Tasogare-iro no Uta Tsukai:Volume3 2nd Play

Status: Incomplete

2nd Play: If I Had Not Returned—

That was a night like any other. The humid wind which bore the heat from the summer blew. The moon peeked in through the clouds above. Within the grasslands of the dorm, the bugs sung the final melody of the of summer. That’s right, it was just a typical night… except for the fact that all the bugs suddenly stopped singing.

Nobody realised the anomaly, be it the security personnel within the school, the teachers who stayed behind for security duty or the many students who resided in the dorms as the night continued to flow by. In other words, none of the reciters realised the peculiar situation.

What is it…… this feeling……?

the only one who realised the anomaly was she who trained to be a reciter but was not one, the ExorcistGillshe, Ada Yung Gillshuvesher as she opened her eyes. Something is wrong, something is—

“Serges, wake up”

She said as she shook her roommate roughly to wake her up.

“......nn, what? …… 3am? What’s going on to wake me up at such a time?”

“Something is off”

Ada quickly said as she got out of her bed dash off to grab her SpearGil. She surveyed the surroundings from the window and she used he nose to check for and weird scents carried by the wind, only to find none. Which means that…… the presence which I just felt has already entered the dorms?

“Serges”

She said as she looked at her roommate

“If I do not return in an hour, contact the dorm supervisor’s room directly and ring the dorm’s alarm immediately after.”

“huh?”

“Lock the door. Do not let anyone in no matter who it may be”

“Wai… Wait up—”

Without waiting for a reply, Ada sped off to the hallways of the dorm while keeping a watchful eye towards her front and her back.

There are no suspicious shadows to be seen or footsteps to be heard.

……And yet, why does it feel like it’s so hard to breath?

Previously when she was fighting the True Spirit of the grey, she felt a piercing feeling on her skin as she faced killing intent emitted by the True Spirit. However, this time, She was feeling a chill that was totally different from that time, it felt like a slimy, murky chill was gripping her entire skin.

With her Spear in hand, she advanced through the hallway. The blade of her spear had been mended but she had not fully accustomed to the new weight and length of her spear yet. She felt a tinge of uneasiness. The presence which gave off the chill felt like it was coming on from her front rather than her back.

—What could there be exactly?

A drop of sweat trickled down her back. Despite her being confident that she concealed all traces of her presence, cold sweat continued to form on her back as she felt a tinge of uneasiness, as though the mysterious presence she was tracking had already discovered the presence.

The distance from the presence is not closing.

Each time she moved towards the target, the target was also moving away from her at the same pace.

……This is ridiculous. This was the First Recitation School’s female dormitory. For someone to have intruded into a place like this.

She moved along the hallway and climbed down the stairs.

The First Floor Main Entrance was an area which was slightly broader than the hallways of the dormitory.

Ada stopped herself at the corner before the bend which would lead to main entrance as the chilling presence she was tracking stopped its tracks there. There was no longer any doubt that the mysterious presence was also keeping track of her movements.

……Its seems like the presence was inviting her to appear.

Ada bit her lower lip. What should I do? There was no point it continuing to wait at this corner as it was apparent that the other party was waiting for her to appear at the main entrance.

Her hesitation lasted for shorter than the time taken for a single breath.

Ada walked through the bend at a leisure pace, appearing before the intruder.

“At such an hour in a place like this, what business could you poss—……”

She was speaking halfway through when her words disappeared from her mouth. She could not voice out the rest of her words.

This is because there was nothing before her eyes where the mysterious presence was felt.

—There is nothing? Something like this—

And then, while dumbfounded and standing still, her body reacted before her thoughts could keep up.

“tsu!”

With an animalistic instinct, she swung her spear towards the empty space that lay before her.

“Giin—” The sound of clashing between two hard objects reverberated through the air and her metal spear was deflected from that space.

In an instant, Along with the wind pressure, something was swinging down towards her from the same empty area as before. Ada swung her spear towards the empty space again.

This time her spear tip gave of the feeling of having gouged through something. Accompanying that, the painful throes of a living creature resounded through the lobby.

So it was like this afterall!

Ada created some distance with the creature by leaping backwards. She had finally grasped the true identity of the mysterious intruder. It was an enemy which could not be seen. It was a strange creature whose form could not be seen, a creature who blended into the night such that it could be said to be invisible from all angles of sight.

……What is this creature?

She continued to exchange blows with her enemy. This was not because of the strength of her enemy, but rather, because she couldn’t fully grasp the attack range of her opponent as well as its exact position. In just several tens of seconds of combat, her breathing became ragged, something impossible for her under normal combat situations. Fighting by just relying on the presence exerted by her opponent, the flow of the air felt by her skin and the direction of the winds was more tiring than she had expected.

