Editing Leviathan:Volume 3 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 3===

"Even so, where on earth has the dragon bearing the Rune of the Sword disappeared to?"

Luna Francois was speaking from the driver's seat while steering boldly.

The domestic luxury sports car entered a sharp corner of the New Town Highway's Tatsumi Junction without losing speed at all, making the turn by following an ideal out-in-out line.

Despite her young age of sixteen years, Luna was an incurable speed demon.

Looking at the speedometer which read 200 km/h, Asya frowned from the front passenger seat.

"Please don't race wantonly just because it's an emergency situation."

"Who cares? There are no other cars driving after all. Besides, I haven't even broke 300 km/h."

Tokyo New Town had essentially turned into a ghost town.

There were almost no pedestrians or vehicles on the road. However, rare exceptions like Asya and Luna should still be present somewhere.

"I attempted to use Detection magic all around New Town for the past two days, but could not find any signs of an elite-size dragon in hiding..." said Asya.

She was replying to her fellow witch's earlier murmuring.

"I believe it is extremely likely that he has shrunk his size to take on a Draconian form to hide."

"Oh actually, I have an unfavorable conjecture."

Hearing Luna speak as though a sudden thought had occurred to her, Asya frowned.

Luna Francois' so-called "unfavorable conjectures" often came true with very high probabilities.

"The girl who called herself a dragon king earlier was in human form, yes? If elite dragons were able to cast magic to turn themselves into humans, then..."

"Right! The elite we fought some time ago also said it was possible but undesirable!"

"Disguising as a human and hiding among New Town's refugees would be highly probable. The dragons forbade us humans to leave Tokyo because they are worried of this possibility, right?"

"True, it'd make sense if that's the case..."

With that, the search for Pavel Galad escalated greatly in difficulty.

Furthermore, the Raptors in search of Galad would even attack the people remaining in New Town&mdash;The risk of this happening probably increased in likelihood too.

"It looks like it'll be increasingly necessary to rely on Haruomi's rune."

"Indeed. I wonder if Hazumi-san and Orihime-san are assisting him well?"

"&mdash;!? L-Luna, what did you just say!?"

Carrying the two worried master magi, the race car sped in Kiba's direction.


At the makeshift dining table that Hazumi had set up before the library...

Orihime, Hal and Hazumi, the three of them were seated around the foldable table. The main dish for tonight was the curry rice cooked during lunch time by the youngest girl present.

Hal did not know if the school location was the reason, but Orihime was also dutifully dressed in uniform.

"Hazumi and Haruga-kun, you both seem a bit unsettled. Did something happen?"

"N-Nothing, it's just that the curry's a bit spicy."

"T-That's right. It really is a tad too spicy, Senpai."

"...Really? On the contrary, I find it to be medium spicy to an exceedingly ordinary level."

Hal and Hazumi's bathroom episode had taken place roughly an hour earlier.

After that, Hal had dried himself and gotten dressed with lightning speed before heading out of the club building to greet Orihime. During that time, Hazumi also made herself presentable then met up with them with feigned composure.

Thanks to that, their problematic behavior had not come to light. Thus, dinner started without issue.

However, Hal and Hazumi had yet to dispel the uneasiness in their hearts. They were still far from returning to normal.

"B-By the way, Juujouji, why did you suddenly come over?"

"Well, of course I am here to assist and monitor you, Haruga-kun."

"'Monitor'!?"

"Yes. Since Hazumi is staying over here too, I was thinking someone needs to monitor you, Haruga-kun, so as to prevent the dark side of the Force manifesting within you. As such, this humble Juujouji Orihime has volunteered to shoulder this responsibility."

"No no no, I can't possibly do such unspeakable things to Shirasaka. That's what I believe. Essentially. Probably."

"See? Although your assertions cannot be trusted seeing as you are the self-styled closet pervert, the case is even more evident now that you have failed to make an assertion. Don't you agree, Hazumi?"

"I-I think that... S-Senpai is the one person who won't do such things, Nee-sama!"

"See that, Haruga-kun? Even Hazumi cannot believe in her own words with full conviction, which is why her gaze is currently this unsteady. As such, my coming to monitor you is not entirely meaningless, is it?"

" "......" "

Hal and Hazumi could not help but fall silent in response to Orihime's words.

Due to the vividness of their most recent memories, they could not muster a strong rebuttal.

However, Hal remembered something just as the trio were essentially done with dinner.

"Come to think of it, I forgot to call President M over."

