Golden Days

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “Understoodeth. I shall provide what meager support of which I am capable.”

  With that strong declaration, Lydianne rebooted her robot tank. Natsuki gracefully climbed atop it.

  “Natsuki. What should we do?”

  Kojou asked as he dragged along his wounded leg and rose to his feet. As he did so, Natsuki shot him a glance, her long black hair swaying as she turned around, slamming a spectacular spinning kick into Kojou’s face.

  The injured Kojou, unable to withstand the blow, was pathetically sent flying, rolling until he was faceup.

  “Gu…ah…?! Hey, what the hell?! What was that for…?!”

  “Yukina Himeragi. You get the drunk and the death reject off the island. At this hour, there should be a high-speed ship you can use to get to the mainland.”

  “…Leave the island? Are you telling us to flee?” Yukina inquired in surprise.

  The little witch looked down at the fallen Kojou with an emotionless gaze as she said, “You heard that phone call earlier, did you not? If The Cleansing activates in its completed form, he will be the only chance of stopping it, so make sure to protect this idiot.”

  “Wait, Natsuki! I can still fight—”

  “Let’s go, Tanker.”

  “Sir Boyfriend, I prayeth for your fortunes in battle. Farewell!”

  “Natsuki! Lydianne…!”

  Ignoring the desperate Kojou as he rose to his feet, the tank Natsuki rode rolled out. Completely left behind, Kojou remained on his knees, watching as the girls receded into the distance when:

  “What are you crying about, Kojou Akatsuki?!”

  Kojou remained like that when Sayaka, still inebriated, slammed a karate chop into his back. Unable to endure the pain on top of the wounds where Meiga had shot him, Kojou was teary-eyed as he yelled, “Oh, shaddup, I ain’t cryin’— Wait, what’s up with you and that look?!”

  “S-Sayaka?!”

  “Eh?”

  Amid Kojou’s and Yukina’s nervous reactions, Sayaka cutely tilted her head. Having at some point stripped off her school uniform vest, Sayaka was wearing only the blouse, its collar wide open.

  As Sayaka’s body wobbled and swayed, the cleavage of her breasts and even her frilly bra leaped into Kojou’s field of vision. The way her skin, now pink from intoxication, was faintly glistening with sweat came off as strangely erotic.

  “But isn’t this island, like, kinda hot?”

  “It feels that way ’cause you’re drunk!”

  Kojou screeched in reply to Sayaka’s innocent question. She pouted, desperately pawing at the buttons of her uniform as she said:

  “You can watch if you want, Kojou Akatsuki. You’ve already seen me a bunch of times and all. You even made me take off my bra and stuff—”

  “Senpai…”

  “No, you have it all wrong. Back then, it wasn’t me who made her strip—!”

  Kojou ferociously shook his head as Yukina shifted a frigid gaze toward him. Forcing clothes off a resistant Sayaka was actually Yuuma Tokoyogi’s doing. Though, since Kojou had been firmly present, he had witnessed the proceedings from start to finish…

  “That’s true… It’s not like seeing my breasts makes you happy anyway. I’m not cute like Yukina. Cute panties don’t work for me like they do for her…”

  Having opened all the front buttons of her blouse, Sayaka suddenly got cold feet and curled up, hugging her knees. It was the sort of sudden mood change that the incredibly drunk were known for.

  “That’s not true at all. You’re cute, Sayaka! Right, senpai?”

  Seeing Sayaka leaden and deflated, Yukina earnestly tried to cheer her up.

  “Ah…… I think you’re cute, too, Sayaka. If you keep your mouth shut, you’re a real babe; plus, you have big breasts…”

  Not that this is the time and place to talk about that, thought Kojou, following suit as best he could.

  Sayaka glanced at Kojou with teary eyes as she said, “Really? You really think so?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Then, you’ll drink my blood?”

  “What…?”

  Sayaka’s words, taking one gigantic leap in reasoning, left Kojou silent, unable to respond. I mean, thought Sayaka, trying to rise back up.

  “I mean, those wounds… You took those hits for me… If you died because of that, I…don’t know what I’d do…”

  “Wait… Don’t tell me; everything you’ve been doing since earlier was for…?”

