A voice with an odd ring to it breached that silence.
“This place has a deep connection to both of us. Does it not…Natsuki?”
There was a young woman on the roof of the empty school building.
Her hair went down almost to her feet. She wore a ceremonial ladies’ dress colored white and black. She had a graceful visage and scarlet eyes. It was Aya Tokoyogi, the witch with eyes of fire.
Natsuki was not there, but Aya’s calm voice spoke as if she were.
“Saikai Academy…a precious place to thee, ’tis it not? Then there is no more fitting place for my world to begin.”
That was when the air at her back began to quiver. The darkness seemed to melt away to reveal young men wearing nondescript gray suits. It was a pair of men with ages difficult to discern, but she did not sense any special violence from their auras. Their faces were forthright; there was nothing suspicious about the clothes they wore. Had they claimed to be teachers of Saikai Academy, most people would have accepted their word without question.
However, the men were each holding one book in their hands. These were grimoires emitting malevolent magical energy.
“Ma’am…”
The man on the left knelt respectfully and looked up at his witch. Meanwhile, the one on the right bowed his head in a similar show of respect.
“Congratulations on your return from the prison barrier.”
Aya slowly turned her head and looked back at the two consorts.
“…Men from LCO?”
She did not know the pair but knew immediately what they were: operatives from the Library of Criminal Organizations—the “Library” for short, an international criminal syndicate.
“We are Librarians from the Third Branch, the Socials.”
Once the first man spoke, both quietly raised their heads. Aya gave them an ill-humored stare. “I had thought the escape plan had been entrusted to Philosophy…?”
The man on the left tossed a smile into his reply.
“This is correct; however, you are the leader of all of LCO. We did not believe we could rely on merely the Meyer Sisters to facilitate your escape.”
Next, the man on the right cleared his throat.
“Indeed, it would seem they have lost their Guardian and have been captured by Demon Sanctuary law enforcement. We are to escort you to a safe place from this point forward.”
Aya interrupted the pair, unmoved. “I see. Good work. However, I have no need of your assistance. There is still something I must do in this Demon Sanctuary.”
Surprise was written upon the Librarians’ faces.
“…You cannot mean you intend to resume from ten years ago?”
They kept civil, pleasant smiles still plastered onto their faces, but that could not conceal the faint bloodlust they gave off. Aya curled up the corners of her lips, taunting.
“And if I do?”
“We regret to inform you…we have received orders that, in the event you do not cooperate, we are to destroy you and recover the Black Bible.”
The men stood without a sound and opened their grimoires.
Aya continued to stand defenselessly, murmuring as she watched the men.
“I see…so that is what the old men of the Socials…believe. Peasants.”
The Black Bible was one of the grimoires that Aya had removed from LCO’s secret vault some ten years prior. She had unleashed the grimoire on the Demon Sanctuary of Itogami Island, inflicting grievous damage upon it. However, her experiment had been stopped by Natsuki Minamiya, still in high school at the time, and Aya had been locked away behind the prison barrier.
Knowing that Aya was returning from the prison barrier, LCO obviously wanted the Black Bible back. The men now sent Aya’s way wore what were clearly expressions of mockery.
“Ma’am, to us, the chosen few, ten years has been far too long. There is no longer any place for you in today’s LCO.”
To both men already brandishing their grimoires, Aya shot a frigid declaration:
“I care not. I no longer have any use for LCO. You may have the Black Bible from me…provided, of course, that you can take it—”
“So negotiations have failed, then… Restrain her, No. 343!”
Their faces twisting in naked hostility, the men released the magic of their tomes. The books of power, activated through the absorption of their readers’ magical energy, released a miasma dire enough to warp the very air that then attacked Aya.
Aya smiled charmingly as she looked down at her own feet.
“Your grimoires…speed chanting, yes? Well done…”
She could not move her lower body. Bathed in the pages’ magical energy, her flesh had been petrified and fused with the campus building’s exterior.
