Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume9 Stage1

“Oh, ohh?”

Meinokawa Aoi stopped curiously poking at the contents of a small bait box to make an odd noise.

Something quite large had fallen into the water very nearby.

The cruiser rocked below her. Not even an experienced and battle-hardened(?) granny like her could do anything about this. She did not even have time to find something to grab onto. The silver-haired bikini girl fell to the deck, supported herself on all fours, and then realized something: what had happened to the bait box? Her question was soon answered by the box flipping upside-down and dumping its squirming contents right on her head.

They were not quite earthworms.

The ragworm and eunicid festival had begun.

“Gyaaaahhh!!!???”

The nearby seagulls fled from her scream.

The aquatic wrigglers were far more horrifying than their terrestrial brethren. A sticky feeling crawled all over her body. Aoi initially tried to get them off of her like she was brushing dust off of her clothes, but that was not enough and she felt the stickiness reaching her chest and hips. She concluded that the frilly extra cloth around her chest was getting in the way. She could never be sure if there was anywhere left for them to hide, so she resorted to scorched-earth tactics. Even though she was outside, she reached for the bow on her back, stuck her thumb below the elastic on the side of her hip, and gave a pleasant tug like she was pulling the pin from two grenades. With the rustling of cloth, she exposed every last centimeter of her body like it was a form of carpet bombing.

An odd light shined down on her.

“A-ahhh. Such freedom! I have never felt more liberated!!”

But this was no time to tremble in liberated ecstasy while bathing in the piercing sunshine below the blue August sky. Chunks of reinforced concrete larger than the cruiser were still falling from overhead and, even if she had gotten all of those creepy-crawlies off of her body, they were still all over the deck. Simply put, she was afraid of stepping on them with her bare feet. She felt a crawling sensation on her feet, so that childish granny abandoned her responsibility to clean up and fled into the cabin.

“Wahhhh, boy!! I can’t face them on my own!! Can you check to see if any of the bait got in my hair!?”

Had she not learned her lesson last time?

Kyousuke was still out of it, so when he saw Aoi in the nude, he silently picked her up, carried her to the bath, washed her silver hair, and then dove right back into the double bed. He was not even conscious of what he was doing. It was the same as a worried housewife cooking a fried egg without realizing it. It had nothing to do with what he wanted or did not want to do. He was running on autopilot.

It was an extreme case of summer heat fatigue.

“But this is fine. I only wanted to make sure none of the ragworms or eunicids got in my hair, so that worked perfectly. (mutter, mutter).

As a granny, she may not have known how to respond when someone treated her like a little girl. No, Kyousuke may have been treating her more like a large dog.

Another dull splash sounded outside.

A piece of rubble must have fallen nearby.

“Hey, boy. It sounds like there’s trouble afoot.”

“…”

“Soooomeoooone needs help!”

She shouted that in his ear while reaching behind her back to retie the black bikini top to regain her safety(?), but he remained face down in the bed.

After all, what was he supposed to do?

He had supposedly killed the White Queen at Houbi Village, but the Colorless Little Girl had been damaged, creating a new threat and increasing the world’s chaos by making the world’s people seek their own ruin.

Even Shigara Masami at Freedom Award 3000 had been taken in by the White Queen’s influence. She had ''gone along with'' the idea that a happy ending was good enough. She had succumbed to that beauty, sealed away the truth, and fled to the illusion of happiness without actually solving the fundamental problem. So what hope did anyone else have? Was this the end for the human race? Would they not even fight or risk their lives? Would they be left smiling as long as the White Queen stamped them with a label saying “you are happy”?

His eyes lazily turned toward his phone.

No missed calls.

When a summoner or vessel reached a certain number of Awards, they were erased from the memories and awareness of normal people. It was a simple rule. But could people’s hearts and the bonds that tied them together really be influenced so easily by those rules? By the Blood-Sign rules where the White Queen reigned supreme?

What did “help me” matter?

What did “Alice (with) Rabbit” matter?

No matter how much he hunkered down to desperately endure it all while waiting for an opening in the shrapnel-filled gale, the people around him would quickly crumble and what little he had saved up would vanish. All his efforts would go to waste. So wouldn’t it be easier to give up? Wasn’t it silly to keep fighting? He looked like an idiot continuing to struggle all on his own. White could be turned to black and vice-versa. What the hell was that? How was he supposed to protect the righteousness of a world with no core of truth!?

