Right Arm of the Saint

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “Oh yeah, Kojou. I brought that World History report I mentioned yesterday… You wanna look?” Asagi, whose mood had improved slightly at some point, spoke as she fished a pile of copying paper out of her bag.

  Kojou nodded in a flash. “Yeah. Of course.”

  “So! Cake buffet at Keystone Gate!”

  “Ugh… All right already…”

  Heartbroken, Kojou nodded. It was a matter of priorities; he was more worried about how he was going to do the homework in front of his face than the condition of his wallet.

  “Good, good,” Asagi replied, nodding with a smiling face as she handed the copying paper to Kojou.

  “Ah? I wonder what’s with Natsuki-chan?”

  That moment, Rin quietly muttered. It was too early for the homeroom session, but the class’s homeroom teacher, wearing a stifling, jet-black dress, entered the classroom with an expression of displeasure.

  “Kojou Akatsuki, are you here?”

  The charismatic homeroom teacher, small enough she looked like a little girl, called for Kojou at the classroom entrance with the aura of a ferocious deity. Kojou had a bad feeling about it as he sluggishly waved back.

  “…’Sup?”

  “Come to the student guidance room at noon. I need a word with you.”

  Natsuki made a frigid declaration. Incidentally, her outfit on this day was a miniskirted, goth loli–style dress and socks with black-and-white borders. It was completely stifling as per usual, but it looked nice and cool compared to most of what she usually wore.

  The frostiness and bloodlust of Natsuki’s implied threat sent a small shudder through Kojou.

  “Eh? Er, you said I had until the first class of the last day of the week to turn in that English homework…”

  “Also, bring that junior high transfer student with you.”

  “Himeragi…? Why?”

  Kojou’s voice unwittingly slipped.

  The murmurs among the students broadened as the name of the much-rumored transfer student emerged from his lips.

  “Would you understand if I said, last night’s incident?”

  “Er, ah… No idea what you’re talkin’ ab—”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. I’m going to speak to you very thoroughly about what the two of you were doing after running out of the game center late at night.”

  Natsuki left that monologue behind her before departing without waiting for Kojou’s reply. After that, Kojou was sweating bullets while bloodlust-filled glares from the male students poured upon him. And then…

  “Akatsuki… What was she speaking of just now? Could you explain, in detail?”

  The tall Rin stood beside the seated Kojou, leering down at him as she asked. She was so quiet normally, but at times like this, she was impressively intimidating.

  “T-Tsukishima… Er, Asagi?”

  Kojou spontaneously called for an assist. However, Asagi, who should have been sitting right there, had vanished at some point.

  “If you want Asagi, she’s over there.”

  Rin pointed to the back of the class with a straight face.

  For some reason, Asagi was standing right by the garbage bin, innocently ripping to shreds the pile of paper in her hands over and over.

  Geh! As the sheets turned into shreds, Kojou sucked in his breath as he realized what the pile of paper was.

  “W-wait. That wouldn’t be the World History report I asked you for, would it…”

  As Kojou hurried to his feet, Asagi glared at him, eyes half-closed and filled with silent rage. Without saying a word…

  “Hmph!”

  …she made a hard snort, tossing the thoroughly destroyed paper into the garbage bin.

  3

  As soon as lunch break began, Kojou darted out of the classroom and rendezvoused with Yukina in the corridor in front of the staff room.

  By the end of morning classes Kojou was tired enough to keel over, but Yukina looked considerably weakened as well, enough that she’d actually forgotten to bring that guitar case with her. Having seen his own classmates’ excitement, Kojou could largely picture what had happened, but being the center of the school’s attention seemed to have been quite an ordeal for her.

  Since Yukina didn’t have a cell phone, Kojou had to go through Nagisa to call her over. Thanks to that, Nagisa had insistently grilled them about this and that, adding one more reason for them to be exhausted.

  Somehow, Kojou and Yukina finally arrived at the student guidance room together.

  When Kojou and Yukina knocked and entered, Natsuki was already sitting on the sofa, waiting for them.

