Even among the elite research staff, few ever visited the place.
The entry limitations were quite strict, but no one wanted to be close to it in the first place.
The cause was simple. It was fear.
They were afraid of the room.
The eyewitnesses to spiritual and other bizarre phenomena were beyond counting. As a matter of fact, the number of researchers who had killed themselves or retired from mental illness was not small. Even the people who didn’t believe in such unscientific phenomena as “curses” wanted to keep their distance when they heard the sheer frequency with which measuring equipment broke down or gave false readings.
Hard to blame them, thought Mimori.
After all, sleeping within the room was the true Fourth Primogenitor, said to be calamity incarnate—for these were the remains of Root Avrora.
“Mm-hmmm—”
Mimori Akatsuki’s humming echoed through the lab devoid of another living presence.
Placed in the center of the room was a cube of ice around three meters thick.
A girl was sleeping within—a girl with rainbow-colored hair that resembled billowing flames.
A silver glow emanated from the girl’s chest as she lay on her side within the block of ice, and a large object protruded from her chest; it was a metallic stake, which had impaled her heart.
No power had been able to coax the block of ice enveloping the girl to melt. Accordingly, the silver stake had never been removed from her chest. This block of ice was her coffin. Thus, the room had been dubbed the Coffin Room.
“Oh my?”
However, just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Mimori Akatsuki halted.
She had realized there was already a visitor in the purportedly unoccupied room.
It was a small girl. She was wearing a yukata with a vibrant floral pattern. On her feet, she wore split-toe socks and glossy-black wooden clogs. An air of elegance and class hovered around her.
When she turned around, the girl’s eyes glimmered in the darkness like blue flames.
Her tied-up hair was a faintly golden color; yet, like a rainbow, it changed color depending on the angle of the light.
Her appearance strongly resembled that of the naked girl resting within the ice—nay, the girls looked identical.
She had the same face as the one who slept within the coffin: the girl known as Avrora, the twelfth Kaleid Blood.
“My, my, we have an unexpected guest.”
However, Mimori showed no sign of being shaken or put off. In fact, her tone was cheerful, her expression welcoming the unknown intruder.
Mimori’s reaction made the girl in the yukata smile as well. Her beautiful eyebrows rose in apparent praise.
“Thou gazeth directly at me, yet, your heart is not astir. ’Tis most unexpected.”
“That’s because I suspected it was right about time that someone came to deliver a warning. Well, naturally I didn’t expect it would be you delivering it in person.”
Mimori smiled as her feet remained still. There were about ten meters between her and the girl in the yukata.
There was an emergency-warning button on the wall close to Mimori. If she touched it, heavily armored security personnel would surely bear down upon them in under three minutes. However, Mimori did not sound it, for she knew it would be futile to do so.
Even with every security guard in the lab gathered together, they could do nothing to this girl. After all, she was one of the so-called World’s Mightiest Vampires.
“…So do you mind my asking which number you are?”
“I art Hektos…the sixth Kaleid Blood.”
In contrast to her haughty tone, the girl in the yukata’s smile appeared desolate. With the seal on Hektos released, she was the only one of the Numbered left with a complete seal. Perhaps that fact had instilled a sense of mortality within her.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hektos. Would you like some ice cream?”
Mimori fished out a fresh ice cream bar from the compact cooler she carried on her hip. Regarding the frozen treat offered to her with a hint of suspicion, the girl who called herself Hektos winced.
“Thou tempteth me with an offering? ’Tis futile, mother of Kojou Akatsuki. I am an envoy of the end of all things.”
“Yeah, about that—could you give me a little more time?”
Mimori teasingly narrowed her eyes. Hektos shook her head with a neutral expression, gazing at the other girl resting on her side within the ice.
“…Thou desirest to revive my kin?”
“I want to clone her, to be exact,” Mimori said gently. “If we can create a clone of the previous Fourth Primogenitor, the soul of the twelfth Kaleid Blood, Avrora Florestina, can be transferred into it, yes? Along with the Beast Vassal possessing her.”
