Mitou Shoukan://Blood-Sign Vol 2 Chapter 2

“Would it be a violation of your style to ask why?”

“This is to keep you from telling anyone what you just now realized. I can’t say any more than that.”

(Stage 02 Open 04/30 19:30)

Summoners Fight in the Shadows Behind Strange Phenomena

Yomikiri Newspaper, 10/22/20XX Edition.

Newspaper clipping of an editorial.

A young life has been lost. Her name was Umie Shouko-chan and she was an eleven year old girl living in Natsumi City. She was attacked by a man on the way back from school and was stabbed nineteen times in the head by a gra.s.s sickle.

How can people grow so violent?

The murderer…yes, the paperwork has yet to be completed as his address, occupation, and other identifying information are still unknown, so a name has yet to be revealed in the papers even though an arrest was definitely made. The man was apparently shouting nonsense such as, “They protect the children, they protect the women, they protect the sick, and they protect the old, but who’s going to protect me?” That large man had undergone genetic tuning by an underground doctor in order to leave behind no records, so it must have been strange indeed to see him throwing a tantrum.

When did people grow so very weak?

Why couldn’t he see that as his chance to be a protector?

Taking a life is the most unreasonable act there is. Even if it is taken in a fight over lifeboats and even if there is legal justification, I doubt the people of this world will ever approve of taking someone’s life. If you are willing to take a life to save a life, you must be taught the weight of a life as the guilt weighs on your conscience.

And in cases like this, it will not be rewarded.

Let us at least pray for her happiness in death. And let us pray that heaven really does exist.

Whatever result the human courts reach, that man will never go there. If heaven really does exist, it must be an ideal place where Shouko-chan will be surrounded by nothing but warmth and kindness.

Although that may be nothing more than a selfish wish of us adults who could not make this world into heaven.

It was a rainy night.

Countless giant bridges crisscrossed through the air, as if weaving their way through the gaps in the giant buildings. The rain never seemed to end, but the light from projectors reflected off of those raindrops. In addition to the normal decorative lights, giant mascots danced through the night sky. If one leaned over the railing and looked down to the dark sea at the lowest level, they would find it filled with dancing light, as if glow-in-the-dark paint had been dumped into the water.

This was the Rainy Screen campaign.

It was supposed to be a special event to keep guests coming to the amus.e.m.e.nt park, but to the residents who had to live with it for days on end, the colorful lights and deluge of noise from directional speakers had grown into a horrible nuisance.

According to the clock of light projected on a film of water flowing down a building wall, it was 7:30 PM.

That was when Librarian-chan should have arrived at her “risky job”, but she had not made it due to some trouble.

However, she did not have to worry about her boss being angry with her.

She looked incredibly confused as she held the umbrella and held a cellphone to her ear.

“U-um, like I said, I’m telling you I’m going to be late…”

“I’m not sure what to tell you. Recruit #1077B? …I’ve checked several times now and I can’t find that file.”

“Boss! I worked there last week too.”

“Yes, yes. If you’re trying to claim I messed up so you can work without any paperwork or an interview, it’s not going to work. Adult society isn’t that simple.”

When her boss hung up on her, she stared at the small screen in a daze.

“Didn’t I tell you?” asked Kyousuke with a sigh. “You have to be in their field of vision.”

“…I can’t believe this.”

“If you want, you can try someone from our cla.s.s, your family, or the police. Try calling whoever you want. I guarantee you not one of them will take you seriously. It’s like you’ve been forgotten by the entire world.”

“…”

Librarian-chan rubbed her thumb across the phone’s b.u.t.tons.

She hesitated for a bit, but she did not try any of the speed dial numbers.

The boss she had only known for a week had been enough of a shock.

Her heart may have been rejecting the fear of being forgotten and left behind by someone she knew far better than that.

“But the information hasn’t been completely erased or anything. Once you’re directly in their field of vision, they’ll remember it all for as long as you’re there.”

“Then…”

“Are you finally ready to hear about the summoning ceremony?”

Kyousuke doubted any normal person would be able to accept a description of summoners and vessels if it was just suddenly thrown at them.

The fastest method was to actually summon a Material, but that required a one-on-one battle. That is, it was easy to do, but it would mean a fight to death.

On the other hand, safely and surely demonstrating that paranormal world was quite difficult. It was said that you did not even take your first real step into the world of summoning until you could smoothly explain it all.

“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about your job, so I think it would make sense to focus on your sister. Or should I call her the Rainy Girl?”

“You can do something about my sister?”

“As long as we can catch her. We control the beings that lurk beyond the G.o.ds, so there’s no way we could lose to a human ghost.”

“…”

Librarian-chan’s face looked pale and thoughtful as it reflected the countless lights in the rain. It almost looked like she herself had become a ghost, left behind by the flow of time.

Kyousuke sighed.

“Your condition is only temporary, so don’t worry about it.”

“Eh? I can go back…to normal?”

“Once this is over, you just have to end your contract with me. Not counting extreme outliers like Lu-san who earned more than 100 Awards as a vessel alone, the supernatural is generally reliant on the summoner. The vessel becomes a normal person again once the contract is gone.”

That meant Kyousuke could not return to normal.

Once they lost sight of him, even a friends or lover would completely forget about him. And that would never change.

And once he died and was buried, no one could ever see him again.

The fact that he had died – no, that he had lived – would be sealed away behind the lid of forgetfulness.

“If you just want to return to normal, we could do it right away. But that would leave your sister’s issue unresolved. You might not know what I mean by the summoning ceremony, but you’ve at least sensed that there’s a ‘strange power’ at work here, right? Separating you from your sister without that would be quite difficult. Can you believe me about that?”

“It’s true I can’t rely on a knife or a gun when my sister’s like that. But I don’t know of any staffs that shoot out fire when you swing them. …This is the only mysterious power I know about.”

She seemed to be speaking to herself more than to Kyousuke.

Stepping past the “common sense” that bordered on science wors.h.i.+p was more painful than one would expect.

But it was probably not due to Kyousuke’s way with words that she had been able to do so.

It was due to how cornered she was already feeling.

