Fiesta for the Observers

by Gakuto Mikumo

  Up close, the chariot was truly overwhelming. The warhorse’s head was covered in a steel helm, its hooves continuing to echo violently; the color of the carriage closely resembled that of a bloodstain. Metal spikes jutted out from the wheels, further adding to its ominous appearance. It clearly wasn’t something sane people should ride on.

  However, it also represented their only means of escape.

  “Senpai, we have to save Yuuma!” Yukina shouted, as she supported the wounded girl over her shoulder.

  To hell with it, Kojou decided, half in despair, as he helped the girls aboard the bizarre chariot. Kojou himself followed, vaulting up the step to the compartment. Sayaka violently snapped the reins the instant she saw him do so.

  “Nuaaaaa!! I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall!”

  Kojou let out a pathetic shriek at the unbelievably rough ride. One of the wheels rolled over a large piece of debris and jumped so violently that it threatened to shake Kojou right off the edge of the tilting chariot.

  As he grabbed onto Sayaka from behind, she, too, let out a shriek as her body shuddered and froze.

  “Hya…?! Wh-where are you touching me?!”

  Even then, the chariot continued to accelerate; the cab shook with greater and greater vehemence.

  Kojou excused himself shrilly:

  “Well, there’s nothin’ else to grab on to!”

  If he let go now, it was a virtual certainty he’d be thrown right off their ride.

  Sayaka, who had both hands occupied with holding onto her bow, could do nothing to push Kojou away; all she could do was squirm.

  “That doesn’t mean you can do this while Yukina’s watchi— Anyway, lower! If you’re gonna grab on, do it lo— NOT THAT LOW—!! D-don’t push your face into me—!”

  “I’m not doin’ it on purpose! It’s the chariot’s fault for rockin’ too much! And why a chariot anyway?!”

  “Someone left it on the side of the road, so I borrowed it! It’s not like I had any other way to get around!”

  “The heck?! No one just leaves somethin’ like this lyin’ on the side of the road!”

  “Well, someone did, so there!!”

  With no sense of the gravity of the situation, Kojou and Sayaka continued yelling at each other atop the cramped, rocking chariot. Yukina looked up at both of them mildly, sighing.

  Even with four people aboard, the warhorse drawing the chariot was galloping full speed ahead. It was a speed that seemed aberrant for a single animal.

  The helmet covering the horse’s head had the words COISTE BODHAR engraved upon its surface. Apparently, that was the warhorse’s name. It was the name of the favorite coach of the Headless Horseman—the Dullahan—from a European myth hailing from the Middle Ages.

  Just as Kojou recalled that fact, he heard a loud crack.

  The steel helm covering the warhorse’s head split apart and fell onto the road, snapping the reins in Sayaka’s grasp in the process.

  Kojou, staring dumbfounded as the warhorse continued to gallop, gasped in terror.

  “Th…the head’s…?!”

  That was just it: There wasn’t a head under the warhorse’s helmet. It was as if a great ax had lopped off everything from the neck up. A headless horse was drawing Sayaka’s chariot.

  “What’s with this horse…?! Where the hell did you get this thing, anyway?!”

  Yukina redirected his attention calmly, even as she continued to clutch the unconscious Yuuma. “Please calm down, senpai! This horse is probably a machine.”

  Face turning pale, Sayaka herself looked back mechanically. “M-machine…?! It’s a robot?!”

  “Wait, you didn’t notice, either?!” Kojou shouted at Sayaka, glaring.

  “Well, you’d never expect a robot horse to be sitting on the side of the road,” fumed Sayaka, excusing herself with puffed-up cheeks.

  Yukina sighed, resigned. “It is most likely for the Hollow Eve Festival parade…”

  Kojou patted himself down with relief, finally recovering his state of mind. “Parade… R-right… For the parade…”

  The Hollow Eve Festival, in progress and much beloved, was a Demon Sanctuary event modeled after Halloween. The city was decked out in ghost and monster designs with large numbers of costumed tourists taking part.

  There were nighttime parades with big floats and lots of ornate lighting. This headless horse chariot must’ve been one of the floats.

