“So…uh, what are we gonna do with this…?”
Kojou looked behind him, muttering in a somewhat detached tone.
Even in the gentlest language possible, Yukina’s apartment could only be described as a hot mess. The causes were the two beast men’s onslaught and Kojou’s counterattack to expel them. The flooring tiles were curled up, the walls were cracked, and not even a trace remained of either the glass window or the veranda. The few pieces of furniture that had been smashed to bits lay scattered over the floor. It looked like the place had been struck by a cruise missile. Clearly, it was not in a livable condition.
Seeing this for herself, Yukina folded up her spear, sighing deeply.
“What will I do now—?”
She looked up at Kojou with a rare forlorn look.
2
The next day, on the second day of winter vacation—
Kojou awoke to an ear-splitting roar and accompanying vibration.
“Whoa!”
Despite waking up instantly, he clutched his groggy head, genuinely confused.
He was atop his own familiar bed. Aside from the cracks in the window glass, there wasn’t anything particularly out of place. However, the tremors shaking the entire room were probably not figments of Kojou’s imagination. Through the wall, he could hear the sound of a hammer drill in the next room over.
“I see. They’re repairing Yukina’s room… Wait, this early in the morning…?”
Checking his clock, Kojou dragged himself out of bed, his shoulders falling.
Apparently, the Lion King Agency had arranged for the immediate repair of Yukina’s apartment, which had been damaged in the beast-man raid. He’d been told that no expense would be spared on the rush job to restore the apartment before Nagisa got back from the mainland.
Yukina herself didn’t have much for clothing or belongings, and these had apparently escaped damage. Supposedly, fixtures and cookware identical to those destroyed had already been ordered. Magical camouflage was being used to conceal it, and hypnotic suggestions had dealt with the neighbors’ memories, covering all bases.
The one remaining problem was where Yukina would be staying for the week or so until the construction was finished. Well, it had been a problem—
“Good morning, senpai.”
Stepping out of his own room, Kojou bumped into Yukina, Snowdrift Wolf in hand. For once, she wore something other than a school uniform. Her hairstyle was different than usual, too. It was an unguarded hairstyle with nothing more than a hair tie holding it together. Gently placing her spear upon the floor, she tensely lowered her head.
“Er, thank you for allowing me to stay here last night.”
“S-sure… Well, couldn’t help it with all that happened. Couldn’t have Celesta sleeping in an apartment without even a proper glass window, either…”
“Th-that is true.”
Kojou and Yukina kept their gazes oddly averted as they spoke, breaking into an awkward laugh.
Yukina and Celesta, lacking anywhere else to go, had ended up staying at the Akatsuki residence. Given that Celesta was with them, they had nothing special to be concerned about, but seeing one another so early in the morning gave Kojou a creeping feeling nonetheless. He was oddly conscious of getting a glimpse into Yukina’s private life, something of which he was normally unaware.
“Come to think of it, where’s Celesta? Still asleep?”
Kojou looked around the apartment and forced a change of subject. Yukina returned her spear to its case as she shook her head and said, “No, she’s—”
Without finishing, she shifted her gaze to the dining table.
Atop the table was a row of plates with a variety of what appeared to be homemade dishes. There was fish-and-shellfish soup, marinade, and tortillas packed with meat and vegetables. They were probably dishes from Celesta’s homeland. The way she’d arranged the ingredients by hand made them look delicious.
“Celesta made all this?” Kojou asked, surprised.
Celesta, standing bored at the back of the kitchen, leaned her face over the counter and challenged, “What, you got a problem with that?”
“Nah, it’s amazing.”
Kojou voiced his honest admiration. For some reason, the foreign girl tapered her lips as if she had been mildly insulted.
“Somehow, I remembered how to make this. If I’m going to be staying here, I should at least cook the food. And if I leave it to you and end up eating something weird, it’ll just put me in a bind. It’s also good practice for when I make something for Lord Vattler to eat.”
“…So what, we’re his official food tasters now?” Kojou murmured, feeling a little put off by Celesta’s final comment.
