The Roses of Tartarus

by Gakuto Mikumo

  A jolt struck the ship.

  The roar was like falling thunder, combined with the very heavy vibration from being struck with a giant maul.

  The ship’s hull creaked ferociously, and the floor steadily tilted.

  “Wh-what was…that impact…?!”

  “Did we run aground? Is that even possible out here…?”

  Sayaka and Shio nodded to each other, dashing outside the sauna room. Their bodies were completely drenched in sweat, but there was no time to be concerned about that.

  “Yuiri! Ships! Lots!!”

  “Y-yeah. That’s…true…”

  Glenda was excitedly pointing out the window. Yuiri nodded in response as she stood there, dumbfounded.

  There, just after daybreak, a white mist hid the surface of the sea. The mist was dense and heavily reduced visibility. Amid that unnatural fog floated countless enormous shadows.

  It was a horde of shipwrecked vessels. Freighters, fishing vessels, even coast guard patrol ships—an abundant number of ships adrift had collected in that part of the sea.

  Apparently, the passenger ship Sayaka and the others were aboard had collided with one of them.

  “What is this…?!”

  A ship graveyard—those were the only words that came to mind as Sayaka and the others gazed at the spectacle, unable to do a thing.

  It was a moment later that the emergency siren rang, echoing within the vessel.

  At the break of dawn, the girl’s eyes remained closed as she faced the sea.

  She stood on the observation deck of a giant cruiser at a standstill in the ocean. The morning breeze, infused with a faint whiff of humidity, caused the girl’s hair to sway. In the rays trickling from the morning sun, the translucent golden hair seemed to change color according to the level of light, almost like a rainbow. It was reminiscent of billowing flames—

  “Sunrise… Detestable—yet beautiful nonetheless.”

  A tall, slender, handsome young man appeared at the girl’s side. The white fangs poking out from his lips proclaimed his origins. He was an Old Guard vampire—an aristocrat from the Warlord’s Empire, a direct descendant of the Lost Warlord’s own bloodline.

  “Have you come to comfort me in my time of tedium, King of Snakes?” the girl asked, not bothering to turn her head toward him.

  A glass chess set was placed on the table before her. The pieces were arranged as if a match had been abandoned midway; the seat on the other side of the chessboard was empty. Her opponent was nowhere to be found.

  “A chess study?”

  “My opponent hath already departed. ’Twas unavoidable.”

  The girl replied to the young man’s question. Her slender fingertips moved a pawn forward, converting it to a queen.

  “I see. Tartarus Lapse—they intend to begin?”

  The young man quietly looked over his shoulder. Behind them floated a giant, artificial city—the Demon Sanctuary of Itogami Island.

  “Indeed. There yet remain some who would defy fate,” the girl replied in a singsong tone. Her expression was unreadable, but her voice sounded gloomy.

  “Would you rather have gone as well?”

  “—Dost thou desire to know why we seeketh to rend the body of the Twelfth asunder?” the girl asked in a cold and lonely voice. She moved the piece once more, placing her opponent in check.

  “Ah,” went the young vampire, gazing up at the sky of dawn as he exhaled. “Quite a pity.”

  A ferocious smile came over him as he laughed. Then, to no one in particular, the young man murmured once more, “A pity. I really had taken a liking to that boy…”

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE BLOCKADE

  1

  Kojou Akatsuki awoke at the sound of his alarm ringing for the third time.

  His back smoldered from the sunrays passing through the curtain. Even though it was early morning, it was humid enough to make him sweat. The air was so thick you’d think it was midsummer. It was the Itogami Island air he knew very well.

  “Morning, huh…? Shit… Doesn’t even feel like I got any rest…”

  With his vision still somewhat hazy, Kojou groped for the alarm clock and silenced it.

  His entire body felt as heavy as lead, like he’d run a full marathon the preceding day. It was no doubt the product of built-up fatigue. After all, immediately following New Year’s, he’d traveled all the way to the mainland; he’d only just returned to Itogami Island.