He heard a nasal snort.

Black bikini Meinokawa Aoi put her hands on her hips, tugged on the side strap of her bikini bottom to produce a nice snapping sound, and looked down at him.

“Human, people need to take breaks from time to time. You might look like you are simply rotting away, but if you find it meaningful, then do as you wish.”

“…”

“But do not forget: No summoner fights alone. Whether they are the strongest or the weakest, a summoner must rely on others. Even the Materials cover each other’s weaknesses with the power of numbers. The only one who can truly wield their power as an individual is the White Queen you so detest. If you reject all others and assume you alone are special, that is when you will lose everything.”

She did not seem interested in spending too much time on this. With a swish of her long silver hair, Meinokawa Aoi left the cabin.

Kyousuke still did not move.

So any change had to come from outside.

A quiet buzzing came from the bedside table. When he realized it was his phone vibrating, Kyousuke reached out his hand while still lying face down. He caught the mobile device when its own vibration caused it to slide off the table. Just like when he had washed Aoi’s hair, his hand was moving automatically based on his memories.

Opening the screen revealed it was a group message on social media.

The commotion was coming from directly above, so probably near his school. This was only an automated message warning all of the students to stay indoors. They had no idea who was where during summer break, so they had simply sent it to everyone.

(Is that all?)

That did not mean there was anything left for him in that school life.

Summoners with a certain number of Awards vanished from normal people’s awareness. Even the classmates he greeted on a daily basis and studied with in the classroom would forget all about him once he left their line of sight. Online relationships were entirely out of the question. This message had only reached him because it was mechanically sent to everyone at the school, but he could never receive individual one-on-one messages. They would never think of sending him a message and, even if he sent them one, they would only tilt their head at it. From their point of view, ''some unknown person'' was contacting them like they were friends.

It all came down to the rules.

The rules of the Blood-Sign System that lifted up and glorified the White Queen.

That was just how it worked.

People’s minds could be easily swayed and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Yes.

So it should have been.

“Ren-Bow// Hey, have you still not finished the roll call? I kinda want to get out of here!!”

He was simply registered as a part of the group and no one from the class community would respond if he posted. But then something odd happened.

“Don’t Call Me Librarian// Wait. Just once more.”

“Ren-Bow// How many times have you done it now!?”

“Don’t Call Me Librarian// How do I put this? Don’t you feel like we’re forgetting someone?”

“Don’t Call Me Librarian// Like the count is coming up short…”

(What?)

Kyousuke frowned.

Instead of simply having his body respond to the outside world on autopilot, his mind actually started moving. The gears resumed turning. He consciously sat up in bed. Meanwhile, more speech bubble messages scrolled across the screen.

“I’m the Center// That’s definitely a worrying thought.”

“Himiko// Yes, it would be bad if anyone was trapped in the middle of this.”

“Future Guitarist// I’ll try contacting whoever it is using a different tool. Sorry if anyone gets duplicate messages.”

He assumed they were talking about some easily-forgettable classmate other than him, but that was not the case. Their roll call found a single member of the class missing. That meant everyone except Kyousuke was accounted for. But it would end there. They would not find this strange. Once he was outside their line of sight, they would forget all about him, so they would be satisfied with this and move on.

And yet.

And yet.

“Don’t Call Me Librarian// Once more! Just once more!!”

“Ren-Bow// Okay, fine! We’ll stick with it until everyone’s accounted for!!”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………What is this?”

It might seem like a tiny thing at first glance.

But it was not.

Librarian-chan, Rendou Akiya, and the rest of the classmates were fighting the absolute rule stating that summoners and vessels could not be perceived when outside their line of sight. Of course, there was no way they could do it. The rules were rules and they would be meaningless if they could be broken. But those students refused to give up on their hopeless task. They were continuing their efforts which would never be rewarded.

Their lives were at risk.

It was all over if they failed to escape in time.

But they were restraining their pounding hearts and staying put based on no more than a vague sense that “something isn’t right”. They were fighting the Blood-Sign System rules that lionized the White Queen. As if to protest the idea that nothing could be done about it.