Throwing out a hit and then backing off immediately, she was employing a hit and run strategy. It was a strategy where if she missed her timing, she would receive an attack from the enemy immediately. With utmost vigilance, she continued doing this 10, 20 times repeatedly.

—ton— The sound of her opponent’s back hitting the wall could be heard as she repeatedly forced her opponent back.

This is where I finish it off!

Ada advanced one step closer to the enemy and unleashed what was unmistakably her strongest and fastest attack. It was impossible to dodge. With absolute confidence, she swung her spear down on her enemy from the top-right. The tip of the spear drilled through the wall, producing a sound.

The enemy was difficu…… well not really. “—What?”

She subconsciously let out a breath due to the astonishment. At the same time, this was the first time Ada ever doubted her senses in her entire career as an Exorcist.

Without a doubt, there was something in front of her a moment ago.

And yet, the moment she cornered the invisible enemy, the presence in front disappeared as though it never existed in the first place.

……Was I fighting a shadow up until now?

No that’s not it.

A part of her clothes at the top of her shoulder and her elbow were torn, revealing parts of her tanned skin. There was no doubt that she had been fighting with something just now. It was definitely not just her imagination.

And yet it suddenly disappeared? How in the world?

During her days of Gillshe training, she had faced off against many different types recitation monsters. However, even among the vast data she had cultivated over her career, there was never anything like what she had just faced off against.

In the first place, it was unclear if that was even a recitation monster.

“—That was really no joke”

Ada’s body started quivering as she thought back towards the chase and the battle she had earlier on.

The day of the Opening Ceremony.

Within School’s territory, from the male dorms to the first-year school building, Neight had to walk for about 10 minutes to cover the distance. There were several forks along the stone pathway which extended from the male dormitory to the school building. It was a pathway which connected to the strolling path and the female dormitories as well.

“……hmm?”

Halfway along the pathway, Neight’s footsteps came to a halt. This was right when he was walking across the passage which led to the field with the school lawn, just beyond the row of school buildings. Above the verdant lawn, one could vaguely see a silhouette which looked like it had collapsed on the ground if they focused their eyes.

“e-erm…are you alright?”

Neight frantically started shaking the person which had collapsed on its side.

“n…”

The person let out a small breath. It was hard to tell the gender of the person due to the white coat it was wearing but the high heels she was wearing the features of the figure betrayed her gender.

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere? If so then lets hurry to the doctor—”

His hand that was shaking her was grabbed suddenly.

h-huh.

“—who are you”

The girl questioned as she rubbed her eyes.

“er……. I…I am Neight……wait that’s not it, that’s what I should be asking you. What could you have been doing to suddenly collapse on the lawn”

“Collapsed? No, I was just sleeping”

Whilst continuing to rub the inner corner of her eye with her finger, the girl stood up. Maybe because she was wearing high heels, she looked to cut a very nice figure when she stood up.

Sle...Sleeping?

“I arrived here last night and then while I tried to find lodgings, this entire area is under the jurisdiction of the school. I couldn’t find anywhere to sleep so I decided to camp out here.”

“B…But at such a vacant place without anything. See, you got some grass stuck onto your back”

“mu. Thanks for that”

Neight helped the girl sweep off the grass stuck onto the clothes. While waiting for Neight to finish, the girl sent a glance filled with meanings at him.

“Hey young man. You seem to be wearing an interesting coloured thread.”

While wondering what she was talking about, Neight traced her gaze and realized that she was referring to the colour of his uniform’s collar which represented the colour of his recitations.

“From what I have seen, I thought that the students here use the different coloured threads for their collars to differentiate between the colour of their recitations. But…… hmm, a black coloured thread is really intriguing.”

—Tremia Academy— The students here are differentiated between their main specialization colours and their school year by the colour of the sleeves. Originally, there were no colours prepared for Night coloured Recitations, however, in Neight’s case, he had woven a similar coloured thread onto his collar.

“I am currently studying a non-conventional coloured Recitation”

“Oh? Do you mean say that you are studying Black colour recitations?”

Black coloured as opposed to White colour. Indeed, the first colour that would appear in most people’s minds would be black due to the stark contrast with White. The fastest way to approach such situations would be to just nod, However, Neight was extremely averse to that course of action.

“N…No, It is Night-coloured. They are called Night Color Recitations.”

“—Night colour recitals. oh!”

At that moment, the girl in front of him seemed to recall something as she slammed her fist on her palm.