Campione 12

by Transient Holy Night

  “M-Mariya, although you are a Miko, can you still normally celebrate Christmas and other holidays of that sort?”

  “Y-yes. There are no particular bans.”

  The talking once again ended. Further conversing has stopped and the two of them continued to walk on silently.

  Godou understood his own defeat. It goes without saying that Godou, who wasn’t used to dealing with girls, should have difficulty making a conversational breakthrough in this kind of situation.

  Before he knew it the school gates were already in sight.

  It looks like that is it for today. Godou cursed at himself for his incompetence, in addition he felt very sorry towards Yuri. To have scared her unnecessarily and such.

  “I’m sorry. You actually don’t want to accompany me right?”

  He unconsciously apologized. Even he understood clearly to refrain from saying things not worth mentioning. It can be said that the technique he used to deal with girls was clumsy.

  Forget that right now, after Godou apologized, Yuri’s facial expression changed to that of embarrassment.

  “Ah, no, it’s not like that. Of course because I’m together with a Campione, I feel very nervous.”

  After her wall of formality slightly crumbled, her expression of bewilderment could be seen.

  Seeing Yuri shyly mutter those words, Godou’s heart skipped a beat. This really was the temperament of the Yamato Nadeshikos, full of charm.

  “Add to the fact that this is my first time walking with a boy to the same school ……I must admit this makes me feel a little embarrassed. Even though this was once part of associating with the History Compilation Committee, it is still just the job of a Miko and nothing else. I'm still really not used to this type of work.”

  While the conversation was taking place between the two of them, they had already arrived at the front entrance of the high school.

  “I sincerely apologize for not being able to converse very well. Excuse me, I must be leaving now.”

  Yuri intoned a quick apology while deeply lowering her head as her feet were already leaving Godou’s side. She walked in the direction of her class’s shoe cabinet.

  Apparently Kusanagi Godou’s and Mariya Yuri’s interaction skills with the opposite gender were both very clumsy.

  Looks like he can only wait for another opportunity and contemplate other ways to close the distance between them.

  Godou was reflecting upon himself while changing his shoes, then headed off to class 1-5. Once he sat down, Takagi headed over. His hand was holding milk coffee cartons.

  “Kusanagi! You bastard, you intend to betray us!?”

  Godou was startled as a voice of sorrow reached him.

  “What are you saying all of a sudden?”

  “I just saw it! You and class six’s Mariya-san were walking side by side!”

  “It was only walking for a little while, nothing much. Why is that betrayal?”

  “It can be said that Mariya-san can even be considered my school’s fairest lady. She is commonly known as one of the endangered Yamato Nadeshikos. No matter how the guys approach her, even just walking side by side will be sweetly rejected by the highly ranked girl. To actually be able to walk together with that kind of girl, a guy like you cannot be underestimated!”

  “Sure enough you were pointing to that. I did a not so favorable thing.”

  Because Godou was a Campione, that reason was probably why Yuri would walk together with him.

  “I will pay close attention the next time I see you. You can say thank you to me, Takagi.”

  “Ugh. In the future you still intend to continue getting close to her? To go as far as thinking of every possible method to advance this impure association with the opposite sex, you traitor!”

  “Stop talking nonsense. I only sought to converse with her a bit to take care of some matters. Basically, it was only just walking together.” Godou appears to want to reconcile by calmly talking to the enraged Takagi.

  “In the end I only said one or two lines at most.”

  “Really?”

  “Mhmm. Oh yeah, didn’t I borrow a game from Nanami before?”

  Godou recalled the time during the school festival when Nanami shoved a hand-held console and a game cartridge called “English Proper Maid Story: Maid Amy” at him.

  “Although yesterday I tried it out for a bit when I was bored……it turned out to be somewhat hard to play. That eviscerator killed me about three times.”

  Just by looking at the title you would think you would play as a female maid protagonist. The main protagonist is in fact her master, a college student who studies at the University of Oxford.

  As a side note, the stage was set in 19th century England during the Victorian era. Godou started playing with a relaxed mood, but because together with Amy they were in pursuit of the mysterious Jack the Ripper in foggy London like in the novel’s storyline, he became fascinated with the detective-like development.

  However, in spite of this----- Godou had a sudden doubt.

  In the past, he thinks there never would have been the opportunity to play something like this. It feels like there was once a person around him who always played this type of thing.

  “But, I think it would be best to switch titles.”

  "Hohoho... You've only experienced the prologue of the story. From there you will start to be moved by the story of love and violent waves, your palms will be full of sweat, and tears will be streaming all over your face."

  "Eh? Then yesterday I basically only read through something equivalent to half a bunkobon[4]!?"

  “The game definitely has an overwhelming amount of content, but the plot development will never make someone feel bored. Instead, as the game’s storyline continues to progress and the maid’s affection level increases, the story will arrive at the content of the official version. Forget about the people with a desire for maids, even someone who does not share that fetish will be brainwashed into monsters who love maids entirely. You've barely broken the surface here. ”

  “R-really? These recent games have been really profound.”