  Given that you couldn’t tell it wasn’t a real horse except for the lack of a head, it might’ve been some kind of publicity thing by a Demon Sanctuary corporation wanting to show off its technology. Apparently, Sayaka had absconded with it without any idea about that.

  Man she really stirs things up. Kojou couldn’t help but think; facts were facts: The chariot had saved their lives. A normal car or motorcycle would never have been able to get them off that rubble-covered, man-made island.

  Sayaka twisted her lips into a pout and knitted her brows like she’d only just remembered something. “Incidentally, Kojou Akatsuki… You’re back in your own body now?”

  Now that Kojou thought about it, he had been body swapped with Yuuma the last time he’d met Sayaka.

  Kojou bit his lip, mortified, as he checked back on Yuuma, who was lying on her side at the bottom of the carriage. “Yeah, somehow. But thanks to that, she’s…”

  The blood-drenched Yuuma’s eyes remained open, but she showed no signs of moving. Her breathing seemed irregular and uncertain; her body temperature had dropped considerably. The exhaustion of her body ran deeper than the visible wounds. This was the state getting her Guardian ripped right out of her had left her in.

  “…Wasn’t she an LCO criminal or something?” Sayaka asked hesitantly, as she, too, glanced at Yuuma.

  Kojou shook his head. “She was just bein’ used… By her own mom, even.”

  “Mom? What do you mean?”

  “This Aya Tokoyogi chick. She was locked up in the prison barrier. She’s a witch, and she stabbed Natsuki through Yuuma. Aw, crap, if we don’t find Natsuki, we are so screwed…”

  “Eh? Eh? Natsuki, you mean Natsuki Minamiya…? Someone stabbed the Witch of the Void?”

  Kojou’s awkward explanation had only thrown Sayaka into greater confusion. Yukina looked conflicted as she was forced to intervene:

  “Aya Tokoyogi is a criminal imprisoned in the prison ward. She is considered the leader of LCO.”

  “LCO’s Great Librarian…? And that’s her mom…?!”

  “Yes. She used Yuuma’s witch pact to break herself out of prison.”

  “And she did this to her own daughter once her usefulness was over?! What a—!”

  Sayaka’s lips pursed as she finally understood. She glared angrily at the steel-colored fortress far behind them.

  Yukina lowered her eyes and quietly explained, “Escaped prisoners are after Ms. Minamiya to put an end to the prison barrier. We have to secure her before that happens, but…we cannot abandon Yuuma, either…”

  Sayaka sighed gravely. “Well, that’s not good… She might not last long at this rate.”

  “Can’t you do somethin’, Kirasaka?” Kojou pleaded to Sayaka. “You know, like you did before…?”

  Once before, Sayaka had performed first aid on the gravely wounded Astarte and saved her life.

  However, a pained expression came over their driver as she shook her head slightly.

  “Don’t be absurd. That time I stopped the blood loss, but repairing yanked-out spiritual pathways is way beyond what I can do. Without a powerful witch or a sorcerous physician…”

  Kojou lifted his head as he repeated Sayaka’s words to himself.

  “A sorcerous physician…huh…?”

  The chariot Kojou and the others were riding in had already left the harbor district and entered the city proper. It was Island South—the research and development district covered with corporate and academic facilities. The lack of pedestrians was no doubt due mostly to employees being off on holiday for the durati
on of the Hollow Eve Festival.

  They could no longer see the prison barrier floating atop the inlet. It seemed that Schtola D and the others had no intention of pursuing them farther.

  Having confirmed this for himself, Kojou spoke with determination. “Kirasaka. Stop at the next set of lights, would you?”

  “Er…why?” Sayaka replied dubiously.

  “I think I know someone who can treat Yuuma… Should be at that white building up ahead there.”

  “Th-that so?” Sayaka replied as cold sweat trickled down her brow. “But, um…stopping this thing… How, exactly?”

  She timidly presented her hands with what little remained of the torn-off reins in them.

  A properly trained horse could be stopped with only a light pull of the reins. However, Coiste Bodhar, the warhorse drawing the chariot, had no head, so of course there was no bridle to attach any reins to.

  Kojou went pale when he grasped the implications.

