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Kaze no Stigma:Volume5 Chapter 2

2014-02-08T06:45:21Z

Krossrd: /* Part 3 */

== Chapter 2 - The mad Fujutsushi ==

=== Part 1 ===

The dead of night - Without even a slight movement, Kazuma opened his eyes wide in silence.

A cynical remembrance of those magnificent, dream-like happy days.

He woke up because the happiness was too much. It was like being taught that he will never go back to those times, not even in the middle of dreaming.

"Ku.....Kuu ku ku..."

A hollow laughter escaped. As if sneering at his ugliness and the whole world.

As a result of losing everything, he obtained that which no matter how much he wished for evaded him.

That was a modest, commonplace happiness found everywhere.

There was a person who would smile at him, tell him ''Good morning'' when he woke up and ''Good night'' when it was the time to sleep - only that but those were irreplaceable days full of happiness.

Even the power he pursued like a mad-man disappeared like something from a dream.

Because he met a person who looked at him plainly, not at <<his own strength>> or <<himself with power>>.

If he could have protected that girl and the small world revolving around her, it would have been enough.

Even if he couldn't hunt Youmas, there was no need for self-abasement.

He really thought so, from the bottom of his heart.

Until the time that happy paradise crumbled away without leaving any trace.

''"Really......."''

Inside the darkness, Kazuma laughed at his foolishness.

How naive was he.

If you're weak, if you lose, you can't protect anything. It means losing everything.

Just like he deserved, he became alone again.

No - he's not alone.

There's him and he - those two.

Revenge is vain, it's a sterile act that doesn't give back anything, an intelligent person will proclaim so with a triumphant expression.

Kazuma generally agreed with it. When he pursued that man, during that time he lived only for revenge he never thought revenge was meaningful.

But there was nothing else left except for that. There was nothing else to do.

That's why, he desperately refined his ability. Throwing away anything else, all for the sake of killing one man. But -

"I made a mistake....."

Erasing his facial expression, just like a Noh mask, Kazuma murmured.

This is the result of thinking that dealing with that man was enough and neglecting his followers.

''"If you find the answer, come again."''

Those conceited parting words, won't go away. Words said from the view-point of the superior one that completely look down on him.

Kazuma groaned, tightly clenching his fists at that disgrace.

"''the answer'', you said? Isn't it obvious..........Kill you. Break that good-for-nothing doll - Aah, I'll do it. This time, for sure"

His mouth warped, the same daring smile as ever. But, if Ayano or Ren were to see his eyes, they would probably be at a loss for words.

Hatred and insanity and the pair of eyes swirling in evil malice boiling hot with deeply rooted delusions, changed that cynical but cheerful smile in a different thing altogether.

That smile, expressed by most of the enemies they killed until now, was mad.

=== Part 2 ===

Late at night, there was a countless number of people surrounding the already closed public park.

Everyone was young. The eldest was maybe in the first half of his twenty. But, considering it was a gathering of young people a bizarre silence was floating around that place.

A heavy silence.

Even the noises made sometimes didn't had a following and vainly disappeared in the air.

It couldn't be concluded that they held their breath in fear of being seen trespassing on the park. They don't care about such ethical viewpoints. They don't have law-abiding intentions.

If they were accused, perhaps they would ask back with a straight face. What's wrong with creeping in a closed park? They're not troubling anyone, or something.

They weren't silent, they were accumulating. Preparing for the moment of explosion drawing near, silently raising the pressure. They had one mind.

And then, a few minutes later - the time came.

"It - it came......."

"It's coming........"

Together with the muffled commotion the crowd of people separated in halves, and one man stepped forward to the center of the plaza. After him, another one.

Facing each other at a distance of roughly five meters, the two men.

Looking at them, a buzz spread among the members of the audience and this time the volume was raising without a pause.

Someone stamped his feet.

''''Dan....Don.....Don....''''

Swiftly propagating in the surroundings, it was like a rumble in the ground, making the earth tremble.

''''Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! ''''

Excited cheering piercing the ears and earth tremor.

Those two men standing in the middle - didn't need explanation, the situation was very clear.

It's very improbable but assuming there was a man who arrived here by accident, he would be able to see through this event instantly.

That this is an arena. That for the sake of watching the two man at the center fight for their lives, so many spectators gathered and they were widely enthusiastic, beyond reason.

It wasn't unreasonable for the spectators to be so stimulated. The match tonight was the largest ''big game'' since '''the game''' started.

Among spectators there were many players like the two in the center.

For such people it was an aspiration but also a landmark - those belonging to the <<Second Class>>, the <<Seeds>> will for the first time fight each other tonight.

At a different level than those <<First Class>>, the spectators anxious to see the exchange of power beyond human understanding were raising their voices in joyous shouts similar to angry roars.

Contrastive with the members of the audience, the men standing still at the center, were silent.

Exchanged glances. Sneer versus scornful laughter.

On one side, a slender boy dressed in a school uniform, <<Shining>> Shin.

The other one, with a black leather jacket and black pants and metal accessories dangling here and there - <<Devil Master>> Kou.

At the time the spectators started flustering about the two continuing to stand off against each other, as if signalling the start of battle, Shin got the ball rolling.

"No way, you don't really think you can win this match right?"

Words that were polite at first but clearly had no problem looking down on the opponent.

That figure properly wearing a blue school uniform from a famous high school was perhaps suited with that tone.

"You're a demon-user. While you can summon powerful demons, you yourself have no power. You may be able to win against <<First Class>> small fry with only that but it won't work on the <<Second Class>>, the <<Seeds>>", Shin declared, together with a blatant sneer.

"I don't know how many <<Seeds>> there are - but I'm prepared to bet. That you are the weakest"

"Che, shut the fuck up", Kou swore, without showing any hint of being shaken by Shin's words.

"Don't be so conceited for a tumbler whose only redeeming feature is sparkling. A boy from an elite school shouldn't fight, how about you go home and study for a test, huh? With that power of yours you could lower<ref>Editor's note: I guess that's the word lost in translation [[User:Antanaru|Antanaru]] ([[User talk:Antanaru|talk]])</ref> your electric bill so it's pretty convenient, huh? "

" - Those words will cost you greatly", announced Shin in a frozen voice, closing his eyes partly.

"I'll kick you down"

Kou raised his right hand middle finger. And then - the battle start.

"Coma out, Harpas!"

"You're slow!"

In front of Kou the space was warped. The summoned demon was an omen that appeared from the underworld, beyond our dimension. But, without waiting for it, Shin pushed out his right hand straight ahead.

"My ability is the fastest. And also, the strongest"

He had enough composure to say so, proudly.

That was by no means an exaggeration. At present, the fastest <<Skill>> confirmed until now was the <<Seed>> manipulating light, the <<Javelin>> fired by <<Shining>>

Its natural shape was light collected into a wave, in a word a laser beam. Except the way it was produced, it was a purely physical light.

It had no special magic effects but the overwhelming caloric value burned through everything with the speed of light, literally.

"Just die!"

The spear of light was fired together with the death sentence. Shin was convinced of victory. But -

".........."

He faintly frowned.

A resistance from the place he hit should have been impossible but he felt he missed his chance to kill.

As if supporting that, the distortion in space flickered without showing any sign the distortion ended. From inside there, the darkness of the underground peeked.

And then, two ominous red lights.

"Kuu!"

Although faltering, Shin fired the light once more. The ray glistening blue pierced at the center of the distorted place - and silently, it was repelled.

The light slipped off at a slightly different angle and grazed Shin's cheek.

"Wha - ?"

Shin's face was distorted with shock. Looking at it, showed a sneer full of superiority.

"Ku kuu, did you think I would appear in front of you without any counter-plan? It won't work, you know. Because your power can't even scratch me! "

"Ab - absurd......"

Opening his eyes wide in surprise, Shin stared at Kou.

The distortion in space before he realized. But not one demon was summoned -

"N - No.......that's...."

In front of Kou, a small bird was flying. With bright white feathers even in the dark. Crimson eyes.

"A pigeon? Are you saying a pigeon reflected my <<Javelin>>?"

The pure white small bird was flying playfully around Kou, describing a helix. And then stopped on his shoulder.

Those red eyes pierced through Shin.

" - tch!"

Faced with that sinister thing, Shin involuntarily gasped.

He understood at a glance. That this thing has no connection with its outward appearance.

Profound understanding no ordinary bird would posses, overwhelming hatred and an evil disposition, everything was clamoring inside those eyes.

"Did you contract the Devil King Harpas Solomon, the ruler of seventy two demons?"

Clearly showing a knowledge of summoning, Shin raised a cry of shock. But -

"King Solomon? Who the heck is that? "

"Huh? "

Shin's jaw fell.

"This guy is no devil king. it's the demon Harpas - holding the power to reflect magic, my trump card!"

"R- reflect magic !?"

Not remembering any sort of such description in ''Lemegeton'' or ''The key of Solomon'', Shin stared at Harpas with astonishment.

"Huh, it's something an elite like you doesn't know! It's common sense, you understand, common sense! "

Kou was becoming increasingly elated. And then, he shouted loudly.

"I'm not finished yet! Come out, Fenrir! Flesberg!"

Responding to the summoning voice, new demons made an appearance. A huge wolf and an eagle.

Both their eyes filled with overwhelming energy, fixing their glares on the stand rock still Shin.

Of course, Harpas didn't disappear.

"Impossible....Can you operate three demons at the same time? ", groaned Shin with a shuddering voice.

It was understandable. More than sealing direct attacks, beginning attacking in waves from the ground and the sky - it was practically an iron wall battle formation.

Right now, there was no way for him to resist.

"You shit, you said earlier I was the weakest, huh? ", Kou said putting on airs of teasing him.

"Then, it means right now you are in the position of <<The Worst One>>. No, maybe outside the ranks, as if you were dead? "

"B- bastard......"

"Devour even his bones! Go, Fenrir! Flesberg!"

In response to the owner's command, the two beast stir.

Fenrir forcefully gallop on the ground, Flesberg flaps his wings in the night sky.

"D - Don't underestimate me!"

Aiming at the attacking demons, Shin fired rapidly <<Javelin>>. But, because of their very beast-like movements he, no more than a human man, wasn't able to reach them.

The light rays slipped through and danced like during a concert and the two beasts drew near fast like the wind.

"U - Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

Without shame or honor, Shin tumbled on the ground dodging the beast's attack.

The symbol of his excellence, the blue uniform was smeared in dust.

"Haa ha ha ha ha! Don't you look good, elite boy! Do your best and show me just how far can you run! "

Shin glared with eyes boiling with hatred at Kou, laughing loudly.

But, the spear of light doesn't reach the fagot.

For him right now there was no other option but wait for a chance to recover from this hopeless situation while running about like a hunted animal.

''"Shit! Shit! Shit!! I'm - '''I'm - '''"''

While this disgrace was burned into his consciousness, Shin continued running around in this ugly manner.

This could possibly the biggest disgrace of his life. Not, a close fight.

He was fighting one with the same rank. Although he verbally looked down on his opponent, he didn't believe he could win easily from the start.

But, this is different.

He's not fighting hard against the <<Devil Summoner>>. He's fighting hard against the demons the <<Devil Summoner>> is employing.

Even though they are the same, the difference is so big.

The ones fighting, the two beasts versus the <<Javelin>> itself. The <<Devil Summoner>> is only watching from a safe place.

He - the <<Javelin>> was right now left behind the <<Devil Summoner>>. Not the ups and lows of abilities.

For example, it was like the existence of the piece called <<Game Player>> itself was considered of lower rank.

He didn't allow it.

He was a chosen one. In comparison to those masses whose existence was optional, he was a superior being.

For someone like him to be considered the same rank as those enslaved beasts, to be looked down upon by such a vulgar man, it was something that shouldn't exist.

''"If I only had more power"''

He desired power. He was keenly craving it.

And believed in it. The fact that he still had a dormant power.

He believed so because he was a chosen man. Because it's impossible for him to loose to that scum.

That's why he ought to have a hidden power.

At that time, something pulsated inside his body. A pulse that seemed to make his heart explode and made his blood boil.

Simultaneously he strangely could see clearly the movements of the beasts that until now only seemed an afterimage.

Even their paths as of now, their position one moment in the future were decided with level of foresight that exceeded simple prediction.

His glittering yellow pupils lengthened vertically and captured all vectors.

Equally simple like shooting the targets in slow motion, no as if they stopped, Shin shot the huge beast jumping low.

"Ghyaaaa!"

Shot through the side, Fenrir raised a cry of pain. From its mouth with barred teeth, a large quantity of blood was vomited.

"Fe - Fenrir!"

" - Did I miss killing him, huh?"

Kou was panicking but Shin spoke in a contrastive cool tone.

He still couldn't use his body according to the future foresight. Conversely to the situation until now, Shin's reading exceeded Fenrir's movement but his aim was slightly off.

"R - retreat, Fenrir!"

With a suspicions discomposure, Kou made Fenrir retreat. The big wolf's image blurred and returned to the underworld with a wounded body.

The fact that Kou became confused and was panicking over Fenrir's wounds was only natural.

Summoning magic was a double edged sword. He was able to use the power of a mighty demon but the moment the demon died, his own body receives those damages.

Kou personally tested that with his own body.

"Kuu - Flesberg!"

Kou ordered the winged demon circling in the sky to attack.

Flesberg assailed Shin with an almost vertical attack. It was power drive (?).

Using the aid of gravity, its speed broke through the speed of sounds in the blink of an eye.

But for Shin's eyes, strangely changed, it looked like a caterpillar even at the speed of sound.

Brandishing Javelin in a mow down motion he burned half of Flesberg's right wing.

Flesberg suddenly lost momentum and crashed into the ground.

The huge bird that crashed down at a subsonic speed, and as compensation for crater it created on the ground it exploded and scattered in all directions without leaving any trace.

"Gaaaah!? "

The shriek of understanding of the familiars' death scream reach from a slightly far away place. Obviously it was the summons's master - Kou's scream.

"B - Bastard......you bastard, how dare you"

"''The turning wind'', huh? it must be hard being a summon master...", said Shin blandly, staring coldly at Kou groaning in pain.

As he was knowledgeable in the occult, he obviously knew the dangers of it.

"What will you do, do you want to <<Give Up>>? If you get down to your knees and apologize for your rudeness until now, I may forgive you"

"F - Fuck off"

Although grasping his painful heart, Kou didn't lost his will to fight. Seizing his telephone with the other hand, he pushed it forward proudly.

"Don't believe you won after defeating only two. I stocked ten other demons inside this telephone. Seven still remain."

"That's good", replied Shin with no indication of disturbance.

"Then call the next one already. The <<Death>> of another seven - I'm very interested how long will you be able to endure that agony? "

Shin laughed, making those golden pupils shine bright in the dark night. From his lips turned up something as long as fangs and very sharp peeked.

" B - Bastard..."

Overawed by Shin, who seemed like a different person, Kou instinctively backed off.

"What's up with your eyes......and those teeth, are they fangs?"

"Is there something wrong with my eyes? "

Shin slightly curved his lips, fixing his glasses.

"Something like that doesn't matter. What I am interested right now is your pain and you screams in the agony of death, only that. I think it's obvious - "

From his warped lips, white fangs showed. The quiet insanity dwelling in those golden pupils. The Kehai of a devilish, inhuman person -

"Don't worry, I won't let you die"

"Come out, Fafnir! Mushufushu! Raksasha! "

Together with the sentence full of joy, Kou called out his most powerful demons.

Realizing the battle reached its climax the spectators screamed from the bottom of their lungs and stamped their feet.

At that time - that man appeared.

=== Part 3 ===

The cheers were interrupted, the commotion died out.

All sound vanished from the plaza.

The silence overflowed.

The spectators that moments before were wild with enthusiasm felt goose-flesh.

Frozen in place like all their hearts were caught in a tight hold, not one moved. No, they couldn't move.

The group of people that originally lost their reason don't have reason enough to recognize the change in atmosphere.

But even so, they noticed this.

As if at that moment the entire world became their enemy, from all direction an intimidating air was drawing near.

As if they had been swallowed in the belly of huge monster - most people had that kind of mental image.

That was true in a certain sense.

They had certainly been gulped down.

By the '''domain''' of the man who ruled the entire atmosphere covering this earth.

The air was sharply prickling the skin. It weighted on as if squashing them.

Their necks exposed to the Shinigami's sickle, almost all felt that freezing fear.

The crowd of people was divided. Just like the time the two were ushered into the ring.

But the decision was loaded with a different intention.

Everyone looked at that one man walking towards them holding their breath. No one tried to stop the impolite man becoming a hindrance for the battle at its climax. No one raised their voice. No one wanted to have anything to do with him.

Everyone realized. The origin of this presence full of death that altogether enshrouded the park, of the this sinister atmosphere was just this one man.

But - there were also people who didn't notice. For example those sky-rocketing tensions, in the middle of the battle.

"Aaaaaaaaah!? Y - you - !!"

Kou - known as <<Hell Hound>> before the <<Class Change>>, knew the face of the man that appeared.

When he perceived the man he hated, the one who made him taste his first defeat he shouted in a voice trembling with anger.

"At last your time has come, bastard! Aren't you together with the police dog?"

Looking around, he searched for the child-faced police officer that once defeated him. But, he wasn't anywhere.

"He hee"

Confirming that the man was alone, on Kou's face a broad, sadistic grin appeared.

The unfortunate part - was that he didn't know this man's - Yagami Kazuma's power.

It was very unfortunate.

"Showing your mug around here by yourself, so nonchalantly... I'll pay you hundred-fold for back then!"

Burning with resentment, Kou tried to spur his demons on Kazuma. But -

"Wait!"

The long beam shot together with the voice hindered Kou's revenge. Obviously, it was the <<Javelin>> shot by Shin.

" - huh!?"

Kou made Harpas receive that hit but Harpas's magic reflecting ability couldn't completely deflect the beam with increased output.

For a few seconds the light spear and Harpas' field struggled for supremacy but eventually it divided into parts and disappeared in the empty space.

"Wh - what are you doing?"

"You can't possibly ask me that. You're fighting against me right now. Don't confuse the order of things."

"Shut the fuck up! You're coming after. I need to hurry so this guy doesn't run!"

"That's not my problem"

With that cold reply, Shin turned his eyes on Kazuma.

"I didn't know what business you have but withdraw for a short while. If you become more of a nuisance I'll kill you"

"<<Shining>> and <<Devil Summoner>> - both of you are <<Second Class>> <<Seeds>>"

Kazuma didn't reply, ignoring those affected threatening words.

Having been ignored, Shin's veins popped out but ignoring even that, the man one-sided announced his business.

"Answer to me. Where is Pandemonium, the place you scum class changed."

"Che! There's no need to tell someone like you!"

Spitting out in a rough manner, Kou ordered the demons to attack.

"But, that's right, if you win against these guys maybe I will teach you -"

He didn't had time to finish his phrase. The moment he uttered those words the three demons were beheaded by frozen wind blades.

What's more, even Harpas, holding a magic reflective power, was divided in two.

"Gaaaaaahhh!"

Immediately before a scream that didn't seem human but beast-like roared. All eyes gathered there.

On the writhing and screaming <<Devil Master>> Kou.

Experiencing the <<Death>> of four demons at the same time, what he felt via his physical nerves what more than he could handle.

His body literally experiencing the an agony more painful than death, without even being able to faint all four of Kou's limbs were convulsing and from his mouth opened to the limit, he gushed out fresh blood and shrieks.

But, because he already the resistance of a similar experience or because he had some kind of counter measure, Kou didn't lose his awareness or sanity but continued to bear that suffering.

He was made to bear that suffering.

"Aah......aah......aah?"

Overhead Kou, lying down face up breathing roughly, a black shadow blocked the moonlight. Focusing his blurry eyes, he barely focused.

" - Hiii!"

He gasped involuntarily.

The Shinigami was looking down on him with a cold gaze.

"Aa.........aauaa........."

He wanted to run but his body was completely still. He cannot look away.

The embodiment of heath, that nihilistic pupil seized his conscience and won't let go.

"N - No....stop........"

Trying to go against something he'll never be able to go against, Kou finally became realized. That if he won't obey, he'll certainly be killed.

- Unfortunately, that was definitely a mistake.

With eyes full of supplication Kou looked up at the Shinigami - Kazuma. He desperately begged for his life.

"P - Please wait.......p-please, wait.......I don't know where Pandemonium is......I really don't, please believe me......"

It was true. Certainly, at the time he made the class change he walked in the physical Pandemonium but he arrived there after walking aimlessly so he really didn't remember it. The same happened on the way back.

" - I thought so"

After a brief period of silence, Kazuma blandly assented without asking twice. In Kou's eyes the light of hope dwells.

"T - That's right! I'm sorry for making you come all this way for nothing. B - But I'll cooperate with you! I have friends who know things! So -"

"I don't think he would behave so stupidly that even shit like you would realize. But, at least a clue must have remained inside you"

Ignoring Kou's words, frantically flattering him, Kazuma took out a black glove. He wore it on left hand. Inside the very dim light, it seemed Kazuma's left hand disappeared.

If a person with a good judgement were to be present there, maybe it wound realize that the glove didn't reflect any light.

"Before your brains burn and break, do your best to remember"

Saying that, Kazuma's left hand completely stretched and was thrust before Kou's forehead.

And, with no hesitation, pushed in.

Without resistance, four fingers wrapped in the glove sunk inside the skull.

"GRNNNNNNGYOEEEEEEOOOOOOOO!!!"

From Kou's mouth that kind of sound came out.

Of course they weren't words. Even his voice was barely recognizable.

It was as if raw pain was turned into the vibration of the air. It was as though that dissonance could break the ears.

Even appraised as ''an inhuman sound'' was wrong as the shriek couldn't possibly originate from a living thing.

It was a sound that would remain forever in the eardrums and brains of the unlucky people who were present and revived every night during nightmares.

"..............."

But without being the least perturbed in the least by Kou's disgraceful behavior, Kazuma calmly continued doing his work.

The fingers piercing the brain were moving carefully as if searching for something.

Each time his handling was making the feet and hands to nervously springing up, his fingers were reaching deeper.

" - Che"

Smacking his lips a little, Kazuma stood up. Simultaneously, the fingers that churn the brain were drawn out.

From his fingertips, some sort of fluid was dripping.

And yet, whether it was the glove's capability of Kazuma's power, on Kou's face not a trace remained.

But, that face opening its eyes wide and drooling and that body that was intermittently convulsing even now clearly demonstrated the abnormality produced in the man's body.

''I'd rather die than become that'' - everyone thought so when looking at that sorry state, it was that sort of atrocity.

" - well then"

Defying the hellish, oppressive silence, Kazuma slowly turned around. In the line of his sight was -

"Will you also exercise your right to remain silent?", he asked in a quiet tone while gazing at <<Shining>> Shin.

With a start Shin's body trembled and stared at the juice dripping from Kazuma's left hand.

"Aah, this?"

With something that slightly resembled a bitter smile, Kazuma his left hand.

"It's all right. This won't damage your brain. It will only hurt a little"

The smile peeking around his mouth deeply grew. Together with a dark gloom and sadness.

"If you have a strong spirit, by the time I finish you'll only be mad"

" - !!!"

That heartless but also half hearted sentence, filled Shin's heart with horror.

His survival instinct was ordering retreat - no, capitulation.

He was no match for him. He absolutely cannot win. He won't be allowed to run.

There's no choice but to fall to his knees.

''"Ridiculous, what are you thinking? The opponent is only a wind user!"''

But the whisper of instinct was rejected by the voice of reason. Saying, he cannot be defeated by a wind user.

He was very intelligent so Shin overestimated intelligence and reason over instinct.

In comparison with baseless intuition, deriving answers from objective data and logical thinking was the sigh of a great man - that's what he was thinking.

It was obvious which is faster between wind and light et cetera. If fact he defeated two wind users until now.

''"That's right. Loosing it's impossible"''

Promptly removing his fear and becoming very confident instead. And then, that sadistic enjoyment.

Dreaming of Kazuma's silhouette writhing inside a pool of blood, Shin shivered with a dark delight.

''"Ku ku - I'll sever his feet and hands and teach him his place while crawling like a worm"

His golden eyes sparked and his sharp, long fangs peeked from the beginning from his curved lips.

Even hough he expressed such an inhuman smile, Shin warned with plenty of composure.

"If you think I'm the same as that trash, you'll have a painful experience"

Kazuma was silent. Without showing any reaction, he stepped up with constant steps.

"Fuu, how foolish"

Murmuring in an affected tone, Shin pushed out his right hand. The surging out <<Javelin>>

The flash exceeding the speed of light not to mention seeing all, he won't give him even the time to notice the attack.

What happened to him, he will die even before understanding it - that is the fate of one opposing <<Javelin>>.

This is the end.

" - huh!?"

Shin's eyes opened wide in shock. In spite of firing a certain kill hit Kazuma was still standing.

That head that was supposed to evaporate was unscratched, not even his walking pace changed.

" - You undid it?"

Frowning his brows he pointed his right hand forward again.

Deciding on aiming at the center of his face, he fired.

The blue light glittered in the night air and split in two before Kazuma's eyes.

The beam divided into parts faded on Kazuma's both sides and vainly disappeared in the air.

"Wha - ?"

In front of the lack of common sense spectacle, Shin became rigid. But, a moment after.

But in order to hit Kazuma, approaching as if nothing happened, he rapid-fired <<Javelin>> without taking aim.

All of it burst open and disappeared in front of Kazuma.

"S - slicing light using wind.....?"

If he were to explain the spectacle generated in front of him, that's the only explanation he could think of.

Everything else was impossible. But, even so -

"D - don't screw around -"

Letting anger take its course, Shin shouted.

