From the Warlord's Empire

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “I have a vague idea of what you might be thinking, senpai, but…”

  Yukina’s expression seemed sulky somehow, as if there was something she wanted to say. For some reason, she paused her words, slowly looking around the area.

  As Yukina fell silent, sharpening her senses, Kojou called out to her, confused.

  “…Himeragi? Is something wrong?”

  “No…” Finally, Himeragi made a quiet exhale, shaking her head as if it was nothing. “I felt like someone was watching me, but it must have been my imagination.”

  6

  When Kojou arrived at the classroom, he was right on the verge of being late, just a moment after the first bell before lessons began. Most of his classmates were already in the classroom. Of course, Asagi was among them.

  “—Asagi!”

  “Ahh, Kojou. Good morning.”

  Noticing Kojou quickly approaching her, Asagi made a nonchalant wave. It was as if the tumult in Kojou’s room that morning had never happened; her attitude was exactly the same as usual.

  “So you got to school after all. There you go. So it was worth the effort to wake you up.”

  “Woke him up? Whaddaya mean?”

  Yaze, whom Asagi was teaching sample problems to, picked up her words with his sharp ears. Rin Tsukishima, also nearby, murmured “heh”…as she gave Kojou a look rich in meaning.

  “That is not something I can just let pass by.”

  “Please do. She slapped me awake and that’s it, really.”

  As Kojou dealt with them appropriately, he leaned right beside Asagi. He moved his face close to her ear.

  “Anyway, Asagi, you have a minute?”

  “Eh? What’s this, out of the blue? Class is about to start.”

  Even as her mouth voiced complaints, Kojou insistently grabbed Asagi’s arm; Asagi did not shake him off. Their classmates watched with deep interest as Kojou led Asagi out of the classroom by her hand. But as clumsy excuses would have the opposite of their intended effect, he didn’t say a word. At any rate, without bumping into any teachers, Kojou brought Asagi to the emergency stairs where there was no sign of life.

  “Sorry. There’s something I just have to ask of you.”

  “What’s that? I have a bad feeling about this but…”

  Asagi glared at Kojou with a suspicious look on her face. As expected of someone who’d known Kojou for so long, she seemed able to read him very well.

  “I want you to look into the Kano Alchemical Somethin’ Corporation—especially branch companies and research labs here in Itogami City.”

  “Huh? Why do I have to skip class to do something like that?”

  Kojou earnestly bowed his head in response to Asagi’s natural question.

  “I’ll treat you to dinner or dessert after, so please!”

  “I don’t wanna. That Himeragi girl probably put you up to it, anyway. I do not wanna help with something like that.”

  Asagi bared her teeth in irritation as she spoke.

  Kojou had vaguely noticed previously, but Asagi and Himeragi didn’t seem to get along very well. He didn’t know the reason why, but their relationship was a rocky one.

  “Set that aside, then. At least look into this Nalakuvera thing they’re importing.”

  “…Nalakuvera?”

  For some reason, Asagi responded to the unexpected word. She grabbed Kojou by the chest and pulled him close.

  “What is that? Do you know?”

  “Nah. It’s some kind of ancient relic excavated from a tomb somewhere, but…” Kojou explained in a strained voice. It was the information Natsuki had given to him only a bit earlier.

  “Ancient relic…huh? And this is related to Kano Alchemical?”

  “Yeah. Probably.”

  Glaring at the nodding Kojou, Asagi went “hmm” and exhaled. She shifted her gaze toward an empty space as if pondering it a little.

  “Fine. I’m just a little interested so I’ll play along.”

  Asagi grinned broadly as she spoke.

  “Th-that so. Huge help. What should we do?”

  “Well, first we need a computer connected to the Internet. At this hour, the student council room maybe?”

  “Student council room?”

  Come to think of it, Kojou recalled, there were a bunch of terminals used for school website administration and office work.

  “But it’s locked, isn’t it? Needs one of those smart cards the security company uses.”

  “It’s all right. Leave it to me.”

