Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 1 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 1===

Perhaps I should have realized when I woke up.

It was a lovely sunny Monday morning. The temperature still had a hint of summer, but the occasional breeze was quite pleasantly cool.

I blended into the usual classroom scenery with my usual level of enthusiasm, and as always, I killed time between the bell and the arrival of the homeroom teacher, feeling a bit sleepy.

I thought about reading some trivial news uploaded to my phone, but with the school’s ban on mobile usage, Shinkawahama High School had no signal anywhere. As a result, I had nothing to do and was just thinking about killing a little time when, as always, the homeroom teacher appeared.

It was just another morning like any other. However, I was utterly taken aback, doubting my own eyes.
 
I'll say it again. I should have noticed when I woke up. I should have been able to.

I had slept over at Haruka's house for the first time in a while and woke up. At the dining table where I was urged to sit down for breakfast, Haruka was in a strangely good mood.
It was also strange that Yuki, who had already left when I woke up, had taken Raquel with her.

During homeroom before the start of classes, a new student stood beside the homeroom teacher who had come to the class.

She was a small girl wearing the same Shinkawahama First High School uniform as us, with hair as beautiful as gold that made you want to stare at it. Her large, upturned eyes were also golden, and her translucent white skin gave her a mysterious aura. The name written on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom was 'Raquel Alucard'. There, as a new classmate, was none other than the Raquel I knew.



Hiding deep in the library, crouched behind a bookshelf filled with texts on religion and psychology, I kept my head down. It was now the middle of the first class of the afternoon. The subject was earth science, but since the teacher in charge, Isa, was absent, my class was instructed to study on our own in the library.

That said, only a handful of students were actually reading textbooks on Earth Science. Most of the students spread out manga and hobby books that had nothing to do with earth science on their desks and chatted with their friends without even looking at them.

However, being in the library, they seemed hesitant to raise their voices too much. The sound of chatter was muted, as if everyone were trying to maintain a semblance of decorum in this space. The voices were all low and muffled, blending together into a constant murmur. 

Listening to the voices of his classmates over the bookshelves, Naoto sighed weakly. He was depressed. He was tired. Mentally. The cause was the blonde transfer student, Raquel, who was right beside him.

She herself said that she had only been alive for two years and four days... or maybe five. With such a meager life experience, and the fact that she had never worn clothes before, it was no wonder that she was so unconventional. And yet, it was unthinkable that she would suddenly enroll in high school without causing any problems.

During class, she would bring up theories that no one knew about and ask the teacher questions about magical perspectives, and if she was bored, she would try to leave the classroom. She would ask Naoto to prepare tea in the classroom, and then, when she said she was going to change for physical education class, she would start undressing in the classroom. Naturally, it was Naoto's job to jump in and stop Raquel every time she did something like that. As he did so, people around him began to question their relationship, and Raquel replied that he was her "servant." 

In just one day, Naoto had been labeled as the servant of a beautiful blonde girl.

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"You've been sighing since a while ago. It's really unsightly, so stop it," Raquel said in that same tone. "Whose fault do you think that is?"

Well, no wonder he was sighing.

Taking a deep breath, this time upward to try and change his mood, Naoto looked up at Raquel, who was staring curiously at the bookshelf in front of him.

"So? What's up?" As soon as they entered the library, she had asked to speak to him alone. Naoto had chosen this place to avoid prying eyes, as he didn't want to suddenly bring up the topic of vampires in front of his classmates. Raquel turned around and looked around. It was more like she was searching for a faint sound than checking to see if anyone was listening.

“I can sense remnants of something.” Naoto, who had been feeling listless until then, was jolted by the whispered words.

"What do you mean?" He sat up straight and frowned. "Are you saying that there's someone related to the Spinners in this school?"

"Not necessarily. But..." Raquel's golden eyes stared intently at Naoto. "It's certain that there are at least eight people in this school with Drive abilities," Raquel's reply etched deeper wrinkles between Naoto's brows.

"Drive abilities?" Another unfamiliar term had been thrown at him, and Naoto scratched his head. It sounded familiar. Hadn’t Kiiro said something about that?

''"Naoto-kun, what kind of 'Drive' do you have?"'' she had asked.

"So, what is this 'Drive'?"