  “So you came, Akatsuki.”

  Natsuki spoke as she reclined with her legs crossed like she was some sort of princess. Huh. And, as she noticed that Yukina was standing behind Kojou, the corners of her lips curled upward.

  “So you’re the transfer student in Misaki’s class.”

  “Yes… Himeragi, junior high, third year.”

  Speechless for a moment as she beheld Natsuki’s beautiful, doll-like looks, she replied in an overly serious tone. Natsuki, her behavior filled with an air of charisma, seemed satisfied as she looked back at Yukina.

  “Welcome to Saikai Academy. It’s a pleasure to have you, particularly if you do not stir up any unnecessary trouble.”

  “Y-yes.”

  Yukina’s faltering reply was likely due to remembering the top class trouble that had stirred up just the day before. The warehouse district destroyed; fifty billion yen in damage. It wasn’t the level of problem you got called in by your homeroom teacher for. And so…

  “Now then, both of you. You know about the fireworks that occurred on Island East yesterday, yes?”

  “Well, uh, yeah, sure.”

  Kojou nodded with an uneasy feeling as Natsuki’s question got right to the point. The cold sweat moistening his back made his uniform shirt cling uncomfortably.

  “Actually, an Elder vampire was secured near the scene. He was gravely wounded and on the verge of death, but someone apparently made an anonymous tip to the fire department. This information hasn’t been released to the public yet. Does any of this ring a bell with either of you?”

  Shudder. Kojou heavily shook his head. Beside him, Yukina was like a statue, paralyzed.

  “That Elder was a trading company executive on the surface but police seem to have long suspected he’s part of the leadership of a smuggling ring. It would seem yesterday he was in the warehouse district in a place where he’d done many deals in the past. The underlings apparently say they don’t know anything about the other party for this deal.”

  “…Oookay.”

  Kojou watched Natsuki with a guarded expression. He was pretty interested in this information, but he didn’t know what Natsuki was telling Yukina and him all this for.

  “Witnesses saw a Beast Vassal on a rampage in the area a short time before the explosion. In other words, the nearly dead man who was found had been fighting someone, an enemy who could push an ‘Old Guard’ vampire to a comatose state. I believe it is extremely likely that this person was involved in the explosion… I wonder who?”

  “Wh-who knows?”

  As Kojou twisted his neck, seemingly on purpose, he remembered “Eustach,” the Lotharingian Armed Apostle, and the homunculus he had with him. Who they were, why they were fighting, and what it was they desired remained mysteries to Kojou and Yukina.

  Seemingly finding both of their reactions interesting to watch, Natsuki continued in a blunt tone, “Indeed… Actually, yesterday was not the first time a vampire was found on this island on the brink of death.”

  “Eh…?”

  “In the last two months, the police have ascertained that at least six similar incidents have occurred. That makes this the seventh, though, of course, this is the first time an Elder was involved.”

  As Natsuki said all that, she roughly tossed a thick pile of files onto the table.

  He didn’t want to know how she obtained all that, but they
seemed to be copies of police investigation files. There was a jagged photograph attached, an enlarged image from city surveillance camera footage.

  “Wai…! Natsuki, what is this?”

  Kojou’s expression hardened as he looked at the men depicted in the photo. The charismatic homeroom teacher glared at Kojou, looking displeased at being addressed by her first name.

  “This is the list of demons assaulted to date. The ones displayed here are victims of the sixth incident. They were found two days ago, but… Do you know them, Kojou Akatsuki?”

  “No, I don’t know them…but…”

  Kojou’s lips twisted unpleasantly. When he stole a glance at Yukina beside him, Yukina’s face was pale as she clenched her fists without a word.

  The men depicted in the photo were the beast-man-and-vampire team. The men Yukina had sent flying for flirting with her the day he and she had first met. At some point after they’d fled Kojou and Yukina’s presence, someone had assaulted them and inflicted nearly fatal wounds.

