Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 1 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 5===

It was getting darker.

There were no street lights in the outskirts of the island. As the facial expressions of both parties gradually became undiscernable, without saying anything, Trinity created a faint light and let it float into the air.

As if both parties were wary of each other, silence flowed. What broke it was Nine's sharp voice.

"What are you doing? In this place... Alone."

"Eh...?"

Alone.

Because of Nine's words, Kazuma looked toward the surrounding in a panic.

(Terumi-san's gone...? Since when...)

However, Terumi's habit of appearing in unexpected places, at unexpected moments had saved Kazuma this time. If Nine became aware of Terumi's existence, it was unlikely to be good news for Kazuma..

"Looking for a way out? Looks like you're too slow."

Nine sneered at Kazuma's trembling figure, addressing him with a cold tone of voice.

Kazuma straightened his back in order to adjust his breathing. He told himself to calm down.

...As he did so, his head surprisingly quickly regained clarity. It was strange.

"RWay out? Why would I run away?"

Kazuma's words made Nine's expression slightly shift. Trinity's light was helping, but it was nonetheless dark. He was unable to examine the details of her facial expression, but it didn’t appear to be a happy face.

"Besides, why did you two come here? I don't believe this is a place girls would visit at this hour."

Lifting her head slightly at Kazuma's question, Trinity took a large step forward.

"Because you didn't come back to the shop... we wondered where you might have gone to~."

"Even so, it seems you were able to find me easily. Did you use tracking magic?"

Asking with a mocking smile, Trinity kept her mouth shut. Rather than the face of someone who had been found out, it was like the face of a girl, hurt by thoughtless words.

Kazuma shrugged his shoulders. It didn't change the situation even if he had guessed right. Perhaps Trinity still thought that Kazuma hadn't noticed she was monitoring him. If so, what a pitiful girl.

"I'll ask the questions. Answer me. What have you been doing here?"

Different from Trinity, without any sign of backing down, Nine made her tone of voice even sharper.

Kazuma made a troubled face, placing a hand on his head as if enduring a headache, he answered her.

"But I thought I told you before, I happened to see an acquaintance, so I ran after him. ...Although I said that, I suddenly realised I recognized him as just an acquaintance. I don't remember who he was."

"Could it be an acquaintance from before the memory loss?"

Sure enough, Trinity's surprise rang out in her voice. Regardless of the light, he could see her delightful facial expression was brimming.

Kazuma spontaneously dropped a smile.

Even now, Trinity perhaps still wished for Kazuma's memory to return. If that was the case, it was painful for every single word from him to betray her kindness.
	
"Yes, I think so. When I caught sight of him, I was unable to contain myself... I'm sorry."

And yet numerous untruths spilled from his mouth.

But Nine's sharp presence didn't even slightly slacken as expected. Instead it became even more coercive; the glints in her eyes shone in the dead of night.

"If so, I wonder if that's the doing of your acquaintance?"

"What do you mean?"

Kazuma carefully asked.

Nine walked gallantly with long steps and passed by Kazuma's side. She walked gracefully in her thin, tall heels on the unstable rocky area before stopping at some shrubbery.

"This."

She replied in a haughty voice.

He knew exactly what Nine had seen to make her say that.

Imitating a normal student's behavior, Kazuma took a quick look at the beach.

"Aah, that. I wonder what on earth it is. It looks like paper floating in the air to me... Is it some kind of a good luck charm?"

As he scratched his head while answering with the pretense that he knew nothing about it, Nine glared over her shoulder. Her beautiful face which carried nothing but malice made his guts grow cold.

"Don't tell me you don't know anything about it."

"No... B-But I don't know."

Flinching, Kazuma took a step backward.

As if Nine's eyes were assessing every facet of his gesture for credibility, she carefully glared at Kazuma's entire body. Dyed in shadow, the long eyelashes on Nine's eyes blinked several times.

Trinity didn't say anything. Accompanied by the small light, she appeared to wrack her brains while attentively watching Nine and Kazuma's standoff.

Waves split open at Kazuma and Nine's feet. The modest sound of water disturbed the silence.

As Nine closed blinked once, then turned her face away from Kazuma.

"...Fine. Then I'll leave it as it is."

The high-pitched noise of heels hitting the rocky area resounded.

Nine moved away from him. As she did so, Kazuma quietly slackened his mouth.

Was that an indication that she had found him out? Or did his deceit go unnoticed under the cover of night? Nine stopped once more a little in front of Trinity, she looked over her shoulder to see Kazuma and asked, as if testing him.

"It seems there was a huge idiot making a hole in Mages' Guild's barrier. I have to quickly get in touch with the Ten Sages and arrange to restore it. That's why..."

Nine smiled provocatively.

"If you discover something else while out for a run, do you think you could let me know?"

Her glamorous hair fluttered as if dancing. After she urged Trinity, who was still concerned about Kazuma, onward, the two left from that place at a quick pace.

Eventually the noise of grass being tread on vanished along with Trinity's light. The sky was now definitely the color of night. Suddenly the air grew cold; it was too cold to stand in one place in a daze.

Still feeling waves splash on his feet, Kazuma expressionlessly looked at the papers in the shade of the rocky area.

The hole in the barrier. There was still no indication of seithr coming in from there.

That hole had a role. Connecting the outside world to the island; its role was to cause such a large task for the Ten Sages that they all had to be in attendance.

(Even if this hole got closed, there is a way to open it, so it'd be good to find it. However...)

Nine of the Ten Sages. She alone seemed to continue being cautious of Kazuma even just now.

It would be preferable for this hole to draw in seithr to an extent so that Nine had to give her full attention to fixing the barrier; and hereafter, Nine would pay no attention to Kazuma.

(Alternatively... something that disappears during the situation while she's preoccupied.)

At any rate, she was a hindrance.

Pondering while standing still on the rocky area, Kazuma gnawed on a fingerhe had stuck in his mouth. His teeth scrubbed the joints.

A method to keep Nine at a distance.

"...Isn't it easy?"

Kazuma chuckled and hurriedly left behind the rocky area.

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