The Fugitive Fourth Primogenitor Page 5

“They shook off the tail?”

  “They apparently used an amusement park crowd.”

  The displeasure in Kazuma’s tone increased. For the methodical Kazuma, a subordinate’s failure throwing his plans awry was humiliation difficult to endure.

  “The handiwork of Kojou’s dad, huh…?”

  “Most likely. Gajou Akatsuki, the Death Returnee, would appear to be an even more troublesome opponent than rumored.”

  The old man really got us, thought a flabbergasted Yaze. At minimum, the observer dispatched by the Gigafloat Management Corporation had to be a Hyper Adapter like Yaze—not an opponent that a middle-aged man who wasn’t even an Attack Mage could handle under normal circumstances.

  “So in the end, we don’t know what kind of trouble Nagisa’s gotten caught up in… That’s not good.”

  “Why have you deemed her situation perilous?”

  Yaze’s face twisted in unease as Kazuma calmly posed the question.

  “All contact with Nagisa cut off a week ago. But apparently, this was a photo left behind from her smartphone. Can you see it?”

  “A magic circle… A rather large-scale one at that,” Kazuma murmured after checking the file his brother sent him. “Certainly, using this level of spell in a Demon Sanctuary is out of the ordinary, to say nothing of magic use on the mainland. However, you cannot judge that Nagisa Akatsuki has become involved in an incident based on this information alone.”

  “I see what you’re gettin’ at. The Corporation can’t flex its muscles off the island, right?”

  “Correct, particularly when this image is the only confirmation that something occurred.”

  Kazuma’s tone was blunt and dismissive as usual. However, Yaze fully expected as much.

  Itogami Island was considered part of Tokyo Metropolis, but the Demon Sanctuary was close to a de facto autonomous territory. If the Gigafloat Management Corporation ventured beyond the Demon Sanctuary, its various rights were rescinded. The organization was not permitted to dispatch the Island Guard’s law enforcement units off the island, even to rescue a civilian.

  If push came to shove, however, that logic was nothing more than a front.

  “And if I told you that Kojou is making noise about it?”

  Yaze played his card strategically. Politics had a facade, a back side, and a gray area between the two sides. Demon Sanctuaries existed to govern that third, uncertain realm—and the people that lived within it.

  If you had a card that trumped that false front—some kind of fake justification—you could make your move.

  “He’s got a pretty serious sister complex, you know. If we don’t play this right, I can’t say he won’t rush right out of Itogami Island and look for Nagisa himself.”

  “The Fourth Primogenitor having a sister complex is news to me.”

  Kazuma’s voice did not waver. He’d no doubt expected Yaze to play that card.

  “Well, fine. I understand the situation. I will add more investigators to search for more information. At this stage, it is unwise to dispatch Attack Mages in excess, however, we cannot simply let the situation lie.”

  “I suppose realistically that’s all we can do.”

  Yaze exhaled, dispirited. Even if she was related to the Fourth Primogenitor, Nagisa Akatsuki was an ordinary person, not a demon. Dispatching investigators at all was the largest concession Kazuma could make. For now, Yaze was forced to accept that.

  “Roger. What do we do with Kojou, then?”

  The mood was heavy. Yaze was not confident they could keep the World’s Mightiest Vampire under control when he was half crazed from obscure information suggesting his little sister might be in trouble.

  However, Kazuma’s reply was unexpectedly brief.

  “Continue monitoring him. If necessary, we will deal with him.”

  “Deal with him… Big Bro, you can’t mean…?”

  “Do not make me repeat myself. Continue monitoring him.”

  Kazuma gruffly hung up on him. Yaze slumped his shoulders into the seat of the taxi. Beside him, Yume, in her long-sleeved kimono, was deeply, innocently asleep.

  The change of date would soon be at hand…

  2

  A large crowd gazed in awe at the colorful streaks of light filling the night sky.

  Boom! The loud bursts resonated across the island. It was the fireworks show for the New Year’s countdown.

  Kojou and the others looked up at the wild dance of scattering lights in the night sky from the path leading to the temple.