This had not been her first time to encounter the Rainy Girl, so she had already tried everything she could and discovered first-hand just how fragile “common sense” could be.

So she had stepped past it.

She had let go of the world she had been born to and she had plunged into this world.

“Where should we start?”

“Well.” Kyousuke spoke in his usual tone of voice while holding an umbrella. “How about we start by binding your body?”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Librarian-chan fell silent for a bit.

Then she smiled brightly.

Lastly, an impressive sound burst out into the city night.

A girl’s wholehearted slap contained a special power!!

“Bgh, gbhah!?”

“You’re the worst!! You really are the worst!! s.h.i.+royama-kun, did you think you could take advantage of my situation to do whatever you wanted with me!?”

“N-no, wait. Let me explain…”

“Explain what!? The details of your special ‘proclivities’!?”

With umbrella and school bag in hand, Librarian-chan tightly held her own body, blushed bright red, and snapped back at him.

Kyousuke was a little overwhelmed at being branded a pervert.

“I-in the world of the summoning ceremony, a summoner fights alongside a vessel. You’re that vessel right now, Librarian-chan. But there’s a risk of you summoning vengeful or evil spirits and other things beyond my instructions.”

“…”

Librarian-chan could not have understood even half of what Kyousuke was talking about.

However, the mention of vengeful or evil spirits was enough for her expression to cloud over.

“We need a safety to prevent that. …It can be anything really, as long as it’s a symbol that solidifies your heart. Collars and handcuffs are the most obvious, but it can also be something closely related to your everyday life. There has to be something you use to restrain your actions or desires, right? Like a scale or your skirt’s zipper.”

“Why are your examples focused on my weight and measurements?”

“Because those are pretty common for girl vessels. For example, some use a push up bra, bra pads, or-…gweh!?’

As soon as Kyousuke made his insensitive comment, Librarian-chan acted on behalf of every worrying maiden on the planet by slamming her school bag into his face.

“Sigh. In other words, it can be anything I wear that keeps me focused? I have no idea if it will work, but I suppose it’s worth trying, just like a protective charm or something.”

“Uuh… I made sure to explain everything properly, so why do you have to treat me like this?”

“In that case, hmm. This might work for me.”

Librarian-chan showed Kyousuke her right wrist.

She wore a very, very small wrist.w.a.tch that’s face was only the size of her little finger’s nail.

“I always wear it when I head out, so it’s the first thing that came to mind when it comes to switching my tension on and off.”

“Then that would be best. Do you have any emotional attachment to it?”

“It cost a fair bit, but not really.”

“Then let’s stop by a clock shop. I want to modify it a little.”

“By adding in a magic charm or something?”

“No, I’ll just swap out the strap. I want to add in the symbolism of the summoner modifying it and giving it to you. That will make sure it works.”

To get the work done, they left the usual path and looked around for the necessary store.

They first tried a brand-name shop that sold all the best clock maker brands, but they gave up when they saw all the zeros on the price tags. They next tried a repair shop run by an old man and had the watch’s strap replaced with one made from a thin silver chain.

“That completes our preparations. I doubt it will be a problem since you always wear it anyway, but make sure you don’t forget to keep that on. Got that?”

“Understood.”

Librarian-chan rubbed her wrist to check the feel of the new strap.

“But what exactly do we do now? Stay up every night waiting for my sister to show up?”

“We’re going to bring the fight to the Rainy Girl. I don’t know how much truth there is to the rumors, but I recommend changing into clothes you can wear out on a rainy night.”

“Even though everyone will forget about me?”

“They’ll remember if you happen to run into them. And wouldn’t it be best to avoid playing a game of tag with a police officer?”

Just once, Kyousuke checked the surrounding area on his smartphone’s map.

“We’re a bit far from my cruiser, so I’ll go grab a change of clothes from a storage locker near here. You head back to your home and change into some casual clothes. Try to make it as adult-looking as possible to match the situation.”

With that said, Kyousuke started to leave, but Librarian-chan tugged on his arm.

“Wait,” she said in a weak voice. “Don’t leave me.”

“Summoners and vessels are both ‘removed from the norm’, so we won’t forget each other even if we can’t see each other.”

“That doesn’t matter.” She bit her lip once and finally continued her confession. “I’m scared to be alone ‘here’. Please stay with me.”

They dealt with Kyousuke’s errand first.

He picked up a chance of clothes from a storage locker near the monorail station and he changed from his uniform and into his usual hoodie.

They then stopped by a student apartment in M Block.

It seemed to be Librarian-chan’s home.

It was located on the 27th floor of an ultra-high rise building towering up from the city. But with the large bridges on either side every five or ten stories, it felt more like being on the second or third floor.

The room was a stereotypical one-room apartment.

That meant she must not have been living with her family.

“Where are your parents?”

“They live somewhere else. …It’s like time stopped for them after my sister died. It was like being surrounded by the awkward silence of an elevator twenty-four hours a day. I just couldn’t stand it, so I used high school as a chance to leave.”

Librarian-chan turned on the lights and grabbed the air conditioner’s remote as she spoke.

“My mom and dad are kind and there isn’t any real problem with them. In fact, I think they’re more loving than in a normal family, even including the amount they give for allowance. But I couldn’t stand it. It was like I was getting everything that should have gone to my sister. They were probably telling me to be happy enough for my sister too, but it was a complicated feeling for me.”

That may have been why she talked about working part-time so often.

She did not want to rely on what should have gone to her sister, so she had decided to live off of money she earned herself.

“…”

Kyousuke glanced over at the table.

A few hard cover books sat there. At school, she had claimed to have only bought two or three books and to borrow the rest from her parents. That suggested their relations.h.i.+p was not entirely cut off and she visited them from time to time.

It was a complicated relations.h.i.+p, but she must not have felt completely cut off from them.

At the very least, she did not want to lose her connection to them. That was obvious from the fear she had felt when faced with the fact that summoners and vessels were so easily forgotten.

Some people who were dissatisfied with their life would actually rejoice when they heard that.

“Do you have a picture of your sister?”

“No.”

As she selected her clothing from the closet, Librarian-chan replied with a self-deprecating smile on her lips.