"Oh, about the president, she already ate five bowls of curry at dusk. She said she had to eat dinner early because she was going to the pool for butterfly stroke training."

"Swimming immediately after eating so much, that's quite amazing of her. Nothing less expected of the president."

"That really is quite astounding, but isn't she engaged in training for some kind of unknown superpower?"

Hal muttered while imagining President M swimming the butterfly stroke.

That massive body, estimated to weigh 140 kg, propelled along the water surface. Such a sight, the embodiment of mystery and horror, would probably rival that of the famous White Whale, Moby Dick.

Despite his burning curiosity to witness the president's swimming appearance, Hal decided he still had work to take care of.

"I'm about to start wrapping up my task. How about you two come along? I could tell you what I've been doing all this time."

Possibly because this was the first time for Hal to willingly explain his undertaking&mdash;

Hazumi and Orihime looked up abruptly and immediately nodded. Taking the two girls, Hal returned to the library's underground storage level.

A number of selected items were placed on a blue tarp laid out in a corner of the floor.

Six rusted fragments of iron swords, four slightly filthy bronze pots, two Gabuntai divine beast mirrors of bronze, one blade of gilt bronze, and nine orbs of red agate.

"I believe that out of all these things, one of them is a former dragon king's heartmetal... Hinokagutsuchi's."

The words Hal finally uttered caused Orihime and Hazumi to stare wide-eyed.


Late at night. It was after 10pm...

Hal was still in the library's underground storeroom. He was rapidly browsing through reference materials spread out on a table. At this moment, the door opened and Orihime entered alone.

"How's Shirasaka?"

"Presumably exhausted. She already went to bed."

The girls were staying in an office on the library's ground floor.

Hazumi had apparently retired for the night there, probably tired out by cooking and preparing the bath, tasks which she was unused to. Frail in health to begin with, she was definitely not a girl with abundant energy.

However, while the two of them were alone, Orihime said with some displeasure in her expression, "Hazumi loves you inexplicably, Haruga-kun..."

"L-Love!?"

"Although she is very kind with a personality like an angel's, this is still my first time seeing her go such lengths for someone other than me or family."

"What? So by love you were referring to the likes of familial love."

"...Are you by any chance confident that she would offer you another kind of love?"

"O-Of course not. We're senior and junior students, my conscience is clear."

"Oh? But lately, it seems that there have been many opportunities for you two to spend time together alone."

Orihime was usually cheerful, lively and caring, but right now, her stinging words were frequently mocking Hal. What on earth was going on?

And today, Hal was also harboring a guilty conscience about the bathroom episode.

If she were to continue pursuing the matter, perhaps he might let slip unnecessary information.

"It feels like you're acting jealous today, Juujouji. Even if I've snatched your cousin away from you..."

Hal tried to strike back in a somewhat contrived manner. He had a feeling that his position would progressively worsen if he stayed on defense the whole time. However, this ended up eliciting an unexpected reaction.

Orihime was sudden stunned, looking quite shocked.

"J-Jealous&mdash;!? D-Do I really sound like that!?"

"Well, umm, just a personal opinion, I guess? I'm the only one who got this impression."

Although Hal asked Orihime not to worry, she did not take his words to heart. Murmuring softly, she was saying things that were hard to make out.

"I am jealous&mdash;jealous over Hazumi. To think I unintentionally... this sort of matter that has no need to be brought up..."

"J-Juujouji?"

"Forget about the conversation just now, Haruga-kun! Never mind, I have something else to talk about!"

Forcibly changing the subject, Orihime said, "You're not hiding something from us by any chance, are you?"

"Uh, recently I've been occupied with trying to locate Hinokagutsuchi's heartmetal&mdash;"

"I already heard about that. I'm asking if there is anything else. For example, about your body, Haruga-kun, or the like."

"I've written about runes and dragon kings in the report, so there's nothing I need to hide particularly."

"I already read that report too. You wrote plenty about Kagutsuchi-san and the encounter with the man in black... but you omitted the most important part."

The man in the black suit, Sophocles, was a mysterious being who claimed to be a human instead of a dragon.

Taking a "believe it or not" mindset, Hal had candidly included in his report an organized account regarding the Road to Kingship and the encounter with that man. However&mdash;

"The possibility that you might turn into a dragon&mdash;This was not mentioned anywhere at all."

"Oh my, that's too far-fetched and ridiculous after all."

"Please allow me to confirm one matter tactfully. You haven't mentioned this to Asya-san either, have you?"

"......"

"I somehow feel that you wouldn't have concealed it if you were truly not worried, Haruga-kun."