Slender, closely packed symbols appeared on the surface of Aya’s petrified flesh. This was a criminal code written in an ancient language. These characters, infused with ritual energy, nullified Aya’s teleportation magic, cutting off her means of escape.
These particular grimoires arrested and petrified only those who had committed grave crimes. Such was the ability of No. 343, known as the Grimoire of the Law. Soon, Aya’s entire body would be petrified, turning her into a living statue.
However, in full knowledge of this, Aya smiled nonetheless.
“And yet…futile. You have already been overrun by the Black Bible.”
“What…?!”
The men recoiled a step as Aya’s fiery eyes glared at them.
In their hands, the pages of the grimoires simply fell apart.
The miasma released by the grimoires suddenly dissipated. The stones covering Aya’s body broke apart; her freedom of movement was restored.
“…Page unto page, darkness unto darkness… Go back, for all is according to my pact.”
Her assailants’ voices quivered as they clutched their now-powerless grimoires.
“Aya Tokoyogi…surely, you have not already…!”
Their fearful gazes were directed not at Aya, but at the symbols drawn at her feet. It was a magic circle written with but a single character. The ancient runes engraved onto the roof of the campus building gently emitted a golden light. This was the twinkling radiance that would lead the world into the darkness of the night.
Unimpressed, Aya stated, “Have you forgotten, Librarians, who halted my experiment ten years ago? My Black Bible was taken from me by Natsuki Minamiya, the Witch of the Void, the only friend my old self allowed into my heart. However, I have stolen the infernal traitor’s time, and now the Black Bible is once more within my grasp!”
“Ugh…!”
The gray suits drew pistols from their flanks. Having lost their books, they had no options remaining save physical attacks.
Their hands were shaking. Aya coldly gazed at the pistols as she gave her Guardian a command.
“Librarians, this is… farewell. L’Ombre—!”
The illusion of a knight clad in dark armor emerged at Aya’s back and lashed out with its giant sword.
Death screams echoed out; then, silence embraced the rooftop once more.
Only the witch remained, smiling as she stood amid the golden light.
CHAPTER TWO
THE PURSUED VS. THE JAILBREAKERS
1
The smell of cheese wafted up from the freshly baked pizza.
Sitting on the table, it was a simple frozen pizza that had been on hand, but it looked like a feast to the hungry. Frozen pizza formed the bulk of Mimori’s diet, so there was always a large number of them available in the guesthouse.
Sayaka grumbled as she pinched a slice of pizza and brought it to her lips.
“If only you really had died…!”
The target of her sharp, icy gaze was Kojou, who was in the process of spreading some olive oil onto some pizza.
And glaring at Kojou from the side was a sullen Yukina.
“Yes, this time was a little…much,” she admitted.
Kojou felt distinctly uncomfortable a
t having the two Attack Mage girls glare at him. “…Wha—?”
He was certainly sorry for having made them worry. But he thought the girls were behaving rather coldly to someone who’d fainted some ten minutes before. Noticing the defiant look Kojou was giving off, Sayaka’s graceful eyebrows heavily furled.
“What’s the big idea, getting dizzy and fainting from an empty stomach?! If you’re about to collapse, tell someone before you do it! What kind of glutton are you?!”
“I couldn’t help it!” Kojou replied. “How the hell was I supposed to know Yuuma hadn’t eaten one thing when she was usin’ my body?!”
Apparently, Yuuma hadn’t had a single thing to eat during the half a day that she and Kojou had swapped bodies. Furthermore, during that time, Yuuma had executed a number of large-scale spells and had engaged in spectacular combat with Yukina; small wonder Kojou’s body was famished.
So, even after returning to his own physical body, Kojou hadn’t realized that he was starving, eventually collapsing from hunger. It was a little hard for him to accept the blame for that.
Nonetheless, it was true that the wound in his chest had caused a great deal of misunderstanding.
“But it’s my bad for makin’ you worry. Sorry about that.”