She walked to the changing room with the clothes in her arms.

“I haven’t been able to face her since that day. That’s why she’s so angry. That’s what I realized when rumors of the Rainy Girl first started showing up on the internet around j.a.pan. I knew people must be seeing her everywhere because she was searching for me with a look of pure rage on her face.”

She disappeared beyond the frosted gla.s.s door.

He could tell she was removing her clothing from the movements of her silhouette.

“What kind of person was she?”

“I’m not really sure,” replied a m.u.f.fled voice in the changing room. “To be honest, I can’t really remember her anymore. And I don’t just mean I’m too scared to remember. Because of how her body ended up, her coffin was empty during the funeral. …That’s all I can remember now. I should have so many memories: when we went to the beach, when we went to festivals, when we stayed up late into the night together, and so on. But there’s just a blank spot there where her face should be. Just that blank emptiness seen through the coffin’s window.”

“…”

Kyousuke narrowed his eyes a little.

(If she knew how the Rainy Girl acted in life and where she generally went, we might have been able to get ahead of her, but this doesn’t sound very hopeful.)

“I see. Then that’s fine.”

“You’re so kind. After the incident, I was surrounded by people asking all sorts of questions.”

The Rainy Girl herself could be annihilated with a single Incense Grenade.

It was hard to say if that was truly the best choice, but that was what Librarian-chan wanted.

Which meant…

“Sorry about the wait,” she said after sliding open the frosted gla.s.s door.

She wore a tight black s.h.i.+rt, a beige culotte skirt, and thick black tights. Overall, the outfit had a chocolate coloration and it was fairly adult-looking, just as he had requested. Like this, she would not immediately be taken into protective custody.

“I’m ready to head out now, so where are we headed?”

“I want to start by gathering some information.”

“On my sister?”

“That and anything else related to the current situation. The ghost phenomenon can be explained with the larger rules of the summoning ceremony. So if a ghost is showing up under unnatural circ.u.mstances, the odds are good the rules of the summoning ceremony are being used in some unnatural circ.u.mstances. …That means I want to see what that ‘industry’ is up to right now.”

He was not going to get anything out of Librarian-chan, the closest information source to the Rainy Girl herself, so he had to come up with another plan. That was one reason behind his suggestion.

He pulled out his smartphone as he continued.

“Aika and Lu-san. It looks like I’ll have to buy some information from the usual sources. …Although being too indebted to those two could seriously be a matter of life or death.”

He complained as he used his index finger to send a text message to Aika’s apartment. It said he had accepted a new job, he had bound a contract with a vessel, and he was on his way to buy some information.

And there was one more thing.

“Yes. I should probably look into that as well.”

“?”

“Ghosts do occur naturally, but since they’re explained by the summoning ceremony, it’s also possible for a summoner to intentionally cause one. The Rainy Girl herself is definitely your sister, but it bothers me that she started appearing so suddenly. It sounds like the rumors have spread throughout j.a.pan and even to places like Guam and New York, but if we a.s.sume it truly started here in Toy Dream 35, it’s worth seeing if a nearby summoner maybe had something to do with this.”

He did not wait for a reply to his message. He had just about turned into Aika’s caretaker, so he had a spare key. Also, that true shut-in and that top-cla.s.s a.s.sa.s.sin had no concept of day and night.

“Let’s get going. Knowing Aika, she’ll welcome us as long as we stop by a convenience store and buy her some limited edition chips or something.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t had anything to eat since I skipped work. Can we buy something on the way?”

They discussed their plans as they left the one-room apartment.

It was still raining outside, but that did not mean the streets were not crowded with pedestrians.

The Rainy Screen may not have been a useless endeavor after all.

The police’s anti-juvenile crime team was probably beginning their patrol at this time, but they could still see a few boys and girls wearing the same school uniforms walking across the bridges.

“Huh? Isn’t that the student council president?”

“Where?”

“Over there in that crowd.”

Librarian-chan pointed over, but Kyousuke could not see any specific person among all the colorful umbrellas.

As he searched, something b.u.mped into his shoulder.

“Hm? What is it, boy? Isn’t it a little late for someone with no club activities and no job?”

It was Benikomichi Fuuki.

Their umbrellas audibly pressed against each other.

“And what are you doing here, Senpai?”

“I’m only now heading home, you coldhearted boy. As usual, I had to waste the entire day working things out between those spoiled student council members. Honestly, if you had acted as my human s.h.i.+eld, I wouldn’t have been dragged back to that boring student council room.”

“If you’re going to complain, can you at least not ignore the laws of this world as you do so?”

“And after all that, there was some trouble just before leaving. Oh, you probably wouldn’t know, but every speaker in the school was blasting static. We had to go around checking them all and we never did figure out what caused it. Sadly, it was about as wasted as wasted effort can be.”

“…”

Librarian-chan’s shoulders shook at the student council president’s exasperated and exhausted comment.

The supernatural phenomenon in her head was now an objective fact and not just a vision she had seen.

That simple fact seemed to peel back the thin layer of common sense from her mind. It seemed like she would have blood oozing from her heart before long.

Benikomichi Fuuki seemed oblivious and continued casually chatting.

“Thanks to that, I suddenly realized it had gotten this late. I won’t miss tonight’s drama since I can set my digital recorder with my smartphone, but I might have screamed if I couldn’t do that.”

“I see,” said Kyousuke just to have something to say.

However, the president seemed unwilling to say goodbye and leave.

She pressed her umbrella further in against his and gave him an upturned look.

“B-by the way, s.h.i.+royama Boy, I have a request.”

“What is it?”

When Kyousuke asked, she used the hand not holding her umbrella to fidget with her long hair by her ear.

“This might ruin your image of an uppercla.s.sman, but I’ve never actually walked out in public this late before. I’ve heard rumors that the type of guest at Toy Dream 35 completely changes when all the neon turns on, so I’d really rather not walk around alone at night if I can avoid it…”

“You can’t, s.h.i.+royama-kun!! You promised you’d help me, didn’t you!?”