“And in so doing, save thy daughter?”
“It would save the girl and my daughter both. Am I wrong?” Despite her playful smile, Mimori was completely serious.
Long ago, artificial vampires, the girls known as the Kaleid Bloods, were created in order to seal away the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor. There had been twelve of them. However, eleven had already been lost, leaving the sixth Kaleid Blood as the sole survivor. Playing the role of the seals, it was the girls’ destiny to disappear as the Beast Vassals of the Fourth Primogenitor were released.
The one exception, the only not to have disappeared, was Avrora, the Twelfth—the girl who had left behind the body sleeping within the ice.
Even at that very moment, the seal on her Beast Vassal had not been completely released. After all, the girl had been killed before the seal could be removed. The silver stake left in her chest was the proof.
To this day, with her body slain, Avrora’s soul slept within Mimori’s daughter, Nagisa Akatsuki, who had wished for that very thing.
However, even now, Avrora’s soul, fused with a Beast Vassal, was a great strain on Nagisa’s body. It was painfully obvious that one day, when the burden became too much for Nagisa to bear, she would die.
Hence, Mimori had attempted to create a new body in which to insert Avrora’s soul.
“Thou art not mistaken—,” Hektos murmured. “However, I shall not grant thy desire. It is her will that this body disappear.”
“I suppose it is… Well, allow me to thank you anyway. I mean, if we ended up resurrecting Root Avrora at a time like this, we’d be in quite a pickle.”
Mimori gave a vague smile and shook her head. Even with MAR Inc.’s sorcerous technology, creating a new Kaleid Blood—an artificial vampire—was exceptionally difficult, so Mimori’s objective had gone unfulfilled.
The reason was that the Twelfth, Avrora herself, desired that her own body disappear completely.
Wrought by the gods, the operating system for the Fourth Primogenitor—the Accursed Soul dubbed Root—had taken over her own body. Therefore, to destroy it, she had chosen to be killed.
It was Avrora herself who had encased her corpse in a coffin of ice so that the Accursed Soul could never be revived anew. The coffin created by the power of a Beast Vassal completely quarantined Avrora’s body from the outside; Mimori and her fellow researchers had yet to obtain a single cell sample from her. All of this was the will of the Twelfth, Avrora. She intended to vanish from the world without a single speck of dust remaining of her.
That was surely why Hektos had come to visit the lab.
She, the sixth Kaleid Blood, had come to fulfill the dying wish of her kin, Avrora.
“But… But even so… I want to save both of those girls. Please…,” Mimori pleaded quietly and earnestly, staring at the yukata-clad girl.
Hektos slowly shook her head. She touched the block of ice surrounding the Twelfth.
The coffin of ice wrought by the power of a Beast Vassal could not be broken.
However, if another Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor desired its destruction—
“Forgive me. For that this be destroyed is both her desir
e and mine—”
Before Hektos finished speaking, the coffin of ice began glowing.
Without a sound, the block of ice shattered, turning into countless transparent fragments.
The vast demonic energy resting in each and every one of those fragments unleashed an overwhelming tranquility from within.
Finally, the remains the girl had left behind were wreathed in flame, scattered as particles of light, and vanished.
“Forgive me…”
With that, the Sixth departed. Wordlessly, Mimori watched her go.
In the end, the only thing left on the lab room’s floor was a slender, silver-colored stake.
The mass of metal had lost its radiance. Mimori stared at it for a long time.
5
The next morning, on February 13…
Attending school earlier than usual, Kojou Akatsuki arrived in his classroom and surveyed the area with bloodshot eyes. It was then that the class representative, Rin Tsukishima, casually addressed him.
“Good morning, Akatsuki. You’re quite early today, aren’t you?”
Rin’s voice was as serene as usual, but her pupils visibly glimmered with curiosity. However, Kojou did not notice.
“Ah, morning, Tsukishima.”
“If you’re looking for Asagi, she hasn’t arrived yet,” Rin said, amused by Kojou’s head-in-the-clouds reply.
