Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume5 Chapter1 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

"—!?"

Waking up, he found himself on his soft bed.

... He sat up and looked back down at himself.

He was not wearing his school uniform, but rather a set of loose pajamas. It seemed that someone had helped him change while he was unconscious.

The dream he witnessed had caused him to break out into a cold sweat.

"I —"

What on earth —

Trying to recall the events that happened before he fainted, Kamito rubbed his dully aching head.

At that moment —

"Kamito, you're awake?"

From the corner of the room came a voice.

Kamito turned, and saw a beautiful girl in uniform sitting on a chair by the wall.

She had red twintails on the sides of her head.

Her translucent ruby-red pupils gazed anxiously in his direction.

"... Claire, you haven't been here all this time, have you?"

"Eh? No, not very long at all..."

Claire frantically shook her head.

However, dark circles at the corners of her eyes belied the fact that she had not had a good night's rest.

"I apologize for making you worry."

"I-It's nothing, I wasn't worrying."

Kamito returned Claire's concern with a wry smile, and took a look around the room.

This castle room had been arranged for the participants of the Blade Dance. Looking at its spacious windows and quality household items, one could tell that this was not Kamito's usual residence, which was no different from a storage room, but a room from some unknown other place.

With dawn quickly approaching, the sun shone weakly through a slit in the curtains.

"That's good, get some sleep now. Your fever has not fully gone down."

"Ah? I have a fever?"

"Mmhm, it appears to have gotten better now, but you were burning up quite badly just a moment ago."

Claire bent over and placed her hand on Kamito's forehead.

The touch of her ice-cold skin felt incredibly comfortable. .... Oh. There was indeed still a bit of a lingering fever.

"Anyways, Claire –"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Uh, why did I faint?"

".......You don't remember?"

Claire's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Don't tell me you have amnesia..."

"No, nothing that serious. It's just that my head's still groggy and I can't seem to remember what happened right before I blacked out."

Kamito shook his head silently.

"The events from the ball?"

"Yes, I remember that. You turned down the invitation from the crown prince of some country with the wave of a hand..."

"Uh, yeah."

"Around that time, Ren Ashbell invited me to dance –"

While massaging his aching temples, Kamito felt his memory gradually return in chronological order.

Something big must have happened.

(No mistake about that. There was something of extreme importance –)

"Ren Ashbell carved the Brand of Darkness on me, and then –"

Impatience burned in his chest.

Sparkling in the corner of his mind was an image of the radiant silver sword.

"And then, I –"

"Kamito, you rescued us from the hands of the Instructional School assassins!"

Looking at the upset Kamito, Claire spoke up.

"The Instructional School assassins?"

Kamito lifted his head abruptly.

(That's right. At that time, I battled Muir's militarized spirit–)

Claire's words prompted his memories of last night to return in a flood.

During the Blade Dance's opening ceremony last night, Muir Alenstarl, the Instructional School assassin calling herself Kamito's foster younger sister, had controlled a militarized spirit to attack Claire and company.

Marked by Ren Ashbell's Brand of Darkness and covered in wounds, Kamito raced towards the battlefield reluctantly, towards Muir Alenstarl's militarized spirit – but at that very moment, the curse of the mark took effect on Kamito's body, and he was overcome with blinding pain.

And then –

"...!"

The instant he regained his memory, Kamito's whole body stiffened, as if he'd been struck by lightning.

The image that sprung to mind was that of a girl – with mysterious violet eyes.

With beautiful silvery-white hair that reflected the moonlight.

With small hands that gently stroked his back.

And with lips that were cold as ice yet hot as fire when they touched his.

Then she turned into innumerable particles of light, which dissipated into a void—

That was the last Kamito saw of her.

"... Es... t?"

The name escaped from his lips in a trembling, spontaneous exhale.

It was the name of one who had always remained by his side, the name of an extremely important someone, the name of his contracted spirit.

His slight memory disturbances earlier must have been because he had not wanted to face this fact.

"Kamito..." 

Claire's low, worried words almost went unheard by Kamito.

"You must be joking... Est, why did she–"

Her meaningless words rang hollow.

His newly recovered memory insisted on replaying the last scene he saw before losing consciousness.

At that time, she had whispered in his ear:

Goodbye, Kamito –.

Sword spirit Est – with a head of silvery-white hair, just like a snow fairy.

His contract with her was originally a chance occurrence.

While maintaining a contract with a contracted spirit from the past, the end result was an incomplete contract.

Originally, he could not even wield a tenth of the power with the contract. It must have been considerably painful for a powerful spirit like her.

