The Fugitive Fourth Primogenitor

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “…Wait, where was it? The Lion King Agency branch office was around here, wasn’t it?”

  “The ward’s enchantment has been changed. Even I cannot decode it.”

  Yukina spoke in an almost monotone voice. Kojou realized that the very cold ring of her voice meant Yukina was angry. Apparently, the Lion King Agency involving Nagisa in something behind Yukina’s back had really gotten under her skin.

  “Then even you can’t get in? Why’d they go out of their way to do that?”

  “I do not know. However, if that was their intention—”

  With that, Yukina suddenly moved a hand to the guitar case on her back. From the case, she drew out her silver spear in its folded form.

  The spear’s shaft slid forward, making a metallic clang as a three-pronged blade deployed. Even early in the morning with no sign of anyone close, Kojou was flabbergasted that Yukina was wielding her spear in the middle of the street.

  “H-Himeragi?!”

  “Stand back, senpai— Snowdrift Wolf!”

  Yukina wildly swung the silver spear.

  Her spear, called Demon-Purging Assault Spear Type Seven, aka Schneewaltzer, was a secret weapon of the Lion King Agency. It had the ability to nullify magical energy and rend any barrier asunder.

  Naturally, this effect was fully functional against the aversion ward the Lion King Agency used to conceal its own branch office. After a ting, the ward was annihilated, leaving behind a sound like glass breaking as the look of the surrounding urban landscape changed. A tiny alley appeared, one they had somehow managed to miss until then. Within, they could see a run-down antique shop. It was the familiar branch office of the Lion King Agency.

  “That was nuts…”

  “It is an emergency.”

  Kojou exhaled, seeming beside himself, as Yukina, still brandishing the spear, replied bluntly.

  Yukina’s personality, serious to the point of excess, had a glaring flaw: She got very worked up about things. This rampage was the result. Even if the act was out of concern for Nagisa, it wasn’t good. Kojou knew painfully well why Asagi had told him to keep Yukina from doing anything reckless.

  When they finally reached the antique shop, Kojou put a hand on the door and listlessly shook his head.

  “So they’re closed… Figures.”

  It was six AM on New Year’s Day. Of course, the door would be locked. The curtains over the windows were shut, so they couldn’t peer inside the shop.

  “I have to say, without Professor Kitty here, it really does look like a simple antique shop. That talk of it being a Lion King Agency branch office—that’s not some kind of mistake, is it…?” Kojou said lightheartedly.

  He didn’t intend for his words to come off as a jab, but the instant Yukina heard them, she looked ready to burst into tears.

  “Ugh…!”

  Then she gripped her spear, turning its tip toward the door of the antique shop. She meant to break down the door. Realizing this, Kojou rushed to pin Yukina’s arms behind her.

  “H-Himeragi, wait! What exactly are you going to do after breaking into the shop?!”

  “Senpai, please stay out of my way! Let go of me!”

  “Just calm down, okay…? No point busting into the place if there’s no one in there!”

  “But…!”

  “In the first place, ain’t no way an antique shop is gonna be open at this hour on New Year’s Day. Aren’t the Lion King Agency employees out for the New Year’s holiday? They work for the government, after all.”

  “They wouldn’t be… At a time like this…!”

  Yukina seemed mortified as her shoulders trembled.

  It wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand her feelings of anger. On the mainland, part of the Lion King Agency was surely still at work under the name of the Sorcerous Disaster Commission. Besides, Yukina couldn’t possibly accept that her superiors were taking the holiday off.

  “You can’t get in touch with the Lion King Agency HQ?”

  “High God Forest is isolated from the outside world…”

  “How about contacting other branch offices?”

  “I…do not know how.”

  Yukina’s voice became fainter with each question from Kojou. “I see,” he murmured, sighing heavily. Though she had been granted the title of Sword Shaman, Yukina was on the outer edge of the organization. She hadn’t been granted any way to gather information about the organization as a whole.