  As Asagi spoke reassuring words, she grabbed him as she practically leaped forward, walking toward the student council room.

  Classes were just about to start, but that didn’t seem to bother her especially. If anything, she seemed to be having fun with the situation with Kojou, but as he was used to her whimsical ways, he didn’t think that was particularly odd.

  “I was cracking encryption of this level in kindergarten…see?”

  Asagi took out her cell phone, tapped it against the student council room door, and with impressive force, a cascade of numbers flowed across the screen; he didn’t think it was even five seconds when the lock opened. She’d apparently used the phone’s internal digital cash terminal to hack into the security company’s digital lock. Of course, Kojou had not the slightest idea how she could do that.

  “…You really are incredible. Now, anyway.”

  “Th-this isn’t anything to get worked up about. Cut it out, you’re embarrassing me.”

  Asagi’s face reddened as she spoke in a seemingly angry tone. And twisting her tongue in apparent displeasure, she glared at Kojou.

  “And aren’t there other things about me you should be complimenting?”

  “Eh?”

  “What’s with that shocked look?!”

  “Ah, now that you mention it, your forelocks are shorter than they usually are I—”

  “Well, excuse me for cutting them too short! Just pretend you don’t see it!”

  Asagi’s eyebrows stood up as she delivered a left hook to Kojou’s rib cage. Kojou let out an anguished breath. He didn’t really get it, but he had the sense he was getting extremely irrational treatment from her.

  “So why do you wanna know about the Kano Alchemical stuff?” Asagi asked while booting up a computer located in the middle of the room.

  “I wanna know about the Nalakuvera thing they’re secretly importing. Apparently it’s been taken by leftovers of a terrorist group called the Black Death Emperor Front.”

  “Nalakuvera…huh? I think this is probably what you’re talking about, Kojou.”

  Asagi, typing on a computer showing nothing but numbers on the screen, finally displayed some kind of file on a large monitor. What the monitor displayed was a stocky, egg-shaped mass of stone. It was a round body all curled up, like that of an insect. Or perhaps it was a war machine with thick armor cladding its sturdy frame…

  “An artifact unearthed in a dormant state in the late twentieth century…so a type of inorganic life-form. A living weapon, huh.”

  “Living weapon?”

  “In modern terms, it’s something like an unmanned fighter plane. It says, since they think it was based on the Pushpaka Vimana in Indian mythology and the Prince Nezha worshipped by Taoists, it probably has several weapon systems and flight capabilities.”

  “I didn’t really get all that, but I gather that it’s dangerous.”

  Kojou spoke with a very weighty mood. He didn’t understand what it was in concrete terms, but if this was a weapon on a mythological level, there was no doubt it contained exceptional power. The words Natsuki had used, “weapon of the gods,” might well have been no empty boast.

  “Yeah, you could fight even the First Primogenitor with this…so that’s why the Dead Black Emperor Front wants it.”

  “First Primogenitor? You’ve been talking nonsense since earlier, you know?”

  Asagi narrowed her eyes as she looked at Kojou with suspicion. Unable to come up with a nat
ural-sounding excuse right away, Kojou went, “Er, that’s…,” as he became flustered. Then…

  “…!”

  A moment later, Asagi fiercely wrapped both arms around Kojou’s neck, pulling him down onto the floor. Kojou, now glued tight to Asagi in a deep embrace, was very confused.

  “A-Asagi?!”

  “Shh! Be quiet!”

  As Asagi spoke in a quiet voice, she forced Kojou’s body down with her own under the computer desk.

  She was staring at the door at the entrance to the student council room. Though Kojou was sure it had been locked from the inside, he felt someone coming in.

  “Who is it?”

  “Matsui-sensei maybe. Student council advisor. He takes his job unusually seriously.”

  Asagi mumbled a “muu” as she made a clawing motion with her fingers.

  A middle-aged male teacher came into the student council room, sat on a metal pipe chair, and began putting papers in order. Any way one sliced it, leaving the student council room without him noticing was virtually impossible.