  If this was somehow related to the combat in the warehouse district the night before, chances were very high that Eustach was the one who’d assaulted the two of them. Either way, Kojou and Yukina had become more deeply involved in this incident without ever realizing it.

  “So what…happened to all of these people?”

  “Hospitalized. They’re in no danger of dying, but none have regained consciousness as of yet. Not that I know what could do that to a dog with a powerful life force and a nonaging bat.”

  Natsuki elegantly rested her chin on her hands as she glared at Kojou with sharp eyes.

  “This is why I called both of you here.”

  “Eh?”

  “I don’t know the purpose is, but whoever’s been indiscriminately hunting demons remains at large. In other words, Kojou Akatsuki, it is possible that you, too, may be assaulted.”

  “A-ah… I see. Suppose so.”

  Having little self-awareness of his being a vampire, he hadn’t realized it until Natsuki said it, but she had a point.

  Eustach already knew Kojou was the Fourth Primogenitor. If his objective really was to hunt demons indiscriminately, Kojou might well be his next target.

  In fact, when Eustach had encountered Kojou, he’d said as much.

  That it was not yet time to fight a Primogenitor—

  “Corporation-raised demons and their families have apparently already been warned to beware of demon hunting. I’m sure you don’t know anyone that high up, so I’m warning you instead. You should thank me.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, thanks.”

  “So for that reason, no more playing around at night like you did yesterday. At least until this matter is resolved.”

  “R…”

  Natsuki’s tone had been so nonchalant that Kojou had almost unwittingly replied, Right, and was on the verge of nodding. However, just before he did, he noticed Yukina’s reproachful glare and caught himself.

  “Er, ah, what do you mean, playing around at night?”

  “…Hmph, very well. Anyway, you have been warned.”

  Natsuki, speaking like she was bored with it all, dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

  Kojou and Yukina did as she indicated, rising up and leaving the student guidance room together.

  “Ah, right. Wait a moment, transfer student.”

  That moment, Natsuki suddenly called out to Yukina.

  Huh? Yukina turned around and looked at Natuski, seemingly on her guard.

  Natsuki pulled something out of the breast of her black dress and lightly tossed it over to Yukina.

  It was a tiny mascot doll, small enough to fit in the palm of Yukina’s hand. She caught it by reflex, unwittingly speaking the doll’s name.

  “…Nekoma-tan…”

  Gasp! Looking up at how Yukina covered her mouth, Natuski made a broad, leering smile.

  “You forgot this. It is yours, isn’t it?”

  Yukina said nothing in response to Natsuki’s question. A puzzled expression came over Kojou as he watched Natsuki and Yukina glare at each other, tension hanging in the air for some unfathomable reason.

  Finally, Yukina made a polite nod and left the room.

  Watching Yukina as she left until the very end, Natsuki seemed quite pleased with herself for some reason.

  4

  “So Ms. Minamiya knew.”

  Yukina spoke as she walked along a corner of a passageway, as if to hide from prying eyes. The oddly happy way she gazed at the doll she’d received from Natsuki made her truly look like a regular female junior high school student.

  “Guess so… We really slipped up, leaving the doll behind like that.”

  Kojou replied with a serious expression. He’d meant to make a clean getaway the night before, but Natsuki seemed to have indeed known it was him from the start. Now she has something else on me, he thought, deflating somewhat. Yukina made a somewhat exasperated sigh as she looked at Kojou.

  “No. Not that. About the opponent we fought last night.”

  “Eh? That old man, Eustach or something?”

  “Yes. And that homunculus girl, too… Apparently the police already knew about their engaging in demon hunting.”

  Kojou nodded as he remembered the photograph Natsuki possessed. If the assaulted demons had been caught on camera, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the same surveillance camera had filmed Eustach and the girl. So the police no doubt knew about them.

  “However, it seems they do not as yet know their identities.”

  “Identities?”

  “That the perpetrator is a Lotharingian Armed Apostle.”

  “I see… She said the guys who’d been attacked are still unconscious…”

  “Yes. It would seem that we are the only ones to have directly fought them unscathed.”