Kojou stiffened in surprise. Apparently, it was obvious to Rin that he was trying to find his friend.
“Well, I suppose it’s only natural for boys to be on edge around this time of year.”
Giggling and smiling, Rin gave a knowing nod. For a second, Kojou blinked, not comprehending what had just been said to him.
“Eh? Ah, what I want with her has nothing to do with that…”
“Oh, really…?”
Rin narrowed her eyes in even greater amusement. Apparently, she’d mistaken Valentine’s Day as the reason for Kojou’s nervousness. How should I clear this misunderstanding up? Kojou searched his thoughts, when suddenly, a girl with an extravagant hairstyle entered the classroom—Asagi Aiba.
“Asagi!”
Putting the issue of Rin on the back burner for the time being, Kojou raced toward her. Asagi, defenseless as she let out a yawn, blinked in surprise at Kojou’s urgency.
“K-Kojou? What’s with that desperate look on your face?”
“You got a sec? I need to talk to you.”
Kojou was looking directly into Asagi’s eyes with a rare seriousness. Asagi warily narrowed her brows.
“Talk—you mean, now? I’m on day duty today, so I’m preparing for the next class—”
“It won’t take long. You met with someone yesterday afternoon, right?”
“Yesterday afternoon?”
What do you mean? said Asagi’s facial expression as she touched a finger to her temple, staring off into space. Then, as if she just remembered something, she gasped, her expression stiffening.
However, Asagi’s visible distress lasted but an instant, not even spanning a tenth of a second of time. She immediately shook her head with an innocent expression.
“Nah, I didn’t meet with anyone. I was watching a drama series on the net.”
“I spotted you at the plaza in front of Thetis Mall.”
“What are you talking about? You must have me mixed up with someone else.”
Asagi tilted her head, mystified, turning a suspicious gaze toward Kojou instead. Her explanation was so bold that Kojou was nearly on the verge of swallowing it.
“—Mixed up, my ass!! What are you trying to hide?!”
“Whaaat? Hide—what would I be trying to hide from you?!”
“Why were you there together with that Jagan guy—?”
“Knock it off! I told you I don’t know anything!”
As Kojou leaned forward and got more in her face, Asagi slammed the desk with a bam. She was furious. Her intensity made Kojou wince. He could feel the inquisitive gazes of his classmates boring holes in his back.
“Asagi’s cheating on him…” “Jagan? Wait, does that mean…?” “The Warlord Empire’s…” “Come to think of it, he looked kinda cool…” Such whispers began circulating all over the classroom.
Thanks to Kojou’s clumsy slipup, the name Jagan was now hot on their lips. Due to very particular circumstances, Tobias Jagan, a vampire of the Warlord’s Empire, had attended school at Saikai Academy for a short span of about two weeks. A girl who fell in love with a foreign vampire above her station, confronted by her former boyfriend—it was a truly gripping scandal.
“Wait, Asagi! I’m not done talking to you, dammit—!”
“About what?! I don’t know anything, and even if I did, it’s none of your business!”
When Kojou’s hand reached out to try to keep her from leaving, Asagi violently swatted it aside. She then turned her back to Kojou and marched out of the classroom.
“Asagi? Where are you going?” Rin asked calmly.
Asagi glanced back for a single second before exiting the classroom. “The staff room! I need to get some printouts for homework!”
“Like I said, hold on a sec—”
As Asagi left to make her escape, Kojou headed out into the corridor to run after her. However, Rin put a stop to that, firmly pinning his arms behind his back.
“Hold it, Akatsuki! Calm down!”
“Let me go, Tsukishima!”
“Now, now. Hold your horses. At times like this, it’s best to put a little distance between the two of you and cool off, yes? I understand why you’re burning with jealousy, but I’ll speak with Asagi, okay?”
“Huh? Jealousy?”
Rin’s assertion made Kojou’s cheek twitch as he unwittingly came to a halt. He realized far too late that his own actions were giving rise to a weird misunderstanding.
