Right Arm of the Saint (8 page)

“It’s my fault?! You’re rich because of me?!”

No way
, Kojou wanted to shout. He could understand the logic of an expense budget rising the more dangerous the mission, but the inconvenience of Yukina’s arrival had mostly been his: dragging him into a fight with demons, watching his private life, threatening him with that crazy spear. So why was her piggy bank bigger than his?

But, if Kojou yelled out all his troubles, Yukina would take it the wrong way.

“I’m sorry, Senpai, making you carry all the baggage like this.”

“Oh, that’s no problem, really. You can’t carry it all yourself, right?”

“Yes. Having you with me really helped, Senpai.”

Yukina smiled as she spoke. Kojou silently shrugged his shoulders. Inside the bags swinging from Kojou’s hands were the daily necessities Yukina had bought: bedroom curtains, bath mats, toilet slippers, cups and toothbrushes, mugs. Kojou thought, it’s just like what a pair of students would get right after moving in together.

And, just as Kojou, carrying the bags, and Yukina arrived at the monorail boarding platform…

“—Kojou?”

There was a surprised voice right in front of them.

“Eh?”

Kojou reflexively lifted his face as someone called out his name. Standing there was an attractive—even gorgeous—female high school student. Her face was very familiar to Kojou.

“Er, Asagi? What are you doing here? Your place ain’t this way, is it?”

“It’s not. I was coming home from work… I thought I’d bring that World History report you asked me for over to your place, but…”

Though Kojou was speaking to her the same as usual, Asagi seemed to have her guard up for some reason as she replied. Her gaze flowed over the baggage filled with that daily-life feel.

And then Asagi’s eyes turned toward Yukina, who stood beside Kojou.

“Who’s the girl?”

“Oh, Himeragi? Err, she’s a transfer student who’s entering middle school right about now.” Kojou introduced Yukina in a carefree tone.

Yukina lowered her head in a little nod. Asagi stared squarely at Yukina.

“And what are
you
doing with a transfer student going into middle school, Kojou?”

“Er, that is,” Kojou mumbled. After all, he’d promised to keep secret the fact she was from a special national agency and had come to watch over Kojou.

Not that he thought Asagi would believe any of that even if he told her, but…

“R…right, she’s Nagisa’s classmate.”

Kojou’s voice sprang out as he finally remembered that. Asagi suspiciously raised an eyebrow.

“Nagisa’s?”

“Yeah. Apparently she and Nagisa got to know each other when she did the formalities for transferring.”

“…So, Kojou, you’re saying Nagisa introduced this girl to you?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

As that wasn’t really wrong, Kojou deftly parried. As Yukina listened to the exchange between Kojou and Asagi, an expression came over her like she’d just realized something.

“Pretty girl, isn’t she…”

Asagi turned her face to Kojou’s, speaking in a soft voice. She had the usual leering smile on her face, but she didn’t look like she was smiling when you looked at her eyes.

“Well, yeah.”

Kojou honestly agreed without any special thought involved. When he saw Asagi’s cheek twitch, he amended his words in a bit of a hurry.

“…Er, Nagisa said that, too.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Asagi distanced herself from Kojou, an artificial smile still on her face. From the way she looked, Kojou felt a dangerous aura about her.

“Ah, Asagi?”

“Well, the train’s coming. I’m heading home.”

Just as Asagi said, the train was just arriving at the monorail loading platform. She turned in the opposite direction of the stop toward Kojou and Yukina’s apartment complex. Kojou hurriedly called out to her, “Huh? Weren’t you gonna show me that World History report?”

“Yeah. I meant to, but apparently I forgot it somewhere.”

Asagi spoke with a smiling face filled with quiet rage. Her eyes conveyed a silent message that he
would
be explaining this at school tomorrow.

“Huh? Hey, Asagi!”

“Bye-bye!”

The train doors shut right in front of the bewildered Kojou’s eyes. For some reason, Asagi ignored Kojou, waved amiably to Yukina alone, and left.