  Yukina calmly pointed it out. At the time, Eustach had readily exposed his name and title because he was confident in the certainty he would defeat Yukina then and there. When one considered the combat capability of the girl called Astarte, it couldn’t be dismissed as overconfidence. However, Kojou intruded, and consequently, Yukina made it back safe and sound. To them it was no doubt a grave miscalculation.

  “Why didn’t you say that to Natsuki earlier? Appearances aside, she is a C-card holder. She has her Counter-Demon Attack Mage license. She seems to know the police pretty well, too.”

  “Senpai…are you serious?”

  “Huh?”

  Yukina glared at him eyes half-closed, throwing Kojou off. She seemed angry for some reason.

  “I have a C-card, too. Why does someone from the Lion King Agency need to go crying to the police?”

  “Er, it’s not really a ‘why’ thing, but…”

  Come to think of it, Natsuki said the Lion King Agency and the cops don’t get along, Kojou recalled. Perhaps that accounted for the odd tension in the air between Yukina and Natsuki.

  “Geez,” Yukina exhaled.

  “A simple serial killer case is a job for the police, but since this was someone from the Lotharingian Orthodox Church, an Armed Apostle–class man no less, it is very much an international sorcerous crime. That’s in our jurisdiction.”

  “O-oh. So it’s not just a turf thing.”

  “Of course it isn’t. Also, Senpai, have you forgotten?”

  “Eh? Forgotten what?”

  “About how to get what you did recognized as legitimate defense.”

  “Ah… And about there being no proof. Huh. And you said your testimony won’t be enough, Himeragi… Ah!”

  That’s when Kojou finally grasped what Yukina had in mind.

  “Himeragi, you can’t mean…”

  “Yes. This opponent has been indiscriminately hunting demons and even defeated an ‘Old Guard’ vampire. Anyone would recognize the danger he poses, so if you can prove he attacked you, I think something can be done about your own crime, Senpai. You are technically a Primogenitor, after all.”

  “The gist being, if we can catch the Armed
Apostle geezer and his girl, it’s all good…?”

  Oh boy. Kojou made a sigh. So capturing Eustach would cancel out his own crime. The opposite was also true: Until they were captured, he couldn’t go to the police for help.

  If Kojou explained about last night to the police, the chances were high he’d be detained on the spot, no longer able to move freely. It would also expose to Nagisa the fact he was a vampire.

  “Either way, the police are not equipped to deal with that Lotharingian Armed Apostle. I believe it would only add more casualties.”

  Yukina, who held the trump card called “Schneewalzer,” conveyed that plainly, with no elation whatsoever. Her tone conveyed that it was simply her calm analysis of the facts as a Counter-Demon Attack Mage.

  Fed up with it all, Kojou scrutinized her eyes.

  “Bottom line is, if we don’t find the old man and the girl before the cops, nothin’ we can do, huh?”

  “I do not believe this is impossible. We are the only ones who know the perpetrator is a Lotharingian Armed Apostle. And given their distinctive appearance, the places he can hide in are limited.”

  “Well, you’re right about that… Imagine walkin’ around the city dressed like that.”

  And that’s another thing, Kojou grasped.

  He was a middle-aged man almost two meters tall going around with a half-naked girl. That was almost a crime by itself. You could get arrested at any moment like that.

  “Actually, thinking along those lines, I sent for data this morning.”

  “Data?”

  “A list of Western European Church facilities on this island.”

  As Yukina spoke, she fished a notepad out of her pocket. It was a fancy notepad with Nekoma-tan drawn on it. However, it had a dreary list of church names and street addresses written on it.

  “There is a single Lotharingian Orthodox church. There are also seven facilities belonging to other sects. No doubt he is hiding in one of them with his associate.”

  “…I wonder,” Kojou muttered offhand.

  Yukina blinked in apparent surprise. No doubt she never imagined he’d contradict her.

  “Is there something mistaken?”

  “No, it’s not that, but just wondering if we should be going about it so simply.”