The Amphisbaena (5 page)

“Ha-ha, there’s no way. It’s Nagisa. No boy’s gonna give her a love letter.”

“No, er… Nagisa’s rather popular, actually.” Yukina revealed the unpalatable, shocking truth.

“Th-that’s just with dogs and cats and stuff…”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean with ordinary boys in class… I mean, she’s cheerful and cute, she’s easy to talk to, she’s very considerate, has a lot of friends… I don’t think there’s any reason she
wouldn’t
be popular.”

Kojou was only half-present as he listened to Yukina’s words.

Right about then, Takashimizu, having handed Nagisa the letter in the schoolyard, was walking away, full of himself at what he had accomplished.

“It appears that today, all she’s done is accept the letter.”

Yukina, who saw the immediate matter as closed, laid the situation out for the benefit of Kojou, who bent down in the corridor. Astounded at the sight of Kojou shaken like this, her voice was mixed with what seemed like a certain echo of disappointment in what she was seeing.

The seventh day of the lunar month, the night of the first quarter of the moon…

“H…hello?! Kojou Akatsuki?! It’s me!”

About an hour after midnight, the sudden ringing of the phone roused Kojou from the verge of falling asleep.

The voice he heard through the phone’s speaker sounded tight with tension. Kojou replied to the voice, one he’d become very accustomed to hearing over the last several days, with a reluctant tone.

“…Kirasaka? Sorry, I don’t feel like dealing with you today. Later.” With that, Kojou moved to hang up the phone.

“Huh?! W-wait, will you?!”

The girl on the other end of the line, Sayaka Kirasaka, sounded very rushed.

She was a War Dancer for the Lion King Agency—a specialist in curses and assassination. She was also Yukina’s former roommate. Kojou had come to know her due to an incident that had rocked Itogami Island two weeks prior.

A one-sided grudge by the man-hating Sayaka had caused a great deal of grief for Kojou, but for some reason, she kept in touch by phone like this even after she’d left Itogami Island once her mission had ended.

“What are you hanging up on your own like that for?! Inform me what
the meaning of this is. Or does this mean you’ve done something to my Yukina again…?!”

Her display of typical overprotectiveness toward Yukina put Kojou in a mood of deep regret. This was pretty much the only part of Sayaka’s personality he didn’t like, really…

“It’s not… Nothing to do with Himeragi, but I haven’t done anything to bother her. Probably not.”

“What in the…? I don’t understand a word you’re saying…”

Suppose that figures
, Kojou thought with a bit of self-reflection.

“It’s not about her, it’s my little sister who’s in Himeragi’s class…”

“Ah, Nagisa you mean?”

“Why do
you
know about her?”

“She was in a file concerning the recent incident. Unlike you, she’s pretty cute,” Sayaka said glowingly in a self-absorbed voice.

“Oh, shut up,” Kojou muttered, grinding his teeth. “So…a boy in her class gave her what looked like a confession…”

“…Did you kill him?” Sayaka asked in a suddenly frigid tone.

Kojou was bewildered by the sudden change. “Huh?”

“Did you kill the filthy little thief? I mean, I do understand how you feel, but I wonder if burning him to a crisp with your Beast Vassal might be overdoing it just a little.”

“Like hell I did!!” Sayaka’s altogether too-extreme impression made Kojou feel a shiver as he shouted. “Why would I use a Beast Vassal to fry a guy making moves on my little sister anyway?! I don’t get what you’re going on about!”

“Why not? Maybe now you can sympathize a little with the anger and despair I felt when I’d heard you’d laid a hand on my Yukina.”

“No, no, no, Himeragi’s not your little sister, and anyway, I didn’t lay a hand on her.”

“…You drank my Yukina’s blood, you drank my Yukina’s blood…,” Sayaka repeated the words in a subdued, resentful tone. “Shut up,” muttered Kojou again as he pulled the phone away from his ear. After a little while, he heard an “ahem” sound of her clearing her throat.

“Well, I basically understand the situation.”

“D-do you now.”

“You’re one of
those
. What do they call them? You’ve got a sister complex.”

“Er, no, you don’t understand one little bit. It’s not that at all,” Kojou disputed in irritation. “…It’s just, after our parents divorced there was no dad in the house, and Nagisa had a hard time for a while living in a hospital. That’s why I kinda feel like…if I don’t protect her, who will?”

“Is…is that so…? W-well, that’s pretty…commendable by your standards…”

Normally he’d never think about the matter that deeply, and more than half of it was born of the need to come up with an excuse at the moment, but Sayaka seemed to take it quite seriously. She murmured in a quivering voice before going silent.

