“Understood,” she said. “Now, there’s one favor I’d like from you first, senpai.”
“Favor?”
“There’s somewhere I’d like to bring you.”
This request was a surprise. It wasn’t often that Yukina was the one asking Kojou for something.
She continued, “It might take a little time, though… Two, three hours at most.”
“I don’t really mind, but…where’re we going?”
“We’ll get off at the next station. It’s not a long walk from there.”
“R-right.”
Kojou followed Yukina’s directions and got off at a particularly busy monorail station.
Yukina confirmed their route on the station’s guide map and they made their way down a meandering lane. There were few people passing through, but the hilly road was filled with quiet tension nonetheless. Kojou’s face twitched as he continued to walk by Yukina’s side.
Lines of hotels surrounded the road Kojou and Yukina walked along. These weren’t places for travelers to lodge, though—they were the sort of hotels men and women visited for more amorous affairs.
“Himeragi, um, this street is…”
Yukina lowered her eyes as she spoke, voice stiff. “I’m sorry, senpai. I’m a little nervous, too. It’s my first time here.”
What’s with this all of a sudden, thought Kojou, completely beside himself. This was going way too fast. He wondered if it had something to do with her earlier admonition not to drink the blood of other girls.
The trigger for vampiric urges was lust. Put the opposite way, if one’s lust was satisfied, vampiric urges wouldn’t happen in the first place. Perhaps that was why Yukina was bringing Kojou to a place like this, to offer up her own body to satisfy his lust…?
“Himeragi, is bringing me here some kind of order from the Lion King Agency?”
Yukina replied in her usual business tone, “Yes. It was detailed in the message that arrived yesterday.”
So that’s what this is, Kojou thought, biting his lip.
“Um, you know, you don’t have to push it this far, I think. Or more like, this is something you should do when the time’s right, not all of a sudden? Yeah. You should have a little more regard for yourself here.”
Yukina sighed. “I realize that this is sudden, but it needs to be taken care of before I leave Itogami Island.”
“T-taken care of…?”
Kojou couldn’t conceal his confusion at Yukina’s casual attitude. Maybe she didn’t really mind this turn of developments, even if it was spurred on by external events?
Certainly, Kojou bore no distaste for the girl. Of course he found her charming. But he found it unpleasant that the Lion King Agency had ordered such a thing. And more than that, there was something extremely wrong with Yukina’s personality. Even if she was a nationally accredited surveillance specialist, she had no idea how deeply her own private life would be monitored from the day they established that kind of relationship.
I really should turn her down flat, thought Kojou, but the instant he hardened that resolve—
Yukina took hold of Kojou’s hand, and cut him off.
“Senpai… I’m sorry, can you close your eyes for a moment?”
That was enough to empty Kojou’s head of all thought. Yukina’s hand was smaller, softer, and much nicer feeling than one would think. It wasn’t like she was tightly gripping his hand, but he still lacked the strength to shake her off.
Kojou felt a throb and a metallic scent spreading within his mouth—I might be a total goner at this rate—but the moment Kojou despaired, he was struck by an unpleasant impact that felt like a quiet jolt.
“You can open your eyes now, senpai. We’ve arrived.”
And just like that, Yukina let go of Kojou’s hand.
Kojou was half out of it as he looked up at the building before him. It was like an air pocket within the hotel district, a little building built with bricks. The windows were old school–stained glass; there was a weathered wooden sign above the door. Apparently, this had been Yukina’s actual destination.
Kojou was still somewhat confused as Yukina explained why she’d held his hand.
“There is a ward to drive people away. I led you in because it’s possible that a primogenitor-class demon’s magical energy might destroy the ward.”
Kojou felt all his strength drain from him as he drooped forward. He was so embarrassed by his arbitrary assumptions he thought he’d die on the spot.
Eventually, Kojou glanced up at the store sign and asked, “What is this place? Some kind of antique shop…?”
Based on the storefront, it was an antique shop specializing in imported, old-school furniture. He wasn’t sure what the demand was like in an ultra-modern Demon Sanctuary, but it seemed like Natsuki Minamiya’s kind of place.