“Oh, what’s this? You’re a popular guy, s.h.i.+royama Boy. But I’m not going to give in so easily.”

“Wait, wait, stop pulling on my arms! And I dropped my umbrella! I’m getting soaked!”

An outside observer might have been jealous, but the girls were acting out of fear. That meant they did not hold back. Pain raced through his shoulders and he was legitimately concerned his arms would pull right out of the sockets.

And then, with no warning, all sound instantly vanished.

The crowd walking every which way around them was still there and the rain providing constant noise had not vanished.

It was a psychological issue.

As a great number of people crossed the bridge, he heard a sound within the parade of so many lights. He heard it as clearly as a pebble thrown into a cave.

It was a footstep.

“————”

“Wah! s.h.i.+royama…-kun?”

“What is it, s.h.i.+royama Boy?”

He did not have time to answer. He looked back and saw a short boy standing about fifteen meters away.

The boy was at most twelve. He wore a black s.h.i.+rt and bike shorts as well as a fluorescent yellow helmet and similarly colored elbow and knee protectors. They looked like kids rollerblading gear and the coloration was reminiscent of a hornet’s abdomen.

His eyes did not contain the bright and innocent look one would expect at his age.

The darkness lurking in his eye sockets was that of someone who lived in a world of killing.

“Hi.”

He spoke to Kyousuke.

Immediately afterwards, he pulled something from his back. It resembled a three-sectioned staff, a nunchaku-like weapon of three connected rods, but when the internal wire tightened, it was remade into a long rod.

It was a Blood-Sign.

This was clearly a summoner.

Benikomichi Fuuki knew nothing at all about the summoning ceremony, but even she must have noticed the odd aura surrounding the boy. Or perhaps without the summoning ceremony as a mental “excuse” or “point of compromise”, her mind worked uselessly and failed to process it.

“Do you…know him?”

The desire for any answer at all may have been why she asked that.

But Kyousuke did not look back her way.

He did not want to take his eyes off of this opponent.

“Are you an Illegal a.s.sa.s.sin? I saw your disgusting handiwork at the international airport.”

“Even if you don’t know why, surely you know where this is headed. A killer was sent out to kill, and here I am to do just that.”

If this a.s.sa.s.sin was from their industry, he would not have been sent out for something unrelated to the summoning ceremony.

But at the same time, it would not be a continuation of the airport occupation surrounding that attache case. Thanks to Lu Niang Lan, Kyousuke had been taken out of that fight partway through. It had all ended just how Illegal had wanted, so he doubted they would do anything to him now.

He also could not imagine it was related to the issue Alice (with) Rabbit was working on. He had only just bound his contract with Librarian-chan, so that would not have any connection to that industry.

With one exception.

Namely, the Rainy Girl who was connected to Librarian-chan and could be explained within the rules of the summoning ceremony.

(We’re investigating the Rainy Girl, we stopped by Librarian-chan’s apartment, and we’re taking this route to Aika’s apartment. Where did he pick up on that information?)

After some thought, he easily found the answer.

Their communications had been intercepted.

However, the problem would not be with Kyousuke’s smartphone or Aika’s computer. A professional would focus on the flow of information more than the average person. More importantly, there was a simpler and more realistic answer.

(Had he already set something up in the Librarian-chan’s apartment and the surrounding cellphone towers? That way he could have stolen my message inside the relay hardware. …That would mean he’s been monitoring anyone connected to the Rainy Girl for a while.)

But that was all he knew.

Illegal was a collection of about 330 criminal organizations.

This a.s.sa.s.sin belonged to that group and he would supply professional violence for anyone who paid an appropriate sum, so why would he be fixated on a ghost like the Rainy Girl? Kyousuke had no way of figuring that out.

The only path to revealing the answer was to fight.

“Would it be a violation of your style to ask why?”

“This is to keep you from telling anyone what you just now realized. I can’t say any more than that.”

Just as he gave his answer, the wall of the building behind the small a.s.sa.s.sin exploded and crumbled.

Pieces of concrete larger than bricks poured down. They collided with the gla.s.s of a monorail pa.s.sing by nearby and the monorail rapidly braked, creating a row of orange sparks and a screeching noise. Quite a few umbrellas were broken and people screamed as they fled in every direction. They were all driven by the identical desire to escape as quickly as possible, but they pulled at each other’s legs as they tried to push forward.

Kyousuke immediately reached behind himself to pull out the Repligla.s.s Blood-Sign coiled there.

But a hand tugged on his arm.

It was Benikomichi Fuuki’s as her face grew pale with fear.

“Wh-what was that!? Did that boy do that? B-but…ah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah! The police…we need to get down…um, we need to do something…!”

“——————”

Meanwhile, the a.s.sa.s.sin lifted the corners of his mouth in a smile and raised his Blood-Sign.

He moved the tip from Kyousuke’s face and aimed it at Benikomichi Fuuki instead.

As soon as he saw that, Kyousuke swept the nearby president’s feet out from under her to knock her to the ground. At the same time, he took a step forward and pulled an Incense Grenade from his hoodie.

Only after completing the series of actions did his mind realize why he had taken them.

——Yes, why did he need an Incense Grenade?

To set up an Artificial Sacred Ground.

——What did it mean if an Artificial Sacred Ground had yet to be set up?

The environment was not yet prepared for summoning a Material.

——Then where was the a.s.sa.s.sin boy’s vessel? It was true that building’s wall had crumbled, but had a Material really done that?

It happened a moment later.

Suddenly, a dull impact struck him from behind.

He looked over his shoulder and saw a large pair of sewing scissors stabbed into the center of his back.

He looked up at who held them down at their hip with both hands.

It was Student Council President Benikomichi Fuuki.

An unpleasant sc.r.a.ping sound was audible even from outside his body.

The gla.s.ses and braid girl that s.h.i.+royama Kyousuke called Librarian-chan did not understand what had happened before her eyes.

Based on what Kyousuke had said, the short boy standing in their way was a summoner.

And that boy had something to do with the building wall being blown away.

But who was the student council president if she was a.s.sisting the summoner?

If she was his helper, did that make her a vessel, just like the girl?