  Yukina’s eyes were open especially wide as she watched the fireworks. Asagi completely devoted herself to videotaping the fireworks using the digital camera she’d borrowed from Yukina. Kojou, on the other hand, sank his teeth deep into his lower lip, glaring at his cell phone with the look of a man fallen on hard times. With no calls getting through to Nagisa, all he could do was send text after text and pray for a response.

  “Calm down, Kojou. We don’t know for sure that something’s happened to Nagisa.”

  Asagi, seeing Kojou in a state of mental anguish, spoke like she was at her wit’s end. Kojou’s shoulders quivered, almost like a child scolded by a pet owner for playing pranks on the poor animal.

  “I know that. I’m completely calm.”

  “This is calm…?”

  When Kojou looked back, making excuses with a quivering voice, Asagi sighed. As before, Asagi was in her long-sleeved kimono, but thanks to the temperature having dropped in the middle of the night, she was a bit sprightlier than before.

  Incidentally, Kojou was wearing a casual outfit: shorts with a parka on top. Yukina, carrying her guitar case like usual, was wearing bordered knee socks and a miniskirt; she looked like she belonged in an all-girl band.

  Meanwhile, the procession of visitors moved in an orderly fashion, and Kojou and the others arrived at the temple’s gate.

  Itogami Temple, where Kojou and the rest had gone for their first temple visit of the New Year, was a popular spot for such occasions for a simple reason: It was a great place from which to see the fireworks. There were numerous islanders frolicking within the grounds, with numerous night stalls lined up to greet them.

  Even amid that jovial atmosphere, Kojou’s face refused to crack a smile.

  With Nagisa unable to take calls, her smartphone had taken a single photo. Its very existence robbed Kojou of the ability to calm down. His gloomy attitude definitely put a damper on the general mood of the highly anticipated New Year’s temple visit, but because Asagi and Yukina knew why he was feeling down, they were in no position to complain.

  “Well, why don’t we pray? This temple is supposed to be blessed by a god, you know.”

  Perhaps Asagi tossed up such irresponsible words because she couldn’t think of any better way to cheer Kojou up. With eyes like a dead fish, he sluggishly gazed at the sign standing before the temple.

  “According to this, the god of this temple presides over prosperity in wealth and marriage…,” he said.

  “Hey, it’s a god. It can fulfill a request or two outside of its specialties, right?”

  Whether her argument was convincing or not, Asagi firmly presented the uncertain logic.

  “Come to think of it, senpai, how did your fortune drawing go?”

  Yukina rather forcefully changed the subject, perhaps hoping to brush the negative atmosphere aside.

  Itogami Temple’s sacred lots were not mere tests of chance; rather, they were exceptionally accurate oracles produced with Demon Sanctuary technology. Considering Kojou’s current troubles, the odds were high that he had obtained beneficial advice from his drawings.

  “…Senpai?”

  However, Kojou remained silent as he offered Yukina his two sacred lots. Taking them, Yukina was aghast—for the two lots Kojou had drawn were stamped with the characters for bad and very bad, respectively. Apparently, Kojou had been unnerved after having initially drawn bad, redrawing only to get very bad instead.

  “Umm…it is all right
, senpai. If right now is rock bottom, it should only get better from here.”

  “Right, right. Your misfortune might mean Nagisa has good fortune dancing all around her.”

  “Yeah…well, not that it really matters to me right now— Ow!”

  Kojou, largely the author of his own worries, spoke in a listless tone. Then, he suddenly felt a dull pain from the back of his head. Coins that someone had tossed toward the offering box had struck his head instead.

  “Wh-what the hell?!”

  As he continued to stand there, Kojou was grazed by other coins tossed toward the offering box. It was a common sight at a temple with so many visitors, but Kojou felt like a lot more coins were landing direct hits that year. He feared this was the result of his very bad fortune.

  Yukina drew close to Kojou’s ear, whispering in a small voice, “Senpai, perhaps someone is aiming at you? Somehow, I am sensing some kind of ill will toward you…”

  At that moment, the number of coins pouring down on him noticeably increased. Someone definitely had it out for him.