  “Wh-wh-what are you gonna do?! How are you gonna stop this horse?!”

  “D-don’t ask me, I have no idea…!”

  “This ain’t the time to argue—!”

  Apparently, the horse had been running amok since the moment the helmet had come off. Now beyond Sayaka’s control, the chariot ferociously hurtled toward the research and development district.

  Shocked expressions came over the pedestrians and drivers of oncoming vehicles as they noticed the chariot led by a headless horse, but Kojou and the others had no room to spare them any concern.

  Their ride plunged toward an intersection with a red light, wherein it swerved at the last minute of its own accord to narrowly avoid a head-on collision. The sudden turn pulled the chariot well off the road, and sparks violently scattered from its wheels. The carriage grazed the raised pedestrian walkway, pieces of it scattering while taking a bite out of the asphalt.

  Kojou was clinging to Sayaka’s hips once more.

  “Whoa! That was close! Ain’t there an emergency brake on this thing?!”

  Yukina was desperately holding down the unconscious Yuuma so that she wouldn’t get thrown off.

  “This might be…bad…,” muttered Sayaka.

  “Wha…?!”

  Kojou’s eyes bulged as he noticed the concrete wall standing right in their path. It was a solid enclosure surrounding a corporate laboratory, completely blocking the chariot’s path.

  Without a way to bring the chariot back under control, they had no means to avoid crashing into it.

  “Sayaka, Lustrous Scale! Cut the horse loose—!”

  “Wh-why am I taking orders from you…?!”

  Sayaka’s mouth complained, but she swung down her beloved sword—Der Freischötz in sword mode—just as Kojou told her to.

  The silver blade descended and easily severed the shaft connecting the headless horse to the carriage. The warhorse, released from the heavy carriage, accelerated with great force and agilely leaped over the looming perimeter wall.

  On the other hand, the chariot Kojou and the others were riding pitched forward and made contact with the ground. It slid sideways while losing speed, stopping at about a ninety-degree angle. The distinct wheel tracks left on the ground spewed white, putrid smoke.

  Kojou gave a shaky sigh of relief as he gazed at the perimeter wall they’d barely avoided crashing into. One false move and they’d have been in a major accident. He wasn’t sure if Sayaka had saved them, or nearly gotten them all killed, or both.

  That said, when he looked at Sayaka and saw how utterly exhausted she was, he was in no mood to criticize her. She’d been engaged in combat with LCO witches right before having come to save them, firing Der Freischötz in rapid succession to save them from grave danger. He ought to have been thanking her, not whining.

  Kojou extricated himself from the toppled carriage and looked up at the building towering before them. “…Well, at least we got here in one piece.”

  It was a giant laboratory complex composed of several buildings. All the walls were white, somehow invoking the feel of a hospital.

  Yukina suddenly lifted her head and asked, “This wouldn’t be…the MAR lab, would it…?”

  MAR—Magna Ataraxia Research Incorporated—was a giant conglomerate with branches all over the Far East. It was a corporate group formed of a number of sorcerous product manufacturers with global reach.

  “Yeah. There’s a guesthouse for visitors in the central building. C’mon.”

  Kojou picked up the sleeping Yuuma and walked through the laboratory’s front gate. Yukina followed behind him without a word. Sayaka, now left all alone, hurried to catch up.

  “Kojou Akatsuki. How do you know something like that?” she demanded.

  Kojou grimaced.

  “If she hasn’t been back home, she’s probably still here…”

  Sayaka blinked curiously and inclined her head slightly. “Who?”

  For some reason, Kojou looked a bit conflicted as he scratched his cheek, looking back at Sayaka.

  “Mimori Akatsuki. My mother.”

  4

  With night fallen, tourists packed the streets. Floats adorned with countless tiny lights and a myriad of dancers paraded by as well. It was the first night of the Hollow Eve Festival, and the famous Night Parade had begun.

  Asagi Aiba heaved a deep sigh as she gazed at the glittering spectacle via a large window.

  She was sitting in a booth at a family restaurant. Across from her was a little girl in a lovely one-piece dress, with a big ribbon on her head. She sat in a chair that seemed to be just the right height for her.