That seemed like the most sensible answer, but then some things did not add up.

Yes.

Benikomichi Fuuki was a high school’s student council president.

If, like Kyousuke and the girl now, she was forgotten as soon as she stepped outside one’s field of vision, a discrepancy would crop up somewhere, but nothing had seemed off before.

But at the same time, Kyousuke was also easily forgotten. So even if a normal person was helping the enemy summoner, they would forget about their target. That would prevent a planned attack.

So when it came down to it, what was Benikomichi Fuuki?

Was she a vessel or a normal person?

“So…that’s it,” said Kyousuke with the scissors still stabbed deep into his back. “As long as you…follow the necessary procedure, a summoner and vessel’s contract can be reworked at will. And any pair awards are generally managed by the summoner.”

He was answered by a breath of laughter.

Benikomichi Fuuki looked overjoyed as she practically leaned up against Kyousuke’s back.

“That’s right, s.h.i.+royama Boy. Just cancel the contract and the vessel becomes a normal human once more. And then people won’t forget about you.”

“Were you…repeatedly binding and releasing the contract…at intervals of five or ten minutes?”

“What if we were?”

“Rebinding the contract is possible, but no one knows exactly how it works or how safe it is. Who knows what kind of side effects will show up later on…”

“Still, it allowed us to safely defeat Freedom Award 903, Alice (with) Rabbit. Don’t you think that will extend our lives a lot, lot longer than any eventual side effects could counteract?”

“I…see.”

Kyousuke took a shallow, shallow breath.

And then…

“If that was the plan, then I’ve got bad news.”

His voice was low.

A moment later, a cloud of doubt appeared on Benikomichi Fuuki’s face as she held the sewing scissors.

With a dull sensation, intense pressure reached the blade buried in his body. Push or pull, they would not budge. Not even a single millimeter. It felt like they were caught in a gap inside a giant boulder.

“What!? This can’t possibly all be human muscle!!”

“Of course it isn’t.”

A tremendous force hit the scissors and they were knocked from the president’s hands. As they flew up into the air, the back of Kyousuke’s hoodie split vertically. The sewing scissors spun through the air, over the bridge’s railing, and down into the sea. The torn hoodie fluttered in the wind.

Only then did Benikomichi Fuuki catch on.

She had not stabbed Kyousuke’s back.

“It was a Repligla.s.s Blood-Sign!?”

“Sorry, but it’s usually coiled up on my back. You could shoot me from behind with a handgun and it wouldn’t kill me.”

“You’d caught on from the start and intentionally lured me in? No, it couldn’t be that simple!!”

“No, I’m not about to claim I’d figured everything out. I had my doubts, but I still tried to protect you. You tricked me just fine.”

Kyousuke did not try to show off.

He did not need to.

“But my body moved on its own while my mind was hesitating. I was probably searching out every possibility at some deep, subconscious level. For example, wasn’t it odd for you to appear just before this happened?”

Even as he spoke, Kyousuke was taking his next action.

His elbow shot back and mercilessly struck the president in the gut.

“Gah…ah!?”

Her s.e.xy body doubled over as she gasped for breath. This time, he sent his Blood-Sign back to fill in the slight gap created between them. The tip flew like a bullet to knock her unconscious.

She had trouble breathing, but the president still managed a shout.

“…Hayato!!”

That was the magic word.

As soon as she said it, Kyousuke’s aim was thrown off.

Benikomichi Fuuki had nearly been clinging to him, but her presence suddenly vanished. However, she did not seem to have any special physical abilities like Lu Niang Lan. And a normal high school girl should not have been able to avoid Kyousuke’s attack.

Then what had made it possible?

The answer was simple.

The a.s.sa.s.sin summoner named Hayato really had thrown an Incense Grenade this time.

In addition to setting up an Artificial Sacred Ground, it automatically called the summoner and vessel over to the point of detonation.

“Tch!!”

Kyousuke clicked his tongue and rotated the Blood-Sign in his hand to immediately s.h.i.+ft from a martial arts stance to a summoning ceremony one.

The two enemies were leaning up against one another.

The summoner was the a.s.sa.s.sin named Hayato and the vessel was Student Council President Benikomichi Fuuki.

The three-dimensional Rose created from the 216 Petals was already floating between Kyousuke and Hayato. The initial three White Thorns floated in front of them.

“This is perfect. Librarian-chan! It’s time I showed you just what we can do in the summoning ceremony. You can learn how to be a vessel while we fight!!”

“Eh, eh!? We’re going to fight her? Really!? What do you mean fight!? But, um, that’s the student council president…!”

“I don’t know why, but they’ve decided they can’t let us investigate the Rainy Girl any further and are here to stop us. There’s some information there they want to keep hidden even if it means killing someone. If we don’t break through this, we can’t reach the truth. So let’s go, Librarian-chan!!”

They were surrounded by the solid sounds of hard objects striking each other.

The Rose was a three-dimensional shape made from the 216 Petals. Kyousuke and Hayato simultaneously launched White Thorns as if to crush the Rose from either side. The White Thorns left a laser beam-like trail behind and instantly smashed the Rose to pieces. The low sound, middle sound, high sound, and lowest sound Petals scattered in every direction and bounced wildly around on all the obstacles: the ground, the streetlights, the edges of the Artificial Sacred Ground, etc.

As soon as the Rose was smashed, countless holes known as Spots opened around the Artificial Sacred Ground.

They were dark, fist-sized holes opened in s.p.a.ce itself. They looked like miniature black holes and the ricocheting Petals were sucked into them.

As they fell into the Spots, they were added to a summoner’s stock.

“Librarian-chan!!”

“Fuuki-san!!”

They both cried out as the vessel girls changed form.

Librarian-chan’s silhouette spiraled around and she became a giant ma.s.s of sticky yellow liquid three meters tall that weighed seven hundred kilograms. It had a cost of one high sound. Known as the Original Yellow (s), it was one of the most basic Materials.

Meanwhile, Benikomichi Fuuki became a similar ma.s.s of sticky green liquid. It had a cost of one middle sound and it was known as the Original Green (k).

Everything could grow infinitely from there.