Why?

The answer was obvious.

They were worried for the unknown person they were not sure was safe. They were worried for ''him''.

“…”

A deafening alarm blared inside of Shiroyama Kyousuke.

Could he abandon this?

Could he declare this worthless?

Could he give up on people’s hearts and the bonds that tied them together?

Could he deny that strength?

Shigara Masami had been moved to emotion…no, had been tricked into thinking she had and the White Queen’s influence had reached her. She had given up on fighting to the bitter rend and she was trying to compromise with a half-assed happy ending. ''So what?'' Was that any reason to give up on the other 7 billion people out there? Was that worth criticizing Librarian-chan or Rendou Akiya over? Not a chance. What did Shigara Masami’s failure have to do with anyone else? To judge each and every one of them, he had to look to each and every one of them. Why had it taken him so long to realize something so obvious!?

The most important things were not necessarily found in an elite few.

In fact, viewing Shigara Masami as some special genius because she was Freedom Award 3000 was disturbingly similar to the thought process that led people to worship the White Queen as some twisted ruler. Right? Wasn’t that true? Hadn’t Shiroyama Kyousuke loathed the free pass people gave her violence because she was a special being and the way people viewed eccentrics as geniuses as long as they produced results?

Everyone had something.

Everyone had something they wanted to protect even if it meant bending the rules of the world.

And.

His entirely ordinary classmates had proven it. Their attempts were doomed to fail, but they did not want to evacuate without Shiroyama Kyousuke who had shared a classroom with them.

They did not want to forget him.

They did not want to leave him behind.

What did being the strongest matter?

What good was logic?

How could he write off their actions as wasted effort!!!???

“I was wrong.”

Alice (with) Rabbit had stayed 5 or 10 steps ahead of the average person and defeated all sorts of fierce warriors with his absurd combat ability. But it was that very cleverness that kept him from avoiding this decision.

No one had a monopoly on human strength.

Everyone had it equally.

“I was dead wrong.”

[[Image:BloodSign_v09_BW4.jpg|thumb]]

His index finger moved across the 5-inch screen. He had learned here that there was work that required a strength very different from the deadly Summoning Ceremony battles. No one would be able to recognize it. They would mistake any message for something from a stranger who had somehow made it into the system. He knew that. He really did. But his response was as follows: so what?

Now was not the time to be rotting away in his own little world.

The boy gathered his resolve and tapped his finger on the screen.

He sent out his powerful words.

“Rabbit// I’m fine now, so don’t worry about me.”

And.

While crouched down on the cruiser’s deck, cautiously picking up a ragworm, and returning it to the bait box, black bikini Meinokawa Aoi looked back. The vessel was trying to overcome her fear and solve the problem she had caused, but she grinned as soon as she saw his face.

“Stand up,” he said.

“You need to symbolize your return, do you? Fine, I will help.”

A dull sound of impact followed.

Shiroyama Kyousuke had punched his own cheek with a tightly clenched fist.

“Are you a masochist?” asked Aoi in amusement. “But I like it. You finally look like a man, boy.”

Swimsuit time was over for Aoi. It was now time to support him as a vessel. With the sound of cloth flapping in the air, the frilly black bikini girl grabbed a shrine maiden outfit and a white sarashi.

“Are you ready now?”

“Yes.”

He wiped off his split lip and held the finger out toward Aoi. Needless to say, this was the ceremony a summoner and vessel used to form a contract.

He would not make this mistake again.

And he would challenge that white disaster as many times as it took.

“Sorry it took me so long. Let’s settle this immediately!!”

She did not summon a legendary dragon or spread her arms to fly around all on her own.

The White Queen sat on a bench in an international airport lobby just like anyone else. She was in the business class priority boarding zone, but it was summer break. The place was packed. A young brother and sister were loudly fighting over a robot toy right next to her on one of the many long benches.

She was not wearing her usual battle costume that looked like a wedding dress cut down to size with silver armor covering the important parts.

She only wore a casual summer dress with thin fabric. It was like she had had been forced to find a change of clothes after having water dumped over her head. Her chest, armpits, and bright thighs were all too risqué. The borrowed clothing was simply too short in a number of places. She wore narrow walking sandals on her feet. It was all white, so the selection may have been made with her tastes in mind.