“What’s up with her?”

Kojou tilted his head as he muttered. Yukina had an expression on her face as though she felt responsible.

“I’m sorry, Senpai. It may be my fault there’s some kind of misunderstanding…”

“Misunderstanding?”

Kojou glanced back with a mystified look at Yukina, who was dejected for some reason. Finally, he
ahh
ed as it clicked.

“Er, no way. There’s no misunderstanding. She’s just a friend, you see.”

“Just…friends, is it?” Yukina asked back as if weighing whether that’s what Kojou really thought. Kojou nodded without hesitation.

“Well, we go back a long way. It’s like we’re best buds.”

“Senpai…”

For some reason, Yukina was looking up at Kojou with a scolding look over his indifferent reply.

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Her words were accompanied by a deep exhalation.

In the end, it was nearly evening by the time Kojou and Yukina arrived back at their apartment building.

The sun’s rays were as strong as usual, but the breeze was just starting to have a bit of nighttime chill mixed in.

“—Huh, you and Kojou-kun are back only now? Pretty late, isn’t it?”

As Kojou and Yukina dove past the apartment complex’s entrance, as if fleeing from the setting sun, someone’s voice was there to greet them. With the elevator door still open, a female junior high school student, in uniform, motioned with her hand for them to hurry over.

“Nagisa, huh. What’s with the bags?”

As Kojou entered the elevator, he raised an eyebrow at his little sister’s appearance. Nagisa’s right hand had a sports bag packed with her baggage for club activities in it. And her left hand held a shopping bag filled with a large amount of cooking ingredients.

“What do you mean what? It’s for our transfer girl’s welcome party.”

Looking at the surprised Kojou, Nagisa spoke in apparent amazement.

“Welcome party?”

“That’s right. I mean, she only just moved here, so she can’t prepare supper for today, right?”

“Well, you’ve got a point there.”

Kojou nodded, remembering how Yukina’s room had lacked cooking utensils and even basic tableware. Then a suspicious look came over him.

“Wait, Nagisa, did you know Himeragi was moving in next door…?”

“Yeah. I mean, she came over to say hi this morning. You were asleep, though.”

Nagisa spoke in a tone that seemed to fault him for sleeping in late. She was more reserved with the amount of words out of her mouth than usual, though, and was no doubt being prudent in front of Yukina.

“That so?” Kojou asked Yukina in a low voice.

“Yes,” Yukina replied, nodding.

“Er… But is it all right, having a welcome party?”

“Totally all right! I already bought meat for it anyway. Kojou and I can’t eat it all by ourselves.”

Nagisa had a warm, affable expression as she spoke.
That’s for sure
, thought Kojou with a strained smile.

Thanks to their parents divorcing four years before, the Akatsuki household was currently a three-person family. Furthermore, their mother, working as head of research for a corporation based in the city, would be away from home for one or two weeks at a time depending on circumstances with her work.

Since her children could go meet her at any time, it didn’t feel all that lonely, but Kojou and Nagisa substantially lived on their own together as brother and sister. Though not by a giant margin, they couldn’t eat the 1.5 kilograms of on-sale, special-cut beef that Nagisa held in her arms.

“Thank you very much. As you prefer, then.”

Yukina said that after a bit of thought. She was probably telling herself it was just another part of her duty to watch Kojou. Hearing those words, Nagisa made a happy-looking smile.

“I’m so glad. So come over after you’ve put your stuff away. Ah, are you all right with only a pot of stew? I hope there’s nothing you can’t eat in there, Yukina. It sure feels like a luxury having the air conditioner on full blast and eating stuff like this in the middle of summer. Which do you like the taste of better, miso or soy sauce? Yukina, is there anything you can’t eat, or can you eat everything? It really does feel like a luxury, eating stew in the middle of the summer with the AC turned up. For the broth, I use bonito, kelp, chicken bones, and potatoes, but today I prepared some crab, too, so maybe I should use soy sauce. The crab’s hair crab from Okhotsk. Today’s just the right season—”

“Leave it at that, Nagisa. Himeragi’s in shell-shock.”