However, Yukina slowly shook her head at Kojou’s words. Tension marked her face, but as she slid the guitar case off her back and drew the silver spear out, she smiled in a way that seemed just a little homesick.
“…This is the Lion King Agency.”
CHAPTER TWO
THE PREMATURE BEREAVEMENT
1
A cloud of black smoke wafted over the gas stove, giving off an ominous odor. Within the oil-filled frying pan, an amorphous mass fell apart, its original form unclear. Asagi’s classmate, Yuuho Tanahara, was yelling at the top of her lungs:
“Asagi, the frying pan! It’s burning! Burning!!”
“Eh?! Ah?!”
Asagi rushed to the stove. There she fought a losing battle, cooking chopsticks in hand, as the thing that had once been cooking ingredients jumped around and lit aflame.
“Daaah?! It’s so hot!”
Coolly gazing at Asagi’s descent into panic, Yuuho silently turned off the stove’s flame. The fire in the pan finally went out. She took an ice tray out of the fridge and tossed it to Asagi.
“Here, ice. Cool off, would you?”
“Ermm… Sorry, Tanahara. Thanks.”
Asagi, dressed in an apron, remained seated on the floor with slumped shoulders.
Yuuho was not only a member of the home economics club but also the vice president, even though she was in her first year. Asagi had asked the girl to teach her how to cook. These were supposed to be simple, easy dishes that even a rank amateur couldn’t mess up. So what’s up with all this?
Yuuho gave her classmate a strained but oddly gentle smile as she spoke. “Goodness. I was wondering what was up when you asked me out of the blue to teach you how to cook… You’re a bigger klutz than I expected.”
Asagi looked up at her and sullenly replied, “I can’t help it, I’m not used to any of this. And I mean, geez, what’s with this recipe, anyway? I totally did it by the book, didn’t I?! Why’s this stuff in a tablespoon of this and a heap of that? Put it in grams, for God’s sake!”
“Er, that’s kind of how cooking works… But that’s the clumsy bargaining of a spoiled girl… Mm, you really fit the type, don’t you…?”
Asagi didn’t realize her eyes were wavering as she played dumb.
“Wh…what are you talking about?”
Asagi hadn’t told Yuuho the real reason she asked to be taught how to cook. With Kojou’s little sister heading off on a trip, she wanted to force her way into his apartment and deliver him a home-cooked meal. It was an ambition she was sure was still secret.
Yet Yuuho replied, “Yeah, Akatsuki sure is a lucky dog, isn’t he?”
Apparently Yuuho had been onto her from the very beginning. With a practiced hand, she cleaned up the cooking implements strewn everywhere as she handed Asagi a bread bag.
“Well, let’s give up on the burnt home-cooked stuff and try a sandwich? Even you can handle cutting bread and stuffing some eggs between the slices. If you get beat up any more, it’ll affect your part-time job, too, won’t it?”
Asagi looked down at her two beat-up hands. She nodded and replied weakly, “Ermm… I’ll do that. Thank you, Tanahara.”<
br />
Thanks to her unfamiliarity with cooking, Asagi’s fingers were all covered in Band-Aids. Certainly, any further damage would make it difficult for her to even type at a keyboard.
“You’re quite welcome!” Yuuho beamed, when she suddenly looked at Asagi’s reddened ears.
“Come to think of it, I’ve been wondering this for a while but… Asagi, what happened to your earring?”
“Earring?”
Asagi touched her earlobes and suddenly stopped. One of her earrings was missing. Only the left one was in place.
“Wh-wha—?!”
“Did you forget to put it on? Today was PE, though… Maybe you dropped it somewhere?”
Blood drained from Asagi’s face. She lost earrings a lot, and this one wasn’t even an expensive one. But this earring was special.
“Ah… At the park… When Kojou took me down…”
“Akatsuki…took you down…?”
Asagi’s voice went shrill as she backtracked.