Seeing Kojou meekly lower his head, Sayaka finally softened her expression. “Ah, yeah…you really did…” After that, she immediately gasped as her face reddened. “No, I mean, I did not worry about you one tiny bit whatsoever, Kojou Akatsuki…!”
“That so. That’s good, then…”
This time, Kojou’s easy acceptance of Sayaka’s words made her puff out her cheeks, apparently displeased. As usual, Kojou couldn’t really figure out why she reacted like this…but he thought, It’s kinda funny how she changes faces so much.
Yukina let out a small sigh as she watched the interaction between Kojou and Sayaka. “However, it is good that the situation was no worse than this.”
Kojou agreed from the bottom of his heart. “Yeah, definitely.”
With Yuuma gravely wounded and Natsuki’s whereabouts unknown, Kojou being down for the count would’ve really sent them up a creek.
For whatever reason, Kojou’s chest wound ached heavily whenever he used his vampiric abilities and was draining his strength. But if he wasn’t pushing it, the pain and bleeding were on a level he could cope with.
Kojou gave Yukina’s clothes a long, hard look as he spoke.
“Anyway, Himeragi, what’s with the nurse outfit?”
She was currently wearing a nurse-style, one-piece dress complete with miniskirt. She was even wearing the kind of nurse’s cap you didn’t see often nowadays. She also had knee-high socks over her feet.
Yukina lowered her face in embarrassment as she explained meekly, “M-Mrs. Aka… I mean, Mimori said I needed to change into this before entering the lab…”
Certainly, the blue apron dress she’d been wearing was shredded in the course of heavy combat. Her changing into a nurse’s outfit was entirely legitimate from a sanitation perspective. However, unused to wearing the outfit, Yukina seemed quite nervous.
“S-so, it does look odd on me?”
Kojou’s response was frank. “No, I think it suits you really well…maybe too well.”
Yukina gave off a prim and proper sense to begin with; the nurse outfit amplified that, almost to excess.
Of course it does, thought Sayaka as she nodded in silent agreement. Her breathing grew ragged as she stared all over Yukina’s body, as if running her tongue everywhere, to the point Kojou thought she’d be pulling Yukina to the floor right about then had he not been there with them.
Judging that they’d better switch from the nurse outfit to another subject, Kojou asked, “So, how is Yuuma, anyway?”
Yukina nodded, a little relieved.
“Her wounds have been bandaged. Her life should not be in any immediate danger.”
Tension drained away from Kojou’s entire body.
“That so…that’s good…”
It was good news, if only for the moment. At the very least, they’d avoided it becoming too late to save her.
However, Yukina bit down fiercely on her lip as she shook her head.
“But Mimori said that…we cannot expect her to recover from her present state…”
“So even MAR’s gear won’t cut it…?”
“A witch’s pact is a type of super high-end magic spell that cannot be analyzed with today’s level of science. Of course, that means the curse cannot be lifted, and in the first place, there’s far too little data for a definitive diagnosis…”
“…That’s too bad,” Kojou murmured, looking pained.
He was ready for it, but being reminded of the depth of the situation still hurt. At this rate, they wouldn’t be able to save Yuuma from the deep spiritual damage that had been inflicted upon her. It meant Aya Tokoyogi truly had intended to toss Yuuma aside like yesterday’s garbage.
“According to Mimori, only a powerful witch could be relied upon to save Yuuma now. She said that if there’s another witch with power equal to or greater than Aya Tokoyogi, then it is possible—”
“Natsuki…then?” Kojou interjected gravely.
She was a witch of power equal to or greater than Aya Tokoyogi. Besides, he didn’t think anyone other than Natsuki Minamiya would agree to cooperate in healing Yuuma.
Sayaka calmly pointed out the problem with that:
“But we don’t know where Natsuki Minamiya is, do we? Besides, she’s lost her magic and has the escaped prisoners after her, yes?”
Sayaka hadn’t been there, but she’d had the high points explained to her.