Raquel looked a little surprised, then put her hand to her mouth and thought for a moment. It was clear that it was a very normal, common word for her. Naoto couldn't help but feel that they lived in completely different worlds.

"A Drive is... 'the embodiment of the power of the soul,'" she said, gently opening her hand as if holding something in her white palm. “It’s a special ability that each person possesses, a unique power. It resides in everyone’s soul, and anyone has the potential to activate it.” As if cradling an empty soul in her palm, Raquel gently curled her fingers.

"It's like... a superpower?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," Raquel nodded lightly in response to Naoto's question and lowered her hand. "A Drive is activated when the soul comes even slightly closer to the Azure. There are mainly two triggers for this. One is when a soul that is stronger than usual is drawn to the Azure. Occasionally, there are those with exceptionally strong souls in this world. Such souls tend to be drawn to the Azure much more easily than others. Therefore, those with strong souls tend to be more likely to activate their Drives.”

“Of course, there are cases where people with strong souls don't activate their Drives, and conversely, there are cases where people with ordinary souls awaken to their Drives due to some accident. Those ‘Immortal Breakers... Valkenhayn Helsing and Relius Clover fit this description. Their souls are incredibly strong.”

"And the other one?"

“The other way is to bring oneself closer to the Azure. Spinner Superior did just that. Through his pursuit of magic, he drew his soul nearer to the Azure, activating his Drive ability.”

"Is that even possible...? We don't even know where the Azure is, do we?" Approaching a soul to something as uncertain and invisible as the Azure was a world away from Naoto's imagination. As if understanding Naoto, Raquel nodded once more.

"Normally, it's impossible. And the magical society that Spinner used to belong to forbids approaching the Azure. ...In other words, the fact that he was able to do it means he's anything but ordinary."

Not ordinary. Abnormal. Was it referring to his skills or his sinful desires? Naoto, who didn't know Spinner, and Raquel didn't know either.

"The closer a soul gets to the Azure, the more powerful the Drive becomes. That said, even Valkenhayn and Relius haven't even come close to a glimpse of it. If you could get close to a fragment of the Azure, the power you would possess wouldn't be something as simple as that." Naoto sensed from Raquel's words just how vast and distant the Azure was. At the same time, he felt a bit of despair. Spinner, who was aware of the existence of the Azure to such an extent that he could approach it himself, had yet to obtain it, and even Valkenhain and Relius were far too distant from its existence. How could someone like him possibly obtain something like that?

(I can't see a bright future...)

He didn't want to find out if he couldn't, but the more he understood, the more dazzling the situation seemed.

"So, are you and your father Drive users too? Because your souls have approached the Azure or something?" When Naoto asked out of curiosity, Raquel shook her head slightly, her expression slightly strained.

"My father is a bit different. He's a very special existence... a special case among special cases, an exception among exceptions." She repeated the words as if to convey how extraordinary and unusual it was. Unconsciously, she hugged her other arm with her hand. It looked a bit like a frightened gesture. "I don't know who it was, but a long time ago, there was someone in the world who was the only one to touch a fragment of the Azure. My father was created by that person using the power of the Azure."

"That sounds... incredibly amazing, doesn't it?" Although he couldn't say that he fully understood everything so far, he thought so even with his limited knowledge. Raquel looked at Naoto with a stern gaze as he hesitantly raised his hand and spoke. What lay in her gaze was not anger, but awe—specifically towards her own father.

"It's incredibly amazing. He's fundamentally on a different level from other living beings. He's a 'Fantasy Creature' born from the Azure, from human desires, resentment, and awe.”

These are beings that are closer to the Azure than any other creature, transcending all others by nature. If the manifestation of the power of the soul is the Drive, then Clavis could be seen as the manifestation of various aberrations born from many souls. The existence itself is the Drive. 

But if Clavis is such a formidable existence, then a question arises for Naoto.

"Isn't Raquel a 'Fantasy Creature' too?" Raquel is also a vampire, just like Clavis. But Raquel lowered her gaze weakly.

"No. I was created by my father, who is a 'Fantasy Creature'. I'm probably closer to the Valkenhayns, a race created magically by humans."

The Valkenhayns are werewolves. But Raquel says that they are not a race that has grown up in the natural order of things, but one that has been created intentionally by powerful beings.