“Eh?! No, no!! I only mean knocked down in a physical sense…”
But one look by Yuuho at Asagi’s blushing face made her decide she knew better as she began to clap.
“Congratulations. I’m so glad things are going better than I expected between you two…”
“I told you, it wasn’t that!!”
2
Standing still in front of the antique shop, Kojou asked, “A Lion King Agency branch office…?”
It was an old-style brick building, the likes of which were rarely seen on Itogami Island. But even though she’d said it was a facility connected to the Lion King Agency, it sure didn’t feel like that. It just looked like a behind-the-times shop dealing in odds and ends.
But Yukina replied with a firm nod.
“Yes, there’s no mistake. This is the office handling communication and support for members.”
“…Office, huh? I mean, it’s a federal agency, of course it’d have that much, but why does the sign say it’s an antique store, then?”
“Camouflage. Even if it is a government organization, it’s still a special agency.”
Her explanation carried weight. Certainly, they couldn’t just announce in grandiose fashion, For All Your Espionage and Magical Anti-Terrorism Needs. But if they called it an antique shop, it wouldn’t arouse suspicion even if people walked in and out carrying swords and spears.
“So it’s a front?” Kojou pressed.
“Yes. Also, it sells confiscated items and the like to pay for office operating expenses—”
“So it’s a normal business, too?! And when you say confiscated items, you don’t mean stuff that’s cursed or haunted, do you…?”
“It’s all right, we exorcise everything beforehand.”
“Hey!!!”
“That was a joke.”
Yukina said it with a dead serious look before breaking into a small, amused smile and an accompanying giggle. Kojou silently frowned. Per usual, he couldn’t tell if the young woman was actually joking.
But it was apparently true that the antique shop operated without fear of bankruptcy. It didn’t seem like it dealt with any kind of normal clientele, but—
“Don’t tell me your organization doesn’t have a budget…?”
“Erm… I wouldn’t know anything about that…”
Yukina evasively lowered her eyes as she put her hand on the antique shop’s door. The wooden door creaked as it opened, with the air carrying the whiff of dust that you only got from old buildings.
Simultaneously, a solemn doorbell rang, and a woman’s crisp voice said, “Welcome. What can I do for you today?”
“…Eh?!” Kojou exclaimed.
Like an old-fashioned teahouse, there was a young woman standing there to greet them. She was pretty, with a slender physique. She had a long ponytail that was a lighter brown, as if darker hair had sunlight passing through it. Her elegant, beautiful looks, like a cherry blossom in bloom, were very familiar to Kojou.
“Kirasaka?”
The employee greatly resembled one Sayaka Kirasaka, who bore the title of Shamanic War Dancer from the Lion King Agency. Indeed, she was the spitting image of the girl, but…
“No, you’re not… Who are you?”
It was only her outward appearance that was identical. The aura around her was not that of the Sayaka Kojou knew, whatsoever. There was no way that Sayaka would look at Kojou and have a polite, proprietary smile come over her face.
It was Yukina who answered Kojou’s question. “This is Master Shike’s shikigami. I believe she modeled it after Sayaka.”
Yukina, however, seemed bewildered by the employee’s appearance, too.
“No way that’s a shikigami. I mean, she looks just like Kirasaka…” Kojou gazed at the face of the fake Sayaka in amazement. He’d seen Yukina’s and Sayaka’s shikigami a number of times to date; they were at the level of nicely done paper crafts, but no more than that. But the Sayaka in front of them was on a whole other level. You could look at her from close up and not think of her as anything but a living, breathing human being. He could sense the beating of her heart, the warmth of her flesh, and even the scent of her hair hovering around her.
“And yet, you could tell at a glance that it wasn’t Sayaka, couldn’t you?”
Yukina’s tone was conversational, if a bit mystified, yet the subtext seemed to be reproachful somehow. Maybe that was just Kojou’s guilt talking; after all, he’d drunk Sayaka’s blood a second time when Yukina’s back was turned.
Kojou quickly made an excuse to gloss over the guilt in his heart.
