Editing Kaze no Stigma:Volume2 Chapter 2 (section)

=== Part 4 ===

“Gunfire broke out at 4pm today in an incident in Chiyoda Ward, Kudankita District, and claimed more than 30 lives.”

The nightly news was reporting on the earlier incident, which was only to be expected. Even though the legend of Japanese security had already long since broken down, things had yet to reach the point where a firefight in the center of Tokyo was a common occurrence.

Because the incident had taken place near the royal residence, all of Tokyo had instantly gone on high alert. As if under martial law, police could be seen everywhere.

Pointing at the ruinous street corner appearing on the television, Juugo showed Ayano a look of suspicion.

“You are saying that ''all of this'' is Misao’s doing?”

“Yes... Umm... It should be...”

Ayano answered hesitantly. The more she looked at the scene depicted on the television, the less real it seemed.

Regardless of the circumstances, the Misao the two of them knew would never be associated with such an incident. Normally a very sympathetic girl, even were she to hold a grudge, she would never be so cruel as to involve innocent people. And were she to decide to take revenge, she would choose a method that wouldn’t involve others.

But...

“For an obedient, docile girl like Misao... Once she gets angry, her actions are surprisingly audacious...” Ayano mumbled wholeheartedly.

From speaking with Masayuki, they had learned that Misao had already disappeared two days prior, along with an eight digit sum from the Ogami family account.

It went without saying that she had yet to be seen again.

“Don’t look as though this doesn’t concern you. Why didn’t you grab her on the spot?”

“Because, Kazuma... He–”

In response to Juugo’s reprimand, Ayano responded coquettishly.

“No excuses. After all, you are to be the next Soushu.”

(Just what do you expect me to do in that kind of situation...)

Ayano put on an obedient front in the face of Juugo’s lecture, but the earlier incident was replaying itself within her.


“Ugh, I can’t hear a thing.”

With Kazuma’s safe return, and the subsequent exit of his assailants, Ayano had become a stalker once more, but the distance between them was too large, and she had been unable to listen in.

At such times, ''en-jutsu'' was useless. Among the various forms of ''en-jutsu'' – which exhibited an overwhelming attack power – there was nothing that could be used for reconnaissance.

In the end, Ayano didn’t manage to catch even a single word of the conversation.

“That guy seems to be enjoying himself.”

“Is that so? He looks pained to me.”

“Pained? That guy? What a joyous occasion.”

“Nee-sama...”

The reason why Ayano could have such an attitude was because she thought that it was all over.

She believed that Misao had no cards left to play and that all that was left was the aftermath. Or so she thought.

Unfortunately...

After the conversation had come to a peaceful resolution, Misao had turned, not to run away, but to calmly walk away.

Kazuma didn’t give chase and just silently watched as she took her leave.

In the moments during which Ayano was too stunned to move, Misao had leisurely disappeared.

“Wa–Wait a minute!”

Coming back to her senses, Ayano ran to Kazuma’s side and grabbed his collar.

“Why did you let her escape?!”

“Why should I capture her?”

Kazuma didn’t seem surprised by Ayano’s appearance and questioned her in turn, as if only natural.

“What do you mean why... This incident was caused by Misao!”

“From the way I see it, they’re the ones responsible.”

In response to Ayano, who was pointing at the remains of the building, Kazuma pointed instead at the corpses of the fallen men.

“That’s what I’m saying! They were following her orders!”

“Is that so? That’s news to me.”

“Yo–You really...”

The hand gripping his collar increased in force. From her attitude it was plain to see that what Ayano really wanted to grab was Kazuma’s throat.

“If you let her be, Misao will do the same thing again!”

“Does it matter? There wasn’t any harm done anyway.”

“Are you blind?”

Ayano once again pointed to the pathetic scene behind her.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Kazuma corrected himself.

“No harm to me.”

Pachi.

“You bastard! Just stand there and receive your punishment!”

A flaming fist (Note: not a metaphor) struck at Kazuma. Dodging the strike with ease, Kazuma began to chat with his brother, who walked up to him.

“Oh, Ren. How’ve you been?”

“Well...”

“Damn it! Die! Die this instant!”

“How noisy!”

Kazuma closed the distance as Ayano drew her fist, and lightly twisted her right hand upward.

“Gya!”

