Right Arm of the Saint (22 page)

However, the idea of an Attack Mage being assigned to watch duty in her stead rubbed him the wrong way somehow. He didn’t like it.

And Kojou liked even less the idea of Yukina being assigned to another mission he’d know nothing about.

When he pictured her fighting alone and being hurt, he had unpleasant feeling, like something heavy was sinking inside his chest.

Unable to explain why he felt so irritated, Kojou made an anguished groan.

“Studying for exams, Akatsuki-senpai? This formula is wrong.”

Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice close to him. It was a somewhat blunt, and so, serious-sounding voice.

When Kojou raised his head in surprise, there stood Yukina, the setting sun at her back.

Of course, she was wearing a school uniform with a black guitar case on her back. A doll looking something like a beckoning cat mascot had been tied to a corner of the case, dangling.

“H-Himeragi?”

“Hello, Senpai. What’s wrong? You look so surprised.”

“Er…so then, inside that guitar case is…?”

“Yes, Snowdrift Wolf. Yesterday, it came back from repairs.”

“Er…um, why?”

“I suppose because it’s necessary for watch duty over you, Senpai. After all, this is equipment for fighting the Fourth Primogenitor.”

Yukina conveyed that in her usual serene tone. However, she was smiling, her eyes looking a bit happy.

Perplexed, Kojou slapped his cheek.

“Wait, this means you’re gonna keep watching over me, Himeragi?”

“Apparently so. Actually, I’m not really certain why they granted permission for that either but…are you disappointed, Senpai?”

As Yukina spoke, she made a small giggle with a teasing expression.

Kojou made a strained smile and shook his head.

“Nah. I’m glad… I mean, you look excited, too, Himeragi.”

“Eh? I do? Er, yes, well, really it’s all the same to…”

“I mean, um, hey. After all, I did
that
in the park with you, Himeragi.”

“
That
…meaning?”

As Yukina tilted her head with a dubious look, redness seemed to suddenly explode over her cheeks. No doubt she’d finally remembered what she’d done to get Kojou to drink her blood.

“Ah, er… That’s… If at all possible, I’d like you to forget about that…”

“No way that’s gonna happen. Nothing going on with your body?” Kojou asked with a serious expression for once.

He’d been told that just having a vampire drink your blood had no great effect. But there were rare exceptions. Making someone a “Blood Servant” who wasn’t prepared for eternal life with him would’ve been a huge problem.

“Don’t worry,” Yukina said with a nod. “I did check with a testing kit, but it’s all right. I already knew that according to the phase of the moon, it was a comparatively safe day.”

“I, ah, see… Well, I’m glad you’re safe, Himeragi.”

Kojou breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yes,” Yukina said with a smile. “Sorry for making you worry like that.”

“Nah… I’m the one who should say I’m sorry.”

“S-Senpai, I don’t think you have anything to apologize for. At the time, I was the one who said I wanted you to do it…”

As if embarrassed, Yukina lowered her face, speaking in a low voice. Kojou ran a hand over his head, feeling very awkward himself.

“Well, I suppose that’s true, but it must’ve been a painful experience for you, too, Himeragi.”

“It’s all right. All that happened was a tiny bit of blood loss, and the mark from where you sucked is nearly gone already.”

Yukina touched her hand to her neck. There was only a small, unobtrusive adhesive on it. “Well, I’m glad,” Kojou said as he nodded, when…

“—?!”

His entire body froze instantly.

A shadow slowly rose, like a zombie, from the plant behind Yukina. It was a female student wearing the same junior high uniform as Yukina. She wore her long hair tied up, giving her a lively aura.

“Hmm… Kojou-kun sucked something of Yukina’s?” she asked in a low voice that seemed to seethe with anger.

Kojou went pale as he looked up at the speaker’s face.

“N-Nagisa?! What are you doing here…?”

“I met Asagi-chan at the counter earlier and heard you’re studying for exams, so I thought I’d come and encourage you, but then you two were having a conversation I couldn’t ignore. So I wanted to come ask for a few more
details
.”

Nagisa Akatsuki turned an aggressive, smiling face toward her older brother. It was her habit to put on a broad smile that twitched at the edges of her lips when she was at the peak of her anger.

“W-wait, Nagisa. I think you are probably misunderstanding something. Right, Himeragi?”

Kojou desperately tried to hold his little sister at bay. Yukina, standing beside him, nodded her head up and down as well.

However, Kojou and Yukina’s united front only seemed to deepen Nagisa’s anger.

“Hmm, a misunderstanding? Where’s the misunderstanding? Kojou was Yukina’s first time, it hurt, and on top of that you’re worried about her physical condition, so what am I misunderstanding exactly…?”

“I’m saying, everything you’re imagining is a complete misunderstanding, but…”

Midway, a conflicted expression came over Kojou.

He couldn’t tell Nagisa what had really happened. She didn’t know that Kojou was a vampire. If at all possible, he didn’t want her to know that for a while longer.

“Wait, you said you met Asagi. Where’d she go?” Kojou asked back as calmly as he could to somehow change the subject.

However, Nagisa replied in a chilly tone…

“Asagi has been right here listening to you and Yukina talking the whole time.”

“Huh?”

Kojou finally realized that there was another female student standing next to Nagisa.

Because she’d splendidly kept her aura in check, he had not realized she was present.

She wore her uniform stylishly and had an eye-catching face. However, those beautiful features now burned with a frigid, angry fire that made her look like a goddess of vengeance.

“W-wait, Asagi. I thought I’d explain this to you sometime, but there are some very deep circumstances involved in—wait, why are you angry anyway?”