“You’re wrong. This isn’t an issue of jealousy… Not at all!”
Kojou’s problem with Asagi’s actions was that Tobias Jagan was involved.
Jagan was no ordinary vampire. He was a subordinate of Dimitrie Vattler, the combat maniac who’d exposed Itogami Island to danger a number of times over. Kojou couldn’t help but worry about Asagi coming into contact with such a dangerous individual.
However, Rin let out an eerily mature-sounding sigh.
“Now, just a minute. If you’re going to make me spell it out, I believe you shoulder much of the blame for this, Akatsuki. You’re always ignoring Asagi while spending all your time with your little sister’s middle school friend, so it’s only natural that…”
“What the heck are you talkin’ about?!”
“I’m saying, I think it is a little unfair of you to pin all the blame on Asagi.”
“I’m not blaming her at all. Like I said, I just want her to hear me out—”
Wriggling free from Rin’s grip, Kojou gave her a rapid-fire retort. As he did, he heard an oddly haughty voice from behind.
“You are making quite a scene, Kojou Akatsuki. What are you whining about in the corridor just before class?”
“Natsuki…?”
Kojou gasped and turned around. Standing there was a baby-faced teacher, not even reaching 140 centimeters in height. This was Natsuki Minamiya, Kojou and his classmates’ homeroom teacher.
Hearing her pupil address her by her first name, Natsuki glared in disdain. However, Kojou ignored that, chasing her down to a corner of the corridor.
“Natsuki, your timing couldn’t be better. Where’s Jagan?”
“Jagan? Tobias Jagan of the Warlord’s Empire?”
Perhaps awed by Kojou’s intensity, Natsuki simply prodded for detail. Kojou gave a big nod.
“The Gigafloat Management Corporation keeps tabs on his whereabouts, right? So tell me!”
“I wouldn’t know. And even if I did, I would not be telling an outsider like you, now would I? If you really want to know, you should just ask Asagi to hack the Corporation’s surveillance data.”
“If I could do that, this would be simple…
”
Kojou clutched his head as he reeled. Asagi was the cause of Kojou searching for Jagan to begin with. For a time, Natsuki stared gloomily at the sight of Kojou writhing in anguish before exhaling in visible exasperation.
“First of all, what business do you have with that man, Kojou Akatsuki?”
“Asagi met with him yesterday! And now she’s being hush-hush about it!”
“…Male jealousy. How trite.”
“It’s not that, dammit! Are you okay with this?! He’s a vampire, you know?!”
“Aren’t you something quite similar?”
Kojou groaned, Natsuki’s frighteningly blunt assertion leaving him at a loss for words. To an objective observer, Kojou, possessor of the stupidly grandiose title of World’s Mightiest Vampire, was a more dangerous and troublesome being than Jagan. It wasn’t as if Kojou himself was ignorant of this, either.
Unable to say anything in reply, Natsuki coldly stared at him with visible scorn.
“This is a Demon Sanctuary, after all. You are free to love anyone you wish, be it an aristocrat of the Warlord’s Empire or some stray primogenitor.”
“Even if it’s one of Vattler’s flunkies?”
“He is no subordinate, but rather, an ally and an equal. Not that I think a major player like him would put up with a mewling brat like Asagi.”
“Um… Calling her a brat is kinda…”
You’re not one to talk, thought Kojou, beside himself. Due to certain circumstances, Natsuki’s growth had stopped at a point where her external appearance was that of an eleven- or twelve-year-old. To the naked eye, she was far more of a child than Asagi.
“Of course, if he used a Charm power to force Asagi to obey him, that would be a crime. Failing that, there is no issue. You shouldn’t be so broken up over a girl being stolen from you in the first place.”
“Is that a line that a teacher should be saying?!”
Natsuki’s cold dismissal made him sigh in despair. Nor was there was any sign of Asagi returning from the staff room.
“Aww, crap… It’s just one thing after another…”
A War of Primogenitors Page 4