"It's impossible to cut light using wind! Besides, are you bastard trying to say you can see an attack at the speed of light?"

Those were some irrational words but to be expected from his, from their common sense.

A qualified person that could manipulate the flow of air, a <<Wind User>> whose ability was granted by Pandemonium couldn't possibly slice light.

But Kazuma was Fujutsushi - A Jutsushi who could concretely express his will and change the world via the Wind Spirits.

Although it seemed the same on the outside its true nature had a totally different dimension.

For Kazuma's wind charged with thoughts of decapitation, there's nothing it can't cut.

Even if it were to run at the speed of light it's unthinkable not to be able to cut only a laser-beam.

"Sh - Shit!"

Without learning his lesson, Shin fired <<Javelin>>. But, faster than light Kazuma's wind was of course quicker than even the technique's activation.

Shin's right arm pushed forward was silently severed from the joint.

The <<Javelin>> fired while the arm was mid-way falling fired below and made a round hole in the ground.

".........eh?"

Shin looked down at the arm tumbling down on top of the the grass with a blank expression. That gaze gradually got up and stopped nearby his right shoulder.

Immediately, as if matching his timing, fresh blood gushed out from the wound.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaahh!!"

Screaming in panic, he held down the wound, the joint of his amputated right arm with his left hand. Obviously, the hemorrhage didn't stop just because of that, fresh blood pouring from the gaps between his fingers.

That right side of his blue uniform only was dyed red.

"Uooo, Uaaaaa, Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!! "

Shin continued to scream.

In silence Kazuma took the last step and casually tripped up Shin. He trampled down on it, lying face down. On the body with just one arm.

Whether it was by purpose or by accident, with just that one move of stepping on his back, Kazuma perfectly blocked all of Shin's resistance.

"............"

The screams stopped. The pain and shock were surpassed by the absolute fear.

Twisting his neck as much as possible, Shin looked up at Kazuma.

"W - Wait! Wait, please wait!"

With tears overflowing his wide eyes, Shin desperately begged for forgiveness.

"I'll speak! I'll tell you everything! So, so please -"

But the fierce chills that he felt in his head interrupted his heartbreaking petition. As if taking a roundabout path because the back of his head was getting in the way, fingertips were approaching his forehead.

Slipping inside his head and mind, the fingertips of destruction that stole everything.

''"N - No......No -"''

The feel of fingers forcing their way through flash, bone and brains.

That physically impossible repulsiveness lightly broke Shin's hard but brittle mind.

" ----------------------------!!"

The soundless scream roared in the night sky - and disappeared.

=== Part 4 ===

[[Image:Kaze no Stigma vol 05 091.jpg|thumb|]]

"Yo"

" - huh?"

His shoulder abruptly clapped from behind, Isurughi Daiki's body shook.

Looking over his shoulder as if he was flipped, there was a man without any feeling of tension and a relaxed smile.

"Yagami-san! "

Containing the fact he had been frightened, with a tone full of criticism, Daiki called out the man's name.

"What have you done until now? You made the Chief be worried about you!"

"That so? I thought about showing my face around here, though"

Without caring about the criticism, Kazuma shrugged his shoulders.

That attitude, so very usual, secretly made Daiki relieved.

''"What, isn't he completely alright?"''

''''Don't make eye contact''''

''''Don't defy him in any way''''

''''Avoid getting in touch with him as much as possible, take refuge immediately and report the place he's at afterwards''''

- What was Kirika pointing to her subordinates the way to interact carefully with Kazuma as if he was some sort of atrocious criminal, Daiki felt like it was entirely unnecessary.

Even his smiling face, lively and a little cynical, even his casual attitude with no affectation unlikely for the Jutsushi with the highest rank in this world, there was nothing unusual.

A dangerous presence was not to be found.

''"I should tell the Chief when she returns. That "There's no need to worry."''

Even though a policeman, Daiki was nothing more but a newbie who had only just been assigned.

The skills of a police detective such as the insight to see through the true feelings hidden behind a smiling face had yet to appear.

Consequently, not realizing Kazuma's eyes were entirely not laughing, Daiki interacted with him just like before.

"So, I don't know where you've been or what you have been doing but did you find something?"

"Absolutely nothing. Your way?"

At the light retort that betrayed his expectations, Daiki let out a dry laugh.

"Ha ha.......instead of progress, the problems increased"

" - Did something happen?"

"Utsumi Kousuke escaped"

"........."

Kazuma looked slightly upwards and was silent.

Ten seconds passed. And then, looking at Daiki holding his breath and waiting for Kazuma's reaction, he replied with a serious face.

"Who is that?"

"Whaaaa!?"

Daiki collapsed.

"Is that comedic stupidity? It's the spell user acting violently at Ayano-san's school!"

".....aah, now that you mention it there was that story"

Finally remembering, Kazuma made a small nod. As if searching around for memories, he spoke slowly.

"But, didn't you catch him? The barrier there is not something an amateur can break, no?"

"Yeah, that's right but -"

Pulling himself together, Daiki explained the situation with a serious face. As the story progressed, Kazuma's face became more and more sharp.

"humph - I see"

For one moment all expression disappeared from Kazuma's face. From the ruin of the smiling face mask came undone, a terribly dry and hollow face with no make-up peeked.

But Daiki didn't became aware of it.

"I understand. I'll also look for him"

"Aah, we're saved"

Without showing distrust towards Kazuma's words, who instantly smoothed over his facial expression, he was innocently glad.

"Ooh, this became a major incident. Even though we're short-handed even at the best of times, we even had to guard the girl Utsumi is aiming at!"

"Well, it can't be helped right? It's Ayano's acquittance. If you were to make a blunder she could kill all of you in a fit of anger. Even Kirika's desperate, right?"

"........I don't think Ayano-san is that kind of person."

"........aah?"

Kazuma raised his eyebrows quizzical and Daiki started to justify himself red in the face.

"Aah, no, you see, there's no special meaning, ugh....... Ayano-san is a kind person, so maybe she won't have such an unreasonable behavior or something.........it's...it's just that! Deeper feelings than those, I really......."

"Aah......., well, isn't that fine?"

With a careless expression, Kazuma interrupted the excuse that continued for too long.

"I think that's a peculiar taste but it's got nothing to do with me."

" - You're not mad?"

"Why would I?", asked Kazuma with a serious face.

"I think it would be terrible (for you) if it would turn out well but do your best. I'll secretly root for you"

"Ha, haaa......"

With an irrelevant expression, Daiki nodded his head ambiguously. Taking that as the end of conversation Kazuma announced.

"Well then, tell me if you find something new"

"Aah, yes, roger that. Yagami-san too, get in tough with the Chief as soon as possible"

"I said I understand"

Waiving his hand across his back, Kazuma vanished inside the crowd of people. Because he send off that silhouette, Daiki returned inside the Police Department to inform Kirika of this.

After this, charged with the crime of not contacting her immediately, Kirika turned her highest level of anger on Daiki - That is a digression.

After parting from Daiki, as a matter of course Kazuma tore off the smiling mask.

What became visible from inside, although having the same smile, carried the opposite emotion - a desolate, humorless, dark smile.

Scattering an ominous presence that would put the fear of God even into a yakuza, Kazuma stepped forward inside the crowd of people as if conquering an inhabited land.

"Utsumi Kousuke, huh......?"

From that mouth chiseled in a smile one guy's name leaked out. The thoughtless, foolish boy who could see only under his nose.

Attached to that boy, the face of a girl came to his mind. He saw her once or twice through Ayano, a clever girl with a strong will carried in her eyes.

"........I can use this", laughed Kazuma raising his lips.

The word ''heartless'' doesn't even begin to describe the face smiling or rather sighing.

It was the face of a demon.

<noinclude>

===References===
<references/>

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| Back to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume5_Chapter_1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kaze_no_Stigma|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume5_Chapter_3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kaze no Stigma:Volume1 Chapter2

2012-10-01T00:17:51Z

Krossrd: /* 1 */

== Chapter Two - The Sudden Disaster ==

=== 1 ===
“Still not ready? How much longer do we have to wait, Hyoue?”

“Please, just a little longer,” Hyoue replied to the seemingly impatient person.

The person waiting for Hyoue closed his eyes pensively and walked away. Hyoue felt the wind blowing against him. The air was filled with the ''ki'' of the youma and passed beneath Hyoue’s palm like a wind that would swallow anyone. It was already dawn by the time the shredded remains of the three people were discovered. This unbelievably serious situation completely shocked the entire Kannagi clan. The Kannagi clan was undeniably astonished. Before their reflexes could respond, the three defensively-prepared people were killed, without anyone else even being alerted. The Fuuga clan had been summoned in order to better understand the situation. Hyoue had gathered the youma ''ki'' to understand who the enemy was.

"Hmm"

"T—this is...."

Quiet concentration. Hyoue gathered the youma ''ki'' in his palms without letting any of it flow out. It was a very cold air. Even for powerful practitioners, the ''ki'' provided sufficient reasons to fear it.

“This was caused by Fuujutsu, and was created by a practitioner who is on a completely different level from my Fuuga clan. This practitioner trapped the three victims in a wind ''kekkai'' and then killed them.”

Hyoue’s report was not in the least beneficial. Any practitioner could have easily deduced that from the sight of the incident.

“I understand that much. But, who did it?!”

“If you require a detailed report, I would like you to allow me more time,” Hyoue replied indistinctly.

“Then do it quickly! You and your clan can act...”

“Everyone be quiet!”

At Juugo's angry voice, everyone present became silent. Juugo then spoke in a consoling voice.

“So it's like that? Good job, you may retire... Right, how’s the health of Ryuuya?"

Hyoue appeared surprised at that moment due to the Suzerain’s concern over his son’s health.

“Yes… If he quietly recuperates, there shouldn’t be any problems. However, he can no longer recover to the level of working for the Kannagi clan anymore. This unworthy son really is an embarrassment.”

"It can't be helped if he is ill. Don't blame Ryuuya, just focus on his recovery."

Hyoue bowed to Juugo’s words of gratitude.

“Yes… Thank you very much. I will give instructions to my subordinates as I will now retire….”

“Then please, I await your reply, Hyoue.”

The head of the Fuuga clan bowed silently and left.

The enemy was a Fuujutsu practitioner who loathed the Kannagi clan. Naturally, everyone thought of a certain person who had—coincidentally—just returned to Japan.

“It’s Kazuma! He obtained strength for revenge and returned to Japan! My fellow clan members, let us destroy the traitor Kazuma. Find him without delay and kill him!”

The person who made such an aggressive comment was the previous Suzerain, Yorimichi. Even though he was retired, he still had the air of a Suzerain. The entire clan loathed him, though he was unaware of this.

“[[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Chichiue|Chichiue]], please. We don’t have enough evidence to prove that Kazuma did this.” Juugo said in an attempt to stop Yorimichi's tirade.

“You—! Who but Kazuma could have done this...?”

“Yorimichi, please hold your tongue. When you speak like that, it becomes impossible for us to discuss the issue.”

Genma coolly interrupted Yorimichi's ear-shattering ranting, with a cold look that clearly expressed his scorn. The truth is, Genma looked down on Yorimichi with disrespect from the depths of his heart. To him, Yorimichi was a person who had no strength apart from scheming, yet was chosen as the Suzerain. In Yorimichi’s thirty years as Suzerain, the strength of the Kannagi clan reached rock bottom. Yorimichi's inability to control the representative sword of the Kannagi clan and his inability to pass the sword onto someone else resulted in it being buried deep in the warehouse before Juugo’s succession to the Suzerain position.

However, Genma was not thinking about such a foolish item. He believed that the one to succeed the position of Suzerain should be the strongest practitioner of Kannagi. Because of this, he did not hate the current Suzerain, Juugo. Genma understood that his own strength couldn't compare. Previously, he wanted to prepare his son to be the next Suzerain. This was not really a scheme; he just wanted to train and prepare Kazuma to give him the strength to become the next Suzerain.

Yorimichi didn’t have such beliefs, as he was the type of person who only had ambition for power. Or, at least that was what Genma thought of him. No matter how Genma tried to hide his thoughts, they were clearly revealed as he further enraged Yorimichi. Despite their close blood relationship of uncle and nephew, the hatred between the two deepened again.

“Y-You want to shield Kazuma? No... should I say that this is your scheme? Allowing Kazuma to go outside the country, having him learn jutsu to kill Juugo and Ayano, and finally letting Ren succeed the position of Suzerain?"

Yorimichi turned his accusing finger towards Genma. This kind of bad will was materializing like “sticky things connecting items together,” agitating the rest of the crowd.

“That kind of idea would only come from someone with low scruples.”

For Yorimichi to say such things was an almost insulting provocation. Genma did not try to contradict him out of the fear of making an extremely disrespectful reply if he did.

“Chichiue, that’s enough!”

Juugo cut in, interrupting the insulting diatribe. He decided to settle it by ordering Yorimichi to be taken away.

“Yorimichi, you must be tired. Please return to your room to rest.”

“Wait, Juugo! Genma cannot be trusted! If you don’t listen to me now, you will end up regretting it sooner or later!”

Yorimichi was hauled away like luggage. His harsh voice slowly decreased in volume until nothing could be heard.

“I really am sorry for the insulting diatribes of my father. Please forgive him on my behalf.”

Juugo placed both of his hands on the tatami in a slight bow. Genma replied indifferently, “I didn’t pay attention. The reason for such words is that the previous Suzerain cares deeply for the Kannagi clan.”

With an exchange of glances that instantly understood each other, they smiled at the same time. The time for chatting was over, and it was now time to discuss more serious matters.

“As the previous Suzerain said, the timing is too much of a coincidence. It is better for us to meet again and talk.”

Genma maintained his silence from the start, perhaps because he did not want to discuss his own son.

“Would Kazuma submit to our instructions willingly?”

“If he won’t submit, we will have to use force to bring him here. Even though he has gained strength, he is still Kazuma. Two or three people will be more than enough to capture him.”

“...That’s good, then. The selection of persons in charge of this assignment will be your responsibility, Genma. No matter what, it is necessary to bring back Kazuma quickly.”

“Understood.” Even though Genma had just received an order to capture his own son, Genma was tranquil compared to others.

“Ayano-sama has returned!”

The serious expression on Juugo’s face began to relax. Genma put on a highly energetic and fierce look as well.

“Oh, I'm back!”

She appeared without even waiting a second. Bah! She pulled the sliding door open and caught everyone’s attention.

“I’m home, [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Otou-sama|Otou-sama]]! Ehh...? What’s going on?”

An assertive young teenage girl appeared before the crowd, noticing the mood a moment later. Her long, pink hair that almost reached her back flowed along with the movements of her head, representing the blooming of a [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Bishoujo|bishoujo]]. At that moment, the 'dark and cold' atmosphere completely vanished. Her spiritual energy completely cleansed the room's atmosphere in one breath. The appearance of an unclear enemy who killed family members became muted. The people who had been discussing this situation nonstop now faced a blinding light. Their feelings of discomfort and distress completely vanished.

As if facing the rays of the sun, all movements in the dark ceased to exist. The girl in the doorway, a girl who had the ability to vanquish darkness with spiritual powers not unlike the power of light, was heir of the Suzerain, owner of Enraiha and Juugo’s daughter: Kannagi Ayano.

“How’s the report, Ayano?”

Juugo tested his daughter with the same serious expression that he used when asking other people. To him, that was the best way for a father to guide his daughter.

“Excuse me.” Ayano at that moment finished bowing. “The youma that was released was completely vanquished.”

“Hmm, good job.”

Finishing her report to the Suzerain as a practitioner, Ayano innocently continued her questioning. “So, what actually happened, Otou-sama?”

“Hmm—— earlier, three people had been killed without being notice. This is a serious situation!"

Although they were distant relatives, Ayano quieted after hearing how three people from the family had been killed. The “serious situation” wasn’t the fact that “three people had been killed.” Rather, it was because it was “without being notice.”

This was not some callous sentiment, but it was an understanding of what was of primary importance. For a girl of only sixteen years of age, who had such a strong will and discipline, it was surprising.

“Nobody saw who it was? A Fuujutsu practitioner?”

“Of course there's a suspect.” Faced with Ayano’s questions, Juugo replied heavily, “...It’s Kazuma.”

“Who’s that?”

Faced with this kind of close and revealing speech, Juugo’s "sun vein" furrowed.

“Think carefully about your older cousin’s name... the one who you fought against in the 'Succession Ceremony' for Enraiha, the representative sword of the Kannagi clan."

“'Older cousin...' Could it be the Kazuma who left the family four years ago? Could that even be called a fight?”

Juugo secretly spied on Genma’s expression to see if there were any changes from hearing Ayano's blunt words. Genma's inner feelings were not apparent, as his outer unreadable appearance didn’t change at all.

“Right, I heard he left the country... and trained elsewhere. Later, he became a Fuujutsu practitioner?”

“That’s how it is. Supposedly, he returned to Japan recently and changed his name to Yagami Kazuma. Yesterday, he met with the late Shinji during a job, where he beautifully completed it. It seems like he has trained very hard in those four years.”

“Kazuma... Looks like he hates us…” Finally remembering, Ayano looked distant.

“It could be like that,” Genma replied without any facial expression.

“But, even though it is like that, we cannot just kill him. If it was done by him, we need to use his life to pay for the crimes.”

“If...?”

Ayano turned to look at Genma, searching for a clue as to what Genma was thinking. Genma accepted Ayano’s look without any change. The one who disinherited Kazuma and the one who provided the reason for his disinheritance crossed gazes. The first to look away was Ayano. Strength as practitioners aside, her life’s experience was immensely surpassed. In reality, even with careful searching, she still lacked the confidence in her ability to win. Ayano stopped her meaningless gaze, and turned to look towards Juugo.

“So what do we do next? Eliminate him?"

After seeing his daughter say such words so easily, Juugo immediately replied.

“We still cannot be certain whether Kazuma was the one who did it, but no matter. We should find him and talk with him first.”

“...Yes…”

Perhaps due to the mighty power that Enraiha bears, whenever Ayano was faced with a problem, she was inclined to use power to resolve it. Juugo had always hoped that she understood her position as the next clan chief and therefore had to be more flexible in her thinking.

“You have just finished a mission, you must be tired, today get some good rest.”

“… I understand.”

Even though she did not seem pleased, Ayano still obeyed her father’s words and quickly left the scene after bowing. The attitude she portrayed by not even looking at Juugo showed just how unhappy she was.

“……This stubborn child.”

Juugo sighed as he muttered this. But despite his tone being so bitter, he was still unable to hide the overflowing love he had for her.

=== 2 ===
It was easy for the information network of the Kannagi clan to find out where Kazuma was.

Finding him the next morning did not really require any special methods because he used his own name to register into a hotel.

Consequently, at Genma’s command, two practitioners were sent out.

Yuuki Shingo and Oogami Takeya were the strongest practitioners of the branch families. Even though they had opposing personalities, they were great friends. This combination, outside the main family, could be said to be without equal.

From Genma’s point of view, he had thrown in the two strongest cards at hand. However, the selection of the oldest son of the Yuuki family might have been a deadly mistake. Why? That was because this man had absolutely no desire to convince Kazuma.

“Kazuma, you bastard, I will cut you into [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Ten Thousand Pieces|ten thousand pieces]].”

“If he dies, it will be problematic. At least leave him with the ability to talk when we take him back.”

As they waited for the upcoming report, they headed directly towards Kazuma. Of course, they had absolutely no desire to persuade him; however, they never expected that they would be assaulted.

“Is the report ready yet?”

“It’s going to be ready soon.”

This kind of discussion couldn't satisfy them at all. They didn't know how many times they had asked. Given that the two of them were still waiting to receive the same report, it didn't matter how much they asked…

“What the hell are they doing, that useless Fuuga clan! It’s that one person, Kazuma; can’t they easily bring him over!?”

Shingo reprimanded angrily as they began turning the arrowhead towards the Fuuga clan.

“This is worrying. The Fuuga clan might even be connected to this situation.”

Takeya forcefully said some pretty words to sway Shingo. A situation in which the Fuuga clan was shielding him wasn't impossible, after all. Takeya's plan to insult them and redirect Shingo's anger was certainly welcomed.

Thinking shortly, Shingo gritted his teeth angrily and said,

“Damn it, they only have slightly sharper senses, what's there to be complacent about?”

“Don’t say it like that. They're just a bunch of sad people with non-discussable... Nil fighting power. Failing to do something this simple, aren't they very pathetic?”

“That’s right, hahaahahahahahaaaaa…”

Just as Takeya had wished, Shingo had completely forgotten about the issue of the reprimand. Hearing this sudden liberated laughter, Takeya had a thought not unlike one from 10 seconds ago. “Still not ready yet?” Similarly, he felt it to be very slow and lengthy.

“Incoming, in the area right ahead, about 500 meters. Looks like he hasn’t noticed.”

Suddenly, amidst the conversation between the two, a voice appeared. It was from a jutsu used by the Fuuga clan called “Method of Summoning/Calling Spirits”. It allowed the wind to carry voices over large distances.

“He’s coming! I won’t leave him any limbs, arms or legs. Burn it all! Let’s attack!”

This was not voiced for anyone to hear, only Shingo’s mumblings to himself. It could be seen from his hatred-filled eyes that his passion certainly could be really problematic.

[[image:Kaze no Stigma vol 01 051.jpg|thumb]]

Shingo rattled on about how he would execute Kazuma. He hoped Kazuma would at least put up some resistance before dying so that he and Takeya could slowly torture him to the brink of death. Shingo was determined to make Kazuma suffer as painfully as possible.

Takeya pulled a small distance away from Shingo from this, thinking “So this guy is this dangerous.” And so, the distance between their hearts grew larger.

Just when a rift between their friendship was about to form, Kazuma appeared.

They faced the apparently defenseless and casual Kazuma. Takeya arrogantly greeted him.

“Long time no see, Kazuma!”

“…Oh, you're the successor of the Oogami family?”

Kazuma paused for a moment to recollect his memories. However, Takeya took it as a display of shock as if Kazuma had just realized he was being ambushed. This uprising arrogant mentality weakened Takeya’s concentration.

“Do you know why we are here?”

Takeya questioned using a tone filled with superiority. At the same moment, he calmed Shingo, whose eyes were blood-shot and whose heart was filled with the desire to release his flames.

“No idea.”

Kazuma’s reply could not be any more honest, yet it was not entirely without a sense of taunting. He used a joking action to exaggeratedly shrug his shoulders and shake his head. As expected, he managed to piss Takeya off enough for his veins to show.

However, Takeya succeeded in controlling his anger, and after recovering his cool, began to explain.

“Yesterday night, three practitioners of the Kannagi clan were killed."

“Uhmm... and?"

Kazuma asked, with the same tone of supreme authority.

“The person who killed them was a Fuujutsu practitioner."

“……………………..”

“……………………..”

Their surroundings were covered in silence. A warm wind blew in through the dusk on “Tree-Shadow” Road. The red leaves began to dance lightly, shined upon by a crimson sun that dyed them an even darker shade of red. This was the beauty that appears before the darkness that controls the world.

“……………..”

The first to open his mouth was Kazuma. It seemed like he detested the still silence even more than being stared at by two men.

“So what's the matter?”

“The Suzerain has things to ask you! Follow us!”

“It wasn’t me! Are you finished?”

Kazuma said, clearly showing his desire to leave. He suddenly bounced to the side. An instant later, the space that Kazuma had just jumped away from became engulfed in a fireball.

Kazuma looked towards the perpetrator. Shingo, using a tone like a natural-born deep-voiced singer, shouted.

“Hmhmhm, what’s the matter, you finally admit it? Then, there is no other way besides force to subdue you!”

At the same time, “tongues of crimson” surrounded Shingo and began to burn and dance.

Even though these flames were attached to Shingo’s body, his clothes were not burned. He was exhibiting an unexpected level of precision.

As the flames continued to move on his body, Shingo became so happy that his lips slanted. He proclaimed,

“If you refuse to talk about it, then you are very suspicious. I’ll burn off your arms and legs! Lessening the weight will make you easier to transport! I won’t kill you, but could you continue to live in such a humiliating condition? After the Suzerain finishes his questioning, I’ll be merciful, and kill you within one week! You can use that time to fully regret your life. I want you to know that after killing Shinji, I absolutely cannot allow you to continue living untroubled!”

Kazuma  watched the crazed, laughing Shingo as if he was observing some kind of rare animal. He turned to Takeya and asked very seriously,

“So the Kannagi clan still feeds this kind of thing?”

“—No, Ahh….hu….”

Takeya really had no reply. Takeya, who considered himself to be normal, did not want to be associated with the thing next to him as though they were of the same kind.

“Shingo always adored Shinji. Now he hates you for killing him, he is quite within reason.”

“That’s why I said it wasn’t me.”

“Then please go and clarify everything with the Suzerain.”

“I am no longer part of the Kannagi clan. If the Suzerain has business with me, tell him to come and look for me himself. Please pass it along to him like that.”

“It seems … The negotiations have broken down then.”

In order to make good on his words, Takeya raised his "ki". He then directed the surrounding fire spirits to dance with his conscience.

The surrounding temperature rose enough to be felt with the skin. Even though the fire spirits had yet to materialize, the surrounding area had clearly changed in physics.

Seemingly frightened by the emergence of such elevated fighting spirit, scores of red leaves continued to flutter down, instantly changing into ash and floating away before touching Takeya’s body.

Remaining subdued, Kazuma stood with his hands in his leather jacket, watching the two of them. It seemed like he had no desire to confront the Kannagi clan, though it was hard to tell from that kind of pose.

“This is your last opportunity. Yield humbly to us, Kazuma.”