"That's why I'm a Drive user, just like Valkenhayn and Relius. My ability is called 'Tempest'. My soul is skilled at manipulating the wind." Leaning against the bookshelf with her small back, Raquel reached out towards the front. A gentle breeze swirled at her outstretched fingertips. Carrying the scent of dust sucked up by the books, the wind passed in front of Naoto and disappeared somewhere.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Looking sideways at the wind, Naoto asked softly. "Is my eye... a Drive?" Raquel already knew about the 'Hunter's Eye' that could see people's life force as numbers. He had always wondered why he could see these numbers. What was the reason and meaning behind it? Naoto looked at Raquel. Above her head, as usual, was an extraordinary eight-digit number.

"......I don't know," she said, hesitating for a moment, furrowing her brow. She moved away from the bookshelf and crouched in front of Naoto. She put her hands on the floor and leaned forward as if to bring her face closer.

“W-wait…?” The distance between them suddenly closed, and Raquel's large eyes and well-shaped nose were right in front of Naoto's. He involuntarily held his breath. Even so, he couldn't completely stifle his breath, and it slipped out, brushing against Raquel's bangs. Her hair had a beautiful color, entirely unlike anything Naoto had seen in his daily life, and her piercing gaze stirred something in his chest. If she got any closer, their breaths would almost touch... Raquel made a difficult face again.

"I can't feel its power unless I get this close. I think that this power wasn't originally in your soul, but was transplanted from somewhere else." With a sigh of exasperation, Raquel stood up abruptly. As if she had gotten dust on her, she lightly brushed her hand. 

Naoto felt a bit deflated. He leaned his head against the bookshelf behind him with a thud and shook his shoulders at the involuntary smile that welled up. He didn't want to be surprised.

It was as if Raquel's presence still lingered right in front of his nose.

“Transplant... is it?” With a wry smile, Naoto looked up at the ceiling. He had mixed feelings about Raquel's words. But... that didn't matter right now. Naoto turned to Raquel and changed the subject. "So, there are eight Drive users, right? Is that... a bad thing?"

They were after Spinner. Spinner was also a Drive user, but it was hard to believe that he was in school.

Raquel looked at him with a bored expression. Her eyes, which seemed to say, "Can't you even figure that out?", were filled with a haughtiness that was so typical of her.

"Using a Drive means using a tiny bit of the power of the Azure. That burnt residue is the remnant of the Azure. ...I said earlier that I felt the remnant of the Azure in the school, didn't I?" Raquel's words at the end of her sentence urged him to answer.

Was she telling him to think instead of just listening? It was impossible for him to come up with anything when he didn't even know about the existence of Drives. Muttering curses under his breath, Naoto rested his elbow on his knee and propped his cheek on his hand.

"So, it means someone used a Drive?"

"Or they're closely associated with someone who used a Drive..." In other words, there might be someone who had something to do with Spinner or Spinner's followers.

Raquel's gaze was unwavering. For a makeshift strategy meeting in the back of a high school library, it was a bit too serious.

"Either way, I want to investigate those eight people. Because as long as they have Drives, we don't know when they might become a hindrance."

"A hindrance?"

"Those who have activated their Drives naturally begin to feel the power of the Azure and gradually begin to seek it out. If that happens, they could become our enemies." Both Raquel and Naoto were seeking the Azure. Spinner was also seeking the same thing. It meant that there was a possibility that another person would get involved.

(If that happens, it'll be a complete mess...)

He wanted to avoid such a situation if possible. If it was a preparation for that, then Raquel's proposal to investigate was something Naoto could work with.

"Alright. Let's do that investigation then. What should I do?" With a small cheer, Naoto stood up. He glanced at the classmates in the bookshelves behind him.

"Maybe there are other Drive users there too." The thought made the familiar scenery seem to change color, and Naoto felt uneasy. 

Raquel folded her arms. Her thoughtful golden eyes fixed on Naoto.

“Lead the way. We need a spot near the center of the school that’s out of sight.”

“Got it.” He had just the place in mind. Running his fingers through his hair, Naoto led Raquel back into the light. For now, he had to get through the classes without drawing attention until after school. 

Worrying about whether Raquel would stand out, Naoto randomly pulled out a book he had no interest in. It looked like it would serve as a decent pillow for a nap until class ended.