For her part, Celesta pointed at the sink faucet with an odd glimmer in her eyes as she said, “But this thing is really convenient. With one switch you get a flame, just turn a lever and water flows out… Though when water came gushing out of the toilet, I was at a loss about what to do.”
“…Setting the toilet aside, I’m surprised—it’s rare not to have gas and running water. Is your homeland really that backward a place?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember it,” Celesta retorted in visible displeasure.
I guess not, Kojou seemed to say with a shrug.
Yukina had probably helped her out, too, but since she’d used unfamiliar cooking devices to make such good food, he could only surmise that Celesta’s cooking skills were remarkable.
Genuinely grateful, Kojou dug right in. The beast men’s trespassing had spoiled supper, so he hadn’t had a bite to eat since the night before. Thanks to that, his hunger was ferocious. Celesta and Yukina sat as well, the three of them beginning their unusual breakfast.
“Hey…what was with those guys last night anyway?”
Just when Kojou was bringing a piece of food to his lips, Celesta spoke offhandedly, as if she’d just remembered something. With the very spicy tabasco still stuffing his cheeks to the brim, Kojou shook his head.
“Who knows? I don’t think you need to worry about it too much, though,” he mumbled.
“What’s with you? You think it’s not my problem?” Celesta rested a cheek on her hand, glaring at Kojou in a visible sulk.
“It’s not that—how they went about it was pretty nuts, but they came to get you back ’cause they need you. If that’s the case, then you don’t have to worry about them hurting you, right?”
“Well, that might be true, but what are you two going to do? If they attack again…”
Watching Celesta, still looking at the table as she murmured, Kojou blinked, mystified.
“…Don’t tell me you’re worried about me?”
“Excuse me? As if. Why don’t you go and die for all I care?”
Celesta glared at Kojou with cold eyes as though she was looking at some vile insect.
Kojou made a slightly hurt expression as he bit down on a tortilla and said, “Oh, shut up. Anyway, that’d be wasting worry on us. Just look at what happened yesterday. Himeragi and I can protect ourselves, at least. Vattler thinks so, that’s why he left you with me.”
“Call him Lord, you shit-eating insect.”
“Why you…”
Celesta and Kojou traded malicious glares across the dining table. Watching this, Yukina silently thrust the knife in her hand into the mass of meat at the center of the table. The quarreling pair stopped, frozen in fear. Seeing this for herself, Yukina exhaled a little.
“I believe it is likely there will be no further attempts to take Celesta. Our foes have surely realized the Fourth Primogenitor is guarding her, and the Lion King Agency is on the move as well,” Yukina concluded.
That beast men capable of divine bestialization had illegally entered Itogami Island was a fairly significant issue. Hence, the Lion King Agency had sent its own specialized investigators. Of course, the Island Guard was doubtlessly on the case as well. The beast men had gone from being the hunters to the hunted.
“And if they
do come after you again, maybe we can find out what they know about you. Shouldn’t that put your mind at ease a little?” Kojou remarked bluntly, making Celesta stare at him in mild surprise. Apparently, it was very unexpected for Kojou to show her such consideration.
“Come to think of it, what’d they say—the icon of Zalalamasala or something…” Kojou tried to recall the beast men’s words. They had referred to her as an icon—an icon they had raised themselves.
“Zazalamagiu,” Yukina corrected.
“Hey, I wasn’t that far off.” Kojou grimaced. “You know anything about that, Himeragi?”
Yukina shook her head. Apparently, it was a name even she, a Sword Shaman, had not heard before.
“But normally an icon refers to objects within which a deity resides, such as a sacred tree or boulder, weapons, and sacred shrine objects. Aside from that, it is a term sometimes used for a priestess who calls down a god.”
“…She’s…a priestess…?”
Kojou turned to Celesta in surprise. You got a problem with that? said the half-lidded gaze Celesta shot back.
“So maybe she’s a spiritualist like you and Kanon, Himeragi?”