Depending on how things developed, this could lead to the Divine or even Unexplored-cla.s.s. It was frightening to think of, but even the White Queen, strongest of the strong, was no exception.

(In the three-way stalemate of sound range, I have the advantage. If he’s skilled enough to easily reach the Divine-cla.s.s, it might be best to finish this before he can build up his Material too much. If I can continue predicting what he’ll do next, I can keep my sound range advantage and crush him with that!!)

With that in mind, Kyousuke thought of a few different Materials and the evolutionary tree that branched out from them. He instantly grasped the locations of all the Petals and Spots scattered throughout the Artificial Sacred Ground and accurately calculated out what rails his White Thorns would follow after he hit them.

But…

“Yes, I know that, Fuuki-san.”

Hayato muttered to himself as he held a mental conversation with the president.

“You are my mistress. As always, you just do what you want. I’ll make sure it all works out.”

A moment later, the battle began.

However, it did not start with the yellow and green goo clas.h.i.+ng at the midpoint between each other.

The Original Green that Benikomichi Fuuki had become mercilessly smashed the giant bridge.

Kyousuke and Librarian-chan immediately sank down.

Gravity was pulling them.

Their footing crumbled, but as a summoner, s.h.i.+royama Kyousuke immediately saw what they were after.

“You…!!”

“Ha ha. That’s right!!”

The summoning ceremony contained the following rules:

The Artificial Sacred Ground is set up once an Incense Grenade is used.

The Artificial Sacred Ground is set up relative to the “contact surface” when the Incense Grenade detonates.

Thus, it can be set up relative to a wall or ceiling rather than the floor or ground. In that case, the summoners and Materials will ignore gravity and stick to the wall or ceiling.

But what happened if the Artificial Sacred Ground’s “contact surface” was destroyed?

The answer was simple:

The Artificial Sacred Ground will be reconstructed based on the next “contact surface” stepped on by the summoner who set up the Artificial Sacred Ground.

If that is a wall or ceiling, the direction of the artificial gravity will change to match.

In that case, unlike when the Incense Grenade detonates, the opponent summoner and vessel will also be pulled toward the new gravitational direction.

As he fell, a.s.sa.s.sin Boy Hayato forced his feet onto the building wall as if stomping onto it.

A moment later, the direction of Kyousuke and the Original Yellow’s fall greatly changed.

They fell toward the building wall.

Unable to land properly, they collided with the wall.

“Librarian-chan, abandon your human senses! Right now, not even a sword or bullet could hurt you!!”

Her problem was a much more fundamental one.

Even if she liked fairy tales, it was not so easy to accept the real thing so suddenly.

Meanwhile, the situation was already underway. The many Petals floating around the old Artificial Sacred Ground poured down into the new one as if they had been struck by a giant hand. They bounced around wildly even without any interference from a Blood-Sign and White Thorn.

Hayato targeted them and accurately launched his White Thorn.

Before Kyousuke could get up and pursue this new turn of events, Benikomichi Fuuki’s Original Green smashed the building well as well.

He did not even have time to regain his balance.

Each time they fell, collided, and created a new surface, the Material would destroy the new “contact surface” after only a few seconds. Each time, Kyousuke, Librarian-chan, and the many Petals were pulled around with the moving Artificial Sacred Ground. It felt like being attached to an invisible chain and flailed around as a human morning star.

“…!!”

The Material’s body was incredibly tough and the summoner was surrounded by a protective circle, so this was not enough to kill them.

But being swung around so constantly cost Kyousuke any chance to aim and launch a White Thorn.

The simplest shot in the summoning ceremony was to place a straight line between the White Thorn, the Petal, and the Spot and then to hit the center of the White Thorn with the Blood-Sign for a shot with no spin.

That way, the Petal would only travel in a straight line.

Even a rookie could easily build up their Material like that, but it was completely unusable in this situation.

Each time the Artificial Sacred Ground changed, all of the Petals were pulled with it and began bouncing around wildly. Unlike a stopped Petal, a moving Petal would deviate from the direction in which the White Thorn hit it. That required taking two vectors into consideration when launching the White Thorn.

And that was while the artificial gravity constantly moved to the walls or ceiling to swing the summoner around.

Whether or not they knew in advance where the stage would move created an unavoidable gap in reaction speed. And that lag led to a definite difference in Material development.

They spread destruction for that reason alone.

They destroyed the city, the scenery, people’s homes, and the places of rest for complete strangers.

Again and again, they could be heard landing on new surfaces.

At the moment, Kyousuke and the others were inside a giant office. Thick columns were lined up horizontally like log bridges and they each landed on different ones.

Petals no one had touched fell into Spots on their own and fruitlessly vanished.

Countless steel desks and wheeled chairs were lined up vertically.

The bottom of the valley below them was a group of shattered windows.

Their Materials had changed again and again as time pa.s.sed.

Kyousuke’s was the Greedy Demon-Devouring Spider (nu – wm – ei – lvz – fc – o – zi).

Cost: 14. Sound Range: High.

It was a brutal, three meter spider colored red and black. Rather than spinning a web for an indirect attack, it directly attacked its prey and injected digestive fluids with its fangs to melt the enemy Material from within.

Hayato’s was the Ugly and Pitiful Insect Swollen with Tragedy that Eats into the Void (lu – ei – map – ab – ou – od – nu – mel – o – yi).

Cost: 21. Sound Range: Middle.

It looked like a caterpillar larger than a car. Each time that incarnation of hunger wriggled and greedily moved its mouth, it ate into the scenery like it was biting into a leaf.

Librarian-chan’s voice reached the back of Kyousuke’s mind.

Her tone was distorted and she still seemed confused, but she must have seen something she simply could not accept.

The core of that cry may have overlapped with her family issue.

The dead monster that had become the Rainy Girl had once been her sister.

After having her family so unfairly taken from her, she could not overlook that same sort of unfairness here. And that emotion brought enough anger to overpower the confusion and fear of becoming one with an incomprehensible monster.

“Just maintain that spirit. Hold the reins of the Material’s mind and imagine you’re pointing its targeting cursor directly at your opponent! Then the monster will attack that opponent on its own!!”