She wore hair ties in her hair.

Those twintails were the one remnant of her former look.

She was lazily waiting her turn to board the business class of Flight NAL901. At first glance, it may have looked like the silver twintail girl had regained her common sense. At least compared to traveling by breaking through the stratosphere with no outside assistance or directly slicing through the dimension.

But something was fundamentally wrong here.

“Hi, hi, hiii!”

A waitress demon with long pink hair and a cow horn headdress called out to her. It was Biondetta. She boldly showed off a couple of passports in the middle of the public international airport lobby.

It was likely only meant to draw the eyes of the White Queen and Shigara Masami, but she bent over and accentuated her large breasts in a needlessly provocative way.

“This one’s yours, Shigara Masami. And this one’s yours, White Queen. These are pretty important in human society, so don’t lose them, okay?”

<Yes, they’re instant insurance for travelers.>

“Be careful. These can gather a lot of unwanted attention if they get out.”

That was why Biondetta had been holding on to them to handle the processing, but that was not what mattered here.

Biondetta Shiroyama had just handed them brand-new passports. And they were made with printing techniques ''possibly even more precise than the real ones''.

They were not using the Blood-Sign System, so they could have their photos taken as long as they were not in an Artificial Sacred Ground. The White Queen found it odd to see a photo of herself.

But that was not the crux of the issue.

“Shigara Masami.”

<What is it, Queen?>

“Um, isn’t this against the rules???”

<But we can’t reach Japan without a passport.>

That woman toying with the whistle around her neck provided the illusion of being a capable adult, but she was actually very devil-may-care. It pained the White Queen to remember that someone like that had managed to break her with a lecture. Think of it like being scolded for holding your chopsticks wrong by a drunk with a horse-racing newspaper in hand who was drinking beer at a restaurant in the middle of the day.

<Well, that sure took a while, didn’t it? I wanted to complete the digital investigation first so the trip wouldn’t be a waste of time, but I didn’t expect that to take more than two weeks.>

“Um, Queen? Why does Shigara Masami look so happy talking about all the tedious work she did?”

“Remember the bottles of Sbirnoff, Absolium, and vodka she was waving around earlier? They only allow small containers of liquid on the flight, so she started drinking it all to sulk. And now I believe it is catching up with her.”

As the resident of another world, the White Queen had no personal information to include on the passport. Everything from her nationality to her age was made up. The name appeared to be a simple anagram of iu – nu – fb – a – wuh – ei –kx – eu – pl – vjz. Perhaps out of respect for the Blood-Sign System which placed such importance on the meaning found in letters and names.

Biondetta also waved around her own passport.

“Anyway, it is a very moving experience to meet with you again.”

“You don’t hold a grudge?”

That question sounded simple, but it carried deep meaning.

The White Queen was the one who had torn apart Kyousuke and Biondetta as children. But what about Shigara Masami? No matter what she had thought deep, deep down, she had contacted those children while hiding her true identity and she had run the entire Miniature Garden as Freedom Award 3000.

Complex emotions surrounded the White Queen and Shigara Masami.

But even though Biondetta may have been justified in criticizing the two of them…

“Not really, no.” She placed a finger on her slender chin like a child who had forgotten what fear was. “Do I hate the White Queen? Yes, because I have the Queen’s hatred. But during the final stage of the Secret War, I was mostly just trying to escape and I never directly fought you. The person I had to fight in the very end was Alberto the Hatter. So I do have to wonder whether or not the image of the White Queen ''that it’s said'' I saw was really the whole picture.”

She made this point very clear.

“And you did not kill my little brother, Kyousuke-chan. Even though he must have directly confronted you, unlike me.”

“…”

“That is not some vague image; it is an undeniable result. So I will focus on that result. You may be twisted, foolish, awkward, and inept, but I know you will always do what Kyousuke-chan needs you to do. No matter how much you must suppress yourself or dirty your hands. Praying to you is silly and expecting anything in return is the height of folly, but when it comes to him, you will act without needing to hear anyone’s prayers or asking anything of anyone else. That is the one thing I can trust about you.”

The White Queen could not decide whether or not she could rely on this. She rubbed together the thighs visible below her thin casual dress.