Faced with Takeya's final ultimatum, Kazuma raised his middle finger and said.

“Take a good look at yourselves before coming.”

Shingo and Takeya moved in complete coordination, releasing their fireball attacks at the same time.

“Die!!!”

“You idiot!”

The instant they started their jutsu, the two believed that victory would be definite. Two of the clan's strongest practitioners were attacking at the same time. No matter what kind of strategy Kazuma had, facing those two massive powers would be hopeless.

But...

Boom! 

The fireball in Takeya’s hand suddenly exploded. He was incredulous that the fireball had such a big categorical runaway explosion.

The fireball, leaving Takeya’s control, was like a wild animal with its tooth pulled out. Even with the protection of the fire spirit, it was impossible to shield against the crash of the explosion’s force.

The shock struck his entire body and Takeya was simply knocked out.

''(W, What? What just happened…? Shit, Shingo, leave….)''

Unfortunately, Shingo had similarly lost consciousness, with black and blue continuously pulsing on his face.

As Kazuma returned his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, he lowered his head to the two people before him. After flashing a condescending grin, he walked right by the two unconscious persons' sides.

Contradicting his wish to leave immediately, Kazuma stopped. As if feeling something, he looked towards the trees where there was no one.

“If you want to pick a fight with me, I won’t be merciful.”

At the same time, one of the trees split in half. There was no noise from the chopped tree. A guarding Fuujutsu practitioner slowly slid down from it.

Already forgetting to hide himself, this person stood while dumbly staring at Kazuma. As Kazuma turned to leave, he became fearful. “The one we lured was him? The prey we were hunting is this frightening thing——?"

=== 3 ===
“Seriously, Father worries too much. I alone am enough. I don’t know how many times I have repeated this. When will he acknowledge me? Am I that untrustworthy?”

“The Suzerain acknowledges the young mistress' abilities, but as a father he is simply worrying about his daughter.”

Confronted with the disgruntled Ayano, the man in his forties cajoled her.

Ayano had been ordered to a certain temple in the city of Yokohama Yamate to strengthen the weakening seal inside. Coincidentally, this place was very close to where Kazuma had extorted every cent from his employer. Basically, this was where he had exorcised only a few days ago. However, Ayano knew nothing of this.

Upon arriving at the location and discovering that the seal had deteriorated to a point beyond the previously assumed limits, Ayano immediately discarded the idea of resealing it, instead deciding to eliminate the seal. Without any attempt to test it, she immediately ripped off the seal.

One of her favorite sayings was, “This method is faster.” 

People without significant confidence in their own abilities would not say something like that. However, the two men that accompanied her knew that she had the prerequisite abilities needed to complement such self-confidence.

Certainly, Juugo also knew that she had this kind of ability, but such worries of a father were within reason. Even if Ayano described Juugo as stupid or foolish, most of time he still sent two or more people to protect her.

“He always lectures me. 'Don't mix work with your private life.' 'Don't follow your own desires to do things.' Isn't that right, Uncle Masato?” 

Still discharging her irritation, Ayano faced said man, the younger brother of the head of the Yuuki family, Masato.

“Because he is the Suzerain, he cannot mull over such minor issues.”

A smile and a laugh appeared on Masato’s thin face. As a member of one of the branch families, he certainly was not thinking about the consequence, but it seemed like Ayano hadn’t really noticed or cared.

This man, Oogami Masato, although possessing strength greater than his older brother, disliked scheming for the position of family head. And so, he went off to Tibet to train like an eccentric person.

When he returned to Japan, he was ordered to protect Ayano. Juugo held him in high regard, as from the first time Ayano went on a mission, he was continually responsible for her protection.

Ayano also had good feelings about this easygoing relative. Contrasting the princess-like treatment that most people gave her, Masato’s causal attitude was quite refreshing for her and felt very good.

Consequently, they referred to each other (Uncle Masato and Ojo-sama) as if they were a real family.

“Maybe if it's to allow the younger practitioner here to learn, this kind of reasoning is possible. Isn’t that so, Takeshi…Takeshi?”

“Ahh, Yes!?”

The younger practitioner was staring at Ayano with eyes of admiration. Oogami Takeshi’s uncle had to holler many times before he finally paid attention.

“Did you not hear… Stop staring stupidly at Ojo-sama, be prepared. We don't know when the seal will be released.”

“Yes, I understand! Just as Uncle has said! It is really a great honor to be allowed to watch Ayano-sama's striking fighting method!”

In an attempt to look good in front of Ayano, Takeshi pointlessly shouted in a loud voice. He stared at Ayano with admiration and reverence. After all, to Takeshi’s generation of practitioners, Ayano had the status of a goddess. Being able to watch her striking manner from close by while guarding her was a task anyone would accept.

“Yes——It’s——like——this?”

“Yes, it’s like that!”

The exhilaration of being able to talk to Ayano flowed from Takeshi’s entire body. Though, Ayano did not like being looked up to like that. It gave her the feeling that she was separate from normal people, instead becoming an entity that she didn't want to be.

Unfortunately, no matter how often she explained that, it was useless. It was Takeshi’s only, yet simple, means of showing deference to a much stronger and more beautiful existence.

“Ah, forget it. … It’s about time.”

Ayano, sensing the expanding ki of the youma, relaxed and turned herself towards the main hall. Her miniskirt started to flutter and dance.

Now, why would Ayano be wearing her high school uniform?

This was not only to allow her to normally attend high school. Because, if you thought about it, the best outfit for a high school student was their uniform. So Juugo focused upon this point and added, within the range of his abilities, the best class of defensive spells to it.

The uniform, in order to allow better transpiration, was woven from the best type of silk there was. That is, during the process of fabrication, air was mixed into it. Furthermore, everything was sewn from expensive materials.

As a result, a high school uniform was made from extravagant amounts of money and time. It would not be wrong to call it a work of art, since the high cost certainly made it worthy. The money placed into this uniform was enough to buy a car, or even a luxury house.

Of course, Ayano paid attention to wear this outfit, not because of its capabilities, but because it was a gift given to her by her father. As a result, she frequently wore this outfit in combat.

In this uniform, the world’s most expensive combat outfit, Ayano watched as the seal began breaking. She took a deep breath and started moving and warming up her own inner strength.

Pah!

A clapping sound started to vibrate within the room. Ayano opened her two closed palms. A flaming line appeared between them. She grasped it with her right hand, swinging it horizontally.

The meter-long, burning line instantly materialized into a crimson sword.

There was no blunt side to this bright crimson sword, as it had two edges. The blade of the sword was surrounded by a golden flame, releasing vivid beautiful light. It was as beautiful as one could imagine. 

The sword was the Kannagi clan’s supreme treasure, Enraiha. It was awarded to the Kannagi clan’s founder by the King of the Flame Spirits. It has been passed down and used to defeat evil ever since. '''!'''

Ayano lifted Enraiha upwards, grasping the sword with her other hand as well and making a downward stroke. Golden pieces of the flame trailed behind it, spreading in all directions. In an instant, she beautifully stopped the sword before her eyes. Whether it was done ten thousand times or a hundred thousand times, this was a beautiful motion that could always be appreciated.

The vase of the shrine approached its limits and, with a “pong” sound, burst open. Even before the pieces could finish falling, a white light shot towards Ayano.

Ayano made a downward stroke with Enraiha, attacking the light head on. Upon contact, the white substance gave off a sound like sprinkling water on a burning hot pot and vaporized.

“Ugh, it’s sticky.”

Ayano mumbled after seeing it disperse in all directions. The material was connected by thin threads.

She redirected her vision to the inside of the main hall, seeing a few dots of light. The thing slowly moved forward and revealed itself.

“Wah…”

Ayano, inadvertently surprised, let out a gasp. The thing that had appeared was ——

Possessing a great number of eyes and beyond eight feet, covered with dirty yet rigid fur, the segmented animal produced sounds like “kulah, kulah” as its legs brought it into the open. Anyone would shiver upon seeing its full appearance, a monstrous spider freak.

“Earth Spider huh... Need help?”

“Not necessary.”

Ayano immediately replied. Though it produced a very disgusting feeling, there was no time for complaints. It seemed like she was more afraid of disappointing her otou-san, and fighting against spiders or cockroaches was nothing in comparison.

''(Come...)''

Summoning fire spirits does not require chants and such. As if following Ayano’s thinking, fire spirits assembled themselves and flew into Enraiha. The light of the flame became even brighter, shining along the sword's blade.

Within the range of her awareness, Ayano continuously summoned more spirits. Juugo had instructed her many times, "Don’t be like other practitioners. The spirits are not commanded; you can’t be too arrogant."

“The spirits have the same level of existence as we do.” 

Juugo frequently repeated this saying, that spirits were the means to safeguard the existence of the world’s order. The Kannagi clan had a contract with the spirit king, and the spirits were only helpers.

Of course, Ayano also understood that her own strength was borrowed. The power was gifted for a short period of time, and only to seal or vanquish the inconsistencies in the world’s order.

Therefore, she was not ordering them, because such matters were unnecessary. If the correct way of thinking was clear, the fire spirits would certainly answer.

Having respect for the world, not obtaining huge power or being arrogant. Ayano, no matter what, always called out to them like this: “Please, lend me your strength…”

“V… Very formidable…”

Takeshi watched, dumbfounded as the enormous number of spirits gathered into Ayano’s body. The amount of spirits he could manage was only one small portion of hers. For him, it was the first time seeing the main family’s power, as different from him as sky and ground.

“Ah, formidable, right!?”

Masato said, smiling to show off his own condition.

“Even though we said it recently, no matter how hard we work, we won’t be able to reach such levels.”

His uncle’s reply already forgotten, Takeshi once again looked at Ayano.

Ayano, holding the Enraiha, continued to confront the earth spider.

''(What should I do… looks like I can’t get close…)''

Even though the summoned spirits were already enough to destroy the earth spider, she really didn’t have the confidence given her distance from it. Even though Enraiha was an ancient sword used for summoning, it was necessary to employ it to its fullest potential.

In other words, she had to close in and puncture or split the earth spider, then, from the inside, burn its body completely.

''(Of course, if that was done, more sticky stuff will probably fly out from the cut… after the explosion, the body's pieces would fly everywhere… and if it's female, after opening its skin, hundreds of spiders might come out… No———!)''

Just thinking about it made her hair stand on end. Inside, Ayano started complaining bitterly. If Takeshi could have read Ayano’s inner thoughts then, his own thoughts of reverence would probably have disappeared. 

The earth spider seemed to seize the opening that Ayano's mulling gave. “Palapala” Using its long legs, it turned its body and started moving.

“You want to escape!?”

Suddenly, white silk spat out from the tail towards the pursuing Ayano. At the same time, she pulled up Enraiha to face it.

Golden flames emerged from Enraiha, burning the spider’s web. Unfortunately, because of the blockage by the silk, Ayano still could not get close to the earth spider.

Ayano could only stop and focus her mind. She took a deep breath, tuning her ki, and calmed down.

''(This kind of thing can’t do any real kind of obstruction. I'll just kill it in a few seconds.)''

Lifting up Enraiha, she performed a downward swing with her full strength. The golden flame, the highest level of fire purification, not only completely burned down the earth spider’s web, but also closed in directly on the earth spider itself.

Kaboom!!

With the sounds of the explosion, the earth spider was surrounded by flames.

“Got…Gotcha…?”

But as Ayano dubiously mumbled while looking into the flames, what emerged was only a white cocoon-like object. What really surprised her was the “pishpiish” sound of it splitting open.

Pang!

Like a thin layer of glass shattering, the middle of the cocoon split open and the earth spider reappeared, completely unharmed.

The webbing apparently contained some special component that could block spiritual energies. The spider had used that covering to hide its body and avoid the purifying powers of the flames.

“...It’s~ it’s quite formidable, hu~”

Ayano sang. At first glance she seemed very calm, but a careful study would reveal that her sun vein had already risen.

Ayano did not attack with full strength, but her confidence ebbed when she saw it being completely deflected.

“Only a little bug, don’t be so haughty ——!!”

Resonating with Ayano’s anger, an even greater amount of fire spirits gathered. There was no materialization, but in the vicinity, enough spirits gathered to equal a volcano opening.

“Then… regretting it now?”

Accompanying her anger, Ayano entered a selfless state. Her composure was completely engulfed by anger, and transformed into strength.

She continuously summoned stronger and even stronger spirits. This time, it wasn't directly released into a single area but, using her immovable strength of mind, was released into one direction. 

This time, Ayano held Enraiha perpendicular to her body. Focused on running after the earth spider, she took a deep breath and released it with a sharp “kiai.”

“Haa!!”

In an instant, the flame flew into the earth spider’s body. Its abdomen expanded and exploded, transforming it into a miniature torch.

Within this seemingly small torch gathered the entire area’s fire spirits. The explosion of the fireball continued to expand. This time the earth spider was definitely transformed into ashes.

Nothing was left. The pieces of the spider’s body and the youma spirit around it had been completed purified. Now, the temple where the youma was vanquished finally filled with the tranquil air that temples should have.

If an attack from the outside could be defended against, simply attack from the inside. Even though describing it was easy, actually doing it was close to impossible.

This was like the world’s own close relationship with the spirits. Like the life force of living beings.

The body of living beings that have water cannot remain unaffected by water spirits, and living beings that have heat house fire spirits within their bodies.

Though youma materialize, they can’t escape this rule.

However, in ordinary circumstances, controlling the spirits residing within the body was impossible.

These kinds of spirits, infinitely close to a living beings’ survival instinct, hold enormous willpower. The origin of life does not allow control to anyone.

Even a genius can’t control it easily as he would like. But in this world, no matter what, there are always people who spend their entire day saying “logical boundaries” are for foolish and sad humans.

“Heh. It was this kind of thing.”

Ayano released a pleasing smile and turned around to go back.

“Then, let’s go!...”

She couldn’t continue her dialogue. Ayano stupidly stared at the two’s body language. Probably, the bigger body was Masato, and on its left was Takeshi's body. Everything seemed to be just fine.

But——

''(How come there’s no head…?)''

The two were standing naturally. The taller one still had both hands in his pockets, and the other seemed unable to control his exhilaration, holding a fist in front of his chest.

It didn’t seem odd that they had no heads, for whatever reason.

Ayano looked toward the ground, where two round objects entered her eyes. Ayano stumbled, nearly falling over, but steadied herself. She knelt down and lifted one of them onto her knees. Even though it was quite heavy, Ayano smiled as she smelled the odor of the person that she really liked. Ayano hugged the head of the one who, from a very young age, fought together with her and taught her the ways of survival. Quietly, she mumbled.

“Uncle… head… fell down… uh…"

Ayano sadly smiled as she tried to put Masato’s head back on. Hoping that by doing this he would return to life, she stubbornly forced the head back on.

As if mocking Ayano, an unseen blade lightly carved into Masato’s body. In a second, the big body split apart into hundreds or even thousands of slices of meat.

His heart had stopped pumping a while ago, so fresh blood did not fly out from the sharp cuts.

Although there were no sounds of flowing blood or breaking flesh, strangely enough, it still gave people a feeling of reality.

[[image:Kaze no Stigma vol 01 071.jpg|thumb]]

Under the blowing of the wind, Masato’s body came apart without a sound. As if it had gone through a paper shredder, the pieces of meat danced in the sky like flower petals.

Ayano watched the frozen picture.

Drip.

Accompanying the sound of a water droplet, something fell on her face. Ayano unconsciously tried to remove it.

It was a bright red piece of meat, which still had some remaining warmth. Ayano’s consciousness seemed to pass through a filter as she realized what was on her fingers. She only recovered a small amount.

“No...”

It had once been a part of Masato’s body, but now could no longer be described even as a corpse.

“I don’t want this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

At that moment, Ayano screams could be heard far and wide.

"Kukukukuku—————"

This sound that vibrated through the air, the snickering sound, wasn’t directly sent to the brain. To better describe it, accompanying this “snigger” were some strong feelings. This derision towards the opponent’s “awareness” seemed to provoke and annoy Ayano.

Faced with the appearance of the enemy, due to frequent training of the body and spirit, Ayano instantly entered fighting mode.

She buried deep within her the feeling of anguish, substituting it with the feelings of animation and anticipation.

Directing her anger towards her opponent, she challenged

"Come out!"

Ayano had already surpassed the limits of anger that could be expressed on a human's face, though she seemed determined that she could. She looked up.

It was ''that thing''. In front of a branch on a huge tree stood a human shadow, completely without fear of danger and with its right hand resting in its pocket.

Because it was a place without much light, she was unable to clearly see her opponents face. It didn’t really matter, though, since the overflowing of evil ki already told her “This is an enemy.”

Ayano silently swung Enraiha upwards.

There was no need to know who it was, nor was there the need to accumulate strength. All that was required was to calmly mix in the killing intent and kill it in one strike. The sharpened killing intent transformed the burning sword blade, whose flames flowed upwards.

Moving lightly, clearly defying its weight, ''that thing'' avoided the slash, leaping high onto the roof as if flying. ''That thing'' looked down towards Ayano, slowly moving its body as if to say "chase away."

This was clearly a trap, but Ayano bravely accepted this kind of provocation.

''(Even if it is a trap, it doesn't matter, I will definitely annihilate you.)''

Deep within herself, she was submitting to such a type of anger. Ayano had already begun a rampage for revenge.

=== 4 ===
In the sky, the ki of a youma suddenly appeared.

“Hmm…”

Kazuma suddenly looked toward the sky. To conceal itself, it had gathered bit by bit in the sky. Suddenly, a wind blade flashed out. Kazuma had absolutely no time to defend, and even flying backwards to avoid it took his full effort.

The wind blade passed right by Kazuma, who was still rolling away, and then, slightly changing its angle, sliced the Fuuga practitioner, Shingo, and Takeya in half with one stroke.

“Wait, wait a second!!”

Kazuma yelled mindlessly as the situation changed into something that he had not predicted.

''(I, I was actually ambushed!?)''

Actually, it was the first time he had been ambushed. Furthermore, it was an ambush with wind spirits? No matter who had summoned them, it was impossible for Kazuma not to feel the gathering of such a degree of wind spirits. No matter how great the Fuujutsu practitioner, the use of Fuujutsu could not deceive Kazuma. This was not a question of the difference between abilities, but that the rules were thus.

But what had just occurred was that impossible situation. Kazuma immediately broke off his thoughts, focusing towards the thing in the sky.

“What’s… that thing...?”

A really small object, perhaps smaller than 20 mm, was floating in the sky about 20-30 meters above. Near it, five things rose and flew out.

“Someone’s hand…? Doesn’t seem so... red leaves…?

No matter how he looked, it didn’t seem like it was flying in the sky. It wasn't controlling the wind. With a questioning look, Kazuma suddenly discovered what that thing really was.

It was a human hand. A strange human hand was flying in the sky. But even recognizing it didn’t solve anything, since it still couldn’t change the fact that three people had been killed.

''(Anyways, first let’s defeat it!)''

Kazuma mumbled in a voice that only he himself could hear. The thing that looked like a hand flew higher into the sky... and disappeared.

“Wait! What are you actually thinking!?”

Kazuma protested to the wind spirit, as this was clearly against the agreement. But the spirit only made an uncertain sound, and it certainly couldn’t tell Kazuma the location of the disappeared hand.

“What is going on…”

The miserable condition in front of his eyes, the corpses of Shingo, Takeya and the Fuuga practitioner, seemed just as if it was done by Kazuma.

The spirit disobeyed the contract? —— Impossible.

If Kazuma were to hear this kind of situation from someone else, he would have highly doubted the mental state of that person. This was why what just happened was a very irregular situation.

The spirits did have cognizant qualities. Initial Principle —— it was when the world was first created. Immutable laws were created alongside this existing world, and the spirits obeyed them, allowing this world to remain intact in this kind of shape and reality. Bees have to live in a beehive, and one part of himself recognizes his own existence. The portion, even if it had intelligence, couldn't possibly think. And of course, it was impossible for a spirit to have the type of free will to break a covenant.

If the spirits had the free will to move about, then the laws of science would be broken. The world would be destroyed within three days.

All of the wind spirits should obey Kazuma's command. Even the spirits contracted with ''that thing'' had to follow that rule. But it didn't...

“An exception...”

Kazuma thought of the worst case scenario, and sighed weakly.

''(There’s someone like me? No way…)''

It made him lose his enthusiasm just by thinking about it. Perhaps he could be considered lucky... Of course, Kazuma did not want to think this way at all. He now had no spare time to indulge in thought.

Because he sensed a massive amount of fire spirits coming towards him.

''(So even [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Ifrit|Ifrit]] has come here? Crap, when did Japan become a world of youma!?)''

Even before he finished composing his thoughts, a situation appeared that he could not have predicted.

What emerged was not Ifrit, but a young girl. She had red flames and eyes of burning hatred, holding accumulated power in her right hand.

“Kazuma—— !!”

The strength of the fire spirits that gathered in her right hand had already crystallized. Ayano seemed to have made up her mind that moment.

Chop!!

Ayano quickly entered the rapidly retreating Kazuma’s vision, swinging the red sword that was, for the Kannagi clan, more important than anything else. It was the sword that had made his life very chaotic.

Faced with the godly sword that he would have preferred never to meet again, Kazuma yelled,

“Enraiha!? Are you Ayano!?”

The only answer was a sword flash from Enraiha. Kazuma tried his best to explain to Ayano, who was filled with killing intent and not listening to anything.

“Hey, hey, wait a moment, this is a misunderstanding! They weren’t killed by me… hey, you should listen to what other people are saying!”

Flaming white fireballs continuously approached. Kazuma kept dodging and speaking, but Ayano seemed like she couldn't hear at all.

Ayano was already too angry and had already forgotten herself due to the esteemed Masato's death. She had no time to listen to people talking. Furthermore, given what her otou-san had told her, Kazuma was quite suspicious.

Dang!!

“Hey!!!”

The fireball that Kazuma thought he had evaded suddenly exploded, blocking his means of retreat. Noticing this, Ayano took advantage of the explosion to appear in front of his eyes while swinging the Enraiha.

“Uncle’s revenge!!”

“!!”

With that, she did a two part strike with the intent of splitting Kazuma like bamboo. Kazuma escaped by shifting his body sideways, using his palms to catch the sword handle near its top. Facing Ayano’s fiery anger and blood-covered face, he yelled,

“'Otou-san'... Genma died?”

However, even before he finished saying it, he realized that it was a mistake. Even though Ayano and Genma’s relationship wasn’t so bad at first glance, if Genma were to die, Ayano would not try to avenge him.

Another person appeared in his head. The “uncle” from the Oogami family that Ayano had been very close to.

The name was probably...!!

—— Bam! 

"Ugh..."

Suddenly Ayano threw her head upwards and struck Kazuma’s chin. Because of his pondering, his reflexes were somewhat slower. Though he quickly evaded, the blow still caused dizziness and pain in his head.

Despite that, he calmly asked,

"Oogami Masato died?"

Ayano's face became even more somber. She forced so much strength into Enraiha that its flames could be clearly seen even from a distance.

''(Seems like that had the opposite effect...)''

Kazuma shrugged his shoulders, sighing. He had no more questions to ask this person filled with such emotion. Faced with this confused, angry little girl, anything he did would be useless.

But, he couldn't kill her. If he was to hurt Ayano, the fool’s father, Juugo, would completely recognize him as an enemy. This had to be avoided.

This was not because he feared Juugo, who was the Kannagi clan’s strongest practitioner, but because, as “Kannagi Kazuma”, Juugo was his only ally. In order not to sadden him, he could only do one thing.

“Ah—— Ayano-chan? I’m —— leaving then, the issue with cleaning up the corpses will be left to you. Then, see ya.”

Skillfully avoiding the tenacious, approaching flames, Kazuma escaped.

“——Wait, wait a second!”

Kazuma, turning his back to Ayano, leaped up, surrounding himself with wind, and flew upwards about 10 meters, disappearing.

“Wha... Where did he...”

Kazuma floated directly above her as she continued to look around.

Manipulating the air and changing the reflection rate of light, Kazuma made himself transparent, just as if he was wearing an invisibility cloak. If Ayano had looked closely, she could have see the parts where waves emerged from high heat, but as she was being controlled by anger and had forgotten herself, she did not.

Kazuma took no pleasure in watching the troubled Ayano, but thought about what he had to do later on.

''From the looks of things now, the one who killed Shingo and Takeya has made me his scapegoat. If even Oogami Masato's murder is blamed on me... If they think that I am the one who killed Oogami Masato as well...''

''(Will this become an all out war with the Kannagi? Hmmmm... interesting, but this feeling of being toyed with by someone else really sucks... So then, what should I do now...?)''

Hehe, hehe.

Kazuma burst out laughing. The Kannagi clan and the mysterious Fuujutsu practitioner. Two of the strongest things in the world were already assaulting his life. Of course, he could not ignore this.

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| Return to [[Kaze_no_Stigma|Main Page]]
| Back to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
| Forward to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kaze no Stigma:Volume3 Chapter 1

2012-09-29T03:30:04Z

Krossrd:

'''Chapter 1 – Meeting underneath the moonlight'''

1

In the beginning of the New Year, a few days after the start of the new semester...

In the classroom of the sixth year, class two of the Metropolitan Cosei Elementary School, an event that already became the established afterschool practice, began.

“Ren-kun!”

“Ren!”

A short girl and a boy with an outstanding build each grab a hand of a boy so cute, you could mistake him for a girl. The girl and the large built boy exchange a sublime threatening glance for a second and right away avert their eyes, as if to say: “I saw something dirty.”

“Ren-kun, let’s go have tea on the way home.”

“Let’s go play games, Ren!”