In the artificial gravity control strategy, one repeatedly destroyed the Artificial Sacred Ground’s “footing” and frequently moved between the walls and the ceiling.

a.s.sa.s.sin Summoner Hayato was using that strategy as a means of obstructing his opponent’s growth rather than building up his own Material.

Figuring out the trick did not give his opponent a solution.

First, using the Blood-Sign and White Thorns to build up a Material was as mentally taxing as sniping. When the artificial gravity’s direction was constantly changing and the summoner was being swung around every which way, there was no way they could focus.

Second, all of the Petals moved to new locations each time the Artificial Sacred Ground changed. Hitting moving Petals into the Spots was far more difficult than with stopped Petals.

Plus, the Artificial Sacred Ground’s footing was always established relative to the summoner who had started the battle.

Even if Kyousuke destroyed their footing, the next Artificial Sacred Ground would still be established relative to the surface Hayato stood on, so he could not copy his enemy’s technique.

That meant Hayato always knew whether the next footing would be on the floor, the wall, or the ceiling.

The summoner and Petals moved in relation to him, so he could begin his calculations before making his move.

Hayato could prepare and focus while Kyousuke had to react after being swung around and that recovery time created a slight lag. As that acc.u.mulated, it affected his skill with the Blood-Sign. The gap in Material development speed grew to dangerous levels.

But even in this situation, Kyousuke kept fighting back against the a.s.sa.s.sin.

He continually switched to the sound range that allowed him to make up for the growing gap in cost.

But even that would not last forever.

Once the cost gap grew to 10, the difference in sound range could be overpowered with brute strength.

(The current cost gap is averaging to about 5. I’m always out ahead and he can’t turn this around now.)

Sometimes on the office’s round columns, sometimes on the windows, sometimes on the underside of a giant bridge between buildings, and sometimes on the side of high rise buildings, Hayato moved from footing to footing while swinging around the Alice (with) Rabbit pair. The lines of red Petals chased after them like a group of tail lights.

Each move left the area wrapped in serious damage, but he did not care about that.

The a.s.sa.s.sins did not sneak through the shadows to do their work.

When a crime occurred, people grew angry. Wars created even longer and more powerful chains of hatred. But could people feel anger when faced with a natural disaster that utterly surpa.s.sed human understanding?

The answer was no.

When the destruction was on too great a scale, people were robbed of the normal emotions. By using beings of another world to kill, they had already entered that realm. So once Hayato and Benikomichi Fuuki used the summoning ceremony, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no way of dodging the issue. As if showing off that otherworldly majesty, they would wield its fury until their objective was complete.

So any who stood before them would be crushed by those jaws.

Even if it was Freedom Award 903, Alice (with) Rabbit.

Except…

“…What?”

Hayato expressed some slight confusion as he used Benikomichi Fuuki’s power to break horizontally through three high rise building’s worth of windows and land on the side of the rail to a roller coaster that was going unused due to the rainy weather.

He had yet to defeat s.h.i.+royama Kyousuke’s Material.

He had yet to pa.s.s a cost gap of 10.

In fact…

(How is he catching up…!?)

Kyousuke had the Wind-Consuming and Obstacle-Crus.h.i.+ng Horse (va – ei – lvz – km – ei – ox – cec – uy).

Cost: 18. Sound Range: High.

As its name suggested, it was a rampaging horse as large as a train car. Its method of attack was simple: it simply charged straight ahead and leveled anything in its path.

Hayato had the Pitiable Doll Covered in Spikes of Hatred (jok – bf – ei – md – a – xov – wuz – r – mel – oq).

Cost: 22. Sound Range: Middle.

It was a life-sized doll fully bound by chains and with countless metal spikes stabbing into it. The monster used the power of blood to fire out the spikes so it could take as many people as possible along with it to the grave.

(Why is the cost gap shrinking?)

Kyousuke had the Man-Eating Stuffed Animal Swollen with Innocent Darkness (mul – o – iu – ou – dhc – weq – ei – lvz – a – icg).

Cost: 23. Sound Range: Low.

A giant shredded stuffed animal had reddish darkness rather than cotton bursting from the ripped cloth. Instead of biting or tearing, it swallowed its target into its belly and contaminated them.

Hayato had the Scorching Killer Smile in a Vortex of Purple Electricity (kub – miq – a – sx – wzb – mu – ou – vew – l – a – zfc).

Cost: 24. Sound Range: High.

A neon bluish-purple light appeared directly in s.p.a.ce itself and formed a giant smile over ten meters across. Anyone who touched it or even carelessly approached would be fried.

It was gradual, but the gap between their Materials’ costs was closing. Plus, Kyousuke was always maintaining the sound range that gave him an advantage over Hayato.

At this rate, Hayato would be the one having trouble.

In fact…

(Will he catch up? No, could he even pa.s.s me? But I’m the one creating our footing, so he should be playing catch up.)

Even now, the world seemed to be spinning around and around as their footing moved to new walls, floors, and ceilings. Each time they moved to a building, bridge, attraction rail, or pillar, all of the preconditions crumbled away.

Before even thinking about landing, it should have been difficult to make any sense of one’s shaken vision. And yet…

“It’s simple.”

Kyousuke raised his Blood-Sign and spoke as if he had read Hayato’s mind.

And he landed on the new footing almost more nimbly than Hayato, the supposed master of this place.

“It’s just like the long jump or the high jump. The athletes don’t start preparing for their landing only after making their jump. They determine how to position their body before the jump and even before the approach run. They only start moving after deciding on their target.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Your breathing, the movement of your eyes, the tension in your muscles, the adjustments to your balance… All the information I needed was right there in your body. All I had to do was read that and I knew when and where the next footing would be.”

In a world turned 90 degrees on its side, Kyousuke and Hayato landed on streetlight and a traffic light poles.

“And the calculations for the moving Petals are simple too. …I just have to think of it from a starting point of 45 degrees. If I hit a moving Petal at a right angle with a White Thorn moving at the exact same speed, the Petal will continue at a diagonal angle of 45 degrees. That’s an easier calculation than determining the position of the sun with the hands of your watch.”