  Godou, who wasn’t very clear on this aspect, deeply admired Takagi’s explanation.

  “How about we go to Akihabara later this month? It just so happens that “Amy” will take part in an exhibition sponsoring the setup of a maid coffee shop. In order to recreate the setting, they prepared specialized maid attire and they will be in business after the renovations of the front of the store are complete. It is very interesting.”

  “Akihabara’s maid coffee shop? This doesn’t seem like the type of thing that would interest me…….”

  After speaking, Godou let out a “hmm?” and began to ponder.

  This was caused by the words he just uttered. Akihabara? Maid? Maid coffee shop? He also felt that somewhere there was a missing piece of the puzzle.

  This was a riddle full of gaps. Where could the puzzle pieces to fill in the gaps be --.

  Part 4

  Kusanagi Godou isn’t one of those kinds of people who only talk but will not act.

  Instead of being like the type of detective who just sits in his arm chair solving mysteries, he is someone who will quickly be on the move whenever he wants something done.

  So on that day after school was over, he tried to go to Akihabara to leisurely walk around for a bit.

  Precisely due to it being that time of the year, the streets were completely filled with Christmas spirit. Godou spent about an hour wandering aimlessly on these streets colorfully decorated by glamorous reds and greens.

  “There was no use in coming here after all.”

  In the end he could only let out a sigh.

  There were (perhaps) some festive activities scheduled to be held late in the month of December. He believed that by coming here he might recall some of his past memories. The little bits of expectation he had easily crumbled.

  Of course, if there was something to be gained then it’s still possible to hav
e some feeling of benefit.

  “That is the end for today, it’s time to quickly head back.”

  Godou found himself on Central Avenue. This was the center of Akihabara’s Electronics Street.

  If he were to return to Nezu from here, there would be no other alternative besides going to the JR[5] Akihabara’s station. For instance, if he wanted to go in the direction of Ueno from Central Avenue, then he could choose to utilize Tokyo’s subway station. That kind of distance could even be considered as walkable.

  Godou decided that for the time being he would walk towards Ueno. Engulfing this street was the momentum of continuous re-development. It felt like every time you came here there would be change occurring somewhere. Nowadays the appearance of the original Electronic Street is completely unrecognizable.

  The old fashioned electronics stores as well as spare parts stores were already considerably rare.

  Game stores, large retail stores, plus the newly added game stores along with the restaurants that were lined up in succession and western style clothing stores already became this street’s main focus.

  On the way, Godou took a map of the Electronic Street from a maid at a maid coffee shop.

  After walking casually for some time, he arrived at Okachimachi.

  Godou incidentally sensed the "monitoring" aura behind his back. By chance he looked behind him and noticed someone he knew. He decided to stop and wait for the other person to catch up.

  Thus, the silver-haired beauty following him shrugged her shoulders and quickened her pace.

  “Although it is not a big deal, could it be that you were closely following behind me this entire time?”

  Approaching next to him was Liliana who appeared to be still dressed in a uniform. Her expression completely lacked any fear. Her face, which was like that of a rational female knight, stared straight at Godou.

  “Yes. Today you seemed to be constantly thinking about something during class. Because of that, I was worried whether or not you were scheming to go somewhere to initiate a plan for a surprise attack.”

  “So that was why you were following me?!”

  Liliana simply said ‘yes’ while nodding her head.

  “Who would do that kind of thing? Hey Liliana, have some faith in me, ok?”

  “Although I regret saying this, but that is very hard to accomplish. I understand very clearly that at critical moments you will engage in activities without any regard of the consequences.”

  “Uhh.”

  Godou was speechless after being coldly rejected. Because those kind of situations had occurred so many times, he was completely unable to deny this.

  “T-Then at least greet me. If there is nothing to be ashamed about in what I’m doing, then it’s safe to say that it would’ve been fine even if you didn’t tail me. Watching what I do from my side should be fine right?”

  “Eh? You want me to accompany you?”

  “Uh huh. Compared to being followed by someone from behind this should be much more relaxing.”

  “Now that you mention it, this would be somewhat more convenient for doing my “job”…..but I don’t deserve that kind of praise to walk together by the King’s side.”

  The silver-haired female knight wants to refuse politely. However, Godou was a step ahead and said--

  “It’s fine. Because I am a king, I give you the right to do that. Furthermore, a knight being at the king’s side is not such an unusual thing, right?”

  At that moment even he himself knew that he was just quibbling. But there was no other way.

  Actually, while Godou appeared to have replied smoothly to the girl saying “walk together”, he was really in a state of confusion. He is thinking along the lines of how to deal with the statement he made just a moment ago.

  However, even though this was considered to be barely enough of a justification, Liliana still thought about it.

  “Well, it is a prestigious association’s great knight who is closely accompanying a Campione, but it’s not enough to consider this appropriate conduct……eh? “

  The air of sternness from Liliana’s face suddenly declined exposing a flaw in her expression.