The invitations were issued perfectly simultaneously.

“Ah...well...”
The bewildered cute boy – Kannagi Ren, twelve years old – inserts himself where these two’s glances scatter sparks.
The clash was inevitable.

“Which one do you think wins today?”

“That would be Kannon, right? Up until today she holds complete victory.”

“That girl, she doesn’t have leniency.”

“No, anytime now, Serisawa is going to get angry for real, don’t you think? Up until now, he was going easy on her, right?”

Although abnormal, their struggle is extreme. The boy and the girl trying to gain Kannagi Ren’s favor and his heart either can’t be called a standard primary school student.

Serisawa Tatsuya – 180 centimeters tall and a physique matching that height, the boy is endowed with physical strength.

Suzuhara Kannon – the girl has both cute looks suitable for a flower and a cruel, wicked personality appropriate for her artillery name.

The struggle between these two completely exceeds the primary school level. Fighting each other with a raging power, almost like a windstorm, and a devil-like heartless craft, class 6-2 is changed into a battlefield.
Towards the overwhelming heroicness, the pupils that happened to be present caused uproar but got used to it after three days. As for this ordinary one part thing nowadays, they are enjoying this pleasant exhibition.

“Serisawa! Don’t lose today!”

“No! If such a gorilla is his company, Ren-kun will amount to nothing!”

“Whether she likes it or not...Kannon’s opponent is pretty determined, huh?”

In the center of the pupils quarreling to their heart’s content, Kannon and Serisawa are only staring at each other. Not to overlook even the most trivial behavior, they are watching for unguarded moment without even winking. The class is overflowing with this tense atmosphere. The noisy pupils were engulfed in it and gradually lowered their tone.

“.......ts!”

Destroying the equilibrium, Serisawa ran, but not towards Kannon. His destination were the noisy boys –

“..........eh?”

Ren, completely left outside the event, stared in amazement at Serisawa rushing towards him almost like a bull. It seems that he abandoned the fight with Kannon, having the intention to withdraw from the battlefield after seizing Ren.
Serisawa thought this through! – if the students were to compare these two’s combat abilities, Serisawa overwhelms Kannon. And yet, in spite of this, until today why did his defeats keep piling up?

Kannon is weaker than Serisawa. At the very least, the teachers and parents don’t have a particle of doubt about that obvious fact. That recognition places great restrains on Serisawa.
If a young man, towards a delicate girl – and with a construction like Serisawa’s – were to exert violence, it’s been decided that the young man will be blamed, no matter the reason. To say nothing of the fact that the opponent is that Kannon. If she were to make a fuss, she is quite capable of obliterating Serisawa’s social status. Because he knew this, Serisawa can’t win without moderating at any cost his offence – contrastive to Kannon’s challenging, no-mercy attack – this is why he can only continue repel it.

Therefore, he considered this.
To be able to accomplish his goal, he cannot knock Kannon down. Before the girl’s intention of acquiring Ren, there aren’t many obstacles to block his way. There is no need to fight directly. It’s okay to ignore her. Because, the person he is wishing for is right in front of his eyes.

“Ren!”

Serisawa faced the petrified boy and extended his big hand with all his heart.

“Fuuuuu....you can use your head a little, can’t you?”

On the other hand, Kannon was persistently calm. To begin with, something even Serisawa would think of, it would be impossible for her not to notice it first. Again, this time’s conduct was within her expectation. Without being disconcerted, she started running. She was faster than Serisawa. The way things are now, she can be shaken off. But, Serisawa’s aim is not just flight. It’s a withdrawal from the battlefield by taking back Ren. That’s why, at least the moment when he captures Ren, his speed will decline. Then, the capture.

This is not the result of luck of whish full thinking. After mutually understanding the motion, an adjustment of the relation between the locations of the three parties can be made –
When Serisawa moves, Kannon responds to that – all the pupils think so. But only Kannon knew. She was the only one perfectly grasping this setting.

“S-Serisawa-kun....”

Being pulled up against his will, as one would expect, Ren is resisting. From the impatient Serisawa’s awareness, Kannon’s existence vanished.

“I got you!”

Facing Serisawa’s turned back, using the hind foot, she takes the last step. And then –

Zudan!

Breaking into a rush by kicking the floor, a roar-like explosion can be heard. Simultaneously, Serisawa’s figure disappears from Ren’s field of vision. In the place Serisawa should have been a moment before, is now Kannon’s appearance from behind.
Something previously seen on TV, billiard techniques come to mind. This is stop shot.
The cue ball hit by the player hands over all the kinetic energy by clashing into the target ball and at the position where the target ball was, it suddenly stops.

Just like this.

Kannon lowered herself greatly extending her leg and pushing forward her elbow. That appearance, not really fitting with her one piece uniform, looked amazingly good.

“Th – the top back gate elbow move...”, someone muttered, almost groaning.
The Eight Extremities Fists – a form of martial arts that became well known because of a certain beat’-them-up game, among these, this is a technique especially well known. The Shin leg movement was effective, naturally being a certain kill hit.
The blown-away Serisawa, was for a second time buried between the desks. Unlike the previous time, there is no sign of movement.

This was a stupefying, perfect KO.

“........fuah,” Kannon let out a breath and straightened her pose. She tucked the hair on her cheeks back and slowly turned around.

“So, let’s go, Ren-kun.”

The atmosphere of violence from several days minutes ago left no traces. A glittery smiling face was there. Kannon gently took Ren’s arm, in fact with a vigor that doesn’t allow resistance – and forcibly dragged him along. A reckless enough person to obstruct it was already nowhere to be found.

2

When Ren was eventually released from Kannon it was already past 7 p.m. As a matter of course, during this time they didn’t just drink tea. Having been made to accompany her endlessly at shopping and karaoke and the like, Ren couldn’t run from Kannon’s devil paw (Serisawa joke) pressing closer with no regard for the public gaze, without concentrating all his power.

“.........I’m worn-out.”

The sun already set. While walking alone on the street at night, Ren let out a mutter packed with many thoughts.

It’s not like he hates Kannon. Rather, he harbors friendly feelings towards her. And in addition to that, if he were pushed to say it in less ambiguous terms, he can clearly declare those feelings “like”.

However.

Ren’s like and Kannon’s like are completely different. Because he knows that, he can’t help but be troubled by it. He didn’t experience the emotion called “love” until now.

First on the list, among the members of the family there are a lot of people he likes. But, using an extreme argument, the emotion felt for them all is the same. The emotion is strong. There is also a priority. However, there is decidedly no contradiction between the affection felt for those countless people.

That hot emotion for that around the world one-irreplaceable person’s existence, he doesn’t know it.
For this reason, towards that girl trying to force that feeling onto him, he can’t help but feel perplexed.

''Actually, why is it me..........?''

Ren never thought he possesses that manly appeal. The girly features and a personality weak under pressure, he cannot think of nothing but “minus” ingredients for a man.

If it’s about a “fine man”, it must be a man undoubtedly similar to big brother.
Lately, he frequently compares himself with his big brother.

Yagami Kazuma

A well trained body. A shaped mind. Owning the unshakeable title of the absolute strongest man – Ren is considerably glorifying him. Nevertheless, the brother he met after four years, he seemed exactly like the ideal embodiment of the boy.

Someday, I want to become like big brother...

With a child-like innocence, Ren is yearning after Kazuma. Towards the inanimate nature of cutting everything down, without concerning oneself about it, for the sake of one’s important person, toward the man who thinks one’s gentleness is nothing but naiveté, a merit that ought to be learned can be felt.
The weight of the chosen act, the significance of cutting down everything, Ren didn’t understand it yet.

“.........huh?”

On the way returning home, it happened when approaching the entrance of a public park. Having a faint, uncomfortable feeling, Ren peers inside the park.

“...................a singing voice?”

It was a children’s park, established in a quiet, residential area. The place had a clandestine character because of a few people with a rude conduct and after darkness the place was completely empty.
However, it seems there is an exception tonight. The singing audible voice coming from inside the shade of the trees, unmistakably human and, in addition to that, belongs to a young girl.

Being charmed by the firm, crystal-like soprano, Ren walked into the park. There was no need to search for it. At the moment he entered the park, an extremely violent compelling force bind Ren’s consciousness.

The jungle-gym’s highest step. The slender body standing on tip-toes on the pole, the figure of a girl sonorously singing.
In this cold weather she is wearing one white, thin dress. The wind is playing with her soft, wavy black hair stretching below her back, the girl is innocently singing.

In the sky is the close, slightly chipped circle of the moon. The descending white light shines on the young lady.

“....................”

From Ren’s awareness, the entire world lost its meaning. Reflected in his eyes are the sparkling moon and the maiden’s shape blessed by the moon.

Throb

The heart starts beating very loudly. A conspicuously great pulsation. Even without proof, Ren firmly believes he heard that sound. He can sense the blood running through the blood vessels.

Throb, throb

The all too excited blood flow makes his limbs vibrate. The heartbeats resound deafeningly in his ears. And yet the girl’s voice naturally penetrates into his hearing.
Is she offering her song to the moon or is she praying? That shape, sincere like a shrine maiden serving God is too pure, too noble.

“I....what am I looking at?”

A guilty feeling as if peaking at a miracle swept over his heart. Nevertheless, he couldn’t take his eyes off it. Even to think about separation is unbearable. The things reflected in his eyes are the glittery moonlight and the figure of a maiden blessed by it...

“.........eh.......”

Is this real? Is she human? Or an angel or a fairy ... or else a devil?

“...........Hey..........”

''I don’t understand....I don’t understand anything!''

“I said hey!”

“Waah!?”

Because of the large voice shouted from overhead, Ren finally calmed down. Looking up, almost right overhead is the above mentioned girl. The jungle-gym supposed to be more then ten meters away, it seemed he was stepping up to it from within his consciousness.

''This, this is bad...''

While fascinated by the seeming puzzled young girl overlooking him, Ren was stunned from the bottom of his heart. The suspicious girl singing at night in an inhabited park cannot be compared with the questionable himself that was staring at her with an ecstatic expression.

Furthermore, the relation between both their locations was very risky. That angle, almost like looking up from right under...it was clearly perverted.

''I must say something''... from the mouth of the impatient boy, some very ordinary and regarding this situation, unsuitable words came out:

“Ah, err.......good evening.”

''What the hell am I saying!!!''

Ren rebutted himself loudly in his heart. But instead of screaming, the trusting girl returned the greeting with a smile.

“Good evening. It’s a lovely night, isn’t it?”

“...huh? Ah, yes, that’s right.”

“Could you please step aside just a little?”

“...........ugh, I’m – I’m sorry!”

With a bright red face, Ren jumped aside with force as if he was stuck by a car. Watching that excessive response, the girl tilted her head on the side appearing curios and without hesitation jumped from the jungle-gym.

“Ah...”

Although the playground equipment was intended for children, from the top of it until ground there are more than two meters. The landing’s impact was supposed to be considerable but without bending her knees, the girl got down lightly and easy.
As though the ground gently caught her.

“What’s the matter?”

“Ah, no, that is ...”

In front of the smiling girl, Ren mumbles. He doesn’t understand why but he is frozen solid. When looking at the girl’s face his mind his mind becomes blank and he can think of nothing else.

On the other side, the girl doesn’t pay attention to Ren’s strangeness, looking up to the sky.

“The night sky is really fair........ I didn’t know the moon could be so large........”

''Fair.......?''

Ren looked up in doubt. Even if it was clear, this is Tokyo’s sky after all. Countless stars showing, the sky cut up by inelegant skyscrapers was narrow at best. The girl gazed innocently at that sky. Escaping the gravity’s binding she is longing to reach that place. But at the same time, it seem she understands that such a thing can never come true.

''So beautiful........''

For a second time, from Ren’s consciousness everything except the girl disappeared. He wants wings – he strongly thought so. If he could fly into the sky, he would take her beyond the stars.

“Hey”
Abruptly she shifted her attention to Ren.

“W-what?”
To a Ren responding while being perplexed, she extended her hand quite naturally.

“Let’s play.”

That penetrating expression that sensed even God, present when looking at the sky, already disappeared. The one standing in front of his eyes was a charming but ordinary girl. She seems to be approximately the same age as Ren. When he saw he was a bit taller, Ren faintly felt relief.

“...........”

Being too much fascinated by her, he forgot to answer. Taking that for a refusal she made a completely lonely face.

“.........no?”

“No no. Of course not, let’s play.”

“Hooray!”

Showing a smile that blooms openly on her whole face, the girl sized Ren’s arms with both her hands. Feeling the warm hands, Ren turns red up to his ears.

''...............warm?''

Ren suddenly felt the problem. On this cold weather she wore a thin dress....

“It’s not good being so lightly dressed in this weather. You’ll catch a cold!”

Rushing, he took his own coat an d put it on the girl.

"I’m fine.”

“No! Wear it.”

Unusually forceful, Ren passed her art through the sleeve of the coat. After buttoning it precisely with his own hands, he let out a long, relived breath.

“Now it’s good.”

“...............”

With a bewildered appearance she stared fixedly at the coat forced on her. But, it didn’t seem she felt annoyed, moving her small body checking the feel of the coat. Expressing a gentle and soft smile, she hugged her own body.

“So warm......”

“...........................ah”

When the girl smiled so happy, Ren felt a crash as if his head was hit. Just by thinking that smile was intended for him was enough to envelop him in a feeling of bliss that made him dizzy. Wanting to greet her, Ren realized he forgot a very important thing.

“S-say.......”

“Eh?”

“Can I ask for your name?”

“.........................”

Just like that her expression clouded. Assaulted by an unbelievable feeling of guilt, panicking, Ren took his question back.

“Ah, actually it’s fine if you don’t want to, but...”

The girl shook her head in silence and murmured, sighting:

“..............Ayumi.”

“Oh, it’s Ayumi-chan? How do you write it?”

“With hiragana.”

Her voice sank even deeper. The impatient Ren, trying to somehow enliven the situation, with a deliberate cheerful voice told her his name.

“Eh, my name is Ren. The Ren from Purgatory. Do you know it?”

“Yes, it’s a very cool name,” Ayumi nodded, slightly recovering her smile.

With just that, Ren foolishly lost his head, blushing.

“A-ha-ha – somehow I have a feeling I don’t live up to my name.”

“That’s not true. It suit’s you”

“Is that so?”

“Of course.”

Forgetting the awkwardness from just before, both their smiles harmoniously met.

“Let me see, let’s play. What do you want to play with?”

“The swings!”

Without wavering, Ayumi immediately replied at Ren’s question, pulling himself together.

“I tried it just a little bit but I couldn’t swing very well. As I thought, it has no meaning, only knowing the way to do it.”

“Then I’ll push you.”

While bewildered by her queer expression, Ren proposed that. But –

“That’s useless! I want to do it by myself!” Ayumi obstinately insisted.

Appearing full of surprising independence, she sits on the swing and starts to push awkwardly by herself.

“That’s not good.”

Because the rhythm was completely off, the swing’s movement was instantly stopped. From the swing next to her, he showed a sample and lectured her carefully the way of swinging.

“Like that, and now kick your legs.”

Appearing a quick learner, Ayumi instantly grasped the skill. The swing’s movement gradually became smooth and the swinging much larger. Ren judged there is no more need to show her the way and began swinging standing up.
He didn’t rode in swings the last four, five years and swinging after a long time was pretty pleasant.

Wanting to show off to the girl next to him, his feelings also a part of it, Ren kicked out the swing inserting much more power.

“..................”

Staring at Ren’s posing back, Ayumi, bearing an antagonistic feeling, boldly challenged him by swinging standing.

“Eh, wait........”

When Ren tried to restrain her, the focused Ayumi didn’t notice. Uncertainly getting up on the board she sat dawn until now, she swung by imitating what she saw. Becoming the victim of the height of her own learning ability, the swing Ayumi rode, instantly began inclining at an angle dangerous for a beginner.

"Ayumi-chan! Stop!” Ren cried in a big voice. But one pace too late.

Ayumi’s hand slipped and with force, as if shot from a catapult, was thrown diagonally into the upper air.

“Kyaa –”

“ – uh”

Faster that thinking, Ren’s body moved. Kicking the swing’s board with all his strength, he jumps at an angle close to horizontal. He seized Ayumi in the air just before she crushed into the ground. Without change, making sure that he embraced that small body, he landed on his back. Although he rolled on the ground to disperse the shock, because wanting to protect Ayumi was more important, he practically didn’t make any defense.

Although his back and head hit the ground bitterly, Ren held onto his consciousness with his fighting spirit and willpower.
After finally rolling on the ground for five times, Ren finally set free the sock of the fall. Ignoring the many stars twinkling in his field of vision, before everything else he confirmed Ayumi’s condition.

“Are you all right?”

“Ah, yes...”

Because he covered her very skillfully Ayumi didn’t feel any pain, not to mention injuries. In her pupils opened blankly, nothing but surprise at facing an unexpected situation floats.

“I’m glad...............”

Confirming Ayumi’s safety Ren stretched out on the ground exhausted. The crash caused by the fall thoroughly hurt his body, but because he didn’t budge, the feeling of being able to protect her well satisfied him.

“Ren? Does it hurt?”

Seeing Ayumi looking at him with unease, Ren shook his head laughing.

“I’m fine. But....” he continued including a slight rebuke in his tone:

“Because swinging standing can be dangerous, please stop it.”

“................Yes.”

Although nodding meekly, she immediately smiled pulling Ren’s sleeve.

“Hey, hey, next I want to ride that.”

She pointed at a simple made seesaw. Without being discouraged by the splendid blunder, staring with a bitter smile at the girl itching to play, Ren stood up and led her by the hand.

“Yes, yes. As the young lady commands.”

Joining hands cordially both of them ran up to the seesaw. Forgetting about the passing time they continued playing together. They rode in the seesaw, glided in the slide, played with sand in the sand-pit. Although it was clear Ayumi had burning aspirations of “completing” all the park’s playground equipment, Ren stubbornly didn’t gave permission for the horizontal bar. A beginner with a skirt shouldn’t be allowed to pull herself o the bar.

And now –

“Huh, .............it was fun.”

Sitting down on an ornamental animal with no purpose, Ayumi shows a blissful smile.

“This is the first time I played like this!”

“If you’re fine with me I can keep you company whenever you want.”

As nonchalant as possible but in fact including a once in a lifetime courage, Ren proposed like this. But in the act of it, Ayumi’s face clouded.

“Ah........yeah...........thanks, but.......”

“But?”

It happed when Ren was asking back.

“Eh?”

With aloud skid sound, a black station wagon came to the entrance of the park. The door opened before the car fully stopped and of course, men in black, rushed into the playground.

”W-what is........uaa!?”

Thrusting away a dumbfounded Ren, the black suits rushed to Ayumi.

“.....................”

Ayumi stared at them in silence. It does not mean she wasn’t able to react to the sudden situation. After understanding their true colors and their objective, she calmly received their actions.

“Ayumi-chan!”

In front of the shouting Ren, the black suits’s hands seized Ayumi. Without changing the force of the rush, they dragged and knocked down the girl with no mercy.

“.................kuu”

Because two people roughly applied torsion on her arms, Ayumi let out a small cry of pain. But even so, the black suits didn’t slow down.

“We captured the target. Yes. We’ll transport it immediately.”

A cold voice. Turning around, the man seeming the leader of the troupe, reported Ayumi’s capture holding his telephone in one hand. Thoroughly disregarding Ren’s existence, the leader jerked his jaw at the man who sized Ayumi.

“Do it”

The man on his left took out a rectangular something from his breast pocket. Pushing a switch, sparks scattered at its tip. After several people seized a non-resistant girl, will they go as far as using a stun gun, changing into total incompetents?
Even using such a method that surpasses cruelty, in regard for the black suits’ performance, there was no hesitation there. With a movement with no uncertainty, the stun gun was pressed to her back. And then...

While the black suits restrained each of Ayumi’s arms, Ren made his appearance with the speed of a thunderclap. Leaving an after print he pushed up his knee smashing most of the jaw and teeth belonging to the man trying to use the stun gun. Pushing up his right foot, Ren launched his left foot even more. Changing his body’s twist in a turning motion he spins using his right foot as an axis.

The back roundhouse kick’s unmatched accuracy shot the lights out of the man sizing Ayumi’s right hand. His head shaken with enough force to break his backbones, the man swoons silently.

“R...Ren?”

Returning a nod to Ayumi, staring at him in wonder, he stood in a position where he could protect Ayumi from.

“Kid......who are you?”

Ignoring the black suits trying to overpower him, he pulled out a mobile phone from his breast pocket. Without hesitation he pressed down the buttons: one zero zero.

“Hello, this is the police. Do you have an emergency?”

From the high volume speaker a business like voice came through. The black suits caught their breath in silence.

“Hello? Hello!? What happened? Are you all right?” sensing an incident in the telephone’s silence the operator spoke with a serious tone.

“Well then...what are doing to do?”

At Ren’s question or maybe provocation, the leader took action. Inserting his hand in his breast pocket he takes something out. The object that came out as a result of such spontaneous, breathing-like action was a boorish, black handgun. Aiming the gun point at a dumbfounded Ren, he pulled the gunlock without delay. The gunshot resounded over the silencer. The bullet shot a subsonic speed smashed the telephone.

“..................ku!?” Ren muttered at the impact knocking his right arm with all his strength.

''Does he usually just shoot?''

As one would expect such a direct response was strange. At the cruelty of shooting at children without hesitation, Ren was horrified. The man kept the gun up, pointing it towards Ren’s forehead. The flagrant murder intent made him feel an imaginary pain on his forehead.

“You’re an impressive kid,” the man murmured in admiration.

“Very skillful for your age. Your sharp reaction is also excellent. But we didn’t came here to play. We can’t just report we were repelled by a child so we’re running back home!”

“Ren! Please run away! These men are serious”

“Ah, yeah – it looks that way.”

Responding to Ayumi’s scream-like manner of speaking Ren gave her a small nod.

“Mercilessly shooting at women and children, huh? If that’s the case, going easy on you does not seem necessary.”

“Bullshit!” sneered the man, hearing Ren’s words.

“Stop your hero pretension, if possible. In reality it doesn’t go as smoothly as in the movies.”

“That’s true. Still, in this world there is a '''reality''' that exceeds any movie. ''That'', is what I’ll teach you.”

Responding to Ren’s will the fire spirits raised their voice in joy. The golden flame, blowing up, pushing away the darkness – being able to recognize that radiance eyes alone cannot capture, among the black suits there wasn’t even one.

“R-Ren....?”

Roughly at the same time Ayumi muttered his name, the fire spirits changed their embodiment. Without previous notice, the manifested blaze burned the point end of the man’s gun.

“What.....”

The special steel of the gun’s barrel helplessly melted. The silencer installed at the pointed end fell to the ground with a dull sound.

“Y-you – ”

Receiving the man’s hair-raising glance, Ren informed him in a low voice:

“It would have been better to melt somewhat closer to the center.”

What would have happened if the flame melted the special steel heated the gun powder, there is no longer any need to explain it.

“I’m not particularly well acquainted with weapons but what would have happened to the hand holding that particular spontaneously discharged gun, huh? Only the hand would be blown off? Or.....would the head blow up as well, I wonder?”

“E-Enjutsushi............” among the black suits only one whispered so, with a hollow voice.

“My name is Kannagi Ren. If you know the meaning of that name, quickly withdraw. Otherwise – I won’t show any mercy.”

“K-Kannagi.....”

The back suits’ voices were already close to screams.

Kannagi – among the flame manipulating Enjutsushi they are known as the strongest clan. All professional mercenaries have a common knowledge about that name. As the one existence you unconditionally must not oppose.

It is of course, only natural.

For beings that can turn humans to ash just by thinking of it, one would be hesitant to put them in the same category as humans. Being hostile to them meant a waste of time and a loss of life. Moreover, the power yielded by a direct descendant, someone who calls oneself by Kannagi’s name is in a different dimension – they were told they have by far surpassed the human level. The opponent wasn’t someone you could cross swords with, with only several armed men. The black suits prepared to flee at once.

They obviously stepped back. If the withdrawal sign comes down, they would leave the scene as fast as possible.

But among them, just one – the party’s leader didn’t lose his presence of mind. Casually throwing away the melted gun barrel, he faced Ren with a bold smile.

“By no means did I imagine I will have the honor to meet the young Kannagi prince in such a place. If that’s the case, the etiquette dictates we should also name ourselves” said the man proudly, in one beat.

“We are protégé of the Tsuwabuki. My name is Kayano. I serve as the leader of this force.”

“................Tch!”

Now it was Ren’s turn to be disturbed. The Tsuwabuki household, that is, a family of Chijutsushi, manipulating the spirits of the earth. If Kannagi are the strongest Enjutsushi, Tsuwabuki are the strongest Chijutsushi. Their influence is not inferior to the Kannagi clan.

“It appears to be some sort of misunderstanding but ''that'' thing originally belongs to the Tsuwabuki household. If Kannagi’s eldest son would steal ''it'', the consequence of such a foolish act I cannot imagine.”

“Kuu................”

Because he named himself Kannagi, Ren is no longer able to settle this business privately. Regardless of its authenticity, this would be played as if the Kannagi clan committed hostile acts towards the Tsuwabuki household.

''What am I supposed to do...?''

Although this was just a conversational exchange so far, for Ren the last ten minutes became a mental burden. His original character being gentle and weak to pressure, he is a boy with an unsuitable disposition to argue with others.
However, obediently handing Ayumi over was out of the question. From the black suits’ entrance until now, that option was never considered in his mind.

''“That”.......? “thing” you said? ............don’t screw around!''

Ren was angry. Deeply. Quietly.