Biondetta was just as unreliable as Kyousuke.

“And I also want to see what lies at Kyousuke-chan’s foundation,” added the waitress demon while scratching her cheek. “I signed a contract with him and fought alongside him, so I believe I’ve seen his enmity for you more than most. There’s something odd about that hostility. It feels so different from the thought processes that make him reach out a hand whenever he hears the words ‘help me’. …And wouldn’t it be sad if it turned out that had been implanted inside him by someone else?”

Doctor S.

A precision-guided missile.

“I think this needs to be settled one way or another.” Biondetta sounded like she was spitting the words at someone not present. “But that needs to be done between you and him with no one else intervening. I don’t care what lofty ideals or grand plans are involved.”

If the ever-expanding cocoon and the power-gathering Colorless Little Girl were not stopped, the human race had no future.

And the only way to stop them was for the White Queen herself to change. She had to use her ''journey to understand what it means to be human'' to understand Shiroyama Kyousuke and overcome her issues with Shigara Masami.

The White Queen glanced out the window covering the entire wall, but she viewed something only she could see.

“The cocoon should reach 6km before long.”

A soft tone sounded.

Next, a gentle female announcer spoke, although it was hard to tell if it was live or a recording.

“Flight NAL901 will take off on schedule. Boarding will begin in less than an hour. Please do not forget any of your luggage as you board. First class and business class passengers should gather in the priority boarding zone and economy class passengers should gather in the general boarding zone B.”

That acted as a quiet starting pistol.

The White Queen slowly stood from the bench with her short casual dress fluttering dangerously at her thighs. Shigara Masami stood to her right and Biondetta to her left. Flanked by veterans of the Secret War, the silver-haired girl silently faced forward.

Some of the world’s data had been erased by some past action.

''This was a journey to learn what it meant to be human.

This path would take her to Shiroyama Kyousuke’s mother and ''little sister''.

“Let us see where it all began.”

Q. What do you think about Shiroyama Kyousuke?

“Hm? That’s a really broad question and I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but I’m gonna marry him.”

“As you can see, he must be swiftly cut down as the vile criminal who drove the princess to madness.”

This discussion was held on Kingdom F’s royal plane.

Olivia Highland had her blonde hair in double braids, wore a school swimsuit with a decorative collar and pareo, and was 100% serious when she said she would marry “Onii-chan” when she grew up. Rachel Wormwood was a knight in glasses who looked ready to kill someone right here and now. Olivia should have returned to being a normal person after ending her contract with Kyousuke, but here she was speaking normally with a summoner like Rachel and a vessel like Sinceria. Her memories and awareness returned when they were in her line of sight, so conversations like this could continue just fine.

Since it was their royal plane, they could bring anything aboard without going through strict anti-terrorism checks. And unlike your average charter flight, this plane was large enough to hold more than 3000 passengers, but it had been redesigned for no more than 10. In her blue dress, Sinceria sat on a sofa much more spacious than any first class seat and rolled around a tall glass of Château de Corail 1999 (mo) – it sounded fancy, but it was just sparkling wine easily bought from French online stores – that a maid had poured for her.

Sinceria knew when to show restraint. A lot of money had to be poured into the royal plane for safety reasons, but the drink was only a personal luxury. And she did not even have the excuse of serving it to a foreign diplomat in this case. So as long as it came from a vineyard with no risk of a poison being mixed in, it could come from anywhere.

And high prices at auction were not what gave a wine its flavor.

The true connoisseurs knew where to find treasures hidden quite close by. And they were not foolish enough to spread the word about their personal treasure. They did not want it to become a target of speculation or reselling, did they?

“No, not that. I am talking about the secret to Kyousuke’s strength. Or the source of his obsession if you would prefer.”

Sinceria would not make a fool of herself in front of her daughter just because she was a little buzzed. She only sipped at the faintly golden liquid as a way of loosening her tongue.

[[Image:BloodSign_v09_BW5.jpg|thumb]]

When Olivia begged for some wine too, their skilled maids poured her a nonalcoholic sparkling wine made at the exact same vineyard. It was really just a carbonated grape juice made by simply removing the skins, but the school swimsuit braid girl did not notice because the bottle and label looked so fancy.