  “Himeragi, their not telling you anything means the Lion King Agency wanted us thoroughly cut off from information. I mean, we only got ahold of Nagisa’s photo through dumb luck. If it was just some sort of communications lapse, it doesn’t explain why we can’t get in touch with Kirasaka.”

  “…Senpai, how can you be so calm about this? The Lion King Agency might have involved Nagisa in some kind of dangerous incident for all we know!” Yukina reproached him.

  Kojou shifted his gaze to the sky, looking conflicted, and said, “It’s not that I’m calm about this. I didn’t trust the Lion King Agency much to begin with, so them betraying me wouldn’t be that shocking.”

  “Ngh…”

  “Ah, nah, it’s not like I ever doubted you, Himeragi.” Kojou added the quick follow-up once he saw Yukina biting her lip and looking forlorn with a downcast gaze.

  “But it’s like Asagi told us before,” he continued. “The Lion King Agency’s actions aren’t always just. Besides, you’ll find factions and internal disputes in any large organization.”

  “…Internal disputes…?”

  The Sword Shaman blinked in surprise. Apparently, Yukina, straitlaced to the bone, had never considered the possibility that the Lion King Agency contained people she could not trust.

  “Himeragi, I’m saying that if there’s a side of the Lion King Agency you’ve never seen, that’s no reason for you to feel guilty. I don’t know about Professor Kitty, but at the very least, I don’t think Kirasaka would ever betray you.”

  “I… I suppose not…”

  Yukina nodded with a frail look. It wasn’t as if she’d put her feelings completely in order, but she did seem to accept that much. After all, it was far from established that the entire agency had betrayed her.

  Then, with Yukina having regained her composure, her cheeks suddenly reddened as she looked up at Kojou and said, “Um, senpai. I’d be happy if you finally let go of me now…”

  “…Huh?”

  Hearing her words, Kojou belatedly remembered that he was still pinning Yukina’s arms behind her. Yukina’s body was delicate enough that the embrace had slipped from his mind, but for all that, she was unexpectedly soft, and her skin was gently and intimately pressed against his.

  “Or rather, just where do you think you’re touching…?”

  “R-right… Sorry.”

  Hearing the ice in Yukina’s voice, Kojou nervously pulled his hands away.

  “No, it’s fine. It was my fault to begin with…”

  Once she had calmed down, Yukina put her clothes in order. Then she folded her spear and returned it to the guitar case.

  “Well, setting all that aside, we still don’t know what the Lion King Agency’s goal is. No clues, either…”

  Kojou murmured at his own expense, feeling stifled, as if walls were closing in around him.

  He couldn’t get in touch with Nagisa or Gajou. With the Lion King Agency shutting off information, they had no way of knowing what had happened at Kannawa Lake. Asagi said she’d check on things, but the information you could gather via the Net had its limits. Unlike Itogami Island, a man-made isle, the Kannawa Lake environs were still thick with nature, and virtually no electronic devices for Asagi to hijack.

  What should we do? Kojou asked himself internally.

  The next moment, in the middle of the road, early morning with no sign of anyone around, he heard the echo of a gentle voice:

  “It would seem you are in distress, Fourth Primogenitor.”

  “—?!”

  Kojou
and Yukina simultaneously turned in the direction of the voice.

  For the first time, she entered their sight—a slender figure standing with her back to the dazzling morning sun. Traditionally-styled, long, black hair trailed down her back, and she wore a similarly old-fashioned black sailor outfit. Even against the sun, her beauty was unmistakable, but because of her eyes, which seemed to look down on the entire world, her natural expression made her appear rather sinister.

  “Kiriha Kisaki…!”

  Yukina immediately raised her guard, reaching for the guitar case on her back. Kojou, too, lowered his center of gravity, adopting a posture for moving at any instant.

  Kiriha Kisaki was a Priestess of the Six Blades of the Bureau of Astrology—an expert in anti-demonic beast combat. They employed the same techniques as the Sword Shamans of the Lion King Agency and the two professions were said to be opposite sides of the same coin.

  About a month prior, she and Yukina had faced off against each other during the Blue Elysium incident.