  The quick-thinking Asagi had turned off the computer screen, but if Matsui came close, the hiding Kojou and Asagi would be quickly exposed.

  “This isn’t the time for admiration! What’ll we do?!”

  “I said, be quiet! Wh…where do you think you’re touching?!”

  “It’s not on purpose! It’s ’cause you’re pushing on me!”

  “I-it’s a tight space so I can’t help it!”

  In a quiet voice, Asagi made a meager sigh, but it blew right into Kojou’s ear.

  That wasn’t the only place they were close together; one of Kojou’s arms was touching Asagi’s ample breasts, and at some point Kojou’s wrist had come to rest right between Asagi’s thighs.

  Asagi couldn’t help being sensitive to every little movement Kojou’s body made.

  However, as neither could pull back from the other, both of them stayed down and kept their breathing in check.

  Asagi may not have been as slim as Nagisa or Yukina, but the volume of her chest felt much different. He could not help but notice the perfume, shampoo, and other feminine scents drifting in the air.

  Realizing his heart was beating faster and his throat was feeling parched, Kojou unwittingly made a sound through clenched teeth. These were ill omens, the precursors of vampiric urges.

  At this rate, it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility Kojou might lose his senses and attack the completely unsuspecting Asagi, just as Yukina had worried might happen.

  “Asagi…those earrings, are those…”

  They were small gold stud earrings. Kojou had bought them for Asagi’s birthday…or more precisely, she’d forced him to buy them for her. Today was the first day he’d seen Asagi wearing them. Kojou wondered what kind of change in her mental state this indicated.

  “You sure took your time noticing, stupid Kojou.”

  Asagi made a broad, charming smile, her eyes a little teary as she looked up at Kojou. Kojou slipped and thought she was very pretty.

  Right around that time, Kojou felt Matsui the teacher leaving the room. His sense of tension dropped like a rock. Then…

  “K-Kojou?! Are you all right?!”

  The next moment, Asagi’s eyes bulged as she saw the large amount of blood spurting from Kojou’s bleeding nose.

  “Eh? Whoa?!”

  Flustered, Kojou covered his nose with both hands. His vampiric urges, having risen all the way to dangerous levels, fell apart with ease and vanished. Yes. Sexual arousal was the source of vampiric urges, but the mouth did not actually care whose blood it was—even if the blood was his.

  “Well, what can I say…? I was an idiot to expect something from you with the mood like that.”

  Asagi made a meager sigh as she stuffed pocket tissues she’d taken out from somewhere into Kojou’s nostrils. Kojou, having won the battle against the vampiric urges, sniffed with a tired look on his face.

  7

  “Have you calmed down a little?” Asagi asked with a languid look as she looked at Kojou, tissues still packed into his nose.

  Having slipped out of the student council room, Kojou and Asagi were heading to the rooftop garden. On the cramped-feeling Saikai Academy grounds, flower beds and benches had been placed on the rooftops, open to students as a substitute for a courtyard.

  That said, the sunlight was indeed fierce, so not many students used it. It was a particularly harsh environment for a vampire like Kojou. But few people making use of it meant that there was little chance of being seen by anyone else, so it was a convenient place for avoiding the prying eyes of students.

  “Sorry it ended up with you skipping class.”

  “Yeah, it did. Well, I’m all right, but…my grades are good, and I have a surplus of attendance days.”

  “Ugh…my attendance days should be just barely enough with the extra lessons on summer break…”

  Kojou made a forlorn groan, as if trying to avert his eyes from reality.

  Taking an unexcused break from classes was pretty much guaranteed to get him a scolding from Natsuki the next day. While he’d gotten some results in return, the answer was bizarre. The true nature of the Nalakuvera and its location remained unknown. Gardos and his people probably had it right there with them.

  Of course, as Natsuki had said, so long as the command method remained undeciphered, the sample they possessed had quite a crippling flaw. That was the gist of it, anyway.

  “Hey…Kojou.”

  Watching Kojou’s deep-in-thought face from the side, Asagi suddenly posed a question.