Kojou felt a little guilty and changed the subject. “Anyway, what were you calling for tonight?”

“It’s not as if I have any business that has to do with you!”

Sayaka’s reply came in the blink of an eye.
What’s her problem?
thought Kojou, beside himself.

“Geez, don’t call, then!”

“Th-this week I’m going to Itogami City again, so I just wanted to tell you that if you ask, it’s okay to meet up somewhere.”

“…Did that idiot Vattler do something again?” Kojou asked with the sudden onset of a bad premonition. Dimitrie Vattler was an aristocrat of the Warlord’s Empire in Europe. He was a pureblood vampire of the bloodline of the First Primogenitor, the Lost Warlord.

He was militant to the point you could call him a combat maniac. Sayaka was his watcher.

But Sayaka made a weary sigh.

“Separate case. A…VIP from the kingdom of Aldegia is coming that day, so I’m supposed to be her…escort and guide…

“…There’s been a bit of trouble, though.”

“Aldegia? What’s someone that far from Itogami City want here?” Kojou asked back with a dubious voice.

The kingdom of Aldegia was a small European nation on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Known for its beautiful natural environment and
high-tech industrial power, it was especially famous for production of magical products. But thanks to the great distances involved, it had no deep links to Japan.

“I…can’t really say I don’t know the details, but they’re diplomatic secrets, you see…”

“Ahh. Yeah, they would be…”

Based on Sayaka’s oddly reluctant tone, Kojou took her words at face value.

“Getting assigned escorting a VIP from another country, though, you’re really something, Sayaka. Even though you’re the same age as I am…”

“Er, ah…thank you…” As if stricken by surprise, Sayaka spoke in a rather cute voice. After that, she hastily returned to her usual overbearing tone. “W-well…naturally. I’m not a half-baked Primogenitor like you are. This is the least expected of Yukina’s older sister.”

Not like you actually
are
Yukina’s older sister
, Kojou mentally interjected.

“If you’re escorting a big shot like that, you won’t have time to meet me or Himeragi, though. I’m sure it’ll be real busy. Figures it’s a totally different situation than us.”

“Er, yeah…” Upon hearing Kojou’s genuine words of praise, Sayaka murmured weakly, then groaned a low groan as if wanting to rebut him about something. “That’s right, that’s how it is! Go die, idiot!” she suddenly yelled defiantly and hung up.

What the heck did she really want, anyway…
, pondered Kojou, staring at the silent cell phone in bewilderment.
Oh well
, he immediately decided and went back to sleep.

It was the next day after classes. Immediately after finishing his lessons, Kojou headed to the middle school section. He was, of course, heading there to keep an eye on Nagisa.

Being an artificial construct, Itogami Island had a chronic shortage of land, so the site of Saikai Academy was by no means excessively broad. Many facilities, like pools and gyms, were shared between the campuses. For that reason, Kojou encountered no special suspicion as he arrived at the middle school campus.

He’d already confirmed that Nagisa had been in a club meeting during that day’s lunch break. Accordingly, if Takashimizu plotted to get close to her again, chances were good that he’d do it during the after-class period.

The problem was, how was he going to keep an eye on Nagisa without her noticing…?

“…What do you think you’re doing here, senpai?”

Kojou, having infiltrated the campus building while avoiding prying eyes, froze in place as a sudden voice brought him to a halt.

With a gulp, he turned his head toward the speaker. Yukina stood there with a neutral expression as he met her eyes.

“Himeragi… Wh-what a coincidence. I was just passing through, y’see…”

“You were just
passing through
the middle school building?”

Yukina exhaled, exasperated. Perhaps he should have expected as much inside the school building, but the usual guitar case was not on her back.

“Nagisa went to the roof.”

“…The roof?! Dammit, that’s where…!”

Kojou clicked his tongue and looked above his head. Thanks to having seen her behind the building the day before, he’d been sure she’d show up somewhere near the same place again that day.

Now that Kojou was no longer making any effort to conceal that he was trying to sneak in, Yukina shot a rather frigid glare at him.

“Senpai, you’ve got more of a sister compl— Er, you’re more of a worrier than I expected. I’ll put it that way.”

The typically considerate Yukina corrected herself before saying “sister complex.” Kojou twisted his lips in dissatisfaction.

“Just so you know, I worry about you, too, Himeragi…,” he informed her with the call from Sayaka the night before in mind. But even before Kojou got the last part out of his lips, Yukina’s cheeks were turning red.