  The victor of that duel had not yet been decided. However, at that moment, Kojou didn’t get the feeling they would be picking up where they left off. Nor was there any sign of Kiriha reaching toward the large tripod case she carried on her back.

  “It’s been a while, Yukina Himeragi. What an awful face. Are you aware that you look like an abandoned puppy?”

  Kiriha looked back at the hesitant Yukina, trying to rub salt in her wounds. She wasn’t attempting to pick a fight—it was just the only way she knew how to talk to other people.

  “You want to know what the Lion King Agency is up to at Kannawa Lake, yes? Am I wrong?”

  “And you know…?”

  “Yes, of course. I can tell you if you’d like.”

  Kiriha looked back at the surprised Kojou, smiling sardonically.

  The Bureau of Astrology she belonged to was a special agency under the umbrella of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Since their organizational objectives overlapped, they and the Lion King Agency’s interests were frequently at odds—hence why they kept track of the Lion King Agency’s movements.

  “Really, I wanted to tell you much sooner, but you two were embracing so intimately, I just couldn’t find it in me to interrupt.”

  “Wha—?! W-we were not!”

  “That wasn’t embracing, dammit!”

  Kojou glared, with a red-faced expression that screamed You were watching us?! Kiriha smiled with indifference as she gazed at the pair’s reactions.

  “I do not mind telling you the truth, but our Bureau of Astrology and the Lion King Agency are at odds. Despite that, will you trust my words?”

  “Just tell us already.”

  Kojou bared his fangs and pressed Kiriha to continue.

  “If hearing the information isn’t convenient for the Lion King Agency, you’re the ones who benefit from giving it to us. In that sense, I’ll trust you,” Yukina said.

  “I see. A sound decision.” Kiriha nodded in a show of admiration.

  She knew Kojou’s objective. The Bureau of Astrology no doubt intended to use Kojou to hinder the Lion King Agency’s actions. But that also meant Kiriha was certain Kojou would end up as the group’s enemy.

  “Very well, I shall tell you all that I know. Though I believe you will regret your decision…”

  Kiriha stated her preamble with the crimson-dyed horizon at her back.

  Such was how that fated day—a day upon which Kojou and Yukina would be faced with a difficult decision—began.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ESCAPE FROM THE DEMON SANCTUARY

  1

  It was noon when Kojou awoke.

  Surprisingly, he’d slept rather well. Though he hadn’t even been asleep three hours, his head was mysteriously clear. Perhaps it was that he knew what he had to do, and he had resolved to do it.

  Kojou slipped out of bed, took a shower, and changed clothes. He changed into his Saikai Academy winter uniform, something he normally had little opportunity to wear. Rather than his blazer jacket, he wore a somewhat thicker parka in its place.

  He didn’t have much to pack. Aside from his house key, his cell phone and the modified smartphone Asagi had given him were the only devices he was bringing along. He didn’t know what might happen, so it was best to travel as lightly as possible.

  The problem was a lack of funds to buy necessary supplies in the field. The money Kojou kept on hand wasn’t much to rely on.

  Well, I can’t change that, Kojou told himself as he headed to Nagisa’s room.

  Of course, the room was unoccupied. Nagisa was a neat freak, so her room was immaculate.

  Without any hesitation, Kojou approached his little sister’s desk and reached toward it.

  “I was pretty sure she hid it over this way…”

  As he thought, even amid her methodical cleaning, she had still taken the time to stash away a considerable amount of magazines and stickers. Among these, Kojou discovered a single brass key. Ever since she was little, Nagisa maintained a two-step system for retrieving anything important from the desk.

  The diary hidden among the other things he removed tugged at his mind, but Kojou resisted the temptation and headed for a Western-style clothes closet. Nagisa had put a sturdy lock on her favorite closet. To the best of Kojou’s knowledge, the item he was searching for rested within. But:

  “What the heck is this?!”

  When Kojou opened it, his eyes were greeted by assorted pairs of bras and panties stored within. Their designs and fabrics were completely different from the ones Nagisa normally wore. Apparently, this was underwear for “special occasions.”