  “Kojou, maybe someone’s jealous of you? You have Himeragi with you, after all.”

  “No, Aiba, I believe you stand out far more in that kimono than I do right now…”

  “Well, a lot of guys come to pray at a temple of marriage because they want girlfriends. He’s walking with a beauty on either side of him, so of course they’ll send hate his way.”

  “What kind of logic is that?! And it’s not like we’re ‘together’ like that to begin with…!”

  Venting to no one in particular, Kojou prayed in a hurry and fled the space in front of the offering box. Yukina and Asagi paid him no heed, remaining in place as they each offered prayers before the hall of worship.

  Perhaps they prayed for the safety of Nagisa, their friend. Perhaps they asked for something else. Either way, it was not for Kojou to know.

  Even then, the sound of fireworks celebrating the New Year continued to echo.

  As he waited for Asagi and Yukina to finish their temple visit, Kojou pulled out his cell phone and stared at it again. The LCD screen displayed that night-sky photo, sent to him from the laptop.

  When Asagi and Yukina met up with him after praying, he asked the following question just in case: “This image… There’s no way this is just fireworks, right?”

  Giant patterns filled the night sky above them. Artificial radiance danced in the heavens. In that regard, the two scenes did have something in common. But without any hesitation, the two girls ruled out the possibility.

  “I don’t think there’s any way. Besides, digital data can be falsified in all kinds of ways. There’s no need to brood over it this much, I think.”

  “I suppose not. Even if it was a magic circle, it does not mean it was targeting Nagisa specifically.”

  “But there’s no proof it wasn’t, right?”

  Kojou clutched his head, envisioning the worst-case scenario. Asagi might have felt annoyed at that point, for she ignored Kojou and turned toward Yukina.

  “Come to think of it, don’t you know what this is? What magic circle it is—with what effects?”

  “I am sorry. I do not know that much…though Sayaka might know what it is…”

  “Kirasaka…?”

  Kojou, hearing Yukina’s explanation, lifted his face with a start.

  Like Yukina, Sayaka Kirasaka was an Attack Mage belonging to the Lion King Agency. She had been granted the title of Shamanic War Dancer, an expert in curses and assassination.

  “Actually, this magic circle kinda looks like…”

  “Sayaka’s Lustrous Scale, yes?”

  Yukina nodded in response to Kojou’s murmur. She’d probably noticed that from the very beginning.

  The pattern of light captured by Nagisa’s photograph greatly resembled a large-scale magic circle created by one of Sayaka Kirasaka’s whistling arrows. The pattern’s shape and fine details differed, but its size, and the fact it was written into the sky above, were identical.

  “Does someone else have a bow and arrows like Sayaka…?”

  “No. Der Freischötz is difficult to handle, and I have heard that Sayaka is the only one who can properly employ it. The ritual energy required to activate it is off the scale, and the compatibility requirements are exceptionally severe.”

  “Oh…? That’s kinda surprising, somehow.”

  This was the Lustrous Scale that Sayaka had used to try to slice him in half and blast him to death in a jealous rage, waving it around however she pleased, but it was, appearances aside, a surprisingly delicate weapon.

  “But there were rumors a while back that they had generated a mass-production model with simplified construction based on Lustrous Scale data…”

  “A mass-production model?”

  “Yes.”

  “So using that, other casters could use the same spells Kirasaka does…?”

  “I believe so. However, that should not be…”

  Yukina faintly lowered her eyes as she hesitated in her words.

  Using a mass-produced Der Freischötz, it was possible that someone other than Sayaka had traced a magic circle in the sky. However, that did not change the fact that the mass-production model was a Lion King Agency construct.

  In other words, it was indeed someone related to the Lion King Agency who had involved Nagisa in an incident.

  “Shit,” Kojou spat as he checked his cell phone’s incoming call history. He picked out a suitable number and called it.

  “Senpai?”

  “I’ll try asking Sayaka. If this really was the Lion King Agency’s doing, she might know something about it.”