“I do not know. Right now, I can only say…that is possible…” Yukina vaguely shook her head.
Kojou partially understood the cause of her bewilderment. Beast men in the divine bestialization class were far more precious than any mere spiritualist; that fact was throwing Yukina off. The pros and cons of exposing two precious, high-ranking beast men to secure a single spiritualist weren’t aligned in Yukina’s mind.
Kojou took out his cell phone and tried running an online search for Zazalamagiu, but it didn’t produce any hits. He tried altering the spelling several times, but the results remained the same.
“In the end, the fastest way to settle this would be to get in touch with Vattler somehow…” Kojou sighed with an unenthused expression.
Celesta glared sidelong at Kojou and spat, “I said, call him Lord, would you—!”
“Like hell I will!”
As Kojou glared back, lighthearted music suddenly emanated from his person. It was his cell phone’s ringtone.
“Wh…what the…?”
Celesta shrank, staring at the cell phone in visible fear. To her, surprised at seeing gas stoves and running water, a cell phone was surely a menacing piece of super-advanced technology.
Heedless of Celesta, Kojou took the phone in hand when…
“—Kojou?! Are you all right?!”
As soon as the line opened, he heard Asagi’s voice, vaguely tense with urgency. At a loss, Kojou stared at the phone.
“…Huh?”
“Don’t ‘huh’ me! I heard a bomb went off at your apartment building! When I looked on a surveillance camera, there was a crazy-big hole!”
“What are you doing looking at my building with a surveillance camera, geez…,” Kojou groaned in a low-pitched voice. “You hacked stuff again, didn’t you?”
Apparently, the Lion King Agency’s concealment measures could not best Asagi’s information-gathering ability.
“Well, fine. Anyway, relax; I’m okay. It wasn’t my place that got blown up; it was Himeragi’s.”
“…Huh?! Himeragi? Wait, what the hell? What’s going on?”
Asagi raised her voice in apparent confusion. Kojou sighed listlessly.
“We don’t get much of it, either. Beast men suddenly attacked, and in the end, they ran off, so…”
“…Beast men… Don’t tell me you two stuck your noses into another weird incident?”
“Hey, it’s not like I wanna get wrapped up in these things… Oh yeah, Asagi. Do you know anything about Zazamalagila?”
“Uh, what? Zalaralagi? That some spell in a video game?”
Asagi’s voice turned displeased at Kojou’s question. Perhaps she thought he was dodging the question. Yukina corrected him silently, mouthing Zazalamagiu.
“Sorry, I got it wrong. Zazalamagiu. The name of some icon and some priestess and stuff.”
“I haven’t heard of it, but what about it?”
Asagi still seemed a bit suspicious.
Kojou tried to sound casual. “Er, I sort of wanted to know about it… Couldn’t find anything on the Net, though.”
“Hmmm… I’ll be at my corp part-time job in the afternoon, so if you need me to, I can look then.”
“Sorry, could you, then?” Kojou asked, his faint hopes riding on it.
The Gigafloat Management Corporation’s database archived exacting information on the Demon Sanctuary that was not available to the public. The odds were high that a clue about the icon of Zazalamagiu could be found there.
“That’s fine, but you’re gonna owe me for this, you know?”
Asagi stated that in a buoyant voice, seemingly driving a nail into the careless Kojou. It was in a joking tone, but Kojou knew well enough that he couldn’t laugh it off.
“Yeah, yeah… So is that all you wanted?”
“W-well, yeah… This isn’t really a big deal, but Nagisa’s with family right now, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, since yesterday.”
If anything, the sudden softening of Asagi’s demeanor made Kojou feel tenser. Perhaps a mixture of past experiences and vampiric intuition was warning him of impending danger.
“What are you doing for meals, Kojou? If you’re in a bind, I can go over and make something.”
“Wait… You cook?” Kojou’s breath caught.
Even by the most generous assessment, Asagi’s cooking skill was a weapon of culinary destruction. Kojou, despite being an unaging, undying vampire, wouldn’t be safe after eating her cooking and would likely be unable to move the next day.