If the jailbreakers spoke the truth, Natsuki was currently in a defenseless state, having lost her memories and her magical power. If they were going to save Yuuma, they needed to keep Natsuki safe and restore her to full strength.
“No choice but to look for her,” replied Kojou. “If we don’t find Natsuki before the prisoners do…”
“I suppose so,” Yukina added. “If Ms. Minamiya can recover her magical power, she should also be able to restore the prison barrier to full functionality.”
Yukina strongly agreed with Kojou’s statement. If they could get the prison barrier back to full operating condition, the escaped prisoners would be pulled right back inside it once again.
Natsuki was the center around which the entire incident revolved.
“But how do we look for her?” Sayaka asked, at a loss. “The city’s jam-packed with people for the Hollow Eve Festival…”
“…Yeah, it is,” Kojou agreed, focused on the television as he spoke. “I don’t think we’ll find her by just groping around.”
A local Itogami Island station was running a live Hollow Eve Festival broadcast. It was already past eight PM. The sidewalks along the city’s thoroughfares were packed with tourists waiting for the Night Parade.
Under normal circumstances, the horribly stifling dresses Natsuki wore would make her really stand out in a crowd, but that wasn’t true that night. The island was brimming with tourists wearing even more extravagant costumes than she did.
Yukina made a suggestion while divvying up the rest of the pizza.
“How about we ask the Island Guard for help?”
The Island Guard, in charge of upholding the law in the Demon Sanctuary, was quite likely to find Natsuki before the escaped convicts could—but that was providing the Island Guard could devote the heavy manpower necessary.
Sayaka hummed thoughtfully and knitted her eyebrows. “I’m sure they’re well aware the prison barrier’s been breached, so we could make the request…but I don’t think we should get our hopes up. They have to be really short on manpower right now. There’s not just the escapees, there’s still LCO remnants to take care of…”
Kojou lazily rested his chin on his palms as he contemplated it. “The Island Guard, huh…?”
Although a police service on the surface, the Island Guard was really a private army u
nder the control of the Gigafloat Management Corporation. Their greatest advantage came from employing the vast amount of data collected from information networks all across the man-made island. If they could provide even just suspicious-person witness reports or surveillance camera photos, those alone ought to have made finding Natsuki a breeze—
“…Asagi might be able to search the Island Guard’s info for us.”
“Eh? Asagi…you mean, Asagi Aiba?” Sayaka asked, suddenly glaring at Kojou in displeasure. “I’ve been wondering this for a while…what in the world is she?”
“Whaddaya mean, what…? She’s just a student with a part-time job, right…?” Kojou had no idea why Sayaka saw Asagi as her rival to such a large degree.
But the Gigafloat Management Corporation had rolled the red carpet out for Asagi because of her hacking skills. She probably didn’t even need to do any cracking for something as simple as finding Natsuki.
It was then that Yukina, who happened to be glancing at the TV at that moment, suddenly murmured, “Aiba…”
Kojou turned to her, confused. “Eh?”
Yukina rushed to explain. “Just now, I thought I saw someone who looked a lot like Aiba…ah, there, again!”
She pointed at the corner of the screen. Kojou made a short sound when he recognized a very familiar face as well.
It was at the curb of a sidewalk along a major thoroughfare. A high school girl with a fancy hairstyle was standing there, mingled in with the tourists watching the parade. She had an arm around a little girl with long hair who looked four or five years old.
“Asagi…? What the heck is she doin’ there…?”
Sayaka inclined her head slightly, looking at Kojou like it was his surprise that was odd.
“Isn’t she just bringing her little sister along to watch the parade?”
Certainly, it was nothing unusual for residents of Itogami Island to watch the Hollow Eve Festival parade. If it’d only been Asagi on the screen, Kojou wouldn’t have been shaken to the degree he was.
“N-no… Y’see, Asagi doesn’t have a little sister… ’S it a relative’s kid maybe?”
It was Yukina who finally voiced the question Kojou was afraid to ask.
Fiesta for the Observers Page 7