“Onii-chan is my hero! He saves anyone who asks for help!!”

“He deserves countless deaths for going over the knights’ heads and stealing the princess’s heart, but…hmph. I do sense an insane sort of strength in his abnormal policy. But our kingdom and the world cannot run on feelings alone (mutter mutter) and he could always ask for some help (mutter mutter).”

“Rachel, are you after Onii-chan too? Should I see you as a rival???”

Sinceria smiled at Olivia who tried to act like an adult by grabbing an olive from the large plate of finger foods and tossing it into her mouth.

“Well, he did secretly save her life at least three times during the war. Via, had you heard this story? When she had collapsed from an arrow to the thigh, Kyousuke sucked out the poison and then princess-carried her to safety. He gave her the old kiss-kiss-hug☆”

Despite the critical shout of “My Queen!!”, Sinceria childishly stuck out her tongue with her milky skin and long ears somewhat flushed. She loved the ability to blame the alcohol for anything she said. And it felt right to go with a childish sparkling wine over a red or a white.

She munched on a kiddy cracker smeared with cream cheese and raisins while listening to her summoner speak.

“Anyway, Shiroyama Kyousuke never did like talking about his past. He likes looking after others and part of that makes him something of an explainer. He has no issue with holding conversations and he will dig right in to the private lives of his vessel. It isn’t that he does not like talking about himself, but he always changes the subject and redirects things back toward you when his past comes up.”

“Really, Rachel? Onii-chan didn’t hide anything from me. Like he told me he really loves cereal.”

“That was him changing the subject from-…ahem, ignore that, princess. Please do not glare at me like that. My heart cannot take it.”

Sinceria thought for a while as she spun her tall glass and made air bubbles dance through the liquid. When she opened her mouth, she was speaking more to her own reflection in the glass than anyone else there.

“Does Kyousuke have trouble facing his own past?”

“?”

(If so, what part of his past are we talking about?)

This fit with Azalea Magentarain’s theory that the key to it all could be found at Shiroyama Kyousuke’s roots. So was that the right place to investigate? The beautiful ruler of Kingdom F fell deeper into thought while Olivia and Rachel gave her curious looks.

The cocoon continued to grow and it was applying pressure to Kingdom F’s border. If the Colorless Little Girl was amassing power in response, the entire world was in danger. They could not afford to wait. They needed to solve the mystery of Shiroyama Kyousuke even if it was only to predict the White Queen’s actions.

Then the other two started whispering to each other.

“(S-surely I don’t have to add mother to my list of rivals, right? I don’t want to do that. There’s no way I can beat those boobs! And no matter who wins, the royal family is going to be super awkward. Will we have a closed-room suspense theatre in an Eastern European castle!?)”

“(Do not even suggest such a thing, princess! What a horrific thought!! If that insane cereal rabbit ever wears the crown of Kingdom F, I will stage a coup to overthrow him!!)”

“(Oh, so the criminal could be from outside the family? It couldn’t be sillier, but it isn’t very exciting if we don’t discuss every possibility. Although if you see it that way, won’t you end up doing that when I marry Onii-chan? Wow, Rachel, you’re going to have a rough life. When’s the movie coming out?)”

“(Gh, the queen and princess have both gone mad!! Does Kingdom F have no hope of a healthy future!?)”

*Aika is a shut-in and generally does not leave her apartment, but she can have the white liger move about on her own. Just like Lu Niang Lan, the liger is very useful until a Material has been summoned.

*The chaos spreading across the world has created some rogue elements among the summoners and vessels of the three major powers. With cries of “down with the Queen”, they are apparently searching for the Queen in order to kill her. But it is unknown whether they could actually do this if they did find her.

*Normal people like the Librarian and Rendou Akiya cannot remember Shiroyama Kyousuke when he is not in their field of vision. But that does not meant their efforts should be ignored.

*Shigara Masami and the White Queen have chosen to work with Biondetta to help them interact with and blend into human society. Biondetta seems to be using this journey to learn what it means to be human in order to root for her little brother and the White Queen’s love

*Shiroyama Kyousuke made a contract with Meinokawa Aoi.

*Stay strong and do not let the White Queen influence you. No one is interested in a love comedy.