and meddle from the shadows." Touji cut to the chase, as if he were talking about love with elementary schoolers. But truthfully, the levels of those two were that low, so he could do nothing else. 
Natsume's gaze finally left Harutora and Jun when her faults were pointed out. She lowered her head, lightly biting her lip, like his words had hit the mark. 
Touji keenly changed his tone when he observed this. 
"Natsume, I don't hate that stubborn personality of yours, but...... It's best to be a little honest in this kind of time." 
"Honest......" 
"Right, it does no good to continue this deadlock. You need to speak your true feelings occasionally." 
"............" Natsume was silent for a long while, her head still lowered. 
Right now was the crucial point where victory was decided. Touji didn't say anything more, quietly waiting for Natsume's response. 
Not long after, Natsume slowly raised her head. She took off her sunglasses, a light smile emerging on her lips as she said without hesitation: "A shikigami is the practitioner's property." 
"............" 
The eyes that Natsume stared at Touji with were frighteningly clear, like a vacuum that didn't permit any life. It seemed that she had already gone insane. 
"I'm going after them, any problems?" 
"......Whatever you want." 
The ineffable sense of futility made Touji feel like he had aged ten years in the blink of an eye. He shifted Tenma's posture, putting him on his back again. 


 

No way. 
Actually, Harutora had a feeling a long time ago, but he had deliberately ignored it. He didn't think that such a possibility was impossible, but he avoided it and didn't dare think about it. 
Now, 'no way' was slowly turning into 'as expected'. 
As expected. 
This kind of situation...... really was...... 
"Harutora-kun?" 
"......Could it be...... I, It's really Natsume......" 
"Hey, Harutora-kun!" 
Harutora only came to his senses when Jun called out like this. 
The two of them were in a coffee shop near the south entrance of JR Shinjuku Station. They had brought two beverages outside and were sitting by the flowerbed off to the side. The sun slowly moved west and streetlights lit the road one by one. 
"S, Sorry, what is it?" 
"I wanted to say thanks to you. Thanks for being with me the whole day and listening to me." Jun spoke in a huff, but the eyes that looked at Harutora were full of happiness. Harutora replied: "Sorry." 
The day was about to end. 
But, this day hadn't ended, and Harutora didn't believe that things would wrap up like this. He held the iced coffee, trying to stabilize his emotions, but he couldn't regulate his breathing and his hand was shaking. He gritted his teeth, forcefully clenching his molars tight. 
He hadn't done anything wrong, so he could hold his head high and proud. He didn't have to be scared...... at least, that should have been true. 
Unfortunately, the current situation wasn't very hopeful and wasn't one that could be resolved relying on such childish reasons. Harutora sweated furiously. 
"......Harutora~kun?" 
"Ah, s-sorry." 
Harutora snapped out of his trance again, hastily apologizing. Jun pouted deliberately, but immediately broke out into a smile again. 
"Harutora-kun, you've been apologizing the whole day." 
"S, Seems like it, sorr--" 
"Look, you're doing it again." Jun giggled, her naive appearance managing to soften Harutora's knot of tension. 
Thinking carefully, this was the first time in the whole day he had been alone with this girl he had just met. Since he was tense anyway, at least he hoped that it could be a different feeling of tension...... Harutora couldn't help but think this funny when he thought of it. 
"......Harutora-kun, what do you think of me?" As if noticing the moment when his feelings relaxed, Jun's expression suddenly became sober, her tone quite serious. 
"What?" 
"After being with me for the whole day, do you think you would want to go out with me?" 
Jun stared straight into Harutora's eyes. Harutora couldn't say anything for a while. He had nowhere to run. 
The time he spent together with Jun flashed across his mind. Though he had attracted quite some trouble, Jun had never once showed an unwilling expression, working hard until the very end to let the two of them have a great time. She had been impeccable. 
In this kind of situation, Harutora immediately regained his calm, flinging off his panic and confusion to return the most important answer. 
"......I was very happy when I got your letter, thank you." 
"--!" Jun's eyes widened and her lips pressed tightly together. 
The most important reason why Harutora had come today was because he wanted to 'thank' her face-to-face. 
Jun understood the meaning in his words, hearing that he had already decided the answer from the beginning. But she didn't give up, still trying to convey her heartfelt emotion. 
But just then-- 
"Yo, Harutora! 'What a coincidence'!" 
A mechanical and empty voice made him shudder, and Harutora's body temperature dropped rapidly - you could even say he froze over. That voice drove his consciousness far away, and it wouldn't be strange for its hidden power to be classified as an 'incantation'. 
"......Nat......sume......" 
"Haha, really Harutora, is there a need to be that shocked?" 
"......This is a misunderstanding." 
"No, I'm not misunderstanding anything." 
"It's really not like you're thinking! I, uh......!" 
"You don't need to say any more, I know what's going on very well. Anyway, why don't we go back to the dorm first?" Natsume's tone was cheerful and a smile was hung on her face, but there was no happiness in her eyes at all. 
Harutora was incredibly scared. 
"Kon? Kon?" 
"......Yes." 
"My life's in danger!" 
"Natsume-dono is Harutora-sama's master, I do not know why Harutora-sama says that--" 
"Why do you only take her side in this kind of time? Also, I only noticed just now, you're not stuttering when you talk! Was it you who went off to inform her!?" 
"......Harutora." 
"Ahh! Touji! And Tenma too! Why are you with Natsume--" 
"I came to pick up your remains." 
"Does that mean that there's no room for negotiation?" 
The sudden betrayal of his shikigami and his best friend made Harutora momentarily fall into a panic. 
However-- "Natsume-kun, could you please leave?" Jun showed a sharp gaze, blocking Natsume's path. Harutora cried out in surprise, trying to stop Jun's reckless action - unexpectedly, Natsume was the one who was startled. The current Natsume was clearly panicked. 
"Harutora-kun and I are on a date, so if you want to go back, please go back on your own." 
"N, No! Harutora is my shikigami--" 
"So what? I just want to go out with Harutora-kun, I'm not planning to replace you as Harutora-kun's master." 
"N, No! I definitely won't permit that! Because Harutora--" 
"Because what? Could it be that you forbid your shikigami from love? What gives you the right to say such a thing?" 
"Because I'm Harutora's master!" 
"I said--" Jun smiled sweetly, like a martial arts master relaxing her whole body's strength to face a battle. "Can you call that a reason for banning him from love? Well, alright, if you're that concerned about public opinion, I'm okay with going out in secret." 
"............" 
Natsume's body trembled in anger, staring at Jun with tear-filled eyes. 
An expression of realization suddenly flashed across Touji's face as he carried Tenma on his back. He finally understood the reason Natsume couldn't control herself and saw the secret hidden underneath the anger. 
Natsume was scared. The Onmyou Academy's proud prodigy couldn't refute a thing and was only able to stand there blankly. Jun slowly breathed in as if to calm down her agitated emotions. A pressing atmosphere pervaded the silence, but the person to break the silence wasn't Natsume, nor was it Jun. 
"......Kinoshita-san, I'm sorry." 
Jun's whole body shook when Harutora's voice came from behind her. Just then-- 
"Huh, Natsume-kun? Why are you here?" 
An excited voice completely incompatible with the atmosphere rang out, coming from a place farther behind Natsume, Touji, and the others. Everyone present looked towards the owner of the voice, stunned. 
"Kurahashi?" Touji's eyes widened in surprise. 
"Touji? ......Ah, and Tenma. Come to think of it, he sent me a message. I forgot to respond." 
It was their classmate, Kurahashi Kyouko. She had a relaxed demeanor as if she hadn't noticed the present atmosphere, happily looking at the group present. 
"Oh my, that's strange, Kinoshita-senpai? You're dressed up like that again... You couldn't be thinking of making a move on Natsume-kun, right? That won't do, Natsume-kun is very pure, you can't trick him like you always do!" 
They seemed to know each other. Kyouko spoke leisurely - but Jun's expression wavered. "K, Kyouko-chan?" 
"Do you know each other?" Touji asked in surprise. 
"You mean senpai? Yeah, we occasionally chat about things like cosmetics, because - Look, he's dressed up so cutely, he doesn't look like a guy at all." 
Natsume, Touji, Harutora, and even Kon had the same reaction. 
"......A guy?" 
 