  “She keeps this in her locked closet…?!”

  Kojou grumbled as he rummaged through the contents. Though it went without saying, Kojou’s objective was not his little sister’s special underwear. He was searching for something else. Finally, after much labor, Kojou found the bank card and bank books he was looking for, hidden under a pair of panties.

  “Well, I can get by as long as I have this, I guess.”

  Kojou selected one of the bank books from the pile and exhaled as he checked the remaining funds. There was 149,289 yen left over. He didn’t know whether that was a lot for a high school student’s life savings, but if he was thrifty, he’d have enough to get by.

  “Sorry, Nagisa. I’m gonna be using this.”

  Giving a mental apology to his absent little sister, Kojou stuffed the bank card into his pocket. The next moment:

  “…What are you doing, senpai?”

  A voice cold enough to give Kojou chills stabbed into his back.

  “Nuoa!” exclaimed Kojou, his body leaping into the air as he shifted his gaze toward the speaker. Yukina, her presence imperceptible, was standing behind Kojou with a scornful expression coming over her. She must have gotten out of bed and rushed over in a hurry; she was dressed in light gray pajamas with a hood. The hood had animal ears sewn onto it. From a distance, she looked like some kind of cartoon character.

  “H-Himeragi… What are you doing here…?!”

  “Nagisa gave me her spare key for times like these.”

  As Yukina said this, she dangled a familiar-looking key holder in front of him. Apparently, Yukina had used the key to let herself in through the front door.

  “What do you mean, times like these?!”

  “I believe you have been caught red-handed. Do you require further explanation? I placed a seal on Nagisa’s drawers that responds when someone opens them.”

  As Kojou stood in front of the drawers, Yukina turned her lens toward him and snapped the camera’s shutter. Certainly, based on that visual evidence alone, it looked like Kojou was rummaging through Nagisa’s underwear.

  Kojou vigorously shook his head and insisted, “No! You’ve got it all wrong! I wasn’t looking for Nagisa’s underwear and stuff, I was looking for my bank card! She confiscated it and said if I kept hold of it, I’d use it too much!”

  Kojou thrust the bank ledger in front of
Yukina. The majority of the money in his account was from his part-time job during middle school. The rest was scraps of money he’d received from cleaning Mimori’s lab and running errands for Gajou, compulsory labor that was “helping out” in name only.

  Kojou had meant to use it for club outing expenses, but the money had gone unused after he quit the basketball club.

  “…What do you intend to do with that money?”

  Yukina continued to hold the camera up as she inquired in a suspicious tone.

  “Uh,” went Kojou. His words caught for a moment before he said, “Er, you know, right—it’s New Year’s, so I figured I’d get myself a present. Go wild bargain hunting with the first sales of the New Year.”

  “Bargain hunting in your winter school uniform…?”

  Kojou remained frozen, cold sweat coursing while under Yukina’s half-lidded glare. He’d tried his best to be subtle, paying attention to minute details in preparation for his plan so that Yukina, his watcher, would not notice, but being foiled because he snuck into the place Nagisa kept her special underwear was well beyond his expectations.

  “You intend to go to the mainland, senpai?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  Kojou sighed in resignation and nodded. Yukina’s eyebrows twitched upward in visible displeasure.

  “Secretly, without one word to me?”

  “Well, you’d stop me, Himeragi.”

  Kojou acted like he was starting over as he spoke. Yukina stared at him with a dead serious look and said:

  “I suppose so. After all, you are a vampire primogenitor, senpai. Even if you are tolerated inside a Demon Sanctuary, I believe you walking around doing as you please on the mainland would be a major issue. I could not possibly overlook it.”

  “Er…you can’t, ah, let that slide somehow?”

  “I cannot.”

  “Figures…” Kojou twisted his lips.

  “Good grief.” Yukina sighed as she glared at him.

  “In the first place, how do you intend to get there from Itogami Island? I take it you have not forgotten that a Demon Sanctuary is obliged to conduct strict medical checks on anyone entering or departing? The fact that you are the Fourth Primogenitor would be exposed for certain.”