“Wh…why would you be…? I’m here because of my duty, you know. There’s no reason for you to worry about me, senpai…”

For some reason, Yukina was lowering her face like she was blushing, mumbling in a small voice. Her rather mysterious reaction threw Kojou off a bit.

“…She only left the classroom just earlier, so I think we can still catch her. Let’s go.”

Yukina spoke decisively and walked in front of Kojou. Kojou was even more thrown off by Yukina’s sudden cooperativeness.

“Himeragi…?”

“I-I’m going with you. To watch you, of course, senpai.”

“R-right.”

Well, fine then
, thought Kojou as he followed behind her.

Kojou felt a little nostalgic as they ran up the stairs, a different color than the ones in the high school building.

The door to the rooftop wasn’t locked. After confirming there was no sign of anyone in front of the door, Yukina gently pushed it open. That was when they heard a boy restraining an oddly sentimental voice.

“…Just cooperate already. You’re gonna make a scene…”

Kojou’s face paled at the fairly unmanly tone. Judging based on the fragments that his ears could pick up, he could only think that the boy was trying to convince someone to do something she didn’t want to.

“Wh-what are they doing, I wonder…?” Yukina murmured with apparent unease. Kojou’s expression remained frozen in place.

“Is that voice that Takashimizu guy?”

“…Yes. Probably.”

Yukina bit her lip and nodded. They couldn’t hear the words from whomever Takashimizu was speaking to. All they could hear was an occasional, delicate voice with something like a yelp mixed in.

Kojou swallowed his spit with a gulp and pressed his ear to the gap in the door.

“…Sheesh, I told you no. Don’t hug so tight.”

“Ahh, sorry… I’m not really used to this.”

“Hey, I told you that tickles…!”

“If you’re too loud, people are gonna notice…”

“I know, I know…but when I’m licked like that… O-ow…”

This time, Kojou could clearly hear the voice of a girl very familiar to him. There was no mistaking that it was Nagisa engaged in “pleasant conversation” with Takashimizu.

The instant he was sure of that, Kojou kicked the door open before his brain could catch up.

“S-senpai?!”

“You bastaaaaard!”

With Yukina still pulling on him to hold him back, Kojou leaped out onto the rooftop as he bellowed.

The shocked, wide-open eyes of Nagisa and Takashimizu turned to look at him.

“Okay, break it up!! Do you have any idea who you’re laying your paws on here?!”

“Eh…?! Um, uhh…”

“…Senpai, don’t! Calm down!”

Takashimizu retreated a step in apparent fear of the sight of Kojou’s rage. Kojou brushed off the clinging Yukina and raised his fist at Takashimizu.

That was when a small, brown, furry animal leaped into Kojou’s field of vision.

The round eyes of the kitten in Takashimizu’s arms looked curiously back at Kojou. Kojou stopped in place as if those eyes had pierced him like an arrow.

The kitten mewed a small mew.

“H-huh?!”

With the eyes of everyone present upon him, Kojou slowly looked around the area.

He didn’t understand what was going on in the slightest.

Takashimizu was standing there hugging a kitten. Nagisa was letting the kitten lick her own fingers.

Yukina was standing right behind Kojou, wide-eyed. The kitten made a meow once more.

And there was someone else…

There was a schoolgirl he’d never seen before standing right beside Nagisa.

Kojou’s eyes were instantly taken in by her.

A gentle smile came over the girl’s face; she seemed wholly out of place in this confusing situation, as if she’d wandered her way in from a completely different world.

Her silver hair evoked a snowy plain; her pale blue eyes glittered like a frozen stream.

Perhaps because of the color of her hair and eyes, she somehow felt like a beautiful lady of high breeding.

She was of small stature, not much different than Nagisa or Yukina. Even so, she seemed taller than they did, which was no doubt why she had a stylishness far removed from Japanese norms.

She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt under her short-sleeved uniform. It was strange to see anyone wearing one on Itogami Island with its year-round summer, but it matched her refreshing looks very nicely.

“Er… Who’s that…?” Kojou asked without thinking. “Meow,” went the kitten one more time.

The silver-haired girl said nothing, tilting her head as if a bit at a loss. The next moment…

“…Kojou!” Her hair standing up like a hissing wildcat’s fur, Nagisa stormed her way toward Kojou.

“N-Nagisa… What are you doing up here with a cat…?”

“What are
you
doing in the middle school building, Kojou?! Shouting nonsense all of a sudden like that! It’s rude to Takashimizu and it startled the cat. Plus, it’s making trouble for Yukina!”

Cold sweat poured down Kojou in the face of his little sister’s rapid verbal assault.