  Between those two events, for some reason, he had Natsuki Minamiya, one of the Three Saints of the Lion King Agency, and the terrorist Cleansers after his hide; he’d repeatedly come face-to-face with death. Somehow, he’d escaped in one piece, but the accumulated mental exhaustion and the knowledge that winter break was about to end had maxed out his fatigue gauge. Kojou desperately fought the craving to crawl back into bed, stripping off his T-shirt as he headed out of the room.

  The smell of freshly poured coffee wafted about the living room.

  The morning news was quietly coursing through the mounted television. Nagisa was watching it with what seemed to be a mystified look.

  She must have been in the middle of changing clothes, because she was only in her underwear, stroking the uniform neatly folded on her lap.

  “Nagisa…?”

  Kojou unwittingly called out to his little sister, her unusual silence making him feel like something was amiss.

  Today, her hair, usually tied up, was unbound. Maybe that was why she looked so different. The backlight passing through her hair seemed to give it a faint, golden glimmer.

  “Ah, Kojou. Good morning—”

  Finally noticing him, a gentle smile came over Nagisa as she looked back.

  “Heya,” Kojou said, nodding vaguely as his bewilderment deepened. After all, the little sister Kojou knew wasn’t the type to make a fleeting smile like that. One might call her personality naive, meddlesome, very amiable, and boisterous; normally, she’d have ripped the blanket off Kojou and driven him out of bed before the alarm clock even rang.

  “Something wrong with the uniform?”

  Kojou kept his bewilderment off his face as he carefully posed the question. He wondered if maybe she’d messed something up and was down in the dumps.

  “No… It’s nothing.” Nagisa narrowed her eyes.

  Kojou’s breath came to a halt as he was stricken by déjà vu. He superimposed another person’s face over the image of his little sister treasuring the middle school uniform—the face of someone who no longer existed.

  “I just felt…happy. Starting today, I can go see everyone at school again…”

  “Hmm…”

  Kojou maintained his composure as he murmured curtly.

  Then Nagisa blinked, seemingly snapping back to her own senses. She had an exasperated look as she glared at Kojou, still wandering around topless.

  “For that matter, Kojou, put something on. It’s criminal to wander around naked in front of a maiden—criminal!”

  “Hey, I’m wearing my underwear just fine. I couldn’t find my uniform shirt.”

  “Your shirt’s on top of the chair at the dinner table. I ironed it and left it there.”

  “Is that so? My bad.”

  “You really make me work, sheesh. So get dressed already, quick!”

  “You should probably get dressed, too.” Kojou, relieved that Nagisa was finally back to her normal state, lobbed a rebuttal.

  “Huh…?” Nagisa sounded confused and looked down to inspect herself.

  Nagisa, holding her uniform top and bottom in her hands, was wearing nothing but simple white underwear. Finally noticing as much, Nagisa let out a barely audible shriek as she curled up.

  “D-did you see anything…?”

  “Huh… Guess we’re out of milk.”

  “No reaction?!”

  After retrieving his uniform shirt, Kojou opened the fridge door and checked the contents within. It was plain as day that he’d placed a higher priority on assuaging hunger and thirst
over the sight of his little sister in forgettable undies.

  “Mnnn… I used the milk to make scrambled eggs earlier!”

  “Oh? I’d better buy some on the way back.”

  When his sullen little sister gave an honest reply, Kojou made his dejection clear. Buying meat and vegetables on the way back from school was chiefly Kojou’s duty.

  “Ah… Come to think of it, there was some freighter accident, wasn’t there?”

  “Yep. There’s been a lot of that lately. It’s really inconvenient being on a man-made island at times like these. Meat, dairy, and fish run out fast, and it’s more expensive buying them here than on the mainland…”

  “Well, it’s not typhoon season, so the next ship’ll come soon enough,” Kojou replied, unmoved.

  For Itogami Island, floating smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, slow or missed shipments were a common occurence. It wasn’t rare for prolonged rough weather to halt imports for close to a week at a time.

  “That’s true, but…”

  “I’m giving the store a check with Himeragi on the way back, so if you need anything else, just tell her, okay?”