  “That Nalakuvera thing from earlier, it was smuggled in along with a stone tablet, right?”

  “Yeah. That’s about all I remember, though.”

  “That formula written on it, it’s…bad if that gets deciphered, isn’t it?”

  “Pretty much. If it had someone sane looking after it that’s one thing…but why is that part bothering you that much?”

  “Eh?! No way, it’s not bothering me at all.”

  Asagi averted her eyes in an unnatural way as she spoke. The heck’s that about, Kojou wanted to ask her, but before he could, Kojou’s stomach made a large rumble. Asagi could barely contain herself.

  “Kojou, did you have breakfast?”

  “Like I could eat anything in that situation.”

  Kojou glared at Asagi with a resentful look. The mastermind behind the spoiling of the Akatsuki residence’s peaceful morning patted Kojou’s back with an unapologetic smile on her face.

  “I suppose not. It can’t be helped…Asagi the Kind Sister will grant you half of her bento box.”

  “You’re just hungry, I’m sure. Not that I’m complaining about gettin’ half, mind you.”

  “You should be more thankful. It isn’t often I split my food up with someone else.”

  “I have this feeling I’m always treating you to meals, though.”

  Asagi fished her bento box out of the pouch she’d brought with her from class. It was an unexpectedly small lunchbox for a girl who could eat such a surprisingly large amount.

  Noticing that there was only one pair of chopsticks, Asagi seemed to hesitate a bit, but in the end, she apparently didn’t mind. After plucking up the plump fried egg, taking a bite as if sampling it, Kojou opened his mouth to say, “What, you eating that?” to which Asagi announced, “You’re wide open!” stuffing the rest into Kojou’s mouth.

  “This is delicious.”

  “Yeah. I have to admit, that woman knows how to cook.”

  Asagi spoke about her mother as if they were unrelated. Her parents had only remarried two years before; she wasn’t connected by blood to her current mother. It wasn’t that they didn’t get along, but she felt enough distance with her to avoid calling her “Mom.”

  As it was somehow a different subject to comment on, Kojou bit into his fried egg while changing the subject.

  “To think our school has a place like this.”

  “Apparently that girlfr
iend of Motoki’s told him about it. It’s the first time I’ve been here myself, since I heard that only couples came here during summer break to eat lunch togeth…”

  Having said that much, Asagi suddenly went silent.

  She seemed to suddenly realize the situation both of them were in. Here they were, skipping class and sharing the same bento. Furthermore, she’d used her own chopsticks to bring food to Kojou’s mouth…

  An impartial observer could not believe they were anything but a couple on very good terms.

  “I-I’m going to get something to drink. You can have the rest of it!”

  “R-right.”

  After pushing the bento box onto Kojou, Asagi ran off with incredible vigor. Kojou didn’t understand the reason why she’d blush like that now, but without thinking deeply, he figured, Guess she has moods like that some days.

  At any rate, he gratefully ate up the meal handed to him and began to think about how he’d get the information about the Nalakuvera to Yukina.

  It was the next moment when the concrete bench Kojou was sitting on shattered with a great roar.

  “…Th-the heck?!”

  A moment later, Kojou’s body was sent flying by the blast.

  The impact toyed with Kojou like a rag doll, making him roll onto the roof’s surface along with the rubble.

  He wondered if the bench had exploded, but of course that was impossible. There was a one-meter diameter crater gouging the spot where the bench had been a moment before.

  The damage was as if someone had tossed a hand grenade, but he did not detect any scent of explosives. In its place was the vestige of ritual energy. It was a release of internal power resembling Yukina’s special skills—a physical attack incorporating ritual arts.

  “—You’re really quite something, Kojou Akatsuki, skipping class to go on a secret rendezvous with a classmate.”

  Kojou, lying faceup, heard a scornful voice coming from above his head.

  Immediately looking up, Kojou saw a tall, slender teenage girl.

  She was wearing a short, pleated skirt and a summer vest. That much fit a normal schoolgirl, but the giant sword in her left hand decidedly did not.