However, Est had said that was all right.

To be able to contract with you, that alone is wonderful – she had said.

(But I –)

Three years ago, there was a day he had lost a previous contracted spirit.

From that day onwards, he had vowed not to lose anyone important.

"Yet I – again!"

Est had disappeared.

She had sacrificed her very existence in order to save Kamito from being eroded by the curse of the brand.

"Damn –"

"Kamito!"

He threw up his hands in despair only for Claire to quickly catch hold of them.

She gazed steadily into his eyes, with the intent of calming him down.

"Est was not eliminated."

"Ah?"

"After all, your hands still bear signs of a spirit contract, right?"

Kamito's eyes widened.

"Y...es... indeed."

His right hand, the one in Claire's grasp, still bore a design of intersecting swords.

That was the proof of a spirit contract—the spirit seal.

If the contracted spirit were to be eliminated, the spirit seal would then of course disappear.

The reason why Kamito had believed for all these three years that Restia had not vanished—the reason why he had retained a glimmer of hope—was entirely because the spirit seal inscribed on his left hand still remained.

The spirit seal connected the contractor to the contracted spirit; it was a special Gate.

Now the pain was too weak to be felt – but as long as the spirit seal on his right hand did not disappear, he would have proof that Est had not been completely eliminated.

"Est, she's still alive."

"Yes. And even if we cannot call her out now, there must be a way to do so."

If that's the case, I can't remain like this.

"... Ah ah ah ah ah!"

Biting back the pain coursing through his entire body, Kamito got up from the bed.

"Wait, wait a moment, what are you doing!? You still can't –"

"Est is waiting – I don't have the time to continue sleeping!"

Just as Claire's hands moved to stop him–

Gurgle gurgle ~

A lovely sound arose in the room.

"...Claire?"

All the strength had drained from his body.

"...... ~! Th-Th-This is a misunderstanding, t-there wasn't a strange sound just now!"

"You... don't tell me, you haven't had anything to eat since yesterday?"

"A-After all, you've been having a bad fever, well..."

Claire blushed and stammered.

"You can't afford to skip meals since the battle begins tomorrow."

"... I-I know. Speaking of which, you haven't eaten either."

"Well, I'm more or less accustomed to that..."

In his youth, Kamito had spent most of his time undergoing intense training at the Instructional School.

The education he received there included even training to withstand starvation. Although he had no intention of attempting such a thing, he could now easily go without food for several days.

(Then again...)

Something suddenly occurred to Kamito.

(Everyone now knows that I was from the Instructional School...)

Precisely because they were important companions, he had not wanted them to know of his past.

Once they learnt of that, he thought that they would not want anything to do with him anymore.

It was only natural that one would think so.

On the contrary, they had treated Kamito –

"You... what you are or aren't accustomed to, that's entirely beside the point. If you don't eat well, you'll never regain your strength. Look, I even brought fruit here specially f-for you."

At this, Claire indicated the basket on the bedside table.

It was filled to the brim with delicious-looking ripe peaches.

"– Claire, thank you."

"Don't stand on courtesy, it's nothing. After all, they were brought back from the ball."

"No such thing!"

Kamito looked directly at Claire.

"Even after learning I was an orphan from the Instructional School, you still stayed my friend, saying it didn't matter. ... About that, I'm still very glad."

"W-What, ah, well, that..."

Claire blushed and looked away.

"B-But of course, isn't that just how it is? Regardless of your past, you're my slave spirit now and that will not change!"

With a wry smile and a nod of his head, Kamito reached into the basket for a peach.

"Here, hand me a small knife, I'll cut it open."

"Leave it to me. You're the hurt one, get some rest."

"The peach is fragile, so it can be difficult to peel. I thought you weren't good at peeling fruits?"

"W-Well, if you think that..."

Claire hid her face. Truth be told, it seemed that all the women at the academy, both young and adult, were all not that good at homemaking. It wasn't just Claire who was particularly bad at preparing fruits.

Kamito shrugged, picked up a knife from the table, and started peeling the peach in a repeated, circular motion.

Watching his deft handiwork, Claire asked emotionally:

"Did you learn this from that Instructional School too?"

"No, I picked up cooking and other skills during my travels. My travel companion was very picky when it came to the flavor!"

"...By companion, you mean that darkness spirit girl?"

"Yeah..."

While cutting the peach, Kamito's expression turned sour.

"Well – so it's like that..."

Claire looked doubtful.

"Look, it is peeled."

As if to change the subject, Kamito speared the peeled peach on a fork and presented it to Claire.

As she took a bite, some peach juice sprayed back at him.