Ayano’s elbow was flipped up, and the joints in her arm, elbow, and shoulder were all stretched to the limit at the same time. In such a condition, Ayano could only arc her body, tip-toe and bear with it. Her body completly lost balance, and all she could do was surrender.

“Ugh...”

Ignoring Ayano, who was trying her best to recover her balance, Kazuma warned Ren, “I’m heading back. You guys should leave too. It’ll be troublesome if the police see you.”

“See ya then.”

He carelessly waved his hand and swept his eyes toward Ayano – who was now stumbling on the ground – with an expression of victory.

“Yo–You!”

With his back to Ayano, who was glaring at him, Kazuma walked away.

“Nee-sama, are you okay?”

Treating Ren’s words of concern with the regard she would give a gust of wind, Ayano silently watched Kazuma’s back.



(That guy–! One day I’ll definitely teach him a lesson!)

Ayano forgot that she was listening to her father lecture her and grew angry at the thought.

Juugo did not fail to notice. When he saw that Ayano was not paying attention, he stood up – Ayano showed no reaction – walked forward – Ayano still didn’t react – and knocked his fist on the top of her head.

Dong!

An extremely exaggerated sound came forth. Ayano was in such pain that she couldn’t even scream, and her entire body collapsed on the tatami.

Having suffered the blow on the top of her head while kneeling, the impact had nowhere to go but straight down. Agonizing under a blow that seemed as if it would crush her skull, Ayano could only endure it.

“I... I object to violence...” Ayano protested with tears in her eyes.

“Don’t just say the words. ''Change''.”

Juugo, of course, ignored her protest.

“It seems that I’ve spoiled you too much in the past. I will have to be more strict from now on.”

“But that’s...”

Disregarding Ayano’s pitiful expression, Juugo returned to the topic at hand.

“So? Did you notice any other clues?”

“Kazuma is very suspicious!” Ayano shouted at almost exactly the same time.

“...”

Juugo simply looked at Ayano without saying a word. To call his gaze critical would have been conservative.

“...Is that all?”

“Be... Because it’s weird, isn’t it?! Why didn’t Kazuma kill Misao?!”

“Hmm...”

Juugo grew silent, not speaking a word. Seizing this opportunity, Ayano pressed on.

“Otou-sama, just think about it. Doesn’t Kazuma resent the Kannagis to the core? To not even kill a single person up until now, it just seems too weird.”

“He seems to have told Ren that he ‘no longer hates the Kannagi family’.”

“Who knows? Even if that’s true, if someone took the initiative to attack him, that shouldn’t still be the case. Didn’t we see it already? The fourteen or fifteen men who surrounded and attacked him, he beat them to a pulp. That’s Kazuma’s ‘usual’ way of doing things.”

“...Mm-hmm...”

Juugo nodded. He had no objections to her point.

“But in that case, why didn’t he lay a hand on Misao?”

“I have no idea. But anyone can see that Misao is very special in Kazuma’s eyes. There must be something between them,” Ayano said bluntly, with a stern, or rather, sharp expression.

“He has fallen in love with Misao?”

Ayano’s body trembled slightly. She looked at her father with the unsure eyes of a lost child.

“Otou-sama thinks so too?”

“Who knows?”

Juugo answered vaguely. He hoped that he was just thinking too much.

(Kazuma must return to the Kannagis. But Misao is unable to be his support.)

To say that he did not expect Kazuma to replace the Fuugas would have been a lie. In addition, Juugo had not forgotten the danger Kazuma posed.

Kazuma had shown his scars once before. Juugo couldn’t pretend not to have seen that unhealed wound.

(Kazuma needs a place to return to. And for that...)

Juugo looked at Ayano with eyes that held deep meaning, but at that moment, Ayano was too focused on her own troubles and failed to notice those eyes at all.

“Anyway, let’s find Kazuma and ask him about it first.”

Ayano returned to her senses and nodded in agreement.

“Ye... Yeah... By the way, why is that guy always so mysterious?”

“Indeed.”

Juugo gave a bitter smile. He felt uneasy precisely because he understood that it was due to Kazuma’s mistrust of the Kannagis.

“Somehow, we must find a way...”

In the end, Juugo never got a chance to ask Kazuma about the circumstances between him and Misao. And by that point, the opportunity had already long passed.

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| Back to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume2_Chapter_1|Chapter 1]]
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| Forward to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume2_Chapter_3|Chapter 3]]
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