That was nonsense.

It was nothing more than a theoretical value. If he did not perfectly hit the center of the Petal or if either one had even a slight spin to it, the Petal would veer off course.

But Kyousuke had actually done it.

He had the power needed to do so.

But Hayato could not accept it.

(That just means he’s intercepting my behavior patterns to predict our footing and the movement of the Petals. Even if he could catch up like that, he couldn’t pa.s.s me.)

“No, wait.”

The a.s.sa.s.sin boy looked down at his own feet.

He finally grasped something as he stared at the traffic light pole that had become something like a log bridge.

(Is this like shogi or chess? I get to choose our next footing, but my choices aren’t unlimited. I have to create the Artificial Sacred Ground relative to where I next place my feet, so I can’t use any location I can’t reach on the first step.)

Which meant…

(The summoner’s location, the cost and sound range of the Materials, and the terrain conditions… If you could accurately a.n.a.lyze all that, you could create a tree diagram of the possible courses we could take. Then this wouldn’t be the same as a highly random game of rock paper scissors. So…did he…see through all of that?)

“Is something the matter?”

Hayato heard a voice.

He heard the voice of a summoner who had likely predicted their next footing before the a.s.sa.s.sin boy himself had.

“Did you figure something out this late in the game?”

“Ha…ha ha.”

Hayato laughed.

At that point, he had already lost most of his advantage.

Kyousuke had the Shark King that Swims through the Ocean of the Void in a Vortex of Purple Electricity (kub – miq – sx – lu – a – hf – ei – tok – enl – a – vjz).

Cost: 25. Sound Range: Middle.

A man-eating shark the size of a semi truck swam freely through the air. Each time its razor-sharp teeth bit down, bluish-white sparks flew and the target was thoroughly shredded with extreme temperatures exceeding those of an arc welder.

Hayato had the Sharp Shockwave Wings that Blow Away All that Oppose Them (du – vo – a – cuw – bf – ei – zix – nal – me – a – qi – a – fd).

Cost: 26. Sound Range: Low.

A giant bizarre bird had eight wings arranged in a circle like propellers. When it flapped those wings, shockwaves scattered through the entire surrounding area and the shockwaves focused in on a single point to crush the enemy like light gathered by a concave mirror.

The cost gap was almost entirely gone.

Hayato had the disadvantage as far as the sound range was concerned.

Given the situation, he would soon be caught up and surpa.s.sed on the cost front as well. It was just like a cup filled so full the surface tension was at its limit. Once the collapse began, there was no going back. It would all be over.

More than nine minutes had already pa.s.sed.

An Artificial Sacred Ground created by an Incense Grenade lasted around ten minutes on average. There were only a few dozen seconds left, but even that felt like an eternity. Each and every second seemed to stretch out infinitely with a sense of death and defeat.

But…

“Did you think this was all I had?”

“If you’ve got another trick up your sleeve, I’d hurry it up. You don’t have much time left.”

“That’s exactly what I’ll do.”

With those words, the Material that Benikomichi Fuuki had fused with dropped down and violently broke the traffic light pole Hayato stood on.

The footing was lost, so the Artificial Sacred Ground sought its next surface.

That was the same as before, but something was different.

“…?”

Kyousuke’s eyebrows moved a little.

At first, he may not have been able to predict what Hayato was doing.

That was hardly surprising.

A moment later, the Material took a U-turn and struck Hayato’s airborne body from below.

The summoner was contained inside the protective circle, so he was not crushed.

Hayato shot upwards like a ball hit by a metal bat. As he did, he placed his feet on one of the streetlights that were evenly s.p.a.ced along a vertical line.

He was about five hundred meters away.

However…

(Since the Material hit me, I was moving far faster than a human’s falling speed. So what happens now that I created a new Artificial Sacred Ground?)

The answer was readily apparent.

(You’ll be forcibly accelerated when the wall of the new Artificial Sacred Ground slams into you. This goes far beyond a trampoline. You’ll be thrown like you stepped onto a catapult.)

This was his secret technique.

It was his vertical launching tactic.

After a short delay, Kyousuke caught up to Hayato

And the many Petals came with him.

Kyousuke had not just fallen upwards. He had been thrown nearly to the top of the new Artificial Sacred Ground like he had been stuffed into a cannon and fired.

Unlike Hayato, Kyousuke had no footing.

That was a simple but crucial difference.

Even if he was a summoner who controlled Materials from another world and wielded their paranormal power, it was still based in the physical actions of using the Blood-Sign. The ability to plant one’s feet on the ground and use their body’s full strength made all the difference. Using all the muscles in the body and rotating the hips to throw a ball was far more powerful and accurate than only using the strength of the hands. This was the same.

Hayato raised his Blood-Sign as if targeting Kyousuke up in the air. He thrust the tip forward.

There was still a risk of Kyousuke catching up or surpa.s.sing him, but that was only a possibility. As things were, Hayato still had the upper hand. So he would end the current trend. He would nip that possibility in the bud before Kyousuke actually caught up.

His opponent would be unable to build up his Material properly while tossed up to the top of the Artificial Sacred Ground and while the footing changed yet again.

The damage would build up during that time.

Hayato’s Material could completely crush Kyousuke’s in its jaws.

“Let’s end this, Freedom. This is an a.s.sa.s.sin’s job.”

But then a change came over s.h.i.+royama Kyousuke after being blasted up into the sky. He quickly twisted around and rotated like a gymnast. It was not at all the same as pathetically flailing his limbs around. He must have been helping his own body’s spin because there was a clear “axis” to it.

Even now, he maintained his stability.

For an instant, his gaze pierced Hayato.

“It…can’t be…”

Tension ran through the a.s.sa.s.sin boy’s body as he stood on the streetlight pole.

Sweat covered the palm holding his Blood-Sign.

(He’s still fighting even now? He plans to accurately launch his White Thorns!?)

Deafening sounds crossed paths like nearby lightning strikes.

They were Kyousuke and Hayato. They both used their Blood-Signs to powerfully launch a White Thorn.