Editing Kaze no Stigma:Volume2 Chapter 3 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

Late night....

“Dammit! I'm not sure if I'll make it in time.”

A teenager rushed towards the station in order to catch the last train.

Takahashi Shuuji was a 20 year-old university student.

As a formal participant of the Kendo club, his slender-seeming body was actually very well trained&#x2014;there was no fat on it at all.

His reflexes were benumbed due to an excessive intake of alcohol. Even so, the steps he took on the brick floor did not seem so disordered.

“...That’s weird.”

Shuuji suddenly had a strange feeling. He stopped in his tracks to look around him.

He found nothing suspicious&#x2014;just a very normal underground passage that stretched a long way.

But&#x2014;

“Hey... Why is there no one here?”

Besides him, not a single soul could be seen in the area.

This was the underground passage to the turnstiles. Even with it past midnight&#x2014;the time when the last train was about to reach the station&#x2014;it was impossible that there was nobody here at all.

“Rea&#x2014; Really, anything can happen.”

Shuuji found some excuse to convince himself and tried to suppress the uneasiness in his heart.

“I'm... I'm going to miss the train at this rate...”

Shuuji began to walk quickly with a loud and clear ''ta! ta! ta!'' sound from his footsteps, . After a while it became a jog&#x2014;and in the end he ran at full speed, as if he was flying.

''Ta! Ta! Ta!''

The sound made by the soles of his leather shoes knocking against the brick floor echoed throughout the entire vacant underground passage. Yet, no matter how long he continued to walk, there was no sign of the turnstiles before him.

“Wha&#x2014;? What the hell!? It shouldn't be this long at all!”

The underground passage seemed to stretch on endlessly. Surrounded by store windows with the metal shutters pulled down at the sides, Shuuji gradually lost track of where he was.

He turned back to check on the way he came.

“&#x2014;Eek!”

Shuuji gasped. Before him was a long tunnel that led to who knows where. The stairs that led to the surface could no longer be seen.

“&#x2014;!”

He changed his direction once more and continued in the direction in which he had first been going. The scene reflected in his eyes made Shuuji stare, his eyes wide open.

The same as the way behind him&#x2014;there was only one tunnel that stretched until it vanished as far as he can see. Of course, there were no stairs or crossroads there either.

Shuuji was stranded in the middle of a tunnel that stretched endlessly&#x2014;alone.

“What...? What's going on...?”

Cold sweat broke out from his face. Within the eyeballs that spun continuously, his pupils slowly dilated.

''“What the hell is this about?!”''

No one replied to his scream. His cry reverberated between the walls and ceiling and got sent back into Shuuji’s ears as a reverberating echo.

The teenager stumbled onto the floor, staring blankly at the brick with half mad, half sane eyes.

“...Ah?”

Suddenly, his eyes focused on one point&#x2014;something was seeping through the gaps between the bricks on the floor.

“What...?”

It was a semi-transparent substance with a glue-like texture. It was originally the size of a ping-pong ball, then, it grew to the size of a baseball in a moment, and, after not too long, it was the size of a soccer ball.

The glue-like substance shone with a rainbow-colored glow. If this thing was seen in a photo, maybe it would give a clear, lustrous, and refreshing feeling.

But, the actual substance floating before his eyes could only be described as ugly. It was just like a tumor, vomit, or a filthy gooey piece of the two condensed to the maximum limit.

Instinctively, Shuuji hurriedly jumped backwards, reacting to his disgust. He jumped with force, landing two meters behind where he was, and the sound of his steps spreads across the entire underground passage.

''Squeelch.''

"&#x2014;!?”

He looked down at his feet in shock. There&#x2014;! No, as far as he can see, all of the brick was covered with the filthy pieces of goo.

“WA&#x2014;! WAHHHH!”

The globules that were in contact from under his feet slowly latched onto Shuuji’s body. Even though he attempted to peel the gooey things off, he couldn't; they were tougher than expected, firmly attaching themselves onto his limbs.

“...Huh?”

All of a sudden, his surroundings darkened. His eyeballs almost popped out, when he looked up away from the area near his feet he was staring at.

Before his eyes&#x2014; At a distance so close he could touch it by stretching out his hand, a wall made from the globules appeared.

The scattered globules on the floor gathered around Shuuji, forming a semi-transparent, round bucket. Looking at the round bucket emitting a lustrous glow, it looked like a distorted pillar, like an avant-garde piece of art.

“...''Argh''... ''Ah''...”

Shuuji shook his head, unwilling to believe what was happening. In his mind, he tried hard to deny the existence of this gooey mass.

However, his wish was not fulfilled.

At that moment, the globules, which were stacked even higher than his body, collapsed on him all at once.

“&#x2014;!”

Shuuji was too scared to say anything as his whole body was completely wrapped within the blob.

Unable to withstand such a chilling experience, sending shivers down his spine, Shuuji's consciousness was consumed by darkness. 

And&#x2014; He never woke up again.

“The way you manipulated them left me speechless, but&#x2014;“

In the space where there was no one originally, a boy’s clear voice spoke up.

“Don’t you think you wasted too much time?”

A gentle female voice replied, “This is the first time; naturally I had to be more cautious.” 

“Hmm, maybe!”

''Ka-ta.'' The sound of one footstep could be heard. 

Who could say when they were there? Two shadows suddenly appeared in the abnormal space that trapped Shuuji.

There stood a seventeen or eighteen-year-old female with a boy about ten years old. The girl’s height exceeded that of the boy by about thirty centimeters&#x2014;but, as for the position of the head, the boy’s head was slightly higher.

The two looked at Shuuji, who was trapped in the globule, chatting calmly.

“But, if you use so much time like this, who knows when it will be completed? To fulfill your wish, more power must be gathered.”

Right before the two of them, Shuuji slowly became emaciated.

He was being consumed.

Was it his blood&#x2014;? No.

Was it his moisture content&#x2014;? That was wrong too.

Being surrounded by the blob, Shuuji aged rapidly. All the vital essence of the teenager’s whole body&#x2014; The radiance of life was being expropriated, his life that should last over half a century was used to its limit within a short period of a few minutes.

“I understand this very clearly! I will do it more cleanly and quickly next time!”

The girl raised her head to look at the boy, and used a determined tone to reply. As if to pacify the displeased girl, the boy gave a light smile.

“That's the way. You can do it.”

The short, neatly-cut golden hair waved lightly to follow his nodding motion.

Judging from the tone the two spoke in, it seemed the young boy was of a higher status.

Maybe his actual age was not as young as his appearance&#x2014;the emerald-green eyes that looked innocent and naïve at first sight instead seemed deep beyond comprehension.

In a clear melodious voice like a silver bell, the boy said solemnly:

“Because he who is right will receive Heaven’s protection.”

“...You mean this?”

Looking at the vital essence of the innocent teenager being continuously sucked dry by the blob, the girl laughed mockingly.

“You're saying that this monster is the same as you? ''Tenshi''-sama? That sounds awful.”

The boy had no wings. A faint radiance emitted from all over his body as he floated in the air. The beautiful angelic face of his showed a bitter smile.

“Needless to say monsters&#x2014;even devils&#x2014;cannot escape the grasp of God. Because the omnipotent God is capable of anything.”

The girl looked at the smiling angel (self-proclaimed) with puzzled eyes. However, she did not reject his extended hand.

“No matter what your reason may be, I'm very thankful that you lent me power. For mutual benefit, let us work together from now on!”

“&#x2014;One day, you will surely experience the love of God, too.”

Before the teenager gradually withering away, two hands filled with personal desires and hypocrisy were tightly clasped.