“Sounds like an annoying feature, yeah.”
Kojou grimaced as he mumbled back. This was Sayaka talking, an expert in curses and assassination, so it didn’t sound like a joke.
“So what are you calling for, anyway? Wasn’t Her Highness going back to her own country?”
“That was the plan, but the circumstances have changed. She couldn’t get on the plane.”
“Did you get lost or something?”
Kojou was beside himself as he asked. Her Highness was La Folia Rihavein, crown princess of the kingdom of Aldegia. Last he could recall, Sayaka had been assigned to protect her during her unofficial visit.
He’d heard the Japanese government had arranged a special charter for the princess and that she was scheduled to fly home early that morning.
However, Kojou didn’t think the two remaining together even now was the result of the princess’s whims or some mistake of Sayaka’s.
Sayaka’s halting reply was in a somber tone of voice.
“I can’t…say that’s far off the mark, but…I’ll just lay out the facts. When we thought we were boarding the charter plane, we were at the sub-float that’s under construction.”
Kojou just couldn’t wrap his mind around it. Things often went off the rails when he was talking with Sayaka, but it was particularly bad this time around. “…Sorry, I don’t get what you’re saying at all. Wait, you mean the sub-float that the Nalakuvera trashed not long ago? That’s like, the opposite side of the island.”
Sayaka shouted back, plainly irked. “Well, we don’t know what happened, either! Anyway, that’s the situation.”
Kojou felt like he vaguely understood. “…So what can I do?”
He knew they were wrapped up in some kind of trouble, but he didn’t think he’d be of any help to either of them. Sayaka, an Attack Mage, possessed abnormal combat capability of course, but so did the princess with the Völundr System that came with her spell gun. Your average demon or criminal had no hope against them. Even if Kojou ran over to protect them, he’d only be getting in their way.
However, a somewhat unexpected name rolled off the princess’s lips.
“I want to ask you about Kanon.”
Kanon Kanase was the daughter of the former and retired king of Aldegia. Kojou recalled that, legally speaking, she was La Folia’s aunt, but in reality she was more like her little sister.
Kojou looked at Kanon, timidly gaping wide-eyed down at the ground, as he spoke.
“Well, Kanase’s here right now.”
“Whaaat?” went Sayaka in an angry, shrill voice.
“What is she doing with you? Don’t tell me this time you’re putting your hands on her…?!”
“I am not!! Relax, Himeragi’s here, too.”
“What is that, pride?! Is that pride I’m hearing?! Not that I’m jealous at all here!!” Sayaka was worked up and ranting rather incoherently when the princess pulled the phone away and resumed.
“I cannot get in touch with the Aldegian knights I had called in to protect Kanon. I believe this incident has no relation to her, but could you please be careful?”
That he had no problem with. Kojou gave his answer in a firm voice to reassure the princess. “Got it. I look after Kanase and everything’s fine, right?”
La Folia giggled in what sounded like a joking tone of voice. “Please do. If you require a reward, you can drink a little of her you-know-what.”
“He can do no such thing!” Sayaka exclaimed.
Sayaka’s shriek was the last thing he heard before the call disconnected.
Feeling tired for no good reason, Kojou put his phone away only to notice Yukina had been standing beside him since who-knew-when.
“That was Sayaka just now?” Yukina asked with a somewhat conflicted expression on her. For some reason, she didn’t seem all that enthused about the fact Sayaka was in touch with Kojou and not her.
Kojou had no idea why she wasn’t enthused, though. Surely she was well aware that Sayaka hated his guts. At best, she thought of him as someone to worry over.
“I don’t really get what’s going on, but she and La Folia are in some kind of trouble. They were getting on a plane when they wound up on the sub-float from a little back before they knew it and stuff.”
“…What does that mean?”
“Who knows. Didn’t seem like anyone was attacking them, though.”
It went without saying that the situation was abnormal, but both of them acted with considerable confidence. Letting them be didn’t seem like any kind of problem.