“Well, ah, the Sayaka I know is, you know, more of an idiot, stuff like that…”
Certainly, the charming, smiling, fake Sayaka was beautiful, but he didn’t like the complete absence of a personality. He thought that the girl was far more attractive when she was shouting and wearing her emotions on her sleeve like…like usual.
“Plus,” Kojou continued, “the real Kirasaka would fly into a violent rage if she saw me looking at her with that outfit on. She’d yell that she’d claw my eyeballs out or something.”
“…That might well be so.” Yukina sighed in sympathy, something heavy apparently on her mind.
He imagined that the Sayaka replica was technically wearing a store uniform. It had a short, flaring skirt and a heavy dose of cleavage. The tight waist actually made the swell of her breasts even more prominent. It was less the outfit for an antique-shop employee and more the sort of thing a waitresses wore at a maid café. For all he knew, perhaps maids and antique shops were a surprisingly good fit.
“So what’s she wearing that outfit for, anyway? Drawing in customers?”
“No… There’s not really any point to that with an aversion ward up.” Yukina tilted her head as she spoke. Then, suddenly, she gave Kojou a frigid glare. “More importantly, you’ve been staring excessively at her chest since earlier. Your gaze is so indecent!”
“Wha—?! No way, I’m just wondering why the heck she’s wearing a getup like this, okay?!” Kojou refuted desperately.
It’s not that he’d meant to stare, but the way the outfit vividly accentuated her bust had apparently drawn in his gaze without him realizing.
Yukina stared at Kojou with a merciless, unemotional look.
“It’s creepier that you weren’t even trying to look. It’s criminal, in fact.”
“I wasn’t giving her that indecent a look! And it’s not even Kirasaka, she’s not even human, you know?”
Yukina covered her own chest as she suddenly said, “Do you really like the pillow types that much?”
Kojou coughed, hard. “N…no one said anything about that, okay?!”
“But you do like them, don’t you?”
“Well, I might…like them a little, but…” Kojou’s reply seemed to vanish into the ether. Yukina pursed her lips with a sullen sound.
The very next moment, a new female voice could be heard in the shop. The tone was boundlessly unenthusiastic, yet seemed as clear
and beautiful as the sound of two gemstones touching.
“—Quite a ruckus you’re making. What is with you?”
Upon noticing the voice, Yukina swiftly bent down on one knee and lowered her head.
“Master…!”
There was no one standing where Yukina spoke—only a single black cat sitting on a raised dancing platform. The cat had a beautifully smooth coat, and its eyes held a golden glint. Its slender collar had cat’s-eye stones of the same color embedded in it.
Yukina reverentially greeted the cat. “It has been some time, Master. Yukina Himeragi, reporting.”
The cat’s eyes narrowed teasingly. “It has been a while, Yukina. It’s not often that you’re annoyed to the point of raising your voice like that.”
“My humble apologies. I was careless.”
“Not at all, I speak in praise.”
The cat made a small, human-like cackle as it raised a front paw. Apparently, this meant that excessively formal greetings were unnecessary here.
“What of the spear?” the cat asked.
“It’s right here.”
Yukina offered Snowdrift Wolf to the Sayaka replica, who in turn carried it to the black cat.
Kojou seized the chance to ask Yukina in a whisper, “‘Master’…? A cat?”
Yukina seemed quite tense as she whispered back into Kojou’s ear, “It’s a familiar. Master is no doubt at High God Forest even now.”
“High God Forest?” Kojou hissed back in shock. “Isn’t that in Kansai?! Seriously…?! How far is that from here, even?!”
The shortest route from Itogami Island to Honshu was around three hundred kilometers. The institution named High God Forest where Yukina and Sayaka had trained was several hundred kilometers farther still. Kojou had heard that physical distance was little barrier to a skilled sorcerer, but even so, he didn’t think a practitioner with half-baked skill could have pulled off such a feat.
“So it’s the person who’s controlling the cat and the Sayaka look-alike that’s your real master, then?” he asked, putting the pieces together.
Strike the Blood, Vol. 6 (light novel): Return of the Alchemist Page 6