  Catching Sayaka as she was falling back down, Kojou murmured in astonishment.

  Hugging Kojou in such a cozy manner, suddenly starting to strip—Kojou had thought the whole time that it wasn’t Sayaka-like behavior, no matter how drunk she was. But if Kojou thought of it as trying to get him to drink her blood, it all added up.

  The blood of powerful spirit mediums like Sayaka had the effect of awakening Kojou’s abilities as a vampire. However, the trigger for the urge to drink blood was sexual arousal. Sayaka had meant to seduce Kojou to stir his vampiric urges. Her normal demeanor was so ingrained that Sayaka’s awkward actions came off as strangely adorable to him.

  It was that Sayaka who rested her weight against him, unresisting and closing her eyes.

  Her slender shoulder was slowly rising and falling as he listened to her regular, sleeping breaths—

  “—Wait, she fell asleep?!”

  Kojou unwittingly exclaimed as he kept staring at Sayaka’s slender neck. Dead drunk and exhausted from crying, Sayaka was out cold.

  “If Sayaka was not asleep, did you intend to do something to her?”

  Yukina stared at Kojou hanging his head in dismay as she posed the frigid question.

  Kojou’s shoulders visibly trembled as he looked back in obvious fear and said:

  “N-nah… That’s…”

  “Goodness… You are truly an indecent person, aren’t you, senpai…?”

  Yukina sighed very deeply. However, this was less angry exasperation than a gentle exhale mixed with a pained smile. Then, reaching a hand to the silver spear resting at her side, she turned its tip toward her own neck.

  “Himeragi?! The hell?! What are you doin’ all of a—?!”

  Seemingly caressing the silver spear, Yukina touched it against her neck, causing droplets of blood to well up. The sight stole Kojou’s attention.

  “This is in Sayaka’s stead.”

  Yukina put a hand to the breast of her own uniform. She undid the ribbon, awkwardly unfastening the uniform’s buttons.

  What rose up and became exposed were her collarbone, the slight swell of her breasts, and her slender waist.

  “You are going off to save Ms. Minamiya and Aiba, aren’t you? Then I must help you restore you power at least a little bit…”

  “But, Himeragi…you’re…”

  Kojou’s voice was strained. At present, Yukina’s physical condition was far from okay. Her body was under considerable strain from rapidly proceeding down the path to angelification. It felt like she was pushing it pretty hard just to engage in normal conversation. He didn’t think she could endure the strain of vampiric actions.

  “It is fine. After all, this might be the last time I am able to grant you my blood, senpai.”

  However, Yukina spoke those words with a beautiful smile. The sight of Yukina hiding her underwear under both arms, offering her slender neck, somehow felt positively divine to even Kojou’s eyes, presumably accustomed to seeing her.

  It was too dazzling to gaze at directly. And yet, he could not avert his eyes.

  “Um… Compared to Sayaka’s, mine are rather small, so I will be embarrassed if you keep staring at them like that…”

  As Kojou stared with bated breath, Yukina lowered her eyes as she gave that frail objection.

  When Yukina did so, Kojou pulled her exquisite body close to him.

  “S-senpai…?”

  Yukina’s eyes wavered in visible fear for only a moment. Even so, Kojou did not let go.

  “Don’t do this, Hime
ragi.”

  “Eh?”

  “Don’t vanish! Don’t talk like it’s okay if you just disappear…! If you’re gone, Kirasaka, Kanase, Nagisa, me—we’ll all be sad…! Don’t give up! Fight until the bitter end, not just for your sake, but for everyone who cares about you…!”

  Yukina’s voice trembled as she seemed on the verge of tears. “But if I do that, I won’t be able to stand at your side anymore, senpai…! If I stop being a Sword Shaman, then…!”

  “Then just stay with me!”

  Kojou powerfully refuted Yukina’s frail rebuttal.

  “Even if you’re not a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, even if you’re not my watcher, you can just…stay on the island. You can just stay here!”

  “I… I…”

  With Kojou’s words as the trigger, Yukina’s entire body went soft. Then, with surprising strength, Yukina embraced Kojou with both arms.