Yukina seemed to come to a similar conclusion as she nodded, her behavior calm.
“I believe those two will be all right, barring something exceptional.”
“Yeah. They were more worried about making sure Kanon was watched over than themselves.”
Hearing the details of the princess’s request seemed to give Yukina a good grasp of the circumstances. “I see,” she said, nodding with a very serious look as she watched Kanon over by the glass wall.
“Well, we can rest easy after handing Kanase back to Natsuki, right?” Kojou mused.
“I suppose so. We’ll be with her during the day, after all… We need simply escort her back to Ms. Minamiya’s residence in the evening.”
“That works.”
They’d settled on a policy for protecting Kanon without any need for prolonged discussion. It was not at all an exaggeration to say that there was no safer place on Itogami Island than the home of Natsuki Minamiya, a superb Attack Mage. All Kojou and Yukina had to do was bring Kanon to Natsuki and their duty was done.
Kojou realized it was best to call Natsuki first, but just as he began fishing his cell phone back out, he noticed a mild disturbance from the area near the elevator. The surrounding throng made it look like a famous person was making their way through; he could hear the shutters of cameras left and right as well.
“What’s all that?”
“Who knows?”
Kojou and Yukina both tilted their heads a bit as they observed the tumult. Though nominally on their guard, the atmosphere did not suggest danger in any way, but…
“Ah, there you are! Kojou, come over here, quick!”
Nagisa appeared first, wedging herself through the curious onlookers and calling Kojou over, in a hurry for some reason. Behind Nagisa followed a young girl in a maid outfit looking very much out of place. She had indigo-colored hair and pale blue eyes; her visage looked inorganic, like a doll’s. Noticing Kojou’s and Yukina’s presence, the homunculus girl murmured with a tone low on inflection, “Confirmed. Eyes on target.”
Dumbfounded, Kojou called out the girl’s name.
“A-Astarte?”
It was a homunculus in a maid outfit. To the tourists who’d come from far-flung places, there weren’t many symbols of the Demon Sanctuary easier to grasp than this. It was natural their attention poured onto her.
Yuuma, who didn’t know the circumstances, had a look of surprise as she asked Kojou the question that naturally came to mind.
“Is this what Demon Sanctuary maids are like, Kojou? That’s really something. To think you know a homunculus maid…”
“Er, it’s not that being a maid is the girl’s day job but, um…” Kojou feebly attempted to defend Astarte’s honor. Her wearing an outfit like that was purely on the whim of Natsuki, her guardian for the time being…though she didn’t really seem to mind…
“What are you doing in a place like this, Astarte? Did Natsuki ask you to do something?” Kojou asked, reflexively on guard. He wondered if his violent homeroom teacher had sent a request for him to help with yet another dangerous job.
He didn’t find it unusual that Astarte knew right where to find Kojou and the others. Due to special circumstances, Kojou was supplying her with magical energy to preserve her life force. Apparently, Astarte could tell where Kojou was by tracing that magical energy channel back to him. It was entirely possible Natsuki would make use of Astarte’s nature and volunt
eer her to Kojou for messenger duty.
However, Astarte’s reply was decidedly not what he expected.
“Situational report: Regularly scheduled communication with the instructor has ceased as of nine o’clock AM of this morning.”
“…Communication’s ceased?” Kojou asked.
“Are you saying Ms. Minamiya has gone missing?” Yukina followed up.
Both Kojou and Yukina had considerable doubt on their faces. Astarte casually nodded.
“Affirmative. Transmitter and spell scroll signals have been lost.”
Unease spread through the center of Kojou’s chest bit by bit.
“Serious…?”
Even if she said Natsuki Minamiya was missing, it didn’t feel real. She was a bit too old to run away from home, and someone who lived as wantonly as Natsuki did surely wouldn’t go hide from the world. That said, he thought few people on the planet were capable of kidnapping her. Neither Kojou nor Yukina could beat her in a straight-up fight; he doubted even that combat maniac Dimitrie Vattler could pull that off—
But if Natsuki really was missing, it meant there was a menace arising on Itogami Island of a level that even she was not immune to.