"...Well, I don't deny taking various measures due to this reason. Even disregarding various issues such as possibly turning into a dragon, I'm apparently destined to die out in the streets at some point in time."

By the time he noticed, Orihime's worried gaze was already focused on him.

After looking into her eyes and nodding, Hal turned his gaze to a corner of the storeroom. This was the location of the enchanted artifacts and antiques that could potentially be Hinokagutsuchi's heartmetal.

"Although I've no right to say this, I still want to help future generations a bit."

"F-Future generations?"

"Yeah. Well, a dragon would probably say something like 'fighting is my duty.' But as it so happens, I'm human and a treasure hunter to boot."

The conflict revolving around the dragonslaying runes was apparently known as the Road to Kingship.

The mysterious man, Sophocles, had called it a type of quest and described it as a game. It was surely a great adventure involving numerous battles like an epic RPG.

"Even if those guys prefer authentic orthodox RPGs, I'm not obliged to humor them. I'll ignore the proper script and focus on finding loopholes in the system or mini-games to play. Then I'll take all of my gathered gold to redeem somewhere else."

"Indeed... Haruga-kun, you're still a mortal."

After listening to Hal's explanation, Orihime smiled faintly.

"Then as the only friend privy to your secret, let me make myself clear. If anything happened to make you suffer so much that you'd want to cry during the night, call me. I will listen to you as long as I have time and visit you if I have the opportunity to do so."

"...I'm not that fragile."

"Hard to say. You may find yourself cornered in the future."

"I see. Then I'll gratefully remember your offer."

"Yes, it's a promise. In addition, please call me without reserve when you need a comrade-in-arms. Let's work together and give it our best like last time."

"Last time huh..."

"...Haruga-kun, are you having indecent thoughts by any chance?"

"Of course not. I'm just remembering the intense battle."

"But you always act especially serious whenever you're having lustful thoughts, you know?"

"Have I been seen through!?"

Hal's tense and proper expression was exposed by Orihime with a single comment.

In truth, Hal was definitely recalling that particular instant. The five fingers of his right hand had sunk into Orihime's soft body part that was about the size of a small cantaloupe, enjoying the excellent suppleness.

"Next time, you are not allowed to touch me in such an obscene manner!"

Orihime scolded angrily.

"Back then, Haruga-kun, you were squeezing my breast as hard as you could, refusing to let go no matter what..."

"Juujouji, it's probably because your breasts are too majestic, that's why I accidentally&mdash;"

"This kind of dirty talk is not allowed!"

"S-Sorry..."

As a side note, he had not written about the "action for transmitting power" undertaken at the time either, for no special reason except that Hal himself judged that it was not definitely something to be disclosed.

While bowing his head to apologize, Hal realized.

Orihime apparently said "next time" just now... Hal stared at her face in surprise.

Although his classmate and novice witch was still showing an offended expression, she had turned her gaze away in embarrassment to murmur, "I-It cannot be helped either. The next battle will surely be a tough ordeal and even a queen of the dragons has appeared... B-But don't you get the wrong idea!"

Orihime's tone of voice turned feeble mid-sentence as though in an attempt to argue, only turning into what seemed a little like anger at the end.

"It happened only because I had no choice, ultimately necessitated by battle!"

"O-Of course. I'll carve this in my heart."

"It is absolutely not because I enjoy it..."

"I figured. I absolutely won't have any weird misunderstandings."

"B-But putting this aside, I mentioned earlier as well, since fate has brought us together so much, I think I would be totally fine with dating you."

"Oh, okay."

"That is what I think..."

For some reason, towards the end, Orihime kept staring into Hal's eyes as though trying to tell him something.

Orihime's eyes were a bit moist. Her gaze caused Hal's heart to race. He even felt that if he were to say certain "magic words" this instant, it would decisively change something.

But would that be okay? Clearly she had told him not to get the wrong idea.

Just as Hal found himself in a conundrum, Orihime suddenly reacted with surprise. As though chastising herself "What am I saying!?", she shook her head forcefully and suddenly shouted, "R-Right, Haruga-kun! Next, let us talk about what is over here!"

Orihime pointed at the materials laid out on the table.

Photocopies of ancient Japanese texts. These had been ordered recently by the used bookstore, Mirokudou, a special purchase Hal had asked Kenjou Genya to make.

At the same time, this was information about Hinokagutsuchi&mdash;the red dragon queen.

This was what Hal had originally intended to discuss with Orihime and Hazumi tonight.