  “I don’t…want to…leave! Every single day since I’ve come to this island has been a golden day to me… That’s why I—!”

  Venting her secret thoughts, Yukina closed her eyes as if holding back tears.

  She proceeded to put her breathing in order, gently pushing Kojou’s body back. Both of Yukina’s hands touched Kojou’s cheeks. Yukina gazed at Kojou at a range close enough to feel his faint breath on her skin.

  “Senpai.”

  Yukina gave a soft smile. All hesitation and fear vanished from her beautiful, serene eyes. All that remained was her cherubic face, from which Kojou could not avert his eyes. With the sweet scents of sweat and blood passing through his nostrils, Kojou felt a ferocious dryness in his throat. Kojou’s eardrums trembled from Yukina’s whisper-like voice.

  “Please drink my blood. I am your watcher, after all… I always will be, to the very end.”

  “Himeragi…”

  Kojou, doing as his vampire instincts commanded, sank his fangs into Yukina’s neck. Their sharp white tips gently pierced and pulled in Yukina’s flesh.

  “…!”

  Yukina’s body stiffened from tension and pain. Noticing this, Kojou’s movements halted.

  And so he remained still until Yukina stretched her hands around his back, gently whispering to him.

  “…I’m all right… I’m fine, so…please don’t stop… go deeper…”

  “Okay.” Kojou, finding his strength, embraced Yukina tightly. His fangs sank deeper into her neck as he felt drunk from the sensations of flesh touching and the sweet taste of blood.

  “Senpai… Akatsuki-senpai…”

  Continuing to breathe raggedly, Yukina called out Kojou’s name. Her entire body was drenched in sweat, and her white skin was dyed a faint red. Several times over, Yukina’s body trembled in spasms, stiffening only to soften again, until finally, she was limp and exhausted.

  Kojou continued to embrace Yukina, breathing shallow breaths as if fresh from running a marathon, until the moment her eyes opened once more.

  6

  “H…how are your wounds?” Yukina asked in a shrill voice when she awakened in Kojou’s arms.

  Her school uniform remained open, and a mark resembling a hickey had appeared on Yukina’s neck where Kojou had sunk his fangs. On top of that, the two remained locked in the embrace of each other’s arms that very moment. Thanks to that, she felt rather awkward.

  “Feels like complete recovery was too much to hope for. I’m a hell of a lot better than I was, though.”

  In order to conceal his own discomfort, Kojou replied in as businesslike a tone as he could. Then, glancing toward Yukina as she put her disheveled uniform in order, he said, “More to the point, Himeragi. That underwear—”

  “Yes. Kano lent them to me, but…are they strange…?”

  Yukina covered her breasts as a less than confident expression came over her.

  Somehow or other, Kojou had the sense he’d caught glimpses of Yukina’s underwear rather frequently, but setting that aside, the bras she normally wore were exceptionally simple and unadorned. However, that day only, she was wearing a cute design embroidered with frilly lace.

  Though it was true the unexpectedness of it made it look all the more charming on her, Kojou didn’t actually have that much of an interest in underwear design when push came to shove.

  “Nah, I think it’s just fine. But, ah yeah… That’s why they have Kanase’s scent on ’em.”

  Kojou nodded twice as everything matched up in his mind. Apparently, it hadn’t simply been his imagination; he really had caught a whiff of Kanon when Yukina had been embracing him.

  However, in contrast to Kojou feeling refreshed from the solving of the mystery, all emotion vanished from Yukina’s face as she said, “…Excuse me?”

  Faster than her words could reach Kojou, the backhanded fist strike she unleashed made his flank explode.

  “Agh!” Kojou exclaimed, an incoherent cry trickling out. “That hurt! What gives…?!”

  “I do not know you anymore, stupid senpai.”

  Furious, Yukina turned her back to Kojou. The hell was that about? Kojou grumbled to himself, still teary-eyed as he sighed. It was a moment after that when the pair heard a tired-sounding voice right at their feet.

  “…Goodness. Just when I think, oh, I have finally found them, just what are these children doing in broad daylight at a fine place like this?”

  “Master…?!” Yukina gasped and covered her mouth.