Among the Kannagi clan’s natural color, the elitism, the idea of being part of a chosen people, he is one of those few exceptions maintaining a normal, healthy spirit. The arrogant ideology of confusing one’s abilities merits with the merits of the human nature, he doesn’t have it.

The person possessing a stronger ability than humans cannot help but judge oneself more strictly. His father’s, Genma’s teachings, certainly came to fruition inside Ren.

Therefore, as far as he is concerned, a person regarding others as objects, there is no use in arguing about it, he recognizes it as the lowest of trash. It was unthinkable of handing Ayumi over to those kind of people.

''Think...if this would be my big brother, at this time...''

The reason that Ren, who hated conflict, was able to banter easily with the black suits was because he kept in mind, 'What would Kazuma do?' and based his actions off that.

The provocative speech and conduct that taunts people, the precise timing for striking the opponent’s weak spot, it went smoothly so far, but because he took unsuitable actions for his disposition, he’s under a lot of stress. But...

''I’m almost there. I’ll pull it through...''

Ren instinctively sensed this is the critical moment. If he can get through this, the enemy will step aside.

The perfect imitation of Kazuma – wholesale slaughter to avoid future trouble – if he could do that, it is the very best policy to make them withdraw without being hurt. With relaxed shoulders, he faced the black suits with an innocent smile.

“If it’s like that, it can’t be helped.”

“I’m happy you understand,” Kayano replied superficially polite but rude in intent.

Sending a sign to his subordinates, he tried to continue Ayumi’s capture.

“Aaargh!?”

“Fireeeee!”

But the black suits instantly stopped their movements. Because the moment they started walking a golden flame appeared before their eyes.

“..................What is this behavior? I thought we reached an agreement?” Kayano asked, with an expression more polite than necessary. Of course, it was but an attempt to intimidate.

“That’s right, we reached an agreement. That is, there is no room for negotiation.”

“............Do you really understand? Our role as the Tsuwabuki household representatives – ”

“There is no need to repeat it. My hearing is not particularly poor,” Ren coldly interrupted Kayano’s words. In account of making double sure, he called out the flames.

At the dozens of golden will’-o’-the-wisp shine in the dead of the night, the black suits raised voices, trembling with fear.

“Well, now that the self-introductions are out of the way, we should start using force anytime now, right?”

The person standing there it was by no means just a twelve years old boy. The golden radiance basking that body in light was the fire of a demon, clearly laughing. Only armed humans had no means of resistance.

“Th-this is not the end.”

“You people have two options,”

Completely disregarding the man’s words Ren announced.

“You will disappear from my face with your own legs or I will annihilate you. You have three seconds. Choose whatever you like.”

“Damn.”

After two seconds of indecision, the leader almost spit out the order:

“Return to the base.”

Of course nobody objected to that.

“........Sigh”

Seeing off the car leaving in a hurry, Ren finally relaxed his body. Turning around he confirmed Ayumi’s situation:

“Ayumi-chan are you all right?”

“Ah, yes.............” Still somewhat dumbfounded, Ayumi nodded vaguely.

“You are part of Kannagi..............”

“Surprised?”

“Yes, very”

Closing her eyes partly, intoxicated, almost entranced she was staring at the flames.

“The golden, purification flame – how beautiful...........”

“............................”

Ayumi’s face gazing at the flames, Ren was silently watching it in fascination. The way in which the golden flames shined in her large, black pupils was beautiful to the extent he involuntarily forgot how to breathe.

The first to calm down was Ayumi. Standing up while brushing the dirt off her clothes, she bowed very deeply to Ren.

“Thank you, you helped me – but was that al right?”

“Well, I hope so.....”

Although his face became somewhat stiff, Ren showed a smile to give her peace of mind.

“If I can’t help a troubled girl, there is no meaning in having this power.”

“..........Thank you.”

Again speaking words of gratitude, Ayumi smiled softly. Just by looking at that smiling face Ren had a feeling that all the troubles so far and all the troubles that would come after this have been compensated for.

“And so.........errr.....”

Apologetically looking up at Ren, who was full of happiness, Ayumi boldly spoke:

“Maybe you will think I am shameless but....can I request of you just one more thing............?”

Apologetic but at the same time including seriousness in her wish the girl looked hard at Ren. To be able to refuse that gaze, it was impossible for him.

“You still haven’t found ''that'', Yuuji?”

Tsuwabuki Mayumi lost her temper at the man kneeling in front of her. The man – Yuuji lowered his head even more, letting the tyrant’s anger go past.

“Until now, that thing has not once put up resistance! What the heck is Kayano doing, unable to catch it?”

“I’m very sorry, my lady. It seems that thing made a Kannagi practitioner ally – ”

“Kannagi? Why are the Kannagi intruding on us?”

“No, it doesn’t seem the family consensus. The practitioner was involved by chance, without knowing its circumstance.”
While Mayumi folded her arms in irritation, she listened carefully to Yuuji’s report.

“Kannagi Ren? Although a child, he’s not the head of the family. He was properly seduced by that thing, huh?”

“That only speaks of my lady’s beauty.”

Yuuji’s words, intended to emulate, helped only to bring Mayumi’s wrath upon him.

“Don’t put me together with that thing!”

“P-Pardon me, it was inexcusable!”

Flattening under the abuse thrown at him, Yuuji deeply prostrated himself before her. The man, in the middle of his twenties deprecated in front of a girl, who heads shorter. Maybe funny, also unsightly but the man himself was extremely serious.

Mayumi ordered in a rough tone:

“Try putting me in the same class as that thing, one more time! I will never ever exchange words with you again!”

“P-Please, permit me at least that much!”

While rubbing his forehead against the tatami mat, Yuuji begged for forgiveness in an exaggerated tone.

“I will, without fail capture that thing myself! Therefore please, please – ”

“...................”

Mayumi placed her foot oh Yuuji’s head. She mercilessly pressed her body weight against it.

“I wonder if you really understand. If we lose that thing, I will....”

“I won’t allow it!”

While his head was trampled down by Mayumi, Yuuji strongly pledged.

“I – I will protect my lady! I swear I won’t let anything hurt you.”

“..............humph?”

Bestowing upon Yuuji the same smile she would have given to a faithful dog, Mayumi removed her foot from his head.

“However imposing your determination, can you win? Although young, your opponent is a direct descendant of Kannagi – the top ranking Enjutsushi, you know?”

Yuuji quietly raised his face. Those eyes, looking up at his master, carrying an absolute self-confidence, replied to that.

“To those conceited fools thinking Enjutsushi are the strongest, let’s instruct them about reality.”

“Live up to my expectations.”

Lightly bowing her head, Mayumi’s wavy black hair softly flickered.

“ – Fuun”

Approximately at the same time Juugo hanged up the receiver, from the other side of the sliding door Ayano's voice got through.

“Father?”

“Enter.”

Without introduction, Juugo asked his daughter upon entering the room:

“Did Ren returned home?”

“Not yet,” Ayano immediately replied.

“Even though it’s already past nine o’clock; I wonder what is he doing? Aunt Miyuki is worried. She said his phone is turned off and she can’t call him.”

“.........I see”

“But I can’t understand aunt Miyuki. When Kazuma left home, she didn’t show any sign of being worried.”

“........well, it’s because Ren is still very young.”

Vaguely dodging the question, Juugo returned to the real issue at hand.

“I was contacted by the Tsuwabuki, you know.”

“Tsuwabuki, you say? Those Chijutsushi?”

With a grave nod, he informed her point blank of the shocking truth.

“It seems Ren plundered the Tsuwabuki household’s treasure and escaped”

“Ha!? What is this!?”

“I don’t know the details but the other party says so”

“.........................”

After a few seconds of silence, Ayano slowly opened her mouth:

“...................were the Tsuwabuki deceived or are the Tsuwabuki trying to deceive us – that ascertainment is essential.”

“We have too little information. It’s too early for a judgment”

Although his response was reserved, Juugo didn’t reject Ayano's thoughts. For both of them, who knew Ren’s character very well, the report received from the Tsuwabuki didn’t appear to have any value, only nonsense.

For all that, in a certain way, the truth was just like that.

“So, what about those guys? They told you to take responsibility and that we should search for him too?”

“No, it seems they didn’t want us to get involved. Worst case, if Ren gets killed, we should consent to it, or so I was told.”
Upon hearing those remarks serving their own convenience, Ayano raised her eyebrows.

"What is that? Don’t tell me you accepted this?”

“Don’t be absurd!” Juugo promptly denied.

“Because I didn’t understand the circumstance with that alone, when I pressed them for a more detailed explanation they became evasive and cut the conversation.”

“What the heck is that!?”

Toward the exceedingly rude behavior, Ayano too revealed her anger.

“Generally, they were always a meaninglessly self-important bunch. Because they shoulder the protection of Mt. Fuji, I can’t believe they have the nerve to imagine themselves more excellent than other people.”

Mt. Fuji, by nature is an active volcano that didn’t erupt in the last three hundred years, being suppressed by the Tsuwabuki household. If the steamy mountain would have erupted – the capital and consequently Japan’s political and economic loss would have been extensive.

If you think about it this way, the achievements of the Tsuwabuki family are great.

However, using that as a foundation for looking down on people, the attitude with which they demand respect and admiration, Ayano cannot help but be irritated by it.

The power of the spirit technique users is only lent to them by the spirits. Thus, the spirits are assisting, expecting the practitioners to work in cooperation and the people granted a greater power, it’s only natural they must shoulder bigger responsibilities.

“One by one they became condescending of that fact – they completely fell out of rhythm.”

“Well, the fact that their mission is significant is the truth.”

“Something like that. At least significant enough to sacrifice a member of their own family each and every time,” Ayano declared bitter from the bottom of her heart.

“In what way can you boast about offering human sacrifices for three hundred years? They had no intention of becoming a pagan group?”

“It’s because there was no other way.”

“Even so...” That prompt objection, Ayano kept it back with a tedious expression. Right now, that’s not what we ought to discuss.

“Anyway, it’s absolutely necessary to find Ren before those Tsuwabuki get to him. Did you get in touch with Kazuma?”

About the object being sought, there aren’t many superior Enjutsushi. To say nothing of the situation, Kazuma will unconditionally find Ren faster than the Tsuwabuki. Ayano had confidence in that fact.

“I can’t get in touch with him,” Juugo’s answer was ruthless.

“He doesn’t answer his phone, he doesn’t seem to be home. I have people searching for them as we speak.”

With a meaningful gaze, Juugo fleetingly looked at Ayano.

“You worked together with Kazuma today. Do you know where he went afterwards?”

'''“No, I, don’t”'''

With a rusty tone, as if steel frames rubbed together, Ayano let out the answer, inserting power in each and every word.

Although faltering underneath that strange intensity, Juugo asked again:

“Ugh.........are you sure?”

“The moment work ended we separated immediately. That is correct, without delay”

“.................is that so?”

The strength of her tone, not permitting any objection, made Juugo give up on the investigation. Putting the Kazuma issue aside, he promotes the conversation.

“If it’s like that, I have to request a search from the Special Data Arrangement.”

“From that woman?”

Seeing Ayano arching her eyebrows in dissatisfaction, Juugo was surprised.

“You don’t like Police Superintended Tachibana? I thought such an independent woman would have gained your good will.”

“...........Well......I think she is splendid in that respect,” Ayano said with a bitter voice.

Tachibana Kirika. Leading the only public domestic demon repelling organization – the Special Data Arrangement belonging to the Metropolitan Police Department, a woman recognized by everyone as very capable.

Without flattery, Ayano thought it was a big deal. But, their first meeting was the worst.

Of all things, that woman, intimately linking her arm with Kazuma’s appeared from a love hotel (actually from the love hotel district).

From that moment, for Ayano, Kirika became the foe that cannot be allowed to live under the same canopy of heaven. She doesn’t really understand why, but anyway she dislikes that woman. Kirika’s figure, over-familiarly, coquettishly leaning against Kazuma and each time she thinks of Kazuma's stretched upper lip, she is furiously angry.

Why is that she doesn’t know but she can’t help but feel irritated.

“Nevertheless, just because you dislike her, don’t cut the connection with the Reference Room.”

“I know that.”

In reply to Juugo's pointing out, Ayano puffed her cheeks.

After the collapse of the Fuuga-Shu the Kannagi clan’s information network remained pretty much destroyed. Therefore Juugo had his eye on replacing the Fuuga-Shu with Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Data Arrangement.

The S.D.A had almost no practitioners with combat abilities but in exchange has a substantial sightseer system. Moreover, if you include the investigation ability of the normal police, their intelligence gathering faculty is without mistake the largest in Japan.

“I don’t mix personal feelings with work. Have you already made the request?”

“Uh. Make your preparations. You leave the moment you receive the information.”

“Understood.”

“Ah, and then – ”

To Ayano, leaving the room, Juugo added a secondary task.

“If it’s possible, get in touch with Kazuma.”

“........................Don’t ask for the impossible, Father.”

Turning her head around Ayano showed her father an amazed expression.

“If it’s impossible for father, it’s also for me. Did you forget? His phone number I got from you, Father, not him.”

“That may be true, but...how many times have you worked together with Kazuma? Haven’t you decided on some manner of contact during emergencies?”

“No.”

Hearing that plain declaration, Juugo was visibly disappointed.

“................Is that so?”

Pretending not to see her father’s drooped shoulders, Ayano left the room. Closing the sliding door from behind, she said in a sulky voice:

“.............I don’t get him, that guy.”

The vanishing whisper reached nobody’s ears.

Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 2-1

2012-09-21T04:57:30Z

Krossrd: /* 2-1 Has Something Happened With the Classics Club? */

{{Incomplete|percentage=33}}

== 2-1 Has Something Happened With the Classics Club? ==

005 - ♥02

Saying "I enjoyed this a lot" may sound easy, but is actually a pretty difficult task. Rather than the possibility of the difference in one's level of understanding, a more important factor would be the difference in one's level of interest. When watching a magic performance, a dense person would not even understand even a hundredth of what was going on. On the other hand, if one had the ability to see through a magician's trick, then no matter how much entertainment he may see, while he may try to enjoy to his heart's content, there's no way he could have enjoyed it sufficiently.

It was morning, and I was walking to school earlier than usual, as the Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival starts today. Seeing Fukube Satoshi constantly repeating "Ohh, I'm so looking forward to enjoying this," I felt compelled to mischievously tell him the above, to which Satoshi responded with a frightful smile and slowly shook his head.

"An excellent idea, was what I wanted to say, but you're too naive, Houtarou,"

"Oh? How so?"

"For a person like you who was raised on nothing but boorishness to even think of lecturing me on my enjoyment, you're too naive," he said as he raised his index finger and swung it left and right as though acting.

"Of course I already knew that it was useless to try to enjoy myself deep within to the marrow of my bones. The most important aspect of Epicureanism is to be able to separate one's senses. It's just as important as the day when you finally give up your energy-saving ways and actually work hard on a test."

"Like hell that day would arrive. Anyway, what's this about separation of your senses? What does that have to do with you being able to say you'll enjoy yourself?"

"All right, then let me enlighten you. First, I wouldn't think of saying something like "I'm gonna enjoy a lot," as I'm a fairly easy to please person. You know what I'm good at resigning myself to? Just from the point of view of Houtarou the Boorish."

''Do you know?'' Satoshi gestured as he finished his sentence. Fleeting a glimpse at him, as I had no intention of bursting his bubble, I said nothing. Sensing I had no intention to answer, he lowered his voice as though informing me of a secret and said, "Even if I'm not good at enjoying myself......"

"......"

He gave a broad smile.

"I could still look forward to people giving me their enjoyment!"

Oh boy.

Ignoring my cold expression, Satoshi continued with his talk of how he's still "gonna enjoy this." I could do nothing but keep quiet and smile bitterly.

Fukube Satoshi. I have been hanging out with this fellow since junior high.

From his appearance, Satoshi was a person with brown eyes and a slim figure that might be mistaken as that of a girl when seen from afar. And while he may seem like a weakling, he has developed some amazing leg muscles due to his penchant for cycling.

Though his real features lie with his mental state. You may have caught a glimpse of that from our conversation just now; he can be pretty forceful in abandoning his studies and social life casually. Already a member of the Handicraft Club and the General Committee, he decided to join the Classics Club as well simply because "it sounded interesting."

He is never seen without his drawstring bag in his hand, though I have no idea of its contents. All I can say is that it contains all sorts of stuff.

In the road ahead, we could see Kamiyama High School appearing. The outer walls weren't painted pink due to the Cultural Festival, and seen from afar, it looked no different from any other regular high school. However, within its grounds were flourishing all sorts of activities concerning the Cultural Festival. In order to prepare for the festival, classes were suspended since yesterday.

The body of students heading towards school looked different today. While there were many in their uniforms, there were also many from other clubs in their casual wear. And there were many who did not carry any bag with them, as there was no need to bring any scholastic equipment. Due to such discrepancies, even I could feel the expectation that something different from usual was about to start.

Though Kamiyama High School is a school geared towards students entering university, it didn't have that many supplementary classes, neither did it have a particularly high record of students entering famous universities. If you were to ask the students of Kamiyama High School what its specialty was, only one in ten would have said it specializes in university entrance exams. The other nine would answer "It's a school known for its vibrant Arts-related club activities." There are many kinds of arts-related clubs in Kami High, and its activities too are various. And the highlight of these activities would of course be the Cultural Festival, which was rare amongst high schools for its number of days, with one day for preparation and three whole days for the main event.

Satoshi suddenly raised his voice cheerfully.

"And besides... Why, Houtarou, isn't that Mayaka?"

He pointed to a girl in front of us. She was dressed in casual wear comprising of a red cardigan and white brocade trousers, but I couldn't tell whether she was Ibara Mayaka from behind. Though I've known her since elementary school, I've rarely seen her in casual wear since junior high. But if Satoshi says it's her, then it has to be.

For many times Ibara had confessed her love to Satoshi, yet while Satoshi was not one to fall into self-loathing, he had chosen to evade her advances time and time again. I couldn't figure out why he's done so even if I wanted to.

"I'll be going on ahead."

He turned and said that before running off towards that girl ahead of us.

006 - ♣02

As I moved forward, I was certain that it was indeed Mayaka. Though seeking Houtarou out in a crowd was like trying to look for a needle in a haystack, there was no way I could miss Mayaka. I ran up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Mayaka. Morning!"

Knowing her, she would have stared at me and said "Hey! That hurts!" Which was why I only tapped her softly. Though it seemed Mayaka didn't seem to be in that mood today, as she became stiff and turned her head slowly.

"...Morning."

She muttered only that and turned back forward. ''Ahh, I see.'' I exclaimed to myself and smiled (which was what I'm good at; I've long forgotten how to make a serious face), and I answered Mayaka's anxiety.

"Your costume suits you."

"R-really?"

"So, who are you cospla..."

I could not finish my sentence, as I could feel a jab into my stomach. Great aim. Due to that hit, my abdominal muscles quickly lost their strength, so its effect was immediate.

Mayaka murmured with a dangerous glimmer in her eyes, "Don't use that term in front of normal people."

Well, I don't think "costume play" would be considered taboo nowadays. Though I do get that Mayaka's feeling pretty embarrassed about it, so I wouldn't say anything. By the way, I already knew that she was planning to cosplay today. Mayaka's Manga Studies Club had asked for permission from the General Committee to turn up in casual clothing. As there were not enough changing rooms at school, the General Committee granted that permission.

Mayaka wore off-white brocade trousers and a scarlet cardigan. It was a pragmatic costume that was able to withstand the cool autumn winds of early October. Some accessories were attached to her cardigan, and inside she wore a white collared shirt, and a thick looking belt was wrapped around her abdomen. The main point would probably be this belt.

I looked at her costume from top to bottom. Hmm, I just don't have a clue. Guess I'll ask her again.

"So, what costume is this?"

Like a rat trying not to alert the cat, I carefully chose the right words so that Mayaka may accept my question. She quickly looked forward and said in a detached manner,

"Frol,"

"Frol? Frolbericheri Frol<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Were_Eleven</ref>? You're wearing her costume?"

"Yeah... I also brought this handbag."

I wouldn't get what she was referring to even if she said so. Well, that's what Mayaka wanted to wear after all. When she learned that her club required her to come in cosplay, being the shy person that she is, she would definitely choose a character that was hard to recognize.

Ibara Mayaka. As I was a guy, she was way shorter than me, but then as a girl she was way shorter than others. If she wasn't dressed in her sailor uniform, she would no doubt be mistaken as an elementary schoolkid. And right now, Mayaka wasn't dressed in her sailor uniform. And it's not just her figure that's small, just observing from the features of her face alone, one could say Mayaka was baby-faced.

Yet it was hard to figure out Mayaka's vigorous sense of justice from her childish expression emanating from her childish face. For example, when she's angry, she would simply bite her lips. Naturally, nothing can replace the smile that she was born with. (On the other hand, from my years of hanging out with him, Houtarou sure has bad eyes for not being able to notice that.)

I'd better stop looking into someone cosplaying a character she didn't feel like cosplaying, so I began spinning my drawstring bag and said, "Well, anyway, good luck with your role. I'll pop in at the Manga Studies Club later."

Mayaka showed some shyness as she nodded softly.

"You have to contribute articles for the Manga Club as well, right?"

"Yeah."

"I read it... Must be tough, to hold similar positions in both the Classics Club and Manga Club."

"It is tough. Since nobody else was willing to contribute."

I was originally planning to congratulate her for her hard work, but all of a sudden her gaze suddenly became sharp. Oops, looks like the conversation is headed in the wrong direction. For the Classics Club manuscript to arrive so late, no matter how one looks at it, I couldn't offer any excuse. So I decided to change the topic.

"Ah... so, Mayaka, you'll be with the Manga Studies Club all day then?"

Though she didn't look pleased that the topic was changed, she nodded.

"Will you be stopping by the Classics Club?"

"Nah, it's probably impossible for me to leave the Manga Club in the morning. And besides, it's not worth it for me to just stop by... I really ought to have followed things through."

I deepened my smile and patted Mayaka on the back.

"Try not to think too much about it! It can't be helped once you wake up from it!"

Mayaka gave an ambiguous smile and nodded at my words. No, this doesn't look right. Such a grey-looking smile wouldn't be what makes Mayaka look great.

Even though Mayaka said she's fine with it, there are occasions when Houtarou expresses doubt at my evasion of her advances. Well, Houtarou was never one to flatter people. I could tell him the reason, but I wasn't sure if he would understand even a tenth of it. To begin with, this is a problem between me and Mayaka alone, so it doesn't matter whether Houtarou understands it or not.

Before we realized, we had arrived at the school gates. I turned to have a look at the gates, which had huge, colourful flowers hanging over them. This was the hard work of the General Committee, made to welcome visitors to the Cultural Festival. A banner hung from the outside of one of the windows of the school building, which read "The 42nd Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival."

And so it begins.

I wonder if I'm making a face that's trying to enjoy all this. As I was in a trance looking at the school grounds, Mayaka suddenly jabbed her elbow at me.

"Fuku-chan... Try not to do anything silly during the Cultural Festival, okay? While you may not find it embarrassing, it'd be embarrassing enough for me."

Heh, guess I'm not trusted at all, eh?

But that doesn't mean I won't do anything!

007 - ♥03

There's this hard object resting in my pocket, and for some time it's been bothering me.

It was the fountain pen, or to be more precise, the trash known as the unusable fountain pen. The ink had long run out, and I was entrusted by my sis to take care of it. Last night, as I didn't want to just toss it on the floor, I brought it to my room, intending to throw it away there. But it seemed I ended up bringing it along with my handkerchief. While it's pretty much useless now, who knows what role it would play as time goes on.

I toyed with the pen by flipping its cap on and off, making a clicking sound as I walked up the stairs. My destination was the Classics Club room on the fourth floor.

Seen from above, Kamiyama High School appears as an H-shape. On one side was the General Block with its regular classrooms, while on the other side would be the Special Block with its arts and science related classrooms. They are joined in the middle by a connecting corridor. When seen from further above, one would see the corridor from the General Block extending towards the Gymnasium.

The Geology Lecture Room, which is used by the Classics Club as their club room, is located in the Special Block. And it's all the way in the corner at the end of the corridor. If Kamiyama High School was the whole world, then this would be its periphery. Normally, we'd curse about how far the club room was while also feeling grateful for how serene it was. Yet with the Cultural Festival upon us, we had to consider another factor, the fact that being located in such a remote corner of the school means we're doubtful of getting any visitors.

In every floor, you would see posters, mascots and advertising boards in all different shades of colour, though that's only up to the third floor. In the fourth floor, all you get is a barren landscape. You won't even see any ads for shopping malls or chain stores. To begin with, there aren't many clubs based up here anyway.

Still, we've put up a few posters in some hard to miss spots promoting the Classics Club, but even that was not enough to enliven the mood of this god-forsaken place. Personally, I prefer this sort of tranquility, but it's troublesome for the Classics Club as an organization, particularly for its president, who sees it as something quite worrying.

I slid open the door of the Geology Room. The girl sitting in the centre of this dreary room stood up upon seeing me enter.

"Good morning, Oreki-san," she said and bowed deeply, her long black hair flowing as she did. This was Chitanda, president of the Classics Club. I reckoned she was probably the first to arrive.

Chitanda Eru is a girl with jet black hair extending all the way to her back as well as pupils of the same colour. Gentle in her demeanor, she was rather tall and well-proportioned for a girl. Her calm way of speaking gives one the impression that she's an elegant lady with a prestigious upbringing. In fact, she is the only daughter of the Chitanda clan, known for being the owners of large tracts of farmland.

However, if you ask me, this elegant Japanese lady image is not Chitanda's true nature.