"Yum yum~ so sweet, it's really delicious...!"

[[File:STnBD V05 025.jpg|thumbnail|right]]

Her red twintails danced in joy.

Claire put her hands to her cheeks, an expression of sheer bliss on her face. She looked so lovely one could accidentally lose oneself in admiration.

"Well, now, have another..."

Kamito raised the fork holding the peach. Like a cat being teased, Claire's gaze followed it in a trance-like state.

"Look, here it is!"

He moved his hand away.

"Ah!"

And again.

"R-Really now!"

Claire's mouth opened and shut as she chased the peach doggedly.

Left, right. ... And again.

Finding it very interesting, Kamito intended to continue for a little longer –

"... ~Oi, w-why are you so cruel!"

Claire snarled, tears welling in her eyes.

"... Sorry, just felt like you were as adorable as a cat, so."

"...?! W-What do you mean cute... s-stupid idiot, that's what you are!"

Into the mouth of the red-faced, frantically gesticulating Claire –

"Aah."

– went the peach.

And she bit down.

"Whew, ah, it's so delicious ..."

"Just like a cat."

Claire shot Kamito a look.

"Hey, isn't this situation backwards?"

"Hrm, backwards?"

"The injured person is you, but I'm the one eating."

"Well, it's a small matter, don't worry about it."

Kamito shrugged his shoulders and conveniently put the peach into his own mouth.

The slightly tangy taste of the peach juice spread immediately in his mouth.

"Mmm, it really is delicious. It's thoroughly ripe!"

"I-Isn't that the same fork..."

"... What's the matter?"

"N-No, it's nothing –"

Claire hastily took her eyes off him.

"Anyway –"

Kamito put the fork aside and asked.

"Yes, what?"

"What's the performance for the Blade Dance? The divination of the Queens has already been revealed, right?"

While Kamito was unconscious, the five Queens had held a ceremony at the great temple of the Divine Ritual Institute, where the five Elemental Lords bestowed their oracle. The performance was to be decided by this oracle – as for the competition format, it would be announced at a later date.

At this, Claire's expression grew serious.

"Mmhm, the blade dance performance to be presented will be – the Tempest."

"Tempest, huh..."

That had been the competition format used for the Blade Dance not only in recent years, but also tens, and even hundreds of years ago.

The elementalists presenting the blade dance performance would come together at the gathering place in the vast sacred lands, and the teams would do battle with each other over a number of days. Each individual's combat skills would be put to the test, but beyond that, of even greater significance were their tactical and strategic ability, as well as teamwork and cooperation.

"... It will be a tough battle."

"Indeed. On the other hand, they clearly could have chosen a knockout-style tournament. If so, I suppose this was the best possible outcome."

Claire nodded with a serious look on her face.

The blade dance performance's format would be the Tempest. This piece of information was one he had previously thought about.

With the only constraint being "five elementalists to a team", a little investigating on the history of the Blade Dance would have made it clear that the number of possible performance formats was only about ten or so.

As a matter of fact, Areishia Spirit Academy had even conducted an extensive training exercise under the assumption that this performance would be selected.

However, one could still hold out hope, for as long as possible, that this performance would not be chosen – this way of thinking was still true.

More so than individual skill, this competition format emphasized a team's combined strength. One would be hard-pressed to say this system had any benefits for Claire, who was still worried and unconfident in regards to teamwork.

Furthermore, Team Scarlet had only formed recently. The five members had begun working together a mere few weeks ago. While each of them was a strong elementalist in his or her own right, their combined team strength still could not compare to that of the other teams.

(Furthermore...)

Kamito's gaze turned to the spirit seal inscribed on his right hand.

All along, Kamito's overwhelming strength had always been unrivaled amongst his companions.

However, Kamito was now in a state lacking his contracted spirits.

Despite previously being known as the Strongest Blade Dancer, without his contracted spirit, Kamito could not reach his full strength as an elementalist.

Following that, he rested his hand lightly on the chest wound that was still aching dully.

(—The curse of this brand has yet to fade completely.)

The Brand of Darkness that Ren Ashbell had engraved was even now still eating away at his body.

Although Est had suppressed the worst of the damage by sacrificing herself, she had not entirely destroyed it.

"Est..."

Murmuring her name, even injecting divine power into it, the spirit seal yielded no response.

Instead, an intense scorching pain invaded his entire body.

"... Ah, damn it..."

"You'd better not act rashly. What you can do now is to get a good rest in order to regain your strength and divine power."

"... Ah, ah, I know."

Clenching his lips tightly, Kamito nodded and laid flat on the bed again.