  Gazing up at the sight of Kojou and Yukina together was a black cat with lustrous fur perched on top of a park bench; it was Yukari Endou’s familiar. Kojou looked back at the oddly humanlike expression on the cat, his own expression strained as he said:

  “Y-you saw?!”

  “Did you do something that would have been inconvenient for me to see?”

  “Ah, er,” Kojou stammered, prevaricating with vague words. During that time, Yukina picked up her silver spear and put distance between herself and the black cat as she went on guard. She was wary of Yukari trying to bring her back by force.

  “Master, I—”

  “I understand. I shall try to stop you no more.”

  Yukari’s black cat familiar casually waved a front paw as it spoke. Then her golden eyes glanced toward Kojou, glaring hard as she said:

  “In return, Fourth Primogenitor, I require that you firmly take responsibility.”

  “R-responsibility?”

  “You will place this ring on Yukina’s finger.”

  With Kojou unwittingly indecisive, the black cat indicated her own neck. There rested a slender cat’s collar; and right around the throat, something had been attached to that collar using a pink ribbon: a small, glimmering, silver ringed object.

  “…A ring?”

  Kojou undid the ribbon, taking the object into his hand. It was a simple ring design, seemingly from metal vertically fused together. As rings went, its size was quite small. Kojou couldn’t even put it on his pinkie. He might just manage to get it on one of Yukina’s slender fingers, though.

  “It seems to be made of the same material as Snowdrift Wolf, but…”

  Yukina spoke as she peered at the palm of Kojou’s hand. Now that she mentioned it, the ring’s color did greatly resemble the tip of Yukina’s spear. It was a fairly light metal, but he had no doubt that it was far sturdier material than it looked.

  “Well, it is much like a good luck charm. If all goes well, it will prevent Yukina from becoming a Faux-Angel.”

  Without thinking, Yukina said, “Got it.”

  With that, Kojou nodded. He didn’t deign to question Yukari’s words. If it might stop Yukina from vanishing, he didn’t care if it was some baseless charm or an old wives’ tale.

  Perhaps Yukina felt the same way, for she tendered her left hand in front of Kojou without a word.

  He’d thought the silver ring seemed rather small, but it was a perfect fit on Yukina’s ring finger. Yukina twisted her wrist about, checking how the ring fit.

  “Doesn’t look like anything’s particularly changed�
��,” Kojou murmured in disappointment. He’d subconsciously gotten his hopes up for something dramatic.

  “I told you, it is much like a good luck charm. All we can do is pray that it works.”

  Yukari’s black cat familiar spoke those words with a highly suggestive expression. But in the end, it was just a cat; Kojou didn’t know what that expression actually meant.

  “Senpai—”

  Gazing at the glimmer of the ring on her left hand, Yukina’s expression hardened as she called out to Kojou.

  Suddenly, a wave of bizarre demonic energy seemed to prick at Kojou’s skin. He could see vermillion particles spurting up from the opposite side of the canal—and toward the sky above Keystone Gate.

  A section of an exterior wall transformed into white crystals and fell away. The power of The Cleansing had turned the exterior wall into salt, most likely to facilitate trespass into the building’s interior.

  “Keystone Gate… Meiga Itogami, then! Sorry, Professor Kitty, take care of Kirasaka, please!”

  Lifting up the black cat, Kojou placed it upon the plastered, sleeping Sayaka as her guard. My, my, seemed to say the black cat’s little meow, adding, “And do you have any chance of winning, Fourth Primogenitor?”

  “Who knows? I mean, my Beast Vassals don’t work against him.”

  Kojou shook his head with a bitter smile. He hadn’t intended either to bluff or to belittle himself. But now that Meiga was after Yukina, he was an opponent Kojou had to fight.

  Besides, he was concerned about Asagi, still trapped inside the Coffin. Either way, running from Meiga was not an option left for Kojou to take…even if he didn’t have a chance of winning.

  “No. It is all right, senpai. We will win for certain—”

  Yukina made her declaration by his side. To a surprised Kojou, she stared at him with a mischievous expression, nodding firmly as she gripped her silver spear.

  7

  “Save…”

  They heard a girl’s voice from the screen.

  It was the voice of a girl the city called its idol.