Kojou lightly tapped his little sister on the head to quiet her motormouth down. Nagisa went, “Ow,” and glared at Kojou with tearful eyes.

A look of being completely overwhelmed came over Yukina, but even so:

“Er, how about I help you with it? If it’s just preparing a stew, then…”

“No, no, today you’re our guest, Yukina. You must be tired from having come a long way. Hey, Kojou, entertain Yukina, would you?”

“Don’t say something you just came up with like you planned it. I’m goin’ to my room to finish off my homework.”

Kojou let out a small sigh as he gazed at the setting sun. Before he’d realized it, his remaining summer vacation time had become all too brief. He couldn’t conceal his sense that he might already be too late.

“If that is the case, how about I help you with your homework, then, Senpai?”

Yukina spoke as she left the day-to-day goods she’d bought in the entryway to room 705.

Her unexpected offer threw Kojou off. He was truly grateful for the suggestion, but there were too many problems with his little sister’s classmate helping him study, at least as far as his dignity as an older brother was concerned.

But, Nagisa cared nothing for Kojou’s inner conflict.

“Sorry, Yukina-chan. Please take good care of Kojou-kun. He’s not a very bright older brother.”

As she made another monologue, she brought Yukina back with her to her own residence. Kojou followed the girls with a sullen face. Dignity as the older brother? No such thing. He was grateful that at least Yukina didn’t act like Nagisa’s pushy invitation bothered her at all.

Entering her own residence, Nagisa immediately tossed on an apron and began preparing the ingredients.

As she did so, Kojou led Yukina to his own room.

Since Nagisa was a clean freak and tidied up without asking,
May I?
whenever she saw an opening, Kojou could show her his room without any embarrassment, at least.

Even so, the room was dreary with little in the way of content to begin with. It wasn’t quite at the level of Yukina’s room, but aside from the bed, a desk, and a half-empty bookshelf with old magazines stuffed into it, it was bare.

“This is… Senpai, you’re a basketball player?”

Yukina had noticed the album sitting on top of that bookshelf when she asked, apparently a bit surprised.

The album was a record of Kojou’s time in Basketball Club in junior high school. He’d gotten rid of all his basketball equipment when he’d left the club, but this was the only thing not thrown away.

“So you know what basketball is, Himeragi? Even though you said a golf club was a type of mace?”

Kojou spoke in a joking tone. Yukina’s lips twisted in a pout.

“A city championship is an impressive record.”

“Well, that was a long time ago.”

“Was obtaining the power of the Fourth Primogenitor why you gave up basketball, Senpai?”

Yukina said those words as she looked at him with a serious expression. Kojou shook his head like the issue was tiresome. It felt a bit odd that a whole year had passed since then, he thought.

“My condition’s got nothin’ to do with that. I quit basketball before then, you see.”

Yeah, not like I could compete with this body anyway
, Kojou thought, laughing at his own expense.

He had the ability to leap with monstrous strength and the agility to catch a bullet. Using demonic power was the antithesis of sportsmanship. As cheating went, doping scandals had nothing on this.

But Kojou had quit basketball over a year ago, before he’d become a vampire.

“Why did you, then?”

“Really, it’s not that rare a story. I didn’t understand club activity isn’t something you can do by yourself.

“The point being, I was isolated on the team.”

“Eh?”

Watching from the side, Yukina seemed surprised as Kojou talked about it as if it involved someone else. Kojou executed a languid flop onto the bed, making a strained smile as he looked up at the ceiling.

“Back then, I thought we’d win if I just played hard enough. And till midway, that’s actually how it was. We were what people call a one-man team. Because I was a good player, I really got carried away with myself.”

Like it was ever gonna work out like that
, Kojou thought with a laugh.