  It was about this time that the waitress delivered their meals. “Thank you for waiting. Here is your limited-time-only Brilliant Hollow Eve Hamburger Plate with large rice and a kids’ pancake combo.”

  The serving woman was dressed in a Halloween-style outfit as she carried full plates in both hands.

  The little girl with the ribbon fidgeted to the slightest degree as she looked up at the food being brought over.

  “Please enjoy!”

  As the ribbon-wearing girl watched the waitress make her pleasant remark and leave, she looked at Asagi with upturned eyes, apparently gauging by Asagi’s reaction whether it was okay to dig in.

  Asagi made a slightly pained smile as she handed the girl a knife and fork.

  The girl with the ribbon accepted these and began slicing up her pancakes with little regard for safety. Her small mouth opened as wide as it could to accommodate the pancakes drenched in syrup and butter.

  “Delicious?” Asagi couldn’t keep a smile off her face as she asked.

  The young girl nodded, her cheeks puffed up like she was some kind of squirrel.

  Asagi sighed deeply before she spoke. “Ah. That’s good.”

  It made her wonder all over again: How did things end up like this?

  She’d been minding her own business the day before the Hollow Eve Festival when she’d been abruptly called by the Gigafloat Management Corporation, spending all night dealing with trouble that culminated in the roof of their own office building getting taken over by criminals and herself getting pinned down inside. Then, just as she thought the incident had finally been dealt with, a mysterious little girl appeared and glommed on to her—which was where things still stood.

  She thought it was too much misfortune even for her.

  Asagi figured that while she was suffering like this, Kojou, that transfer student, and his beautiful childhood friend were having the time of their lives at the festival. Just picturing it made her sick to her stomach.

  The ribbon-wearing girl spoke in monotone as she looked up at Asagi with concern.

  “Mama…are you upset?”

  Asagi gasped and regained her senses.

  “Eh? Ahh no, not at all. It’s not like that at all… I’m just thinking about something.”

  She smiled more than she was accustomed to and shook her head. She realized she had to take the little girl’s feelings into account. After all, the girl
was going through a much harder time than Asagi was. Seeing Asagi lost in thought had no doubt unsettled the girl.

  The young woman lowered her eyes to the same level as the little girl’s as she gently asked, “Hey, do you remember anything now? Like, maybe your name?”

  But her dinner partner only shook her head in silence.

  Asagi had asked the same question several times over by this point, but the girl had been unable to state her own name or where she lived. She looked plenty intelligent enough, so surely it wasn’t that she didn’t understand the question. Perhaps she’d lost her memory.

  Asagi pressed forward with her next question.

  “Do you remember your mom’s name?”

  This time, the reply was immediate.

  “Asagi Aiba!”

  “How did it end up like this…?”

  Asagi deflated like a balloon and began munching on her food.

  For a single moment, she thought about the possibility that the young girl really was her own daughter, perhaps a girl Asagi had given birth to in the future who’d somehow traveled back in time.

  Er, no, definitely not. She couldn’t grasp what the point would be to send a young girl like this into the past by herself, and in the first place, she couldn’t be Asagi’s daughter; she didn’t look anything like Asagi or Kojou. Wait, this has nothing to do with Kojou!

  Asagi’s thoughts descended into a hazy loop.

  “Oh, okay. That’s why I got that déjà vu feeling…”

  As Asagi watched the little girl stuff her cheeks with pancakes, she finally realized who the girl resembled. The girl with the ribbon in her hair looked just like her homeroom teacher, Natsuki Minamiya. Frilly dress, check; long hair, check; doll-like face, check—she’d seen it all before.

  Without realizing, Asagi lowered her voice to a whisper. “Hey, does the name Natsuki Minamiya ring a bell? Maybe that’s the name of your real mother…”

  Upon meeting Natsuki Minamiya for the first time, virtually everyone pegged her for a grade schooler, but she claimed to be twenty-six years old even so. At that age, she could well have given birth to a daughter some four or five years old.

  If the little girl with the ribbon really was Natsuki’s daughter, it was certainly possible she knew Asagi’s face from class photos or other bits of data. That would be one explanation for how the girl had latched on to Asagi.