Amongst her mature features, only her large eyes betray her true character. Possessing a sense of curiosity which has exploded many times before and will continue to explode in the future, this was Chitanda Eru. Ever since I entered school, I and the Classics Club have been involved in many bothersome events thanks to her curiosity. My life motto has always been "If I don't have to do it, I won't. If I have to do it, make it quick." But so far I have been unable to adhere to it, and it's all her fault.

Chitanda lifted her head and made a soft smile. Though she wears her heart on her sleeve, she would rarely express her feelings in an exaggerated way. Rather, she does it in moderation.

"The day has finally arrived."

"So it seems."

"Let's give it our all!"

"Yeah."

I nodded.

Looking at the pile of objects lined up between me and Chitanda, I groaned.

"...You say give it our all, but do you have any idea how we're gonna get this sorted?"

We're talking about none other than the Classics Club essay anthology, "Hyouka." A rather queer name for a title; as for why it had such a queer name, that's a long story. Each volume was bound nicely in a vinyl coating which went through adhesive surface treatment, on its dark brown cover was an illustration of a dog and rabbit biting each other. This cover design was derived from the first ever volume of "Hyouka," which was made in a water-paint style, though this year Ibara decided to draw it in a cute style. Objectively speaking, it didn't look bad at all.

The people working on this anthology included me and Chitanda, and while Satoshi did contribute, he only participated in writing his part of the manuscript. Of course, even after the manuscript was completed, the anthology wouldn't be finished right away. There would still be work involving confirming the of number of pages, choosing the right font and paper type, arranging the manuscripts, placing the page numbers, etc, before submitting to the publisher for printing. All that was left to Ibara, who also worked on the other illustrations as well.

While we were consulted on matters concerning the design of the anthology, we were merely confirming Ibara's choices. Seeing how troublesome it looked for her to have to work on so many details, both Chitanda and I had offered to help her many times.

Yet Ibara had turned our offers down, saying she's used to doing such stuff, so it's no big deal to her, and how she can easily handle this amount of work. Besides, she said it would be quite bothersome to teach an amateur from scratch. Hearing her say that, Chitanda decided to relent on helping.

And so, the anthology "Hyouka" is finally complete. In fact, it was a job well done. Very well done, indeed.

Upon seeing the final product, Ibara went speechless.

When she brought them over to us the day before yesterday, we too became speechless.

...The pile of objects lined up between me and Chitanda were the "Hyouka" anthologies. Rather than "pile," "stack" would be a more appropriate description. Even "mountain" would not sound far-fetched.

Before, we had only planned on making an order to print thirty copies of "Hyouka". Taking one for ourselves, as well as one each for our supervisor and one to keep for archiving, it would leave us with twenty-four left to sell, which was how many we expected to sell.

However, the number of copies somehow ended up being more than we expected.

About seven times more.

I learned that even for a thin anthology like this, two hundred copies of them stacked together was enough to form a "mountain."

To ask us to give our all selling all these is an extremely tall task. Upon hearing my grumble, Chitanda became lost for words as her smile went stiff.

"...Umm, while giving our all may not guarantee everything, I'm sure we'll still achieve something!"

The problem would be how much effort we should be giving then, but...

The door behind us opened; it was Satoshi. Lifting his right arm, he greeted us.

"Hi there, I see you're all worried about our excessive stock!"

Well, so are you.

While still at a loss for words to address the predicament we were in, Chitanda still bowed deeply like she had to me.

"G-good morning, Fukube-san... How is Mayaka-san?"

"Oh, she said she'll try and come, but she probably won't make it."

"I see...," she muttered regretfully. That was to be expected.

While Chitanda and I aren't affiliated with any other club save the Classics Club, Satoshi has his hands tied with the General Committee and Handicraft Club, while Ibara spends time as a librarian and with the Manga Studies Club. During the Cultural Festival, Satoshi would be busy patrolling the grounds as a member of the General Committee, while I hear Ibara is required to stay with the Manga Club for some time.

"Then, shall we begin?"

Satoshi and I nodded. Looking at us one by one, Chitanda slowly spoke.

"There's not much time until the Opening Ceremony starts... So does anyone have any ideas on how we could sell this many copies of 'Hyouka?'"

==Translator's notes and references==

<references />

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 1|1 - A Sleepless Night]]
| Return to [[Hyouka|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 2-2|2-2 - Quiz Trial]]|-
|}
</noinclude>

Ghost Hunt:Volume1 Chapter3

2012-08-26T14:23:03Z

Krossrd: /* 3 */

==Chapter 3 - Storm Warning==

=== 1 ===

The weather on the second day was really unnerving.

Today's Friday, and the weekend's almost here~ Plus, the weather's really nice! If I just act like my usual self then everything will be alright.

But in reality, I've got a lot of things on my mind to worry about. And it's all that guy's fault. All that narcissist's fault.

A beautiful day like this rarely ever comes by. And when it finally does, I have to spend it doing some ghost hunting stuff.

Ah—I'm really unlucky...

The white sakura flowers blinded my eyes.

"Mai—"

The moment I stepped into the building, Keiko rushed up to me.

"...What is it?" I asked. "You're a bit too energetic to just greet me."

"Good morning. Hey, what did Shibuya-san say to you?

"Ha ha. So that's why you're ambushing me over here?"

"Right. Hey, exactly what did you guys talk about?"

Arghh... What...do...I do? Should I tell her? No, it would just be a waste of time.

I burst out laughing.

Keiko had a startled look on her face. "Can it be—"

"It's a secret (♥)."

Hee hee hee. Everything in my heart just flew out. So this is my punishment. First of all, calm down.

But that didn't happen. Hearing the jealousy in Keiko's voice, Michiru hollered out, pressuring me to defeat.

I surrendered. "...Whaaaat..."

Keiko let out a deep breath.

Michiru finally spoke out, "Then, Shibuya-san...isn't a transfer student?"

"Nope. He's just a liar."

"So that's how it is..." Keiko mumbled listlessly.

Michiru waved her hand in dismissal. "Don't be so disheartened. Since he's not a student at our school, that means..."

Keiko finished off, "..No love rivals!"

"Right!"

It turned out like this again. Why are you guys so happy...are you idiots? Just because the rival doesn't go to our school doesn't mean that she doesn't go to another one. If he was a student at our school, then you guys can just divide him up or even snatch him from his girlfriend. But how are you gonna deal with a love rival whom you've never met before?

"Taniyama-san."

Suddenly someone called my name. It's that rude Kuroda girl from yesterday.

"Good morning," I answered, "Is something up?"

"That person...is he a psychic?"

"No, he isn't."

"But didn't you just say he came here to investigate the old school building?"

...Oh—So you were eavesdropping.

Now that I think about it, I really need to change the subject. "He's not a psychic; he's a ghost hunter."

"Ghost hunter?"

When Kuroda-san raised her eyebrows, Keiko and Michiru pulled me off to the side and asked, "Hey, what does that mean?"

"I'm not really sure, but I think it means a psychic."

"How is it different from a psychic?"

"That's why I said I wasn't sure. He bought in lots of expensive equipment, like video cameras and whatnot. That's why he just doesn't seem like a psychic."

"Oh—," Kuroda-san interjected, considering her idea, "Taniyama-san, can you introduce me to that guy?"

"Wha?"

What...do...I...do?

"I have psychic powers, so I might be able to help him with his work."

Michiru quietly whispered her resentment.

I replied, "But...Kuroda-san, didn't you already meet him? A formal introduction isn't necessary. You can see him after school at the old school building."

"I know that, but..."

"But it's best if you don't get involved with that guy at all."

"Oh, but why?" Kuroda-san's asked, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"He said he dislikes talking to amateurs."

"I'm not an amateur like you."

"Ah—Still, Naru-chan is a professional. He even has an office."

"Mai," Michiru interjected, pinching my neck, "Calling him Naru-chan already...how affectionate of you."

"Narcisstic Naru-chan. You guys, stop fantasizing about him. He has a rotten personality."

"But he's still *that* handsome?"

"I'm just saying, If a girl is pretty, she'll definitely have a terrible personality, which is something no guy wants. If someone is pretty, that person, female or male, will definitely have a bad personality."

"Really.."

"He's such an intimidating narcissist. From now on, I'll just call that narcissist 'Naru-chan'."

I can tell from Keiko's reaction that she'd just get hurt if she got close to him. I was trying to tell Kuroda-san this, but when I turned around, I was left facing empty space. Kuroda-san was already sitting down, with a textbook wide open on her desk.

I was speechless.

"That's just the kind of person she is," Michiru quietly whispered to me.

"Didn't Kuroda-san go to the same middle school as you?"

I'm pretty sure Michiru is from that same middle school.

"Right. She was quite famous in middle school, always going on about her psychic powers, her warnings "oh~this is dangerous", her sensitivity to ghosts, and always wanting us to do this and that."

"Oh..."

"Man, she just likes to be the center of attention. No doubt she likes all the flattery she gets."

"...Oh."

"How should I say this...could she have fallen in love with Shibuya-san at first sight?"

"What!?" Keiko exclaimed indignantly.

Kuroda-san shot her a hateful look, to which Keiko immediately shut up.

I really don't understand Kuroda-san. In the end, it's probably best not to associate with her.

=== 2 ===

When school ended, my friends commented on how "sly" I was before I headed out towards the old school building.

After I went to the back of the old school building, I noticed the silver van was in the same parking space as yesterday. What's Naru-chan doing, sitting in the back of the car?

"Hello," I greeted him.

Hearing my voice, he lifted his head, shifting his attention from the equipment to me.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"Looking over yesterday's recording."

Oh—I didn't really get it, but it sure did seem impressive.

"Then, did you find anything?"

Naru-chan glanced at the shelf overflowing with televisions. "Nothing unusual."

"Nothing unusual? Then the old school building doesn't have ghosts after all?"

"Are there no ghosts? Or are they just hiding themselves? Regardless of the answer, the old school building shouldn't be that dangerous."

...When he's talking about it that way...

"Uh...is the equipment working?" a voice came from behind me. Hastily turning around, I saw a woman wearing gaudy clothes and a man with a dumb look on his face.

"These are expensive toys for a kid."

The woman let out a scornful laugh.

Naru-chan stared at them. "Who are you guys?"

Kid's toys? Severe consequences will follow if you damage his pride like that.

The woman looked at Naru-chan. Sure, the woman was beautiful, but she was lacking in charm. She was one scary big sister.

"I'm Matsuzaki Ayako. Nice to meet you."

Her red lips spread into a big smile.

Naru-chan coldly replied, "I have no interest in your name."

Ayako-san almost lost it, but then she glared intently at Naru-chan. "How arrogant, but you're definitely a handsome young man."

"Thank you."

...Hey, hey.

Ayako-san crossed her arms. "Forget it. Even if you become more handsome, it won't be of any help. You can't exorcise ghosts with your face anyway."

Naru-chan's gaze lifted up. "Are we in the same industry?"

"Pretty much...I'm a miko."

A miko? You've gotta be kidding, right?

But then, Naru-chan retorted, "I was under the impression that miko were young, pure maidens."

Hearing that, I couldn't help but make a funny face.

The man beside them also let out a burst of laughter.

"Oh, you can't tell?" Ayako-san was furious as she sent deathly glares to Naru-chan. She chose the wrong opponent.

Naru-chan continued, "If you want to say you're young, I think you are really too old." He smirked.

She deserved it. Well said, Naru-chan.

The man at the side finally started guffawing.

Miko-san's lips distorted. What now? Being called "Oba-san"[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Ghost_Hunt:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Oba-san] by a 16-year old boy. Is there no way to retaliate?

The guffawing man proudly added, "She also puts on heavy makeup."

This is considered mockery, but Naru-chan is still better when it comes to insults.

Moreover, are those two partners?

Miko-san glared angrily at that man. "Well, I'm just naturally beautiful. That's why it looks like I'm wearing lots of makeup."

Her voice was confident, but I'm scared that her face is already all stiff.

"To sum it up..." Miko-san forced on a stiff smile, "Your little show is over, kid. Just leave the rest to me."

And with her jeering voice, she laughed at Naru-chan.

"The school principal said that you're unreliable. No matter how you look at it, a 17-year old just isn't skilled enough."

Hmph. So the principal said that Naru-chan is unreliable? Did he get more ghost hunters to come?

Naru-chan smiled slightly. "Then please teach me, senior."

Ayako-san's scowl widened.

Naru-chan disdainfully glanced at her profile before shifting his line of sight onto the other man. "...Who are you? You don't seem to be Matsuzaki-san's assistant."

The man seemed older than Miko-san. He pretended to look up at the sky. "How can I be a woman's assistant.. I'm a monk from Kouya Mountain. My name is Takigawa Houshou."

A monk from Kouya Mountain?

Wow, cool.

Naru-chan continued to look at the television screens, then said in a bored tone, "Kouya Mountain allows long hair now?"

The man was startled after hearing that.

That's right, monks don't look like this man except in manga. In fact, they're usually bald.

Not only did this man keep his hair, but he also keeps it hung in a mess on his shoulder and in a messy bundle on his back.

Miko-san scoffed, "Law-breaking monk."

"...But I really did stay at Kouya Mountain. Even though I'm not there right now..." the monk mumbled, his voice carrying a hint of shame.

I couldn't help but laugh at his pitiful appearance.

Our eyes met.

"And who's the giggling girl with the big mouth?"

...I don't have...a big mouth.

"I'm just a kind-hearted student. I was called on to help him move things..."

"Oh, right, and what about you, little boy?"

Without averting his gaze, he looked at the television set. His body language seemed to say "I have no interest in you guys".

"You guys should go to the principal to find out. Seems like you at least know my age," Naru-chan replied.

"Man, we did ask already. He said you're from a paranormal investigation office on the prestigious Shibuya Street."

"I have nothing else to add to that."

Bou-san coldly laughed. "...The principal also mentioned that he thought he could trust this office because of its prestigious location. He never thought that the head of the investigation would be a little kid. Boy, does he feel duped."

"Really, now," Naru-chan said in his cold tone.

Leaning on the car, Miko-san added, "The principal...is quite a worrywart..."

"That's right," Bou-san agreed.

"An evil spirit or whatnot is something I can easily exorcise. ...So, the kid can just leave it up to me," Miko-san said, laughing at Naru-chan.

"If you could help, then that would be fine," Naru-chan said indifferently.

Even Bou-san decided to join in on the sarcastic remarks. "Man, how regrettable, the kid can't help at all. That principal is also overdoing it. He called in all these people just for a little old school building."

"Right. A ghost hunter, me, and you..." A small smile spread on Miko-san's face, "One would obviously be enough."

"Right, he should've just called on me." Bou-san laughed too. "What's all this about anyway? Oh right, little boy, what's your name?"

"Shibuya Kazuya."

"Shibuya Kazuya? ...Never heard of it," Bou-san commented.

"But, I never heard of your name either. Must be third-class," Miko-san added.

"That's because you don't keep up with your studies. And actually, I've never heard of Matsuzaki either," Bou-san retorted.

...Hmph, this argument is going nowhere...

What's wrong with these people...

What does it matter? Naru-chan is the same; do all psychics have rotten personalities?

While Miko-san and Bou-san's argument ensued, Naru-chan continued to fiddle with the equipment. What a pain... Taking a glimpse at the playground, I noticed a girl wearing a uniform walking this way.

Oh, it's Kuroda-san.

Ah—Sure enough, she did come.

The moment Kuroda-san saw me, she waved. "Taniyama-san."

Man—I'm not good at dealing with her.

Kuroda-san glanced at the car, seeing Miko-san and Bou-san deep in argument.

"Who are those two people?"

"They came here to investigate the old school building. They said they're a priestess and a monk."

"Really..."

When those two noticed the raven-haired girl, Kuroda-san bowed in assent. "Are you guys here to exorcise the ghosts in the old school building?"

Miko-san examined her for a moment. "Yes, that's the case."

The girl's face cracked into a smile. "Ah, thank goodness. I've always had a feeling of unease towards this ghost-nest old school building."

Miko-san shot Kuroda-san an intense stare. "You...how is that possible?"

"I have strong psychic powers...so it's been very annoying for me..."

"Attention lover."

"Huh?" I pondered aloud.

"You like attention, don't you? Do you want to be noticed that much?" Miko-san pressed.

"True. She...does not have any psychic powers," Bou-san added.

"How do you know?!" I shouted.

"I can tell by looking," Miko-san responded coolly.

"...Saying that so casually!"

"She just wants to get everyone's attention. She's been tricking everyone." Miko-san shot a scornful look at the girl before turning around.

"I really do have psychic powers," Kuroda-san insisted, "I'm going to summon a spirit into my body."

"Kuroda-san!" I cried out.

"...My psychic powers really are strong..." the girl said, her eyes hard and resolute. A deadly look hovered in her eyes. It's over now.

"Fake miko, you'll regret this."

"...I'm waiting for it then." Miko-san shot her one last glance.

All of a sudden, Kuroda-san dashed back towards the playground.

=== 3 ===

The whole situation was so chaotic.

For now, it's best not to get involved with Bou-san and Miko-san. Or maybe I should just not have anything to do with these bad people.

Then..

"That's right. Naru-chan, what do I have to do today?"

Naru-chan looked at me, a hint of shock behind his eyes. "What did...you just say?"

"What's wrong?"

"You just called me 'Naru-chan'."

Ah, I'm in for it now. That was a slip of the tongue.

"Sorry, I said it wrong."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Huh? Is that your nickname?"

Naru-chan wore an indescribable expression.

"Seems like everyone thinks the same way as me then, narcisstic Naru-chan."

Hee hee hee. That was a good comeback.

"Huh?"

"Forget about it, forget about it... Is there something you want me to do?"

"That's right... Just then, when I called him that, he didn't have the reaction I expected; it didn't seem like he was gonna give me a clever retort..." I pondered to myself.

"Mai's senior..."

"Ah, you called me by my first name—"

"...Didn't you just do the same thing for me?"

"But—"

"Which classroom did Mai's senior see the shadow?"

"She's not...my senior. She's...Michiru's senior friend," I complained, to which I was given a stern look by Naru.

"It's the same regardless of whose senior she is. Which classroom was it in?"

"It's on the second floor in the far west wing. It's the classroom that's practically stripped of everything.

"Got it. Go install the equipment there. It would be good if paranormal activity is found there," Naru-chan said as he rose and jumped off the van. When he started walking towards the old school building, a silhouette started coming this way.

Ah...now what is it...

When I think about the culprit that way... The principal advanced towards us.

Typically the principal is sly like a tanuki[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Ghost_Hunt:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Sly_Tanuki], while the head instructor is like a fox. This is true in our case, as the principal really does look like a tanuki.

Since the principal's coming here, does that mean he has some business with us? An indistinct figure walked beside him.

"Hold on a moment, who's that person by the principal?" Miko-san whispered. "It can't be...is it another psychic..."

The moment I saw the shadow, I started to get a bad feeling in my stomach.

I'm totally leaving if another nasty guy comes.

The principal was chatting amiably with the other person.

He's short. Is he a student...he seems young.

Also...oh? Blonde, blonde hair.

What, it can't be a foreigner!

As the principal noticed us, he wiped off his tanuki-like smile. "Ah, everyone is together."

A kind voice.

He quickly stepped this way. "Here's the other guest. Let me introduce you guys."

...What, so it is another psychic...

Usually foreigners look old, but... I looked at the foreigner again. He's probably 12 or 13. I can't tell if this person is male or female. He's short for a foreigner. He's practically the same height as me. He must still be a kid.

The principal smiled warmly. "This is John Brown-san. Please welcome him, everybody."

...He's not a transfer student. You sure can't make a proper introduction.

Speaking of names, John is a boy's name. So this person is a "he". Ah—he's cute.

Brown gave us a deep bow. "How y'all doin'?"[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Ghost_Hunt:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Kansai-ben]

…………?

J...Just now, was that English? My English sucks. I can't understand at all—

Miko-san, Bou-san, and even Naru-chan became dumbstruck.

"I be Brown. Glad ta meet y'all.

...Str-...Strange. It sounds like Japanese...but it's a dialect...

The principal forced a smile onto his inevitable expression. "Um...Brown learned Japanese in the Kansai area..."

Monk-san bust out laughing, followed by Miko-san. You shouldn't laugh. He's a foreigner. To be able to say this much is still amazing... Haha.

Brown seemed a bit lost. His confused look, his blond hair, his blue eyes, and the fact that he's a foreigner just made him look even more ridiculous. So-...Sorry. Ahahaha.

The principal gave us a puzzled look, then said, "W-Well then, I'll just leave it at that," before running off.

Brown turned towards the principal's figure, then said, "Thank ya."

When he said it that way, we all burst out laughing again.

Instead of laughing, Naru-chan wore a stiff expression on his face. "Brown-san, where are you from?"

"I be comin' furm Australia."

...Wow. The way he talks is really hilarious.

Sorry, I can't stop laughing—

Brown looked at us in bewilderment. "Is my Jabanese really strange?"

Naru-chan smiled wryly. "It's pretty strange."

Brown took a deep breath. "Jabanese be so dif'cult!"

"Hey, kiddo[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Ghost_Hunt:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Bouzu:_Kiddo]!" Bou-san shouted aloud. Bou-san saying "kiddo" sure seems strange—

"I'm begging you, please don't speak in that weird Kyoto accent," Bou-san implored.

"Still, there ain't no other talk thaz mo' polite than this here Kansai-ben talk."

"Who?! Who taught this guy Japanese!" Bou-san exclaimed, his breathing becoming more and more difficult. "Listen carefully. Kansai-ben is a dialect. I suggest you not speak it anymore, got it? Otherwise it'll seem like you're speaking comic-talk."

"Ah," Brown nodded, "If I don' speak, then ever'body can jus' get 'long. Y'all are psychics?"

...It's still very strange...

Naru-chan responded, "Well, more or less. She's Matsuzaki-san, a miko. And he's Takigawa-san, a former monk on Kouya Mountain."

"An' you?"

"I'm a ghost hunter."

"Oh, then this here equipment in da car is all yors? Impressive."

"What about you?"

"Ah, I be an exorcist."

"Exorcist?"

In an instant, Miko-san and Bou-san stopped laughing and started staring at Brown, with gazes that suggested they were looking at a powerful enemy.

"About that, I thought in Catholicism you can't be an exorcist unless you're ranked higher than a priest. ...You seem really young to even be a priest."

"Thas' right. You, my fella, is very knowledgable. Howeva', I'm 19 already. I jus' look like a young 'un."

Oh no, I can't hold in my laughter.

Nineteen...then that means, he's Naru-chan's senior? This foreigner really does have a baby face...

"It's best if you don't say 'wate[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Ghost_Hunt:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Wate]'," Naru-chan advised, smiling wryly again.

"If you say boku or watashi, you shouldn't say 'ansan'; otherwise , you'd be changing the meaning to 'you.'"

Brown...no, Brown-san nodded his head.

"Okay, thanks. What be ya name?"

"Shibuya Kazuya."

"Shibuya-san, hope ya don' min' takin' me aroun' the place first."

Shibuya-san nodded slightly, then turned towards me. "Mai, time to work."

"Okay."

When Naru-chan headed towards the old school building, I wondered why everyone else followed.

The equipment in the lab room had recordings. The sound of the machinery echoed throughout the classroom.

"These are..." Monk-san mumbled, apparently at a loss for words, "I can't believe you brought in this much equipment."

Naru-chan ignored him.

Miko-san snorted in contempt. "This is all useless. Little boy, your little show is finished. It's time to pack all your things up."

Naru-chan ignored Miko-san.

"Bringing all this equipment in is such a waste. That must've been exhausting for you," she taunted.

Monk-san said, "That's rude. Ah—I have high hopes in you. Since you have this much equipment, you must be very capable."

His tone was ironic, mocking.

Naru-chan turned around, a hint of coldness behind his eyes. "...What about you two? Did you come here to exorcise spirits? Or did you come here to play?"

Embarrassed, Miko-san instantly turned around. "That's why I said I hate kids. Well, it must be an earth spirit, as it seems to be showing off a lot," she purposely ranted aloud, then left.

Monk-san followed, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Now what are you going to do?" Naru-chan asked, facing Brown.

Brown looked embarrassed. "...Do you want me to help you?"

"I don't care."

"Um...I, I don't really know what to do in this situation. Is it alright if I stay here an' help ya out as much as possible?"

"That's fine. Just do what you want," Naru-chan answered calmly, his eyes still glued to his computer.

After nearly 10 television sets were stacked on top of each shelf, the TV screens changed. Now they were showing a view of the corridors. Digital numbers and letters flashed incessantly on the screens. A view of the first and second floor could be seen from the TV placed in the entrance hall. All the screens were immersed in blue and green speckles.

"What's this?"

Naru-chan flashed an impatient look at me.

Would it kill you to answer me?

Brown-san answered instead, "It's Thermography... It indicates the temperature."

"Oh—"

Hey, he's pretty nice despite being psychic.

(I'm already starting to think that all psychics have terrible personalities—)

Brown-san pointed at the screen. "Orange indicates hot temperatures; on the other hand, blue indicates cold temperatures."

Ah—colored speckles, how strange.

"Thank you, Brown-san. You're so kind," I said in a tone that will hopefully taunt Naru-chan.

Brown-san blushed. "It's nothing... That's right, I didn't ask you what your name was. Are you Shibuya-san's assistant?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I'm Taniyama Mai."

"You can jus' call me John."

...It's that..strange Japanese again—

Turning back, I saw Monk-san in the middle of the TV screen. While examining his surroundings, Monk-san walked into the depths of the hallway. Miko-san was in another screen.

And in the other screen...