The trigger was the final tournament in junior high. Kojou had been injured in the district qualifiers. He’d taken a hard foul from the opposing team and had been forced off the court midway against his will. Fortunately, they’d had a large lead; Kojou’s injury wasn’t all that severe, either. If they’d won he should’ve been able to play in the next round.

But the instant Kojou went off the court, the team’s morale collapsed.

They let the opposing team roar back and build a huge lead, and lost just like that.

From start to finish, all Kojou could do was watch the process from the bench, dumbfounded, unable to do a thing.

“More than that, I was shocked at how calmly the other players accepted defeat.”

Kojou made an offhanded shrug of his shoulders.

“That’s when I finally realized
I
was the one who’d taken their willpower away. They figured, even if they didn’t try hard, someone else would win it for them. I made them think I’d always come through, even though the truth was I couldn’t do anything on my own. Not that understanding that means I can do anything about it now.”

That was why Kojou quit the team, citing the need to recover from his injury. Some of his fellow players remained, but Kojou didn’t continue to play basketball with them, for Kojou reasoned that so long as he was at their side, they’d never change. At any rate, Kojou himself had lost all desire to continue.

“I don’t think… that it was all your fault, though, Senpai.” Yukina, having silently listened to his story, spoke in an overly serious tone.

As Yukina did so, Kojou made what seemed like a teasing smile at her.

“Yeah, well that’s all right. I just lost my motivation all on my own, after all. But…” Then Kojou bared his canine teeth. His eye color changed to red for just a moment. “When this ridiculous Fourth Primogenitor thing got pushed onto me, I did think about it a little. Like if I used these powers, I’d probably be able to solve a bunch of the problems of today’s world. At the very least, I could kill off fiendish criminals and wipe out dirty politicians… Stuff like that.”

“Senpai. That’s—”

“I know. That’s no good. Just ’cause a guy like me gets his hands on a bit more power than the next guy doesn’t make fiddling with the world any which way a good thing. If I do something like that, there’ll probably be a reaction coming from somewhere.”

Yukina exhaled in what seemed like relief. And, as if suddenly realizing something, she raised an eyebrow.

“Senpai, is that why you hide the fact you’re a vampire and live as an ordinary human being?”

Well that, too
, thought Kojou as he made a vague nod.

“I don’t need vampire powers anyway, and I don’t want anything to do with ’em if I can avoid it. I’m not cut out to be some hero anyway. Besides, to be honest, these crazy powers I’ve been given are beyond me. I don’t have any faith I can use ’em right.”

“I see…”

It’s not that I don’t understand how you feel
, thought Yukina as she watched Kojou with sober eyes. Then…

“But, Senpai… Isn’t that just an excuse to do nothing?”

“Eh? Er… Is that what you think?”

An expression came over Kojou like he was hurt.

“I kinda meant to say something profound there, but, ah…”

“Hee-hee, I suppose you did. I have a somewhat better opinion of you now, really.”

“O-okay.”

“Quite.”

Yukina made a small giggle.

“Now then, right now there’s something you have to do, so shall we begin, Senpai? Let’s stop memorizing answers for now. After all, if you can take care of basic formulas you’ll be all right.”

As Yukina opened one of Kojou’s textbooks, she spoke with the tone of a private tutor older than he was. With a
geh
, Kojou’s face grimaced, but for some reason, Yukina seemed somewhat amused.

The supper Nagisa had prepared should have been enough for light servings for seven or eight people, but the three of them exhibited ravenous hunger as they devoured the whole thing. They even managed to finish off the last of the rice gruel broth.

“Ahh—we sure ate. I can’t move anymore.”

Nagisa, wearing a thin camisole, flopped onto the living room sofa. When Yukina tried to help clean up after, Nagisa went, “It’s okay, it’s
okay,” and coerced her back to her own room; by the time the kitchen was spotless, she seemed to have used up all her strength.