  The only thing left in the fridge was dark-green vegetable juice, which didn’t exactly agree with Kojou. Nagisa stared in silence as Kojou grimaced, took out a pack, and poured the contents down his throat.

  “You’re with…Yukina today?”

  Nagisa’s halting murmur sounded almost like she was talking to herself.

  “Huh?” went Kojou, wiping his lips as he looked back. Distracted by the taste of the vegetable juice, he simply hadn’t heard her very well.

  However, Nagisa seemed just as surprised as he was, making an exaggerated shake of her head as she said, “Ah, mmm, of—of course you are.”

  “Yeah,” said Kojou, nodding without really understanding the point.

  Thanks to not having woken up to his first alarm, he didn’t have much time to spare.

  He kicked the troublesome conversation down the road, gratefully accepting the breakfast his little sister had made for him.

  “What was that…?”

  Nagisa was hurriedly dressing herself as she watched Kojou bite into his bread. She let out a worried sigh.

  “What was…with me just now…?”

  Kojou hadn’t noticed his little sister mumble as she pressed a hand to her chest, trying to pin down the misty feeling within.

  2

  Visiting the classroom for the first time in a while, Kojou thought the place came off as particularly quiet. Even though classes were about to start, a good 30 percent of the students had yet to arrive at school. Perhaps they were vacation drunk and had overslept. Should’ve taken my sweet time and slept a little more, thought Kojou with some degree of envy as he arrived at his own seat.

  “Good morning, Kojou. It’s been a…well, no, it hasn’t.”

  The morose voice came from Asagi Aiba, who sat nearby.

  Her extravagant hairstyle and edgy variations on the school uniform, barely shy of breaking school regulations, were the same as always. But just like Kojou, there somehow seemed an exhausted air hovering over her at the moment. Small wonder—she’d been involved in the demon-beast incident on the mainland, having just returned to Itogami Island herself.

  “Mornin’. Feels like it’s been ages since I’ve seen you in a school uniform.”

  “Don’t make me remember something I don’t need to. Just forget about it!”

  Asagi bared her teeth as she glared at Kojou. Her cheeks were faintly reddened. The pilot suit resembling a school swimsuit complete with her name written on it that she’d been forced to wear had apparently inflicted a fair amount of trauma.

  “Good morning, Asagi. Akatsuki, too.”

  From behind Asagi, a tall, mature-looking female student addressed them. This was Rin Tsukishima, the class representative. Just as one might expect, she maintained the constant, valiant impression she usually had, even amid so many students wearing long faces over the end of the holidays.

  “Ah, Rin… Good morning.”

  “Tsukishima…”

  “The two of you seem rather…worn out.”

  Rin’s eyebrows rose with suspicion as she watched Kojou and Asagi reply with leaden voices.

  Asagi smiled listlessly and shook her head.

  “Does it look that way to you?”

  “Well, I just got back from the mainland… So that’s probably why.”

  “Eh? You went to the mainland, too, Kojou?”

  Rin’s eyes blinked in surprise. An inquisitive glint rose in her pupils as she gave Kojou an admiring stare.

  “Asagi was on the mainland until the day before yesterday, yes? Could it be, the two of you were…? My, oh my…”

  “‘My, oh my,’ nothing! It’s coincidence, pure coincidence!” Asagi refuted with ferocious energy.

  Kojou’s shoulders sank with a sigh as he added, “I just picked up my little sister from Granny’s.”

  “I was shopping in the capital. I had Tanker with me. You know her, right? Lydianne Didier. Had nothing to do with Kojou whatsoever.”

  “Hmmm, really? Well, I shall leave it at that.”

  Rin’s lips twisted into a sneer. She had the expression of a world-wise mother ignoring her daughter’s excuses.

  Asagi rested her cheek on a hand, pouting as she said, “Leave it at that or not, it’s the truth.”

  “But you met Asagi over there, didn’t you?”

  “Er, I wouldn’t really call it ‘meeting’ her—”

  When Rin’s gaze abruptly shifted his way, Kojou replied without thinking.

  “You idiot…!”