Astarte spoke in a businesslike voice to the visibly rattled Kojou and Yukina.
“The instructor previously gave me directives in case of a circumstance such as this.”
“Directives?” Kojou wondered aloud.
“Kanon Kanase has been set as my primary target for protection.”
“Th-that so…?”
It seemed Natsuki really did take her duty as Kanon’s guardian seriously.
“—Wait, are you saying Natsuki knew she’d be gone in advance?” Kojou asked.
“Unclear. Unable to reply due to insufficient data.”
“…Figures. Sorry.”
Kojou apologized when he realized how Astarte felt. She didn’t show her emotions, but Astarte had to be just as uneasy about Natsuki’s disappearance as he was. Astarte stared at Kojou without a word. Perhaps he only imagined that he saw her eyes waver just a little.
Kojou spoke to himself, looking like he’d swallowed a bitter pill.
“I kinda…got a bad feeling about this…”
There was the abnormality Sayaka and La Folia had experienced; now Natsuki was missing. Putting Yaze aside, Asagi getting a sudden call from the Gigafloat Management Corporation tugged at him now.
He had a vague premonition that something was happening where Kojou and the others couldn’t see.
The saving grace was that no one was in any concrete danger as things stood.
Yukina had a serious look of concern as she spoke.
“I concur.”
Yuuma had an opaque expression as she glanced at the grave faces of Kojou and Yukina.
4
After making a light tour around the island, Kojou and the others returned to his apartment before sunset. They were taking a pass on night-before-the-festival events and heading to bed early that night. This was partly out of concern regarding Natsuki’s disappearance, but at any rate, the Hollow Eve Festival only kicked up for real the next day.
Nagisa tapered her lips with a slightly desolate look as she sliced and diced cabbage in the kitchen.
“What a shame. Too bad Yukina and the others couldn’t have supper with us, too.”
As a result of their strategy session, Kanon and Astarte would be staying in Yukina’s apartment overnight.
Yukina, whose Sword Shaman nature made her a specialist in hit-and-away tactics, couldn’t call herself ideal for guard duty, but there was no mistaking that her combat ability was far above the norm nonetheless. With Astarte providing assistance, protecting Kanon probably wouldn’t be that difficult even against rather powerful enemies.
The word was that the extra knights dispatched from the Aldegian homeland would arrive the next day; they could only hope that Natsuki would casually pop back into the picture before that time.
Kojou desperately pushed their excuse as he laid down on the living room sofa watching a Hollow Eve Festival TV special.
“They’re probably being considerate for us. We wouldn’t be able to have a relaxed conversation with Yuuma with a big crowd.”
In spite of Nagisa’s acute phobia of demons, she apparently wasn’t all that concerned about Astarte, a homunculus. No doubt she also remembered how Astarte had risked her own life to protect Nagisa from terrorists.
However, with Natsuki gone missing and the possibility existing of someone going after Kanon, it was best to keep her as separate from unrelated people like Nagisa and Yuuma as possible—even if, in this case, “separate” meant Yukina’s residence, the next apartment over from Kojou and Nagisa’s.
Nagisa seemed to accept Kojou’s words as she gave her apron a flick and looked back.
“Riiight. You must be pretty worn out, too, Yuuma, with the long trip and all. Sorry I dragged you all over the place.”
Yuuma made an energetic, pleasant smile as she sat cross-legged on top of the sofa.
“Nah, I had lots of fun. It was great being with friends of yours, too.”
Nagisa puffed her chest out in a small measure of pride.
“They’re all cute, aren’t they? Ah, well not Yaze, but anyway, who do you like best?”
Even Yuuma had to make a strained smile at how Nagisa asked it like it was a normal question.
“You know, I am a girl and all. But let’s see. Himeragi, maybe? She tugs at me a little.”
“Mhmm,” went Nagisa, nodding in agreement with her arms folded.