I could see the dim classroom deep in the entrance hall. Inside, the shoe cabinet cast off a shadow. And in the middle of the shoe cabinet was a ghost.

"Naru-chan!" I screamed, pointing at the TV screen of the entrance hall.

Right in front of the shoe cabinet was a doll-like girl wearing a pink sakura kimono, trying to see what was above the shoe shelf.

She looked just like a living human, with that jet-black hair of hers. She was also about the same age as me.

The girl looked at another direction, then turned and left. She was no longer in the screen.

"Wh-...what was that, just now?"

Not acknowledging my question, Naru-chan rose and headed towards the door. His expression didn't change at all.

The door opened.

The doll-like girl stood in the middle of the darkness,

"......!"

I screamed.

John softly patted my shoulder. "It's okay, Mai-san. She's not a ghost."

Huh?

Naru-chan forced a smile on.. "The principal must really want us to finish the job quickly since he went as far as inviting you..."

Her expression didn't change.

"Do you two know each other?" I asked.

"No. I only recognize her face because she's very popular," Naru-chan replied.

"Who is she?"

Though I was obviously asking Naru-chan, the girl opened her cherry-like mouth and answered me instead, "If you're talking about me, then I'll introduce myself. I'm Hara Masako."

"Who?"

I don't know...

Naru-chan sighed. "She's a very famous psychic medium. She's great at summoning spirits, probably the best in Japan."

"Summoning spirits?"

"Ignorant, aren't you?"

"I'm talking to you—"

This time John answered my question again. "It's like calling spirits out and letting them possess your body and speak."

"Huh? Oh, like the kinds on TV, right? Like when a psychic speaks in place of the ghost, right?"

"Yup."

Naru-chan looked at the spirit medium. "What is your evaluation of this building, Hara-san?"

The psychic medium cocked her head. "I'm not sure... Who are you? You don't seem to be a psychic..."

"I'm a ghost hunter, Shibuya."

...What was that, Naru-chan. Do you just go for pretty faces? You don't speak to us with *that* kind of attitude.

The psychic medium looked at Naru-chan with a surprised expression. "Have we...met before?"

Oh. What an old pickup phrase.

"I think this is the first time we met."

"...Really...?" she said, turning around to face the pile of equipment, "...I don't think there're ghosts here. Even though the principal was in a panic over it, there's nothing here. I also don't feel the presence of any spirits."

"Really..." Naru-chan said, contemplating her words.

...Does the principal want to tear down this building that much? Is the old school building really that scary?

A ghost hunter, a priestess, a monk, an exorcist, and even a psychic medium. He makes it seem so serious by inviting so much people. Just because of the old school building rumors.

But, these people...do they really have that kind of ability?

It happened at that time.

A loud, knocking sound and a woman's scream echoed through the building.

We were fightenened for a moment.

"Is that Matsuzaki-san's voice?" John asked.

Naru-chan rushed out of the room and we followed.

We bumped into Bou-san right after we left the lab room.

"That sound just now..!" Bou-san exclaimed.

"I'm not sure, but it seems to be on the first floor," John replied.

Matsuzaki-san's scream echoed through the hallway from the west side of the first floor on the other side of the lab room.

"What happened?!" Naru-chan was the first to reach the door, but he couldn't open it no matter how hard he pulled.

Miko-san banged on the door from inside. "Open the door! Hey, open the door!"

Both Naru-chan and Bou-san pulled with all their strength. The door started to bend, but it still wouldn't budge.

"Let's kick it open," Bou-san suggested as he faced the door. "Ayako! Move away!"

"What! Don't just call me by my first name like that!"

...You don't seem that worried.

Bou-san kicked the door, causing the door to emit a snapping sound. Bou-san kicked the door again, this time knocking it down.

Miko-san's face looked blue.

"What happened?" Naru-chan asked calmly.

"I don't know...After I came in, the door shut by itself. I couldn't open it."

"You didn't lock it then?"

"No!"

Right when they were about to argue again, Hara-san intercepted. "How embarrassing."

Miko-san stared at Hara-san. "What do you mean?"

"How can you say you're a psychic? You start hollering like crazy when the door locks on you. Don't you think that's sort of embarrassing?" Hara-san taunted, her tone cold like the wind.

Bou-san whistled softly, then turned towards the raven-haired girl. "You there... Are you Hara Masako-san?"

"Yes."

"You're prettier in person."

Hara-san looked at Bou-san as if he were something dirty, then turned around.

This person has a bad personality too—

=== 4 ===

"Well then, we must find out exactly what's in this old school building," Miko-san arrogantly declared.

We took a break in the lab room, drinking the canned coffee that John brought.

"Aren't you being oversensitive?" Masako commented coldly.

"Shut up little girl. I'm not the same as a fake psychic who got popular just because of her looks."

A small smile brushed through Masako's face. "Thank you for complimenting my good looks."

Hmmm—That...reminds me of someone.

Miko-san disregarded Masako. "I believe it's an earth spirit."

"An earth spirit is...?" I asked.

...What?

Miko-san looked fed up with me. "Didn't your assistant go through any training, Shibuya-kun?"

"She lacks the ability to do so in this area, nor is she worth training," Naru-chan said, his finger toying with a nail.

You jerk. You must've been itching to say that.

Miko-san assumed a teacher's position. "An earth spirit is one that lives in a certain place."

"You mean like Jibakurei [spirits that're bound to an area]?"

"So you know difficult terms like that? But they're not the same. Jibakurei are bound to an area because of an event that occurred. Earth spirits are spirits of the land, known as Seirei."

"Oh—"

So there're actually different types of spirits.

"Weren't a lot of shrines here before? In that case, there could be many of them."

"I think it's a Jibakurei," Bou-san intercepted, "Didn't something happen at this old school building? A spirit must live here. It had to disrupt the workers' progress because it was scared of losing its home."

"What do you think, John?" Naru-chan turned around to look at the foreigner.

"I'm not sure. Aren't haunted houses usually caused by *spirits[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Ghost_Hunt:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Spoken_English] turning into *ghosts?"

Naru-chan looked at the nail in his hand, then nodded. "*Spirit...seirei, *ghost is yuurei. Are you listening, Mai?"

...Mind your own business. So you think my english is really bad, huh?

"If it's a *spirit, then that means the earth spirit has some kinda relationship to the land. An' if it lives in a building, it woulda been a *ghost that might summon evil spirits or whatnot," John explained.

I see.

"If it's 'cause of a ghost, then that means the person who died in the house is a Jibakurei," John continued.

"You guys don't believe it's an earth spirit?" Miko-san asked as she stood up.

"I don't think so. It's Jibakurei," Bou-san said as he rose and stood beside John.

John's sky-blue eyes mirrored his confusion. "It's early, an' we still can't agree on a conclusion."

Miko-san stood up. "To sum it up, everything will be fine as long as it's exorcised. I'll get rid of it tomorrow."

She announced, "I don't have time to waste on this insignificant case. I'll go home as soon as I'm done with the exorcism."

Miko-san laughed, then waved as she left the lab room.

Bou-san saw her off, then inquired about everyone's opinions. "What do you guys think?"

Masako replied, "It's no use. I already said there aren't spirits here."

"But there are so many rumors about this place. How do you explain that?" I implored.

"You didn't see anything bad happen, did you? A building this old will always have one or two rumors. It's like the school's Seven Wonders."

Ah—what a confident tone. This person is more and more like that other guy.

I couldn't help but retort. "Then why did the door lock on Miko-san?"

"That was because she was a bit confused," Masako replied in a blunt, authoritative tone.

So is that how it is..

True, some people will just unconsciously open and close the door. But weren't Naru-chan and Bou-san unable to open that door even with their strength combined? Can Miko-san unconsciously close the door so that it locked by itself?

Then, without thinking, I laughed.

Maybe Miko-san was so scared to death when the door closed that she couldn't help but cry out in fear.

That would explain why she sounded so eager to leave after the exorcism.

The dark, crimson glow of the sunset shined through the windows, leaving a rosy shine on the glass windows.

"Naru-chan, it's getting dark."

Naru-chan lifted his head towards the window. "Ah... We'll go home after the preparations are done," he said, rising from his chair.

"Move the equipment into the classroom on the west side of the second floor."

Okay—

Bou-san wondered aloud. "Oh yeah, boy, you're not staying here, are you?"

"Not today... But I might stay tomorrow."

Huh? Then...what about me?

While I was thinking uncomfortably, Naru-chan looked at me. "Come here after school tomorrow."

"Um...tomorrow's Saturday—"

"It doesn't matter what day of the week it is. You must work."

Uh, uh, uh. No, noooo.

"Staying here is kinda..."

"Then do you want to compensate me for the video camera now?"

"...I'll be ready."

Hmph. You really do act like a boss.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Ghost Hunt:Volume1 Chapter2|Previous Section]]
| Return to [[Ghost Hunt|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Ghost Hunt:Volume1 Chapter4|Next Section]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Ghost Hunt:Volume1 Chapter1

2012-08-18T14:57:39Z

Krossrd: /* 3 */

==Chapter 1 - Pressure Falling==

=== 1 ===
　The following day had nice weather and the Sakura trees on the road to school were forming a beautiful white tunnel.

　Along with the nice weather I, for some reason, was feeling better too. In the morning, when I saw the sky clearing away and the sun rising, I suddenly felt myself full of energy, and went to school earlier than usual.

　I was passing through the tunnel of roadside Sakura trees on my way to school when I suddenly felt like seeing the old school building.

　The old school was standing on the opposite side of the sports ground facing the new one. A wooden, half-demolished building. A building that had many bad rumors going around about it. Everyone considered it a haunted mansion.

　Are the rumors true?

　I decided to go.

　Maybe it is true. Being abandoned for a long time, the windows are clouded in dust. More than half of them are broken so one could see the gloomy inside of the school beyond them.

　Dark hole openings in the windows. I feel something different from these holes, like they belong to another place, a different world than the one I know.

　A distorted tiled roof. Half of the building is covered in a blue sheet. That originally beautiful blue color is soiled too, deeply ruined.

　I approached the old school building.

　The entrance way has an old-fashioned door with a glass window, which is clouded and broken too. A transparent vinyl put there is looking rather lonely.

　I peeped in through that window.

　Inside the entrance way the color of dusk is dominating. A rattly shoe shelf disposed to the faint light is standing there like a gravestone. A terrible amount of dust. A spider's nest. Its threads are dusty too. A completely dilapidated building.

　Broken glass is scattered on the floor, something that looks like an old bowl, and other garbage is all over the place. Ruins. Dilapidated building. A haunted house. An old school building of bad rumors.

　Peeping in, I suddenly notice a strange thing inside the entrance way.

　What could it be?

　A black machine.

　Pretty big, looks like a video camera. Set on top of a tripod.

　Why is such a thing here I wonder, I have to make sure what it is.

　Spontaneously, I put my hand on the door knob.

　A very dusty and rough sense of touch.

　The door opened with a very unpleasant creak to let me inside.

　I entered right after the door opened. As I thought, it's a video camera. It can't be... someone lost this?

　I got closer to the camera.

　Why would there be a camera?

　This thing totally puzzles me. It's like seeing a car stopped in the middle of the living room of a friend's house.

　Er, what is this?

　Just when I stretched my hands towards the video...

"Who is it?"

　A man's sharp voice.

　In that ex-school building of bad luck. In that dark entrance way, inside that completely dilapidated building, there just when I saw a strange thing and felt curious...

　At that time all of a sudden I hear a voice, it's impossible not to get surprised.

　Of course I was surprised. Not just surprised. I literally jumped back. While jumping I unintentionally crashed into the almost collapsed shoe shelf.

　At that moment the shoe shelf swayed turning around.

　On my vision's edge I see a man's figure standing at the door.

　I try to avoid the shoe shelf that was inclining towards me for the second time.

　At the spur of the moment I trip and fall and the shoe shelf collapses grazing my uniform skirt, on top of that it directly hits the video camera... I take an innocent breath　...that surprised me...

　Huh, I thought I was going to get caught in.

　Taking a breath of relief, I turned to face the man just like a rogue would in front of two monks.

　Not good.

　Now it is completely broken. The previously broken shoe shelf. And the man is lying on the floor.

"Are you alright?"

　I rushed over to him. And at the same time heard a voice.

"What's wrong?"

　A man's voice.

　The one who rushed over here from the door is the exchange student who made me unrest from yesterday. Shibuya. Today he isn't wearing a uniform either. He is as black as ever.

　He ran over to check the collapsed man near me.

"Lin?"

　Does he know him? Saying that, he notices me, giving me an intense look.

"What happened?"

"Ah, that's……"

　Just when I was about to answer the fallen man raised his body.

"Are you hurt?"

　Shibuya asks him.

"Yes..."

　He mutters.

　 Below the long forelock that is covering the upper part of his face, there is a red line flowing down.

　 My voice gets nervous.

"……Did you cut yourself somewhere?"

　The blood falling from his chin is forming a circle of dots on the floor.

　What should I do!

"I am very sorry! I was surprised and..."

　I quickly try to give him a hand, but Shibuya stops me.

　Using his perfectly calm hands, he is checking the state of the fallen man's injury.

"It's a small cut... Anywhere else?"

"I am alright."

　The injured man gets up. He bends a little when his weight gets to his legs.

"Can you stand?　How are your legs?"

"……Everything is okay."

　But still he has quite a sickly look on his face. A thick layer of sweat is running down his forehead.

　Not knowing what to do, I just stand there nervously.

"I am really sorry. But suddenly hearing your voice I was totally surprised..."

"He already told you, it's okay", Shibuya says in a cold voice.

　I counter with an even colder look.

"We met yesterday, didn't we?"

"That's right."

　But is it alright for me to give him such a grave look? After all this man got injured because of me getting surprised.

"That's right, but what's more important now is, is there a hospital or a doctor nearby?"

"Right after the school gate..."

"Take me there."

　Saying this, Shibuya supports his friend with a shoulder.

　I also try to help him, but he puts off my hand with his arm.

　What's with this guy!

　Glaring at me he says: "I'm fine. Your help is unneeded."

　...This guy.. what's with his attitude. In the first place all this happened because you scared me like that. And I, like a kind person, lent you a hand...

"Lin, can you walk?"

"Yes, I am okay."

　Shibuya takes a look at me.

"What's your name?"

"Taniyama..."

"Then, Taniyama-san, I will be alright from here on, you can return to the classroom."

"But.."

"I should let you know that the school bell just rang."

　Heh?

　I got up early and I'm still late?

　Getting up early, being scared to death, these two guys almost freaking me out and on top of that I'm late for school?

　Ah, I should have never approached the old building.

　As I thought, that place was full of bad luck!

=== 2 ===

　Even though I ran in all my haste I was totally late for school. And as if to finish me off, the teacher had to scold me in front of the whole class... it couldn't get any worse. Thanks to this I was in a bad mood throughout the whole day.

　School ended.

　And when I was about to go home, Keiko and the others gathered around my desk.

"Hey, Mai, are you going home?"

"Why?"

"Weren't we going to meet with yesterday's exchange guy?"

"Shibuya?"

"Yes, let's meet him."

　Don't joke around. I don't want to see that guy's face for a while.

"I'm going home." 　I make it clear to them that I won't go.

"Whyy?　Mai... you've changed."

　Even Michiru nods.

"What a weirdo you are. That guy's got the godlike coolness, don't you think so?"

　No, I don't. They are too excited.　I, too, think he's got a pretty face, but that's all.

　Recognizing me as a weirdo, Michiru says,

"Well, that's fine. The lesser rivals, the better."

"That's right. We'll be the only ones to enjoy his enchanting eyes."

　Keiko is really happy.

"You really don't want to come?", Yuuri adds in mistrust.

"Are you sure?　You were quite interested yesterday."

　With these words Michiru smoothed down her uniform, having nothing more to say.

　Keiko too gives up on me and changes the topic.

"But I was really surprised yesterday. The atmosphere was so tense wasn't it?　I thought that ghosts had appeared for real."

"Me too."

"Today, we'll tell stories again."

"But where? We won't get in the right mood here. What about we borrow the A/V room again?"

　You're really into it, aren't you?

"Yeah, it isn't dark enough here. The A/V room? The school's mixer room."

"That sounds okay."

　...Just when they were talking about this...

"Wait a minute."

　The voice we hear is that of our class rep, Ms. Kuroda Naoko.

　Somehow, she always looks nervous. It's been half a month since I entered this school, but I still haven't even talked to her.

"Ah, Kuroda-san, good-bye." Yuuri turns to her with an innocent smile.

"It isn't goodbye. What were you talking about just now?"

　Ms. Kuroda seems to be in a bad mood.

　But we didn't insult you or anything.

　Then I replied, "We're going to tell ghost stories today. That's what we were talking about."

　Keiko poked me.

　I feel Ms. Kuroda's murderous intent.

　What's with her?

　At exactly that moment, Shibuya shows his face from the door.

"Is Taniyama-san here?"

　Ms. Kuroda turns to his direction.

"What year are you?　What are you doing here?"

"Ah, I had an arrangement with these girls..."

"Arrangement?　About the ghost stories?"

"That's right...?"

　Hearing Shibuya's answer, Ms. Kuroda turns at us without fail.

"Didn't I tell you to stop doing this?!"

...Ah?　What's with this girl?

　She angled her eyes.

"No wonder I've been having headaches since this morning."

"Ha-a?"

　I incline my head doubtfully. What is she talking about?

"Taniyama-san, I am sensitive to spirits. I have headaches when a lot of them gather. I am having headaches today. Spirits have definitely gathered here."

"……Ha-a……"

"Didn't you know?　When you tell ghost stories spirits gather. These are mainly low-level spirits. But even if they are low-level ones, when a lot of them gather they attract stronger spirits. You will be in trouble if that happens."

"..Haa..."

　……WHAT'S WITH THIS GIRL?

"So you shouldn't think of telling ghost stories as 'fun'."

　Then she turns to Shibuya.

"It would be quite troublesome if senpai did it too. I'd have to do an exorcism," Ms. Kuroda says that with a thoughtful expression.

　Shibuya shrugs his shoulders.

"Isn't it just your imagination?"

"That's why people who can't sense spirits are annoying." Her tone is persistently intense.

　Shibuya looks at her with a strong intent.

"You, if you really can sense them then do you sense something from the old school building?"

"Old school building?　Ah, it seems spirits of those who died during the war are gathering there." Ms. Kuroda says quickly.

"Died during the war……?"

"Right. I often see a man's shadow looking at me from the windows and it looks like a man from the war"

"Hee, which war?"

"Of course, the World War II. During the war there was a hospital on that place. The spirits of the dead nurses can be seen there. It had been air-raided once. Therefore a lot of injured spirits can be seen too"

"Awesome."

　Shibuya says with a sarcastic smile.

"I didn't know this was a hospital during the war. I heard that this school was here since pre-war days. And before that there was a medical faculty, wasn't there?"

　……A really hard personality……

　Ms. Kuroda bends her mouth. Then her face gets red.

"I woudn't know such a thing. Anyway, I've seen them. A person unable to sense them wouldn't understand."

　Ms. Kuroda doesn't give up until the end.

"The school principal is bothered that the ex-building's demolition failed and was complaining.

　Are you here to exorcise it?"

"...it isn't so simple。We'll do it when possible."

"I see.", 　Shibuya responds coldly, and turns to us.

"Since here is no good, let's go elsewhere?"

"It's still such a thing!"

　Ms. Kuroda snaps at Shibuya with incredible force.

　But Shibuya completely unconcerned comes to us making Keiko and the others restless again.

"Let's……"

　This extremely timid voice is Yuuri's.

"Let's put it off for today?"

"I agree...I'm not in the mood for it."

　Keiko loses her enthusiasm too.

　What's happening? No one is even looking at him, they will miss a chance for intimate experience with their cool senpai.

　But still Michiru says, "...Shibuya-senpai, sorry. After all..."

"I see." Shibuya nods in assent. "Then some other time."

　Saying that, he raises his hand. Looking at the seemingly-pleased Ms. Kuroda he says, "You are satisfied too, right?"

"...What are you talking about?"

"It's okay if you don't know. ――Taniyama-san, please." Shibuya invites me.

　Keiko and the others throw a surprised glance at me.

"What is it?"

"Do you have a spare minute?" He says with a smile on his face. Keiko and company cannot notice his negative expression. My back is being watched reproachfully while leaving the room.

=== 3 ===

"Who's that girl?" Shibuya asks me while walking in a brisk step before me, where is he taking me I wonder.

"I don't know. Today was the first time I spoked with her. She seems suspicious to me for some reason."

"Yeah. Is she really a medium?" He asked with a thoughtful expression.

"Well, she said it herself, didn't she? By the way, is the person from this morning alright?"

"About that." Shibuya turns to face me with his cold, indifferent expression. "He sprained his left ankle. It is apparently in very bad condition, so he won't be able to stand for a while."

"……Oh……I'm really sorry……" I say this, but still I wonder if I really should be apologizing to him. "Well……is he an acquaintance of yours?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" Shibuya glances at me with ridicule in his eyes.

"What kind of acquaintance?" I ask.

　He was giving me a strange feeling. That guy from the morning was over the hill no matter how you look at him. That same person was talking to his partner, the seventeen-year-old Shibuya, in a polite manner, while on the opposite side Shibuya was always talking in an excessively rude way. Isn't this a reversal?

　Shibuya replies with his peaceful voice in a casual manner.

"Assistant."

　Oh. What an arrogant assistant this is. Would you normally talk to your master in such a rude tone?

"Your boss seems to have a rather strict personality." I say this with a grain of sarcasm. I don't know if it was a sprained ankle or a broken bone, but I had already relieved myself from that responsibility by lending him a hand. "But it wasn't only me who was responsible for your master's injury. He was the one who surprised me--"

"It's the opposite."

The opposite? What is? I didn't surprise him for sure.

Shibuya speaks curtly--"I am the boss. He is the assistant."

　Eh!?

　EEEEHH?!

　……What the heck? This is a serious matter.

　A seventeen year-old using an adult for his assistant?　What in the world is this guy?

　I stare at Shibuya with an "are you serious" expression.

　He looks at me with all his pale glory.

"My assistant being unable to move is troubling. Don't you think you have a responsibility to take on, Taniyama-san?"

"Hey, don't joke around! Just to make things clear, I'm a victim too. Not only was I startled to death, but I was late for school."

All the world's cold is gathered inside his eyes.

"He was hurt. And how are you?"

"...That is... I'm pretty lively."

"Moreover, the camera was broken."

Ah, that video camera. Now that I think about it, it fell really badly. And it's a fragile precision instrument...

"Lin...I mean, my assistant, tried to prevent you from touching it, which lead to our current situation."

"That is……really……" A really bad situation. That was inevitable. It wasn't my fault. Even if I say so, it doesn't feel like he'll understand.

"I would have liked for you to pay compensation for the camera, but……"

Compensation!?　Are you joking!

"It isn't like I broke it intentionally!"

"Didn't they teach you not to touch other people's stuff without permission?"

……But……I felt like "why in the world is there a video camera in such a place"..

"And, how much is the compensation……?"

What Shibuya estimated was an unbelievable sum of money. Such a great cost that only exists in dreams.

"Cut it out with the jokes!　Why is that video camera so expensive?!　This can't possibly be true!"

"That video camera was a custom-made, produced in Germany. Would you like to see the certificate?"

Foreign order. Custom-made, at that.

My eyes went black.

What am I going to do?

Shibuya said, "If you don't like this..."

……What?　I can apologize for not being able to pay!

"Would you mind taking the place of my assistant?"

"By this……You mean I'll be working as your assistant?"

"Exactly."

"I'll do it."

I'll do it, be it an assistant's job or a maid's job.

Shibuya nods his head in agreement.

At the same time I asked him a sudden question.

"By the way、what kind of work are you doing, Shibuya-san?"

Second-year, high school student. 17 year-old student, has an assistant, using an incredibly expensive camera. What the hell is he doing?

"Ghost Hunt."

"Haa!?"

"Or in other words、ghost extermination. We've come here to investigate the old school building by the request of the principle. We are called 'Shibuya Psychic Research'."

"Pusai..kkiku... risaachi?"

"Haven't you taken any English lessons?"

I have. Well, excuse me. For being bad at English.

"A psychic phenomenon investigation service. And I am the head of it."

　Wha……Whaat.

　Head, this fellow, with the social standing of a 17 year-old!

　Not only that, but what...?　Investigation of the old school building?　Psychic phenomenon investigation service!?

　This is a joke, right!?

<noinclude>
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| Return to [[Ghost Hunt|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Ghost Hunt:Volume1 Chapter2|Next Section]]
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</noinclude>

Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 1

2012-08-16T20:07:10Z

Krossrd: /* 1 - A Sleepless Night */

== 1 - A Sleepless Night ==
 
001 - ♥01

As I couldn't sleep, I decided to take a walk outside.

The history of the Chitanda clan can be traced back to the beginning of the Edo period.

The large fields in the north of Kamiyama City used to be a farm village. As the leaders of the village, the Chitanda clan has maintained, farmed and rented out the land around here. As representatives of the village, they were charged with negotiating the taxes with the feudal lords as well as acting as the local magistrates. They were also involved in projects for improving farming products. And of course, they would represent the village and take part in the annual festivals in spring and autumn.

The land here isn't trully blessed by nature. Though the soil is rich, the area is vulnerable to typhoons as well as blizzards. After all, this land wasn't really well irrigated until irrigation works were carried out during the Edo period. Just a minor change in the climate would result in crop failure, so it was natural for the previous farmers to fear and worship the gods.