  Looking at it this way, rather than a reliable knight, it would be more appropriate to say that she was an ordinary girl.

  Godou was quite surprised at that inconceivable expression of hers and thought she was very cute.

  Once his heart started to beat in an indescribable manner, Godou quickly inquired--

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Ah, yes. Now that I think about it, if I really wanted to “monitor” -- -- I mean, conduct an observation on you, then continuously following alongside you would be reasonable. How come I haven’t been doing that until now?”

  Even the way she spoke crumbled. However, this kind of Liliana was very refreshingly cute.

  Sensing that the distance between them was reduced, Godou casually said:

  “Then, want to start walking together?”

  “Ah, yes. If you are fine with this then…….”

  The curtain of night was gradually descending as the time of day approached evening.

  Godou was currently walking together with the silver-haired maiden during this sort of time in Ueno.

  “Today you are just wandering the streets without a destination……we are just taking a walk, even now it’s like that?”

  “Mhmm. Nothing to be concerned about. We are just taking a walk. In any case, it won’t cause anyone trouble.”

  He couldn’t say that the purpose for wandering around was to recall something forgotten in which the original details were unclear.

  When Godou was talking he averted touching this topic. In addition, he said that up until now other than “taking a walk” he hadn’t done anything else.

  However, it was for that reason Liliana was concerned and mumbled.

  “If only that was true……”

  “Hold on. Today I only walked in the streets, nothing more, right? What is the problem with that!?”

  Godou proposed a refutation. However the female knight countered while still showing a bit of anxiety.

  “Normally speaking, of course there would be no problem. But, if it was something you did .....I think there is a possibility it would develop like this for example.”

  Liliana started to slowly explain.

  “During your walk you by chance encounter a heretic god. Afterwards, just like that the battle will immediately unfold, Tokyo will become a battle arena and as a result more than half the city will collapse changing it into vast ruins…… Furthermore, regarding this juncture after half a year, it will make the place uninhabitable. Tokyo will ultimately change in order to control the violence and brutality of the devil within the scope of the city---”

  "Isn't that just your speculation?! It is merely a delusion!"

  Godou disagreed to this kind of overly exaggerated future development.

  “Yesterday it was the weird relationship between Doni and I, and now it is the things you recently said. Liliana’s thoughts on these matters are always so serious. It’s safe to say your ability to think wishfully is broken. Are you really someone who writes novels and such?”

  “Ku-Kusanagi Godou, what did you just say?”

  “Your ability to think wishfully is broken?”

  “N-No, it was the sentence after that. How do you know about my hobby!?”

  "Eh...huh?"

  Godou, who was investigated in detail by Liliana, felt puzzled.

  “Now that you mention it, how do I know?”

  “There is only one person in the entire world who knows about this secret and that person is Erica. Could it be that you are pretending to have a bad relationship with that demonic woman while secretly exchanging information during appointments with her, do you intend to frame me or something!?”

  “I-I don’t know. There is no way I could know right?”

  Godou was flustered while making his assertions.

  �
��Maybe, there is a possibility that Liliana told me before? If it is not like that, then I shouldn’t know this kind of thing.”

  “Not possible! I would never confess this type of thing!”

  “Why not? It isn’t a crime; generally speaking, one would usually talk about their own interests to other people right?”

  “This kind of interest is pretty much for my own personal pleasure---no, to say it is pursuing the joys of this activity would be right. The people who unfold the wings of their imagination don’t need to be afraid of the consequences, those kinds of wicked thoughts that shouldn’t ever be seen by mankind should never be chosen…..In short I do this just to satisfy myself as well as to record the various sorts of things that float in my mind!”

  “I-Is that so?”

  Godou was overwhelmed by the violent surge of momentum from Liliana and had nothing better to say.

  “That’s right. Kusanagi Godou, this is why pertaining to this private matter, please keep this as a secret just between the two of us. Is that OK!?”

  Ever since a moment ago, Liliana had already thoroughly forgotten about the matter of treating Campiones with respect.

  The reason for that is probably because she was losing her mind due to fear. Godou felt that the request the silver-haired knight brought up, equal to that of an order from a godslayer devil king, was very interesting and made him felt comfortable.

  “Having said that…….whether it’s you or Erica, how could my secret …… Could it be that my security installations at home have deadly flaws …..?”

  “S-Should we go over there and take a look!?”

  In order to conceal this awkward atmosphere, Godou pointed toward the gaming center that was in front of them.

  This was a commonly seen branch of large gaming centers.

  Inside the large arcade that utilized all of the area within the four stories of the building, were entertainment facilities that had distinctive gorgeous decorations which were very eye-catching. It appears the place had been thoroughly cleaned as it was quite tidy inside.

  Liliana showed a deep interest as she inspected the inside of the arcade.

  “As a place where people can come and have fun late at midnight, it gives an impression of liveliness. It’s different from what I imagined.”