“Himeragi’s cute, huh? She has her mess ups once in a while, but that’s cute, too.”
For a moment, a look came over Yuuma like she was staring off into space.
“…Plus, Kojou gives off the same scent as she does from time to time.”
Nagisa glared at Kojou while clutching a kitchen knife.
“Huh?! What’s that supposed to mean?”
Apparently she’d decided that when Yuuma said “the same scent,” she meant it in a physical sense. Of course Kojou, knowing of no such thing, could only gape. Sure, he might have picked up some of her scent right after being pressed against Yukina in a packed monorail car, but that’d been the previous morning.
Yuuma hastily amended her explanation.
“No, I mean, the fact they go off and whisper stuff just between them from time to time. I was thinking they get along real well.”
“Ahh,” went Nagisa, lowering the kitchen knife as she made a lively smile.
“I’ve been wondering about that since a while back myself. Yeah, the two of us are gonna interrogate Kojou tonight and get to the bottom of it!”
Yuuma seemed oddly eager as she nodded.
“Sounds good. That’ll make it worth having come all this way.”
“Gimme a break,” said Kojou, covering his eyes as he turned his face to the ceiling.
“And Kojou,” lectured Nagisa, “if you’re not going to help with supper, get in the bath. I promised Yuuma we’d have ours together after.”
“Got it—”
With Nagisa speaking to him like she was driving off a nuisance, Kojou languidly rose up from the couch, heading to the dressing room with his change of clothes. Kojou was thinking to himself that anything more than a shower was too much trouble.
Although he felt like it wasn’t the time to be leisurely taking a bath with mysterious anomalies occurring so close to home, there really wasn’t anything Kojou, a mere high school student as far as the world was concerned, could do here. Natsuki could have wrung some info out of the Island Guard, but her having gone missing took away that option.
He felt really bad for Yuuma after she’d come all that way, but if circumstances hadn’t changed by the next day, it could prove better to stop being a festival tour guide and go search for Natsuki himself.
As Kojou thought about such things, he blithely took off his clothes and opened the bathroom door.
The door to the ba
throom with snow-white steam floating in midair—
For a while, Kojou simply froze, unable to comprehend the sight spread before his eyes.
“Er…ah?”
There were already guests in the bath.
One was a homunculus girl with but the slightest hint of redness in her cheeks from the temperature, her slender, nude body floating in the water of the bathtub. And in front of the wash area’s shower, a silver-haired girl was lathering up her shampoo.
Noticing that Kojou had entered the bathroom, both girls turned their heads toward him as one.
“Akatsuki…?”
“Intrusion of the Fourth Primogenitor confirmed.”
Kojou looked all around in incomprehension.
“Kanase…and Astarte? Why…?!”
The situation was too bizarre for him to register surprise.
The layout of the bath was largely the same as in Kojou’s apartment. However, the tub and faucet locations were mirror images.
Many apartment buildings used identical designs for neighboring apartments. Kojou didn’t know the brands of the shampoo and body soap sitting on the table. However, they smelled the same as Yukina’s hair.
Piecing together the available information, Kojou was reasonably certain that this was the bathroom of Yukina’s apartment. He could therefore accept why Kanon and Astarte were here in the bath.
In other words, Kojou had apparently blundered into the washroom of Yukina’s next-door apartment. That’s nuts, thought Kojou. It was totally insane.
Even covered in shampoo, Kanon bowed her head in a polite and proper bow as she spoke.
“I’m sorry, we were in the bath first.”
The whiteness of her skin was very apparent even with suds all around her, as if you could see right through them.
Kojou replied in a calm tone as well.
“R-right…take your time…”
It hurt how Astarte was looking at him with an expressionless gaze.
Kojou turned to his right and exited the lavatory, closing the door behind him.
That instant, cold sweat gushed over his entire body with great force, drenching him.
“…What was that just now?! What’s going on?!”
Labyrinth of the Blue Witch Page 7