Kojou instantly tried to apologize with all his might. However…

“You’re the worst!”

Speaking with no expression on her face, she dumped the contents of the paper cup in her hand over Kojou’s head without mercy. It had a sour smell to it. Cranberry soda and grape juice, apparently.

“S-Senpai?!”

Yukina took her handkerchief out in a hurry as she saw the red liquid dripping down Kojou as if it were a large amount of blood. Asagi drew near Yukina as well in a show of hostility.

“You, too. This is a good opportunity for me to ask, so what exactly is your relationship to Kojou?”

“I’m Akatsuki-senpai’s watcher.”

Yukina replied calmly. Her demeanor looked gentle on the surface, but Yukina was really a martial artist as well. Invisible sparks scattered about as the two glared at each other.

“Watch? So like a stalker?”

“You are mistaken. I simply thought I’d watch so that Senpai does not commit any wrongdoing—”

“Then what are you doing seducing this idiot?!”

“W, well… You have a…point there…”

Perhaps feeling pangs of guilt, Yukina seemed to concede the issue.

“It’s not like that! Deny it, Himeragi!”

Kojou unwittingly shouted as he wiped the juice from his eyes.

“Everyone, this is an incubus! A sex fiend who laid a hand on his little sister’s classmate—!”

“Stop it, Asagi! Listen to me a little!!”

Shocked, Kojou got up with all his might, hoping to silence Asagi’s outcry with his loud voice, to no avail.

“Kojou, you big lecher! Deviant! Pervert! This is filthy even for you!”

“P-please stop this, both of you. Certainly Akatsuki-senpai has some lewdness about him, but…”

“Nagisa, you pipe down, too. Himeragi, you’re not helping at all here!”

Attracted by the clamor of the girls’ voices, the eyes of the students nearby converged onto Kojou.

The male students bore expressions of envy and jealousy, but disgust came over the female students’ faces like they were looking at a filthy criminal. As Kojou felt their gazes prick his back, he unwittingly looked out the window.

Someone kill me, now.

So long as his flesh bore the curse of immortality, that was a prayer that would go unanswered.

However, he did not yet realize…

…That the daily travails of the world’s mightiest vampire, the Fourth Primogenitor, Kojou Akatsuki, had only just begun…

Maybe it was because I watched spirit TV specials before the era of CG, but even though I was a smart-aleck brat who didn’t believe in ghosts and specters one whit, I became very fond of monsters that had acquired strange powers and the sense they were much stronger than people.

This is just my arbitrary imagination at work, but I think monsters are divided into two broad categories, with one being the lone villain or hero who walks a lonely path beyond our image of the human norm. The other is fear of a phenomenon beyond human comprehension, such as natural disaster or “death,” given physical form. And I feel that some things mix the two together. Yes, for example, a hybrid monster such as the vampire.

While similar to humans, they are beings that have obtained powers beyond human control. What do they desire? How do they live? These themes have been repeated time and time again since the age of myth, yet how such beings live still tugs strongly at our hearts.

And so, I deliver unto you
Strike the Blood
, Vol. 1.

It’s been a while since I had a new series. The main character is the world’s mightiest vampire. Having said that, he does give off a feeling of
uwaa, he’s not that bright
, but on the inside, it’s a pretty straightforward school action fantasy. Incidentally, in baseball, the straight pitches come with a few curveballs mixed in…but anyway, if you’re having fun, that’s great.

And this work is also another kind of tale, that of the out-of-control monster and the people who accept him, and who are in turn saved by him. This is a myth that has been handed down in many flavors, but I really like stories like that. Sometimes it’s a nameless boy or girl who stands up the monster beyond human comprehension, and it is they who come to be called
heroes
afterward.

Often, their weapons are youth, reckless courage, and love. That’s why, even if the main characters look like a pair of idiots causing trouble to everyone around them, it can’t really be helped. A lot of flirting is a good thing.

Now then, getting this novel published was thanks to the aid of a great many people.

In particular, Hideyuki Furuhashi-sensei first proposed the “Fourth Primogenitor” naming and offered many suggestions and pieces of advice for the content of the work. Thank you as always.

I want to thank Manyako-sama very much for providing such wonderful illustrations for this work. Please take such good care of me in the future as well. Also, to all those I caused trouble to, and everyone who helped me, let me take this opportunity to say my thanks.

And to all the readers who took the plunge and bought the first novel of a new series, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Really, thanks.

This is the last part, but on March 11, 2011, a large earthquake occurred known as the Great East Japan Earthquake.

I am writing this afterword several days after it occurred.

Thus, as I write this, there are still many people involved in emergency disaster relief, dealing with the aftermath at the epicenter. I’m worried that there are still many people missing. I pray in the hope that as many people as possible may yet be saved. I also wish that everyone will be able to return to their peaceful daily lives as quickly as possible.

This work is a story about monsters and heroes. However, I think that natural disasters and scientific technology running amok are very much
monsters of the modern age, and those who stand against them are the true heroes.

In the movie
Spider-Man 2
, one of the characters says, “I believe there’s a hero in all of us.”

This work is a story about monsters and heroes. Because of circumstances like these, if you, in reading this, have felt tranquility and courage for even a single moment, I have no greater delight.

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STRIKE THE BLOOD, Volume 1 GAKUTO MIKUMO

Translation by Jeremiah Bourque

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

STRIKE THE BLOOD, Volume 1 © GAKUTO MIKUMO 2011 All rights reserved.

Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS

First published in Japan in 2011 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

English translation © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

First ebook edition: September 2015

ISBN 978-0-316-34548-4

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