The rather unprecedented atmosphere made them all breathless. Jun's face flushed red. 
"S-So what? What's wrong with that! Society accepts 'otoko no musume' [16] right now. I can love who I want, and no one can criticize me!" Jun proclaimed loudly. Harutora was stunned silent, and Kon by his side also forgot her stealth, materializing. Tenma fell from Touji's shoulder. "......Oh my~" Kyouko noticed that she seemed to have said something bad, covering her mouth with her hand. 
Jun fell to the ground on his knees, his hands against the ground. ".......So what........So what! What's wrong with a guy! It's fine as long as I'm cute! Aren't I right, Harutora-kun?" 
Jun kneeled on the ground looking up at Harutora, but Harutora didn't rush forward, his entire body pale as if the blood had been sucked out of him. His iced coffee dripped down. 
An indescribable silence spread out. 
In the silence, "Kinoshita-senpai...... I'm sorry." Natsume opened her mouth. 
She looked at Jun with teary eyes, the meaning of these tears different from the ones in her eyes before. These were from a deep, unilateral sense of 'sympathy'. 
"......I understand, I understand completely. I misjudged senpai, I never thought senpai would be 'the same'......" 
A question mark appeared on Jun's face, and Touji's cheeks twitched slightly. 
Natsume and Jun were camouflaging their original gender, but she didn't understand the difference between them. She hadn't understood at all, and perhaps she didn't even know the meaning of 'otoko no musume'. Most serious of all, she didn't even know she actually didn't understand the other party. 
It was simply... irrevocably stupid. 
"Kinoshita-senpai, I...... I'm very moved! I didn't think senpai would have this kind of secret......! Let me apologize for my actions from before, please let me be your friend!" 
"What? Don't joke around! I won't make friends with someone who's prettier than me!" 
"Please don't say that!" 
"I refuse! Harutora-kun, save me!" 
"............" 
Jun pleaded Harutora, who was looking into the sky, stunned. Natsume reached out in tears. 
Kon hid herself again without a word, her face bitter. 
Kyouko still didn't get the situation, looking towards Touji with an "......Uh, this is...... What exactly is going on?" 
Touji put Tenma back on his back, replying with a firm tone that said that whatever happened wouldn't shake his will: 
"I'm outta here." 
 



Share This :


COMMENTS

No Comments Yet

Post a new comment

Register or Login