  Off to the side, Asagi glared at Kojou, displeasure plain on her face.

  “Why do you know Kirasaka’s phone number?”

  “I’m not really sure why, but I talk to her over the phone every once in a while. She calls sometimes.”

  “You what?!”

  “I said I’m not really sure why.”

  At first, Sayaka called with openers such as Tell me how Yukina’s been doing, but lately, her topics for conversation often strayed outside that: grumbling about her superiors or asking his opinion on new snacks—subjects Kojou cared little about. Since it wasn’t hurting anyone, Kojou didn’t mind.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not getting through. Or rather, it says this number is no longer in use.”

  And at a time like this, thought Kojou, glaring at the phone in irritation.

  The corners of Asagi’s lips curled up in delight as she teased, “Couldn’t it be that she’s simply blocking your calls? Oh, Kojou, what did you do?”

  “What, it’s my fault?!”

  “In other words, you’ve had a falling out with Sayaka? Why…?”

  “Did you ask her something rude? Like her bust size, or her bra size, or perhaps her three sizes?”

  “Like hell I would! What use would there be askin’ stuff like that?!”

  Asagi ignored Kojou’s pleas of innocence and exhaled.

  Though her words were blunt, they really nagged at Kojou somehow. The coincidences fit together, and the timing made sense.

  Losing contact with Nagisa and their father. Sayaka blocking his calls. Neither were particularly big things in and of themselves. However, lined up one after another, these facts painted a picture that wasn’t pretty. He felt like his vision was being obstructed by an invisible wall of malicious intent.

  “Himeragi, can’t you contact the Lion King Agency?”

  “Of course, I can send an inquiry, but with only Nagisa’s photo to go on, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to ask of anyone…”

  “That’s more of a pain than I thought it’d be.”

  “It is…”

  Yukina bit her lip and nodded. Kojou remained silent and closed the unresponsive flip phone.

  Asagi gazed at the two of them and shrugged her shoulders, almost like she was getting something off her back.

  “Well, if that’s how
it is, there’s no way around it,” she said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Sensing the suspicion in Kojou’s question, Asagi coughed ever so slightly. The peculiar air of tension she radiated made Kojou’s expression harden in turn.

  “W-well, you see, Kojou… Tonight, both my parents are out, and no one’s around, so…”

  Asagi drew in her breath and steeled her resolve, her cheeks reddening. She squirmed slightly, entwined her two index fingers, and with upturned eyes, she shifted her gaze toward Kojou and continued, “Wanna come to my place?”

  Faced with Asagi’s abrupt invitation, Kojou didn’t move a muscle, cell phone still in hand.

  As Kojou and Asagi locked eyes, Yukina could only stare at them, astonished.

  3

  The Aiba residence was on the eastern beach of Island West. Rare for Itogami Island, the houses were separate and lined up in a row on prime real estate surrounded by lush trees.

  “…Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve been to Asagi’s place,” Kojou murmured, deeply impressed as he observed the oriental-style mansion.

  According to Asagi, this was the first time she’d invited a friend over to her place. It seemed the odd tension in Asagi’s voice when she’d invited him was nothing more than that.

  “It is an incredible house…”

  Yukina also voiced her admiration as she looked up at the enormous metal gate.

  On Itogami Island, a man-made isle with astronomical land prices compared to the mainland, a separate house was a considerable extravagance by itself. Even among the others at the site, the Asagi residence stood out from the pack with its sheer size; the mansion had clearly been built with a lot of money invested into it.

  “We have to live here because it’s convenient for security purposes. It’s an old building, so don’t get your hopes up about the inside,” Asagi said nonchalantly as she disarmed the security at the entrance.

  Kojou knew she wasn’t being modest—she was speaking the truth.

  This was the Demon Sanctuary of Itogami Island. There was no way Asagi would live on an island like that if she were simply another rich man’s daughter. She had domestic circumstances of her own.

  “Wait here while I clean up the room. It’ll only take five minutes,” she said firmly, leading Kojou and Yukina past the entrance, which was nicely air-conditioned. There was even a bench for guests.