“What’s with that anxious reaction…?” Asagi lowered her voice.
Kojou felt acute nervousness as he shook his head and said, “N-nah, thanks for the sentiment, but I’m all right. I’ve got meals covered for now, so—”
“Hold on a sec. There’s a hole from an explosion in Himeragi’s place, right?”
Asagi’s grave tone made it seem like she’d suddenly realized something very important.
“—So where did she stay last night…?”
“Well… For now, she’s staying at my place… I mean, neighbors have to help each other in a pinch, right…?”
Kojou’s voice became shriller as he desperately made an excuse. Asagi was silent for a brief time.
“So even though Nagisa’s not there, you have another girl staying over with you… Hmm… I see. That means she’s cooking your meals, too?”
“No, it’s not Himeragi making the food, it’s another girl, so, ah…just relax.”
Kojou testified to the plain facts. That instant, he heard the strange sound of something breaking on the other end of the line. It was probably the sound of Asagi’s cell phone cracking, unable to bear the power of her grip.
“That’s even worse! What are you thinking?! Go die, you idiot!”
Asagi shouted and hung up. Kojou put a hand on his ear, annoyed. Thanks to Asagi’s loud voice, his eardrum hurt. Yukina covered her eyes in silence.
“That hurt. What’s she so angry about…?”
“Senpai…”
Staring at Kojou’s expression of dismay, Yukina let out an exasperated sigh.
3
After finishing breakfast, Kojou and the others immediately headed for Island West, a commercial district where restaurants and shopping malls and so forth were gathered together—Itogami Island’s very own downtown.
Their reasons were not particularly good ones; if Kojou had to explain, their objectives were sightseeing and shopping. Further to the point, they couldn’t stay at the apartment because the construction noises from the Himeragi residence were rather severe. Besides, there was also the fact that they couldn’t have Celesta continuing to wear one of Kojou’s T-shirts indefinitely. Having Celesta, with a rather curvaceous figure for her age, walk around lightly dressed was awkward—especially for Kojou.
; “This is…Itogami Island?” Celesta murmured curiously as she looked at the glass-covered landscape around her.
They were on the topmost floor of a shopping mall—the restaurant floor. The group was taking a break after finishing a brief shopping trip where they bought Celesta a change of clothes.
Celesta had picked out a pair of leather sandals and a short, colorful, embroidered dress. The vibrant color scheme, reminiscent of a distant culture, suited her rich brown skin very well. Thanks to her long, slender limbs and striking visage, anyone was likely to mistake her for a model on a magazine photo shoot.
If only her personality was even a little bit cute, Kojou couldn’t help but think offhandedly.
“It seems squalid somehow. There are so many people, and it is so noisy…” Celesta grimaced as she voiced complaints about the scenery. Apparently, the futuristic landscape Itogami Island boasted did not make a very good impression on her.
“Well, I guess so,” Kojou acknowledged. “That’s because this is a commercial district. It’s a little quieter in Island South and Island North, though.”
“Hmm…what is that big building over there?”
Celesta pointed to the building standing at the center of the island. Even on the man-made island, the enormous, wedge-shaped building stood out from the rest.
“That’s Keystone Gate, the center of Itogami Island. The airport and harbor are in that direction, so if you’re gonna meet that Vattler guy, it’ll probably be over there. Either way, we’ll know pretty much right away when he comes back on that crazy-big ship of his.”
“Ship?! Lord Vattler’s?!”
Celesta’s voice rose as she bit on the change of subject. Her easy-to-read demeanor elicited a slightly unpleasant look from Kojou.
“It’s a cruise ship with the tasteless name of Oceanus Grave II,” he said. “It’s crazy decked out on the inside, though. The bath alone is about the size of this whole restaurant.”
“You sound very familiar with it.” Celesta gave him a look of displeasure.
Yukina, listening in silence until that point, noted, “Come to think of it, senpai, you’ve been in that bath on his ship, haven’t you? With Aiba.”
Bride of the Dark God Page 10