As people of prestigious wealth, the Chitanda clan would represent the mortals in carrying out the rituals during the festivals. As they would be offering their wealth to the gods in the shrine on behalf of everyone else, before the laying of the crops and after harvest, as well as during Obon and New Year, they would go around collecting food and drink from the village folk. It would seem that this was considered a form of payment in lieu of money for renting land from the Chitanda clan. In turn, the leasing of land would form the basis of their wealth.

After the war, as part of the land reforms, the Chitanda clan, like all other large landowners, were compelled to sell most of the land they held to the government. Yet, Chitanda Shounosuke, the leader of the clan then, saw this as an opportunity to use the money from the land sales to modernize the farming equipment as quickly as possible, and profit from the new farming techniques. As such, Shounosuke was able to slowly buy back the land that was sold off, and by the time my father became head of the clan, the Chitandas had reclaimed nearly half of what was once their land, which was considered to be quite large during the late Showa period.

This may sound like me boasting, but Chitanda Shounosuke was not simply a man with business acumen, he was also a trustworthy man, as well as my grandfather. Though as he died early on, I do not remember much of him.

Anyway, the Chitanda clan had managed to weather the chaos during and after the war and maintained their status. As a result, they are still in charge of representing the local community during the festivals.

To begin with, contrary to what Fukube-san had said, the Chitanda clan aren't exactly so rich as to tower above everyone else. As a result, the annual festivities were reduced from four times a year to just twice, during spring and autumn, and the symbolic "payment" these days was merely a bottle of wine. As such, the ritual was merely an excuse for everyone to gather and have a feast. Though as I can't drink, I can't take part in the feast myself.

The spring and autumn festivals would take place in a small shrine worshiping the "village god", which was a minor deity. There would be the usual rituals of a lion dance and carrying of the mikoshi <ref>A small, portable Shinto shrine - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoshi Wikipedia]</ref>. A person from the Chitanda clan would act as representative for the shrine pilgrims and pray for a peaceful year during the spring festival, as well as give thanks during the autumn festival.

And I too have been participating in such a festival ever since I was old enough to remember. I often get asked by my friends living nearby as well as visitors to the shrine as to what it is that I do during such a ritual, though I didn't exactly have to do much. There wasn't much to notice besides having to pay attention not to make many sounds until the end of the praying ceremony. So it's just the usual clapping your hands during a prayer.

As for me, I'm not a particularly religious person. To some degree, I'm not too different from my schoolmates. Maybe it has something to do with my experience in such festivals. Though it may be bothersome, whenever I visit a shrine, I make it a habit to hide what I'm wishing. I'm not sure whether this meant I had faith in the gods, or whether this is just my systematic way of calming myself whenever I'm feeling insecure. From time to time, I feel curious about it, but I have never found an answer.

Recently, my wish had been granted during the high school entrance exams. It had also been granted during the "Hyouka Incident", as it was named by Fukube-san.

And once again, tonight I find myself heading towards the shrine.

The Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival begins tomorrow. And for our Classics Club, which is just one of the many illustrious arts-based clubs in Kamiyama High School, a troubling situation awaits us, and we can find no solution to it. Though we intend to give it our best... it would seem we still need luck on our side.

After placing a 100 yen coin into the offering box within the confines of the moon-lit shrine, I clapped my hands together and closed my eyes as my thoughts for my friends in the Classics Club appeared.

Ibara Mayaka-san, Fukube Satoshi-san, Oreki Houtarou-san.

I wonder if Mayaka-san is sleeping well tonight?

Right now, she must be blaming herself for the predicament the Classics Club has found itself in. But that was not the case. Compared to Mayaka-san, I was totally of no help. If only I had been able to give my all and help out with her work, we could have avoided this altogether. So I too must bear some of the responsibility.

I wonder if Fukube-san is sleeping well tonight?

Sometimes I do suspect whether Fukube-san's hedonistic-like behaviour comes from the bottom of his heart. At the very least, he sure wasn't acting selfishly, as there's no way I could imagine him just laughing away at Mayaka-san's pain.

I wonder if Oreki-san is sleeping well tonight?

...He probably is sleeping well. If he wasn't, I would be very worried.

From time to time, I often find Oreki-san being able to sharply observe things that are out of the ordinary. I might even say that I was moved by it. But most of the time Oreki-san, how should I put it, tends to be slow in getting things done. So it's hard to determine whether he's a reliable person or not.

I prayed for everyone's well-being.

I prayed for luck to befall us for the next three days. Please let us overcome this "mountain".

As I opened my eyes, I still felt rather uneasy about it, so I took out another 50 yen from my purse.

002 - ♣01

As I couldn't sleep, I took out the pamphlet from underneath my pillow.

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #fefefe; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
|'''Participating Club Comments (By Order of Registration):''' 
'''Kendo Club''' Exhibition Match: Kamiyama High School vs Kamiyama Industrial High. Highlights include the showdown between the prefecture's ace captains. 
'''Breakdancing Club''' Leave the Opening Ceremony to us. The quality of our new members is quite high, so please look forward to it. 
'''Social Dance Club''' Floor dancing in the Gymnasium on Day 2 at 3pm. All are welcome. 
'''Chorus Club''' Performing in the Gymnasium on Day 2 starting at 10am. Seeking new recruits. (lol) 
'''Drama Club''' Original play on Day 3 at 9am, featuring improvised script from the Prefectural Competition version. 
'''Detective Fiction Study Club''' Mystery Lunch on Day 1 at 11:30am. 
'''Fashion Study Club''' Fashion show at the Fashion Room every day from 1am to 2pm. Recruiting models. 
'''Manga Study Club''' Selling anthology in Preparation Room No. 1. Review of 100 manga, old and new. Do come visit. 
'''Chemistry Club''' Behold the power of sodium. Dangerous, so we will not be responsible for injuries caused. Chemistry Room. 
'''Class 2-F''' Movie ''The Blind Spot of 10,000 People''. Can you guess its surprise ending? Airing schedules on separate page. 
'''Cheering Club and Cheerleading Club''' Combined performance on the School Grounds on Day 1 at 2pm. 
'''Tea Ceremony Club''' The traditional Kanya Festival open air tea ceremony will be held as usual at Shiroyama Park! 
'''Art Club''' Prefectural Art Exhibition winner ''The Eulogy of Blue'' now on display in the Art Room. Please do come have a look! 
'''Marching Band''' Floor Drill in the Gymnasium on Day 3 at 2pm. 
'''Ink Painting Club''' Exhibition held together with the Art Club in the rt Room. 
'''Charms Association''' In the Class 2-E classroom. We do all sorts of charms. Freebies available! 
'''Literature Club''' Anthology ''Kodama'' on sale in Preparation Room No. 3. 200yen per volume. 
'''Hyakunin Isshu Club<ref>A traditional Japanese style of poetry anthology of 100 waka poems where each contributor writes one poem - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyakunin_Isshu Wikipedia]</ref>''' P, please...... Won't anyone play with us...... 
'''Occult Studies Club''' Exhibition in the Class 1-F classroom. This is serious research, so please think twice if you're merely coming out of interest. 
'''Quiz Study Club''' Quiz Contest on the School Grounds on Day 1 at 1pm. We await your participation. Prizes available. 
'''Astronomy Club''' The Kanya Festival is only held during the daytime, man. We can't see no stars, man. So we ended up doing models of the Solar System instead. 
'''Class 1-C''' Theatrical play ''Happy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen'' on the Gymnasium Stage on Day 1 at 2pm. 
'''Broadcast Club''' Introducing the latest happenings in the Kanya Festival every day from 12:30pm via the school's PA broadcast. You'll have to hear it even if you don't want to. 
'''Abacus Club''' Featuring speed abacus calculations as seen on TV in Preparation Room No. 4, Special Block. 
'''Debate Club''' English debate competition from Day 1, 11am to Day 3, 2pm in the Class 3-B classroom. 
'''Koto Club<ref>A traditional Japanese string instrument - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28instrument%29 Wikipedia]</ref>''' Recital performances held twice every morning and once every afternoon. More detailed schedules posted in front of the Japanese-style Room. 
'''Rakugo Study Club<ref>A traditional Japanese storytelling style where the storyteller sits seiza style on the stage with a paper fan and tells a story that is usually long and comical - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakugo Wikipedia]</ref>''' Performance on the Stage from Day 1 at 9am. Just when we thought we were the first to perform, the Breakdancing Club had... (T_T) 
'''Calligraphy Club''' Exhibition in the Calligraphy Room. 
'''Kado Club<ref>Japanese flower arranging - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikebana Wikipedia]</ref>''' Exhibition in the 1st floor corridor. Please stop by to have a look...... 
'''Biology Club''' Model of natural habitat of Kamiyama. As a self-made diorama, this is a bit too grandiose that people can't tell which club it came from. 
'''Shogi Club''' Kanya Cup tournament. Waiting time per player is 30 minutes. Grand prizes await. In Class 1-G. 
'''Miniature Club''' Exhibition in the Physics Lecture Room. Featuring the battleship USS Enterprise. We also sell cute replicas. 
'''Film Studies Club''' Self-made movie ''Completion''. In the Audio-Visual Room. Schedules on separate page. 
'''Photography Club''' Exhibition in Class 3-G classroom. Also featuring demonstration of old-fashioned flash-powder photography. 
'''Movie Study Club''' Showing of movie ''Cinema Paradiso''<ref>An Italian film - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Paradiso Wikipedia]</ref> (1989 Italy) in the Audio-Visual Room. 
'''Sci-Fi Studies Club''' Featuring last year's Seiun Award<ref>An award for the best sci-fi literature published in the preceding year - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiun_Award Wikipedia]</ref> Best Media Winner in the Audio-Visual Room. Title is... 
'''Physics Club''' We made a robot. A bipedal one. Though he can only push a baby pram. 
'''Global Act Club''' Exhibition in Class 3-E classroom. Please come visit. 
'''History Club''' Reconstruction of model of Kamaiyama Castle, aka "Shiroyama" (Castle Hill). Come marvel at its defense and discover how it ultimately fell. 
'''Handicraft Club''' Featuring the Mandala carpet. Though this may come from me, it does seem to emit some sort of divine ambiance. 
'''Confectionery Studies Club''' We will be selling confectionery "within the confines of the school rules concerning club activities" in the home economics room. Please do come! 
'''Light Music Club''' Though we're more of a band, this time we'll be registering as the Light Music Club. All day in the Martial Arts Dojo. 
'''Go Club''' Beginners Seminar in Preparation Room No. 2. There will of course be tutorial matches as well. 
'''A Capella Club''' Stationed at Class 3-C. Will be performing in the School Courtyard on Day 1 at 11am. Please come listen! 
'''Wall Newspaper Club''' Special Edition published every two hours during Kanya Festival. Featuring the latest and hottest topics being discussed. 
'''The Cooking Club'''  Cooking battle "Wild Fire" on the School Grounds on Day 2 at 11am! Seeking participants. 
'''Gardening Club''' Cooking harvested sweet potatoes...... But this isn't gardening, it's farming! Are you sure this is okay, prez? 
'''Brass Band Club''' Performing a different song everyday from 1pm in the Gymnasium. 
'''Magic Club''' Stall at 2-D classroom. Stage performance Day 1 at 11:30am. Please look forward to it. 
'''Fortune Telling Association''' Next to the stairs on the 3rd floor. 
'''Classics Club''' Why is the Kami High Cultural Festival called the "Kanya Festival"? The answer is in our anthology ''Hyouka''. 200yen per volume in the Geology Lecture Room. 

'''Organizing Committee''' 
'''Kugayama Muneyoshi (Student Council President, Kanya Festival Executive Committee President)''' You guys are overdoing this. That's all I'll say. 
'''Yazaki Keita (Student Council Vice President)''' The Organizing Committee can be found in the Student Council Room. Do visit us if there's anything you wish to discuss. 
'''Shoukawa Harumi (Student Council Vice President)''' At last a job well done... I get that feeling a lot. Guys, let's see this through without regrets. 
'''Funabashi Masaharu (Cultural Committee President)''' On top of the Kanya Prize Awards, we'll be adding a Best Club Award this year. Compete with all you've got, young ones! 
'''Tanabe Jirou (General Committee President)''' We've prepared plenty of rubbish and recycle bins, but please make sure you put everything in the right bins.
|}

After reading them in one go, I placed them back on my pillow satisfactorily. On the cover of the pamphlet were big words in Gothic font that read "Kanya Festival Guide", and underneath it a smaller caption which read "The 42nd Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival". This was created by the Council General Committee, of which I, Fukube Satoshi, was a member.

By the way, besides being a member of the General Committee, I'm also a member of the dexterous Handicraft Club as well as the prestigious Classics Club. As to which club was the busiest for me... I guess it'd have to be the Classics Club.

When I was drafted by the Committee President into the making of the festival pamphlet, I thought it would have been a simple job of merely copying last year's pamphlet format. But on the contrary, it was a rather difficult task. Though it was hard work, it is quite interesting when one puts in the effort to work on it.

As something of a reward, one of the privileges of dealing with such a difficult task was that I got to decide what materials to use, which was pretty interesting to say the least. As a result, I decided to play a little prank with the last section of this pamphlet, "Participating Club Comments".

For last year's pamphlet, the clubs were ordered according to the Japanese hiragana spelling, but I decided to change it into the order in which the clubs registered with us. When I made the proposal to the Committee President, saying that "For an official guidebook, it's not really fair that the A Capella Club always gets to start every year in such a conspicuous starting position", my motive was quite simple, really. At the very least, I would arrange to have the comments of one of my clubs, the Classics Club, placed in a noticeable position. Though the Committee President was doubtful to begin with, he soon agreed and the motion was passed unanimously. Under the official pretext of "registration order", the Kendo Club was the first to register, so there was no way I could move that from the starting position. But in turn, I get to mix up the order at the end. After all, it's much more noticeable if you're standing out "right in the middle".

Well, it's not exactly a grand PR effort. So rather than being pleased for advertising for the Classics Club, I was more pleased at my superiority in making such minor manipulation of the materials.

And so, to quote from Vice President Shoukawa, "At last a job well done". Besides work in the General Committee, work in the Handicraft Club was tough too. Just who was it that proposed making a Mandala carpet to begin with? Though as it was enjoyable, I guess I can't complain too much, but it was tiring for the eyes, sewing that stuff. With so much time spent on the General Committee and the Handicraft Club, my time with the Classics Club was brief in contrast. Conclusions cannot be made from databases alone, after all. With so little time left, I do wonder sometimes how on earth I wrote such an interesting essay for the anthology.

I Wonder where I should go tomorrow. At any rate, the Quiz Contest is a must. As it's held by the Quiz Study Club, their members can't participate in the competition, so that's got my attention. As for Day 2, the Cooking Contest looked quite interesting. I've decided on making a seafood fried rice dish, as I won't lose to anyone in that department.

I'm more worried about Mayaka being depressed about it. Well, she's a strong girl. Objectively speaking, her responsibility was relatively light. Though Chitanda-san may be quite worried, I'm pretty optimistic about it. We may not be able to do anything now, but somehow we'll get by.

Oh, I'm so looking forward to this Cultural Festival. And thus, the Classics Club will attempt to claw back from the jaws of failure.

How fantastic to have to face such a challenge which we have to climb through!

Anyway, I'd better get some sleep and prepare for tomorrow. It would be a serious blunder for Fukube Satoshi if he were to run out of energy for such an event.

003 - ♠01

As the owls outside kept on hooting, I ended up not feeling sleepy at all.

I was thinking about whether I should read a book, but I couldn't find anything that interested me on the bookshelf. So I went down to the living room, picking up the remote control to see what was on TV, but there wasn't anything interesting on. With no other choice left, I went to the dust-covered desktop PC in the corner of the room and turned it on.

This PC used to belong to my sis. Now it's become the Oreki family's common web hub. In practice I'm the only one that ever uses it, even though I'm not really that interested in spending time on the net. This machine was no old model, and was equipped with the ability to do calculations and store memory that I could never emulate, yet all I ever used it for was to check the web once or twice a week for any news. In other words, it was quite a pitiful machine.

The search engine website popped up. At first I thought of clicking on the news... but I changed my mind and entered "Kamiyama High School" in the search box. A number of links appeared, and I duly entered my school's website. This wasn't the first time I've visited the site, as besides the usual stuff about the origins of the school and description of its activities, it's also got a chatroom for current students, which was where I went before.

As for what I was looking for, it was of course the Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival. There's bound to be something about it found on the net. And as I expected, on the top of the website was a banner written in large typeface font "1 Day Remaining till Kanya Festival". At the side of the screen was an animation of a pair of male and female Kamiyama High students in uniform carrying stuff around. Other stuff on the page included the festival schedule, participating groups, traffic access, notice to visitors, and web store.

I have no idea how many groups have participated, but the site sure listed quite a lot. The page was full of photos, illustrations and handmade maps with loads of information on them, making navigation pretty easy. After seeing all of these in one glance, I decided to have a look at my own club, the Classics Club, but it was at this moment that the connection went off. I don't know where the problem came from, but from time to time, this PC just seems to have quite an unstable connection. Ah well, as I decided to go back to sleep, I heard someone coming down the stairs. As the footsteps were quite soft, I knew it was my sis right away. As it's quite bothersome to have to squeeze past each other in a narrow staircase, I decided to sit on the chair and wait for her to come down.

The footsteps entered the kitchen nearby, and the fridge door could be heard being opened, as well as the sound of glasses being taken out.

As I was about to make my way to my room, a voice called out, "Houtarou,"

My guess of who the footsteps belonged to was spot on. It was my sister's voice, which sounded half asleep.

"You have a Cultural Festival tomorrow, right?"

I turned my face towards the kitchen.

"Yeah."

"Better get to sleep soon."

"Wha?"

I made an idiotic exclamation. I sure didn't want to have her tell me to go to sleep the same way she would nag at me about eating with my mouth closed or remind to bring my tissues when I go out. Though I didn't want to say it out loud, because if I did, it would just lead to more trouble.

For some reason, she didn't seem to care as she poured something into her glass and drank it in one gulp and said, "...You seem to be having some problem anyway."

I didn't answer.

Once again, she poured a bit more of what she was drinking into her glass.

"I can tell what you're thinking just from your reaction. Anyway, the Classics Club is bound to encounter some trouble during the Cultural Festival. Think of it as something of a tradition."

Hmph, a curse huh?

"You sure have entered some troublesome club, really."

"Really?"

I so felt like retorting her right away, as she was the one who asked me to enter the Classics Club in the first place.

Upon enrolling in Kamiyama High School this year, I received a request from my sis, who was an alumnus of the Classics Club, to keep the club alive even if it meant just filling my name in. I originally expected to fully enjoy being the sole member of a club that does nothing, but it was not to be, as a girl called Chitanda joined the Classics Club for a purpose. Upon solving that "purpose" of hers, the Classics Club had ended up with four members. That chain of bothersome events was named the "Hyouka Incident" by Satoshi, and I ended up having to write an anthology essay about it.

By the way, I still don't know what the Classics Club does exactly. Normally one would expect a club called the Classics Club to involve the study of classic literature, but none of its current members seem to be that sort of people. As we have no seniors to tell us what kind of club it used to be, we've somehow lost our raison d'être. But personally speaking, I'm thankful it's ended up that way.

So, besides filling in the members' names, in order for a club to continue its existence, club activities must be held. As one of the officially recognized school clubs, we have a meagre club activity budget allocated to us for the purpose of "Anthology Compilation". And making use of these funds, we ended up publishing the essay anthology ''Hyouka''. There were many twists and turns along the way, but we've finally completed it.

And we will be selling them during the Cultural Festival, which starts tomorrow.

...Well, it was here that we encountered some problem. So my sis was totally spot on when she said "You seem to be having some problem anyway."

By the way, since it's my sis, she's bound to know what kind of activities the Classics Club is involved in. Yet lately she's been away from the country until just a while ago. By the time she returned, it didn't really matter anymore whether I asked her what kind of club the Classics Club was.

Anyway, subjectively speaking, I didn't particularly hate this club that I had joined. So instead of retorting to my sis, I said, "If there is such a cursed tradition, why don't you give me some charm or something, sis?"

"Are you trying to extort me?"

After being speechless for a while, I felt something flying towards me from behind. Just when I thought was she really handing some sort of charm to me, the thing I caught didn't have anything divine about it. It was a fountain pen. Though it wasn't divine, it sure had style, being deep black in colour with a dull silver lining along its sides. It's probably not cheap.

"You can take that."

"...Should I say thanks?"

"By the way, it's out of ink, and the nib's broken."

Stop throwing garbage around! After hearing her place something back in the fridge, her footsteps left the kitchen and went into the corridor, where she said, "...I'll come over to visit if I have time!"

"No, don't," I replied immediately.

Even if we're going to have loads of cases, having her come would just make things unbearable. I heard no reply from her as she walked up the stairs.

I lay on my bed.

Since I was waiting to fall asleep, I wasn't particularly thinking anything. Before long I closed my eyes and sighed deeply.

Today, or to be more precise, yesterday, we wasted a whole day preparing for the Cultural Festival. Currently the Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival officially spans four days, but as the first day was basically preparations, it was really only open for three days. The real thing starts tomorrow.

Satoshi seemed intent on having fun. That was to be expected, so it's not surprising. However, "enjoying the Cultural Festival" was definitely not something that "I have to do". I would have simply taken a nap in some corner of the school until the whole thing was over. So, even though I won't say something uncooperative like "This Cultural Festival business is boring", I would still stay true to my creed and utter my motto: "If I don't have to do it, I won't. If I have to do it, make it quick". I did not participate much anyway.

To be frank, even if I did nothing, it would still be counted as me having "participated". Since all we'll be doing is sitting there all day and selling the anthologies which we worked so hard writing. That was the original plan anyway.

Naturally, when the problem arose, we did not blame anyone. If there was someone to blame, then all of us were to blame. So as it's partly my fault, in order to cover my own ass, it became something that "I have to do".

The problem was, would I be able to "do it quickly"?

That said, even if the problem was not solved, it could be said that it was mere small potatoes. It was not something that must be undone. So Chitanda's worrying too much about this. She ought to think more like a happy energy-saver.

Neither pessimistic nor optimistic, like ''Que Sera, Sera'', I was calmly facing come what may as I waited to fall asleep.

004 - ♦01

I woke up in the middle of the night and got to thinking.

Oreki may have guessed incorrectly, but I'm not a perfectionist. While failure is to be expected if one does not prepare or research enough, but failure also occurs even when one has made every preparation possible. So while it's possible for other people to fail, naturally it's also possible for me to fail as well. So if I am to forgive others for their errors, I shouldn't be so unforgiving to myself. Yet I'm feeling angry. Even if everyone has forgiven me, sometimes I can't forgive myself. I can do nothing but be angry at my own failure. But why?

A while ago, Fuku-chan told me this: "Well, Mayaka, if you think calmly about it, it's no big matter. So you shouldn't worry too much."

"I'm not worrying. And it's not like I want to hear such common reasoning."

Fuku-chan crossed his arms and looked down while grunting deeply. Even though he was doing it on purpose, I didn't dislike that part of him.

"...From how I see it, I don't think you've ever been this angry regardless of whether you succeeded or failed, as well as whether you're a perfectionist or not."

"Really?"

Feeling interested, I stretched myself forward and asked, "Then why am I angry?"

"It's hard for me to explain. Though I may have a rich vocabulary, my knowledge of useful words is rather limited."

"So you know a lot of useless terms?"

"Well, there's 'tank desant' <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_desant Tank desant - Wikipedia]</ref> and 'dumb luck'... No, that's not the point. For example, you know Houtarou's 'energy-saving' creed, right?"

I nodded honestly.

"That's what he calls it anyway. When Oreki is doing something, it's hard to tell whether he's doing it to 'save energy'."

"Even though you've known him for so long?"

"As if I would observe him all the time."

Fuku-chan smiled bitterly.

"Anyway, leaving Houtarou aside, in some way, if that creed were applied to you, then you're neither 'correct' nor 'perfect'. Now I'm not saying this to incur your wrath, as I mean something else altogether."

So that's what he's going on about, I thought to myself. To begin with, I never liked conversations involving myself, and so the conversation shifted to something else altogether.

Anyway, what's important now is that I could not sleep since I'm still feeling quite pissed off. Seriously, even though I've double-checked so many times, how on earth could I have neglected something so basic? And why didn't I notice the error being made after it had happened?

What was even more infuriating was that I would be unable to help out in rectifying the mistake come the Cultural Festival, as there was no way I could leave my activities with the Manga Study Club aside. Even though Fuku-chan did say "It's not really a big mistake, so don't think too much about it."

Argh, this pisses me off. I'm so angry at my own carelessness.

But, as infuriating as it may sound, Oreki was absolutely right when he said, in that buoyant manner of his, while avoiding my gaze when we were alone, "This isn't something you should fuss over. If you keep fussing over it, then not only Satoshi, but even Chitanda will have to fuss over it for you, right?"

It was just as he had put it. Even though I was the one being careless, when Chi-chan came, her face went pale as though it were her own responsibility. At the very least, I don't want to see Chi-chan spend the entire Cultural Festival with such a face.

So, for just a little bit, I tried to forgive myself. Try as I may, upon being reminded of that scene, I just couldn't calm myself down!

Guess I have no choice.

I must be so personally involved with the Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival that I've become too stressed out. Yet it was not good for me to lose sleep like this.

I got out of my futon and took out the bottle of sleeping pills from the first aid box, though I didn't really like taking those.

I took out one pill and cut it in half, and swallowed that piece of white medicine.

==Translator's notes and references==

<references />

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Hyouka:Volume 2 Afterword|Volume 2: Afterword]]
| Return to [[Hyouka|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 2|2 - The Cases That Keep Piling Up]]|-
|}
</noinclude>