  Why did you have to go and say that? thought Asagi as she covered her eyes, face raised toward the heavens. Rin let out a giggly laugh.

  The next moment, a male student with headphones around his neck entered the classroom, looking distinctly short on sleep—Motoki Yaze.

  “Mornin’… What are you two arguing about at this hour?”

  “Nothing at all.”

  Perhaps thinking herself unable to endure any further ridicule, Asagi made a shooing motion, as if telling Yaze to get lost.

  Yaze showed not the slightest care about her childish gesture. “Hmm… Well, fine. Here’s a souvenir from Tokyo. Eat up.”

  Speaking those words, he placed a paper bag of chocolates, apparently bought from an airport vendor, in front of Kojou and the others.

  “You went to the mainland, too?”

  Asagi immediately ripped the bag open, plucking out one of the chocolates inside.

  They’d been out of touch with Yaze since the aftermath of the New Year’s temple visit. It was the first either Kojou or Asagi had heard of him having left the island, too.

  “Well, there were some circumstances involved in that… Anyway, I’m tired…” Slumping over his desk, Yaze murmured in a frail voice.

  “Well, whatever. Good you both came back safe and sound, right?” Rin consoled, looking them over.

  “Whaddaya mean?” Kojou raised his eyebrows at her words, oddly rich with implication. “Come to think of it, there’s a lot of people late, aren’t there?”

  “Kojou, didn’t you see the news this morning?” Rin asked, surprised.

  Kojou bluntly replied with a shake of his head, “Nope.”

  Nagisa not having put the TV on at normal volume like usual tugged at his mind a little, but Kojou had been too sleepy that morning to check the news himself.

  “Not a single ship scheduled to arrive at Itogami Island has arrived since yesterday. The reasons seem highly varied, from accidents to running aground, even food poisoning onboard.”

  “Seriously…?”

  Yaze’s dramatic explanation struck Kojou dumbfounded. Nagisa had mentioned incidents involving ships, but naturally, he’d never imagined it was on such a large scale. It was extremely improbable that a string of that many incidents could occur by mere coincidence.

  “Come to mention it, maybe that’s why a parcel
I bought by mail order hasn’t arrived?” Asagi pondered, worried.

  “Quite likely. It would seem there have been flights canceled as well. What did you buy?” Rin asked.

  Asagi clutched her head with such drama that one would think the world was coming to an end.

  “Brand-new sweets from a pudding specialty shop and quantum nano memory expansion for PC… Ugh, the expiration date… The state-of-the-art parts…”

  “What is that mystifying pairing…? Well, just like Asagi, I suppose…”

  I shouldn’t have worried, Rin’s sigh seemed to say.

  “The missing flights since yesterday seem to be due to turbulence,” Yaze noted, talking as if the situation wasn’t his problem.

  “Ah,” Kojou said in understanding, “so there’s a whole bunch of people who haven’t made it back to Itogami Island…”

  “And Itogami Island has three or four flights landing every day. An artificial island is inconvenient at times like these,” Asagi said, still crestfallen.

  In other words, the quiet classroom was thanks to the missed arrivals by both sea and air.

  “Would’ve been a little easier for me if flights got canceled just a little sooner…”

  Yaze mumbled to himself with a distant look in his eyes. Kojou wasn’t sure what had happened, but apparently, Yaze’s time on the mainland had been less than pleasant. He kept murmuring complaints under his breath, something about “MAR… Smuggling…”

  Suddenly, he lifted his head up with great force, almost like he’d been struck by an electric jolt.

  “Yaze? What is it?”

  “Oh, nah. It’s nothin’.”

  Yaze looked up at Kojou’s suspicious face and smiled casually like he always did, but his cheeks remained stiff.

  “It’s nothing… Right…?”

  The forlorn murmur sounded like Yaze was trying to convince himself of something.

  It was soon after that the chime for classes began to ring.

  3

  Being an artificial isle, Itogami Island’s degree of ground stability meant the construction of skyscrapers was impossible. In exchange, the city center was packed with blocks of medium-sized office buildings.